"Particle-hole thermalization in a composite superconducting nanowire."

The mechanisms by which isolated condensed matter systems thermalize is a topic of growing interest. Thermalization is known to be linked to the emergence of chaos in the dynamics of a system. We have analyzed current flow in a BSCCO NSNSNSNSN nanowire, composed of superconducting segments (S) and normal conducting segments (N), for a parameter regime in which only a single channel is open and only tunneling currents can transmit through the wire. The current in the wire flows at energies where electron-hole quasibound states can be set up inside the SNSNSNS structure of the wire. We show that this composite system can thermalize scattered states without affecting the degree of entanglement of the scattered states.

The shot noise analysis of the scattering system and an analysis in terms of the ensemble density matrix give agreement, but the analysis in terms of the ensemble density matrix gives more detailed information about the scattering processes leading to strong "bunching" of particles and holes exiting the wire.