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arXiv:1104.3232 · Physical Review Letters

Exact Infinite-Time Statistics of the Loschmidt Echo for a Quantum Quench

Lorenzo Campos Venuti, N. Tobias Jacobson, Siddhartha Santra, Paolo Zanardi A

Published Jul 1, 2011• 88 citations
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Abstract

The equilibration dynamics of a closed quantum system is encoded in the long-time distribution function of generic observables. In this Letter we consider the Loschmidt echo generalized to finite temperature, and show that we can obtain an exact expression for its long-time distribution for a closed system described by a quantum XY chain following a sudden quench. In the thermodynamic limit the logarithm of the Loschmidt echo becomes normally distributed, whereas for small quenches in the opposite, quasicritical regime, the distribution function acquires a universal double-peaked form indicating poor equilibration. These findings, obtained by a central limit theorem-type result, extend to completely general models in the small-quench regime.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.107.010403

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The equilibration dynamics of a closed quantum system is encoded in the long-time distribution function of generic observables. In this Letter we consider the Loschmidt echo generalized to finite temperature, and show that we can obtain an exact expression for its long-time distribution for a closed system described by a quantum XY chain following a sudden quench. In the thermodynamic limit the logarithm of the Loschmidt echo becomes normally distributed, whereas for small quenches in the opposite, quasicritical regime, the distribution function acquires a universal double-peaked form indicating poor equilibration. These findings, obtained by a central limit theorem-type result, extend to completely general models in the small-quench regime.
Closed quantum systems evolve unitarily and therefore cannot converge in a strong sense to an equilibrium state starting out from a generic pure state. Nevertheless for large system size one observes temporal typicality. Namely, for the overwhelming majority of the time instants, the statistics of observables is practically indistinguishable from an effective equilibrium one. In this paper we consider the Loschmidt echo (LE) to study this sort of unitary equilibration after a quench. We draw several conclusions on general grounds and on the basis of an exactly solvable example of a quasifree system. In particular we focus on the whole probability distribution of observing a given value of the LE after waiting a long time. Depending on the interplay between the initial state and the quench Hamiltonian, we find different regimes reflecting different equilibration dynamics. When the perturbation is small and the system is away from criticality the probability distribution is Gaussian. However close to criticality the distribution function approaches a double-peaked, universal form.
In this work we investigate the equilibration dynamics after a sudden Hamiltonian quench of a quantum spin system initially prepared in a thermal state. To characterize the equilibration we evaluate the Loschmidt echo, a global measure for the degree of distinguishability between the initial and time-evolved quenched states. We present general results valid for small quenches and detailed analysis of the quantum XYXYXY chain. The result is that quantum criticality manifests, even at small but finite temperatures, in a universal double-peaked form of the echo statistics and poor equilibration for sufficiently relevant perturbations. In addition, for this model we find a tight lower bound on the Loschmidt echo in terms of the purity of the initial state and the more easily evaluated Hilbert-Schmidt inner product between initial and time-evolved quenched states. This bound allows us to relate the time-averaged Loschmidt echo with the purity of the time-averaged state, a quantity that has been shown to provide an upper bound on the variance of observables.
We study the equilibration behavior following local quenches, using frustrated quantum spin chains as an example of interacting closed quantum systems. Specifically, we examine the statistics of the time series of the Loschmidt echo, the trace distance of the time-evolved local density matrix to its average state, and the local magnetization. Depending on the quench parameters, the equilibration statistics of these quantities show features of good or poor equilibration, indicated by Gaussian, exponential, or bistable distribution functions. These universal functions provide valuable tools to characterize the various time-evolution responses and give insight into the plethora of equilibration phenomena in complex quantum systems.
A sudden change in the Hamiltonian parameter drives a quantum system out of equilibrium. For a finite-size system, expectations of observables start fluctuating in time without converging to a precise limit. A new equilibrium state emerges only in the probabilistic sense, when the probability distribution for the observable expectations over long times concentrates around their mean value. In this paper we study the full statistic of generic observables after a small quench. When the quench is performed around a regular (i.e., noncritical) point of the phase diagram, generic observables are expected to be characterized by Gaussian distribution functions (``good equilibration''). Instead, when quenching around a critical point a new, universal, double-peaked distribution function emerges for relevant perturbations. Our analytic predictions are numerically checked for a nonintegrable extension of the quantum Ising model.
Dynamical quantum phase transitions reveal singularities in quench dynamics, characterized by the emergence of Loschmidt echo zeros at critical times, which usually exist only in the thermodynamic limit but are absent in finite-size quantum systems. In this Letter, we propose a theoretical scheme to probe Loschmidt echo zeros in finite-size systems by applying a two-step quenching protocol, which offers an experimentally feasible approach to study Loschmidt echo zeros. Using the transverse Ising model as a test bed, we identify that the exact Loschmidt echo zeros can be always accessed by tuning the quench rate, when the quench is across the phase transition point. The associated rate function displays divergence at critical times, accompanying with the change of the dynamical topological order parameter. The critical times are influenced by the quench rate, system size, and momentum modes, embodying the interplay between finite-size effects and critical dynamics. Moreover, the generality of these observations is further confirmed in the XY and Haldane models.
A quantum phase transition is generally thought to imprint distinctive characteristics on the nonequilibrium dynamics of a closed quantum system. Specifically, the Loschmidt echo after a sudden quench to a quantum critical point-measuring the time dependence of the overlap between initial and time-evolved states-is expected to exhibit an accelerated relaxation followed by periodic revivals. We here introduce a new exactly solvable model, the extended Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, the Loschmidt echo of which provides a counterexample. A parallell analysis of the quench dynamics of the three-site spin-interacting XY model allows us to pinpoint the conditions under which a periodic Loschmidt revival actually appears.