Exact out-of-equilibrium central spin dynamics from integrability

Abstract

We consider a Gaudin magnet (central spin model) with a time-dependent exchange couplings. We explicitly show that the Schrödinger equation is analytically solvable in terms of generalized hypergeometric functions for particular choices of the time dependence of the coupling constants. Our method establishes a new link between this system and the SU(2) Wess-Zumino-Witten model, and sheds new light on the implications of integrability in out-of-equilibrium quantum physics. As an application, a driven four-spin system is studied in detail.