arXiv:2602.23176

Excited-state quantum phase transitions and chaos in a three-level Lipkin model

Alberto Mayorgas, Pedro Pérez-Fernández, Álvaro Sáiz, José Miguel Arias

quant-phmath-phSubmitted Feb 26, 2026• Announced Feb 27, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Sep 21, 2026 (v2)

Abstract

Excited-state quantum phase transitions (ESQPTs) have been extensively studied in two-level models, but their characterization remains challenging in systems displaying mixed regular and chaotic dynamics. In this work, we investigate ESQPTs within the three-level Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model, where an enlarged Hilbert space and multiple separatrices give rise to rich spectral structures strongly influenced by chaos. To investigate the different dynamical regions, we have calculated Poincaré sections and Peres lattices. In addition, by combining chaos-sensitive measures with standard ESQPT diagnostics, we provide a static analysis of ESQPT signatures in this model and establish a robust framework for future studies of its dynamical behavior. The degree of chaos and the Kullback-Leibler divergence are found to be very effective chaos-sensitive measures, which are complementary to ESQPT diagnostics such as the mean field limit and the participation ratio. Hence we provide a standard framework to work with ESQPTs in chaotic three-level systems.

Comments: 16 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables

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