In context of the search for the QCD critical endpoint in heavy-ion collisions, a deep understanding of the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of the system is necessary to make well-grounded predictions for signatures in final states. To this end, we investigate the dynamic critical behavior of a classical scalar field theory with
Z2 symmetry in the dynamic universality class of Model A in two spatial dimensions. The critical dynamics of the system is studied under a linear quench protocol, in which the external symmetry breaking field is changed at a constant rate through the critical point. We discuss the connection to the Kibble-Zurek mechanism and determine universal scaling functions, which fully describe the non-equilibrium evolution of the system near the critical point for all quench rates under consideration. We find that, while the scaling functions are non-trivial, the corresponding scaling exponents are fully determined by static critical exponents and the dynamic critical exponent.
The critical behaviour of a relativistic scalar field theory with Z2 symmetry is investigated near a second-order phase transition. Two sets of dynamic equations are employed, allowing to control conservation laws of both order parameter and energy density. We calculate spectral functions of the order parameter as well as unequal-time correlation functions of the energy momentum tensor at zero and non-vanishing spatial momenta from first-principles classical-statistical lattice simulations in real-time. For both, we investigate general properties and relevant degrees of freedom in distinct regions of the phase diagram. Close to the critical point, we find signatures of dynamic scaling behaviour and calculate the dynamic critical exponent z controlling the divergence of the critical time scale. For both the order parameter spectral function as well as the energy density autocorrelation, we extract universal dynamic scaling functions. Modifying the simulation framework to include dynamically changing temperature and external field allows us to study non-equilibrium phenomena. For the special case of instant quenches to the critical point, we identify universal scaling behaviour controlled by the initial magnetization, and calculate the related additional dynamic critical exponent. We extract the universal non-equilibrium scaling functions for the evolution of both the order parameter as well as the correlation length.
Uncovering and understanding universal dynamics in matter far from equilibrium remains a key challenge. In this work, we identify a so far unrecognized form of universal behavior that emerges after a sudden symmetry-breaking quench at continuous phase transitions. Our key observation is that the order-parameter fluctuations in Ising models exhibit a compelling temporal collapse across a wide range of system sizes and quench strengths, indicative of an emergent single-variable scaling form. This phenomenon can be explained by introducing a so far unknown dynamical critical exponent for the underlying continuous phase transition. We find evidence for a lower critical effective dimension of this universal regime: it is observed in the 2D quantum and 3D and 4D classical Ising models, but not in the 1D quantum or 2D classical cases. Our results suggest that our observed universal far-from-equilibrium scaling may extend beyond the Ising models studied here and could more broadly characterize systems with non-conserved order parameters, opening new avenues for exploring universal dynamics both theoretically and in current experimental platforms.
We investigate the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of a relativistic
Z2-symmetric scalar field theory with Langevin dynamics in two and three spatial dimensions under linear driving across magnetic first-order phase transitions, close to and far below the critical temperature
Tc. Using classical-statistical lattice simulations, we find that if the driving timescale is sufficiently fast, the system exhibits finite-time scaling behavior independent of temperature and dimensionality, identical to that observed in mean-field simulations. In slow quenches near
Tc this mean-field behavior crosses over to critical Kibble-Zurek scaling behavior, while for temperatures
T≪Tc nucleation and growth dominate the transition dynamics, resulting in corrections to scaling. Near the transition point where the order parameter changes sign, the crossover between mean-field and critical out-of-equilibrium dynamics is found to be well described by the leading algebraic correction to Kibble-Zurek scaling. We find that universal non-equilibrium scaling behavior can be observed for
T≲Tc, provided the driving is fast enough to avoid nucleation but slow enough for correlations to form, and compute the associated universal scaling functions for the order parameter.
Near a critical point, the equilibrium relaxation time of a system diverges and any change of control/thermodynamic parameters leads to nonequilibrium behavior. The Kibble-Zurek problem is to determine the dynamical evolution of the system parametrically close to its critical point when the change is parametrically slow. The nonequilibrium behavior in this limit is controlled entirely by the critical point and the details of the trajectory of the system in parameter space (the protocol) close to the critical point. Together, they define a universality class consisting of critical exponents, discussed in the seminal work by Kibble and Zurek, and scaling functions for physical quantities, which have not been discussed hitherto. In this article, we give an extended and pedagogical discussion of the universal content in the Kibble-Zurek problem. We formally define a scaling limit for physical quantities near classical and quantum transitions for different sets of protocols. We report computations of a few scaling functions in model Gaussian and large-
N problems and prove their universality with respect to protocol choice. We also introduce a protocol in which the critical point is approached asymptotically at late times with the system marginally out of equilibrium, wherein logarithmic violations to scaling and anomalous dimensions occur even in the simple Gaussian problem.
Within the framework of the Kibble-Zurek Mechanism, we investigate the universal behavior of the non-equilibrium critical fluctuations, using the Langevin dynamics of model A. With properly located typical time, length and angle scales, $τ_{\mbox{KZ}}$, $l_{\mbox{KZ}}$, and $θ_{\mbox{KZ}}$, the constructed functions $\bar{f}_n((τ-τ_c)/τ_{\mbox{KZ}},θ_{\mbox{KZ}})$ (n=1...4) for the cumulants of the sigma field show universal behavior near the critical point, which are independent from some non-universal factors, such as the relaxation time or the evolution trajectory.