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arXiv:2305.00160 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Dynamical relaxation behaviors of a critical quench

Yin-Tao Zou, Chengxiang Ding

Published Jul 19, 2023• 13 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study the universal dynamical relaxation behaviors of a quantum XY chain following a quench, paying special attention to the case in which the initial state is a critical ground state, or the postquenched Hamiltonian is at a critical point of equilibrium quantum phase transition, or both of them are critical. In such a ``critical quench,'' we find very interesting real-time dynamical scaling behaviors and we find crossover phenomena between them. For a quench from a noncritical point to a critical point, we find that, compared to the noncritical quench, the universal power-law scaling behavior does not change; however, there may be a crossover between the exponential decaying behavior and the power-law scaling. For a quench from a critical point to a noncritical point, the power-law scaling behaviors ${t}^{\ensuremath{-}3/2}$ and ${t}^{\ensuremath{-}3/4}$ in the noncritical quenches may be changed to ${t}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ and ${t}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$, respectively. If the prequenched Hamiltonian is set to be a point that is close to but not exactly at a critical point, we find interesting crossover phenomena between different power-law scaling behaviors. We also study the quench from the vicinity of a multicritical point, we find crossover behaviors that are induced by a different mechanism, and we find another crossover exponent. All the results are related to the gap-closing properties of the energy spectrum of the critical points.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.108.014303

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We study the universal dynamical relaxation behaviors of a quantum XY chain following a quench, paying special attention to the case in which the initial state is a critical ground state, or the postquenched Hamiltonian is at a critical point of equilibrium quantum phase transition, or both of them are critical. In such a ``critical quench,'' we find very interesting real-time dynamical scaling behaviors and we find crossover phenomena between them. For a quench from a noncritical point to a critical point, we find that, compared to the noncritical quench, the universal power-law scaling behavior does not change; however, there may be a crossover between the exponential decaying behavior and the power-law scaling. For a quench from a critical point to a noncritical point, the power-law scaling behaviors t\ensuremath−3/2{t}^{\ensuremath{-}3/2}t\ensuremath−3/2 and t\ensuremath−3/4{t}^{\ensuremath{-}3/4}t\ensuremath−3/4 in the noncritical quenches may be changed to t\ensuremath−1{t}^{\ensuremath{-}1}t\ensuremath−1 and t\ensuremath−1/2{t}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}t\ensuremath−1/2, respectively. If the prequenched Hamiltonian is set to be a point that is close to but not exactly at a critical point, we find interesting crossover phenomena between different power-law scaling behaviors. We also study the quench from the vicinity of a multicritical point, we find crossover behaviors that are induced by a different mechanism, and we find another crossover exponent. All the results are related to the gap-closing properties of the energy spectrum of the critical points.
We study the universal real-time relaxation behaviors of a long-range quantum XY chain following a quench. Our research includes both the noncritical and critical quench. In the case of noncritical quench, i.e., neither the initial state nor the postquench Hamiltonian is at a critical point of equilibrium phase transition, a quench to the commensurate phase or incommensurate phase gives a scaling of t−3/2t^{-3/2}t−3/2 or t−1/2t^{-1/2}t−1/2, respectively, which is the same as the counterpart of the short-range XY model. However, for a quench to the boundary line between the commensurate and incommensurate phases, the scaling law t−μt^{-μ}t−μ may be different from the t−3/4t^{-3/4}t−3/4 law of the counterpart of the short-range model. More interestingly, the decaying exponent μμμ may depend on the choice of the parameters of the postquench Hamiltonian because of the different asymptotic behaviors of the energy spectrum. Furthermore, in certain cases, the scaling behavior may be outside the range of predictions made by the stationary phase approximation, because an inflection point emerges in the energy spectrum. For the critical quench, i.e., the initial state or the postquench Hamiltonian is at a critical point of equilibrium phase transition, the aforementioned scaling law t−μt^{-μ}t−μ may be changed because of the gap-closing property of the energy spectrum of the critical point.
We study the universal real-time relaxation behaviors of a long-range Kitaev chain following a quench, and the results are compared to a short-range quantum XY chain. Our research includes both noncritical and critical quenches. In the case of noncritical quench, i.e., neither the initial state nor the postquench Hamiltonian is at a critical point of the equilibrium phase transition, a quench to the commensurate phase or incommensurate phase gives a scaling of ${t}^{\ensuremath{-}3/2}$ or ${t}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$, respectively, which is the same as the counterpart of the short-range quantum XY model. However, for a quench to the boundary line between the commensurate and incommensurate phases, the scaling law ${t}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\mu}}$ may be different from the ${t}^{\ensuremath{-}3/4}$ law of the counterpart of the short-range quantum XY model. More interestingly, the decaying exponent $\ensuremath{\mu}$ may depend on the choice of the parameters of the postquench Hamiltonian because of the different asymptotic behaviors of the energy spectrum. Furthermore, in certain cases, the scaling behavior may be outside the range of predictions made by the stationary phase approximation, because an inflection point emerges in the energy spectrum. For the critical quench, i.e., the initial state or the postquench Hamiltonian is at a critical point of equilibrium phase transition, the aforementioned scaling law ${t}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\mu}}$ may be changed because of the gap-closing property of the energy spectrum of the critical point.
A crossover between different power-law relaxation behaviors of many-body periodically driven integrable systems has come to light in recent years. We demonstrate, using integrable quantum systems, that similar kinds of dynamical transitions may also occur in the relaxation of such systems following a sudden quench. Particularly, we observe two distinct power-law relaxation behaviors following a sudden quench in the integrable XY model, depending upon whether the quenched Hamiltonian lies in the commensurate or the incommensurate phase. The relaxation behavior for quenches at and near the boundary line, called the disorder line (DL), separating these phases is also characterized. The relaxation at the DL shows a scaling exponent different from that for quenches to either of the commensurate or incommensurate phases. The transitions occur through a crossover from the commensurate or incommensurate scaling behavior to the DL scaling behavior. The crossover time diverges as a power law as the parameters of the final quenched Hamiltonian approach the DL. The transitions are also observed to be robust under weak integrability-breaking perturbations but disappear following strongly chaotic quenches.
Taking the quantum Kitaev chain as an example, we have studied the universal dynamical behaviors resulting from quantum criticality under the condition of environmental temperature quench. Our findings reveal that when the quantum parameter is at its critical value, both the excess excitation density at the end of linear quench and the free relaxation exhibit universal scaling behaviors. The scaling laws observed upon quenching to the zero-temperature quantum critical point and nonzero temperature points exhibit distinct scaling exponents, which are all intimately related to the dynamical critical exponents of the quantum phase transition. Additionally, for the case of linear quench to finite temperatures, we have also discovered an intrinsic universal dynamical behavior that is independent of quantum criticality. Our research offers profound insights into the relationship between quantum criticality and nonequilibrium dynamics from two perspectives: Kibble-Zurek-like scaling behavior and free relaxation dynamics. Notably, the Kibble-Zurek-like scaling behavior in this context differs from the standard Kibble-Zurek mechanism. These two aspects jointly open up a new avenue for us to understand quantum criticality through real-time dynamical behavior, even at finite temperatures.
Universality and scaling laws are hallmarks of equilibrium phase transitions and critical phenomena. However, extending these concepts to non-equilibrium systems is an outstanding challenge. Despite recent progress in the study of dynamical phases, the universality classes and scaling laws for non-equilibrium phenomena are far less understood than those in equilibrium. In this work, using a trapped-ion quantum simulator with single-spin resolution, we investigate the non-equilibrium nature of critical fluctuations following a quantum quench to the critical point. We probe the scaling of spin fluctuations after a series of quenches to the critical Hamiltonian of a long-range Ising model. With systems of up to 50 spins, we show that the amplitude and timescale of the post-quench fluctuations scale with system size with distinct universal critical exponents, depending on the quench protocol. While a generic quench can lead to thermal critical behavior, we find that a second quench from one critical state to another (i.e. a double quench) results in a new universal non-equilibrium behavior, identified by a set of critical exponents distinct from their equilibrium counterparts. Our results demonstrate the ability of quantum simulators to explore universal scaling beyond equilibrium.
We investigate the dynamical relaxation behavior of the two-point correlation in extended XY models with a gapless phase after quenches from various initial states. Specifically, we study the XY chain with gapless phase induced by the following additional interactions: Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and the XZY-YZX type of three-site interaction. When quenching from the gapped phase, we observe that the additional interactions have no effect on the relaxation behavior. The relaxation behavior is $\ensuremath{\delta}{C}_{mn}(t)\ensuremath{\sim}{t}^{\ensuremath{-}3/2}$ and $\ensuremath{\sim}{t}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$ for the quench to the commensurate phase and the incommensurate phase, respectively. However, when quenching from the gapless phase, we demonstrate that the scaling behavior of $\ensuremath{\delta}{C}_{mn}(t)$ is changed to $\ensuremath{\sim}{t}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ for the quench to the commensurate phase, and the decay of $\ensuremath{\delta}{C}_{mn}(t)$ follows $\ensuremath{\sim}{t}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ or $\ensuremath{\sim}{t}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$ for the quench to the incommensurate phase depending on the parameters of prequench Hamiltonian. We also establish the dynamical phase diagrams based on the dynamical relaxation behavior of $\ensuremath{\delta}{C}_{mn}(t)$ in the extended XY models.