Quench action approach for releasing the Neel state into the spin-1/2 XXZ chain

The steady state after a quantum quench from the Neel state to the anisotropic Heisenberg model for spin chains is investigated. Two methods that aim to describe the postquench non-thermal equilibrium, the generalized Gibbs ensemble and the quench action approach, are discussed and contrasted. Using the recent implementation of the quench action approach for this Neel-to-XXZ quench, we obtain an exact description of the steady state in terms of Bethe root densities, for which we give explicit analytical expressions. Furthermore, by developing a systematic small-quench expansion around the antiferromagnetic Ising limit, we analytically investigate the differences between the predictions of the two methods in terms of densities and postquench equilibrium expectation values of local physical observables. Finally, we discuss the details of the quench action solution for the quench to the isotropic Heisenberg spin chain. For this case we validate the underlying assumptions of the quench action approach by studying the large-system-size behavior of the overlaps between Bethe states and the Neel state.