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arXiv:2103.10762 · Physical Review Letters

Constant of Motion Identifying Excited-State Quantum Phases

Ángel L. Corps, Armando Relaño

Published Sep 24, 2021• 28 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose that a broad class of excited-state quantum phase transitions (ESQPTs) gives rise to two different excited-state quantum phases. These phases are identified by means of an operator C[over ^], which is a constant of motion in only one of them. Hence, the ESQPT critical energy splits the spectrum into one phase where the equilibrium expectation values of physical observables crucially depend on this constant of motion and another phase where the energy is the only relevant thermodynamic magnitude. The trademark feature of this operator is that it has two different eigenvalues ±1, and, therefore, it acts as a discrete symmetry in the first of these two phases. This scenario is observed in systems with and without an additional discrete symmetry; in the first case, C[over ^] explains the change from degenerate doublets to nondegenerate eigenlevels upon crossing the critical line. We present stringent numerical evidence in the Rabi and Dicke models, suggesting that this result is exact in the thermodynamic limit, with finite-size corrections that decrease as a power law.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.127.130602

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We propose that a broad class of excited-state quantum phase transitions (ESQPTs) gives rise to two different excited-state quantum phases. These phases are identified by means of an operator C[over ^], which is a constant of motion in only one of them. Hence, the ESQPT critical energy splits the spectrum into one phase where the equilibrium expectation values of physical observables crucially depend on this constant of motion and another phase where the energy is the only relevant thermodynamic magnitude. The trademark feature of this operator is that it has two different eigenvalues ±1, and, therefore, it acts as a discrete symmetry in the first of these two phases. This scenario is observed in systems with and without an additional discrete symmetry; in the first case, C[over ^] explains the change from degenerate doublets to nondegenerate eigenlevels upon crossing the critical line. We present stringent numerical evidence in the Rabi and Dicke models, suggesting that this result is exact in the thermodynamic limit, with finite-size corrections that decrease as a power law.
Excited-state quantum phase transitions (ESQPTs) strongly influence the spectral properties of collective many-body quantum systems, changing degeneracy patterns in different quantum phases. Level degeneracies in turn affect the system's dynamics. We analyze the degeneracy dependence on the size of two-level boson models with a u(n+1)u(n+1)u(n+1) dynamical algebra, where nnn is the number of collective degrees of freedom. Below the ESQPT critical energy of these models, the energy gap between neighboring levels that belong to different symmetry sectors gets close to zero as the system size increases. We report and explain why this gap goes to zero exponentially for systems with one collective degree of freedom but algebraically in models with more than one degree of freedom. As a consequence, we show that the infinite-time average of out-of-time-order correlators is an ESQPT order parameter in finite systems with n=1n=1n=1, but in systems with n>1n>1n>1, this average only works as an order parameter in the mean-field limit.
We present a theory for the two kinds of dynamical quantum phase transitions, termed DPT-I and DPT-II, based on a minimal set of symmetry assumptions. In the special case of collective systems with infinite-range interactions, both are triggered by excited-state quantum phase transitions. For quenches below the critical energy, the existence of an additional conserved charge, identifying the corresponding phase, allows for a nonzero value of the dynamical order parameter characterizing DPTs-I, and precludes the main mechanism giving rise to nonanalyticities in the return probability, trademark of DPTs-II. We propose a statistical ensemble describing the long-time averages of order parameters in DPTs-I, and provide a theoretical proof for the incompatibility of the main mechanism for DPTs-II with the presence of this additional conserved charge. Our results are numerically illustrated in the fully connected transverse-field Ising model, which exhibits both kinds of dynamical phase transitions. Finally, we discuss the applicability of our theory to systems with finite-range interactions, where the phenomenology of excited-state quantum phase transitions is absent. We illustrate our findings by means of numerical calculations with experimentally relevant initial states.
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We systematically investigate the excited-state quantum phase transition (ESQPT) in the anisotropic quantum Rabi model, which interpolates between the quantum Rabi model with Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ symmetry and the Jaynes-Cummings model with U(1)\mathbb{U}(1)U(1) symmetry. We calculate the model energy spectra and density of states (DOS) with the cumulants in both analytical and numerical ways to describe the ESQPT by the singularities. In the Jaynes-Cummings limit, its continuous U(1)\mathbb{U}(1)U(1) symmetry presents different nonanalytic behaviors from the quantum Rabi model with the discrete Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ symmetry, and there exists a finite discontinuous jump at the critical energy. For the general anisotropy case with Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ symmetry, there are two types of ESQPTs characterized by the finite discontinuous jump and the logarithmic divergence in the DOS, respectively. Different from the ground-state quantum phase transition, the ESQPT of the anisotropic quantum Rabi model strongly depends on the anisotropy which leads to a discontinuity even though the Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ symmetry is still preserved.