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arXiv:1505.03401 · Physical Review B

Dynamical quantum phase transitions in the Kitaev honeycomb model

Markus Schmitt, Stefan K. Kehrein

Published Aug 10, 2015• 143 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The notion of a dynamical quantum phase transition (DQPT) was recently introduced [Heyl et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 135704 (2013)] as the nonanalytic behavior of the Loschmidt echo at critical times in the thermodynamic limit. In this work the quench dynamics in the ground state sector of the two-dimensional Kitaev honeycomb model is studied regarding the occurrence of DQPTs. For general two-dimensional systems of BCS type it is demonstrated how the zeros of the Loschmidt echo coalesce to areas in the thermodynamic limit, implying that DQPTs occur as discontinuities in the second derivative. In the Kitaev honeycomb model DQPTs appear after quenches across a phase boundary or within the massless phase. In the 1d limit of the Kitaev honeycomb model it becomes clear that the discontinuity in the higher derivative is intimately related to the higher dimensionality of the nondegenerate model. Moreover, there is a strong connection between the stationary value of the rate function of the Loschmidt echo after long times and the occurrence of DQPTs in this model.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.92.075114

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The notion of a dynamical quantum phase transition (DQPT) was recently introduced [Heyl et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 135704 (2013)] as the nonanalytic behavior of the Loschmidt echo at critical times in the thermodynamic limit. In this work the quench dynamics in the ground state sector of the two-dimensional Kitaev honeycomb model is studied regarding the occurrence of DQPTs. For general two-dimensional systems of BCS type it is demonstrated how the zeros of the Loschmidt echo coalesce to areas in the thermodynamic limit, implying that DQPTs occur as discontinuities in the second derivative. In the Kitaev honeycomb model DQPTs appear after quenches across a phase boundary or within the massless phase. In the 1d limit of the Kitaev honeycomb model it becomes clear that the discontinuity in the higher derivative is intimately related to the higher dimensionality of the nondegenerate model. Moreover, there is a strong connection between the stationary value of the rate function of the Loschmidt echo after long times and the occurrence of DQPTs in this model.
Dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) manifested in the nonanalyticities in the temporal evolution of a closed quantum system generated by the time-independent final Hamiltonian, following a quench (or ramping) of a parameter of the Hamiltonian, is an emerging frontier of nonequilibrium quantum dynamics. We, here, introduce the notion of a dynamical topological order parameter (DTOP) that characterizes these DQPTs occurring in quenched (or ramped) two-dimensional closed quantum systems; this is quite a nontrivial generalization of the notion of DTOP introduced in Budich and Heyl [Phys. Rev. B 93, 085416 (2016)] for one-dimensional situations. This DTOP is obtained from the ``gauge-invariant'' Pancharatnam phase extracted from the Loschmidt overlap, i.e., the modulus of the overlap between the initially prepared state and its time-evolved counterpart reached following a temporal evolution generated by the time-independent final Hamiltonian. This generic proposal is illustrated considering DQPTs occurring in the subsequent temporal evolution following a sudden quench of the staggered mass of the topological Haldane model on a hexagonal lattice where it stays fixed to zero or unity and makes a discontinuous jump between these two values at critical times at which DQPTs occur. What is remarkable is that while the topology of the equilibrium model is characterized by the Chern number, the emergent topology associated with the DQPTs is characterized by a generalized winding number.
We show that dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) in the quench dynamics of two-dimensional topological systems can be characterized by a dynamical topological invariant defined along an appropriately chosen closed contour in momentum space. Such a dynamical topological invariant reflects the vorticity of dynamical vortices responsible for the DQPTs, and thus serves as a dynamical topological order parameter in two dimensions. We demonstrate that when the contour crosses topologically protected fixed points in the quench dynamics, an intimate connection can be established between the dynamical topological order parameter in two dimensions and those in one dimension. We further define a reduced rate function of the Loschmidt echo on the contour, which features nonanalyticities at critical times and is sufficient to characterize DQPTs in two dimensions. We illustrate our results using the Haldane honeycomb model and the quantum anomalous Hall model as concrete examples, both of which have been experimentally realized using cold atoms.
We demonstrate the existence of a dynamical quantum phase transition (DQPT) in a dissipative collective-spin model that exhibits the boundary time crystal (BTC) phase. We initialize the system in the ground state of the Hamiltonian in either the BTC or the non-BTC phase, and drive it across the BTC transition. The driving is done by an abrupt quench or by a finite-time linear ramp of a Hamiltonian control parameter under Markovian Lindblad dynamics. We diagnose DQPTs through zeros of the fidelity-based Loschmidt echo between the initial state and the evolving mixed state, which induce nonanalytic cusp-like features in the associated rate function. For quenches into the BTC phase, the Loschmidt echo exhibits repeated zeros due to the emergent time-periodic steady state, whereas for quenches into the non-BTC phase, the overlap vanishes and remains zero once the dynamics relaxes to a stationary state. We further show that the DQPT persists under the ramp protocol followed by unitary evolution with the final Hamiltonian. Finally, we analyze the finite-size scaling of the first critical time and find convergence to a constant in the thermodynamic limit, with distinct power-law approaches for the quench and the ramp protocols.
Phase transitions have recently been formulated in the time domain of quantum many-body systems, a phenomenon dubbed dynamical quantum phase transitions (DPTs), whose phenomenology is often divided in two types. One refers to distinct phases according to long-time averaged order parameters, while the other is focused on the nonanalytical behavior emerging in the rate function of the Loschmidt echo. Here we show that such DPTs can be found in systems with few degrees of freedom; i.e., they can take place without resorting to the traditional thermodynamic limit. We illustrate this by showing the existence of the two types of DPTs in a quantum Rabi model---a system involving a spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ and a bosonic mode. The dynamical criticality appears in the limit of an infinitely large ratio of the spin frequency with respect to the bosonic one. We determine its dynamical phase diagram and study the long-time averaged order parameters, whose semiclassical approximation yields a jump at the transition point. We find the critical times at which the rate function becomes nonanalytical, showing its associated critical exponent as well as the corrections introduced by a finite frequency ratio. Our results open the door for the study of DPTs without the need to scale up the number of components, thus allowing for their investigation in well controllable systems.
In the context of closed quantum systems, when a system prepared in its ground state undergoes a sudden quench, the resulting Loschmidt echo can exhibit zeros, resembling the Fisher zeros in the theory of classical equilibrium phase transitions. These zeros lead to nonanalytical behavior of the corresponding rate function, which is referred to as the dynamical quantum phase transition (DQPT). In this paper, we investigate DQPTs in the context of open quantum systems that are coupled to both Markovian and non-Markovian dephasing baths via a conserved quantity. The general framework is corroborated by studying the nonequilibrium dynamics of a transverse-field Ising ring. Our paper might shed light on theoretical developments of DQPTs in the strong system-bath coupling regime.
By deriving a general framework and analyzing concrete examples, we demonstrate a class of dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) in one-dimensional two-band systems going through double-quench processes. When this type of DQPT occurs, the Loschmidt amplitude vanishes and the rate function remains singular after the second quench, meaning the final state continually has no overlap with the initial state. This type of DQPT is named metamorphic DQPT to differentiate it from ordinary DQPTs that only exhibit zero Loschmidt amplitude and singular rate function at discrete time points. The metamorphic DQPTs occur at zero as well as finite temperatures. Our examples of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model and Kitaev chain illustrate the conditions and behavior of the metamorphic DQPT. Since ordinary DQPTs have been experimentally realized in many systems, similar setups with double quenches will demonstrate the metamorphic DQPT. Our findings thus provide additional controls of dynamical evolution of quantum systems.