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Abstract

By combining the Baeriswyl wave function with equilibrium and time-dependent variational principles, we develop a nonequilibrium formalism to study quantum quenches for two-dimensional spinless fermions with nearest-neighbor hopping and repulsion. The variational ground-state energy, the charge-density wave (CDW) order parameter, and the short-time dynamics agree convincingly with the results of numerically exact simulations. We find that, depending on the initial and final interaction strength, the quenched system either exhibits oscillatory behavior or relaxes to a time-independent steady state. The time-averaged expectation value of the CDW order parameter rises sharply when crossing from the steady-state regime to the oscillating regime, indicating that the system, being nonintegrable, shows signs of thermalization with an effective temperature above or below the equilibrium critical temperature, respectively.