We study the Loschmidt echo in a system of N non-interacting spinless lattice fermions released from a double-domain-wall initial state. In the large-N limit, the return probability is characterized by a large-deviation rate function known as the dynamical free energy. The Loschmidt echo is dominated by a complex instanton configuration, and the dynamical free energy develops a logarithmic singularity at the dynamical quantum phase transition. We obtain analytical results in the short-time and long-time regimes and support them with numerical computations. We show that the transition can be understood as a topological change of the dominant instanton configuration, analogous to the emergence of a cut in random matrix theory. We further show that post-selection can drive the system through two successive DQPTs, associated with successive topological changes of the dominant instanton configuration in complex time.
We study the Loschmidt echo in a system of N non-interacting spinless lattice fermions released from a double-domain-wall initial state. In the large-N limit, the return probability is characterized by a large-deviation rate function known as the dynamical free energy. The Loschmidt echo is dominated by a complex instanton configuration, and the dynamical free energy develops a logarithmic singularity at the dynamical quantum phase transition. We obtain analytical results in the short-time and long-time regimes and support them with numerical computations. We show that the transition can be understood as a topological change of the dominant instanton configuration, analogous to the emergence of a cut in random matrix theory. We further show that post-selection can drive the system through two successive DQPTs, associated with successive topological changes of the dominant instanton configuration in complex time.
We analytically investigated the dynamical quantum phase transitions in the Bose-Hubbard model using the Loschmidt echo as an observable, revealing that after a quench, the global Loschmidt echo exhibits cusp singularities with a logarithmically divergent rate function near criticality and a critical exponent of zero. Through extensive calculations across various system sizes and initial states, we have demonstrated that in the strongly interacting regime, the critical singularity of dynamical quantum phase transitions exhibits consistency across different model details and initial product states (charge-density wave states). Moreover, we find that modifying the harmonic potential well not only preserves the phase transition but also enables precise control over the transition timing.
Abstract We investigate the out-of-equilibrium dynamics after a quantum quench of the reduced fidelities between the states of a subregion A at different times. Precisely, we consider the fidelity between the time-dependent state of A and its initial value, as well as with the state at infinite time. We denote these fidelities as the reduced Loschmidt echo (RLE) and the final-state fidelity (FSF), respectively. If region A is the full system, the RLE coincides with the standard Loschmidt echo. We focus on quenches from Gaussian states in several instances of the XY spin chain. In the hydrodynamic limit of long times and large sizes of A , with their ratio fixed, the reduced fidelities admit a quasiparticle picture interpretation. Interestingly, for some quenches in the hydrodynamic regime the RLE features a complicated structure with an infinite sequence of nested lightcones, corresponding to quasiparticles with arbitrary large group velocities. This leads to a ‘staircase’ of cusp-like singularities in the time-derivative of the fidelity. At the sub-hydrodynamic regime for some quenches the RLE exhibits cusp-like singularities, similar to the so-called dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPT). We conjecture a criterion for the occurrence of the DQPT and for the ‘critical’ times at which the singularities occur. Finally, we discuss the hydrodynamic limit of the FSF. In particular, we show that it provides a valuable tool to detect the so-called quantum Mpemba effect.
In this work we develop the theory of the Loschmidt echo and dynamical phase transitions in noninteracting strongly disordered Fermi systems after a quench. In finite systems the Loschmidt echo displays zeros in the complex time plane that depend on the random potential realization. Remarkably, the zeros coalesce to form a 2D manifold in the thermodynamic limit, atypical for 1D systems, crossing the real axis at a sharply defined critical time. We show that this dynamical phase transition can be understood as a transition in the distribution function of the smallest absolute value of the eigenvalues of the Loschmidt matrix and develop a finite-size scaling theory. Contrary to expectations, the notion of dynamical phase transitions in disordered systems becomes decoupled from the equilibrium Anderson localization transition. Our results highlight the striking qualitative differences of quench dynamics in disordered and nondisordered many-fermion systems.
Dynamical quantum phase transitions reveal singularities in quench dynamics, characterized by the emergence of Loschmidt echo zeros at critical times, which usually exist only in the thermodynamic limit but are absent in finite-size quantum systems. In this Letter, we propose a theoretical scheme to probe Loschmidt echo zeros in finite-size systems by applying a two-step quenching protocol, which offers an experimentally feasible approach to study Loschmidt echo zeros. Using the transverse Ising model as a test bed, we identify that the exact Loschmidt echo zeros can be always accessed by tuning the quench rate, when the quench is across the phase transition point. The associated rate function displays divergence at critical times, accompanying with the change of the dynamical topological order parameter. The critical times are influenced by the quench rate, system size, and momentum modes, embodying the interplay between finite-size effects and critical dynamics. Moreover, the generality of these observations is further confirmed in the XY and Haldane models.
We investigate dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) in the extended Agassi model following sudden quenches of same level pairing (Σ), monopole-monopole (χ) and cross level pairing (Λ) strengths. Using exact diagonalization, we characterize the non-equilibrium dynamics through the Loschmidt echo and intensive return-rate function. Quenches across equilibrium phase boundaries produce cusp-like structures in the return rate that shows non-analyticities with increasing system size. Equilibrium finite size to large scaling identifies the χ-driven transition as a second order phase transition similar to mean-field, Dicke, and Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) models critical behaviour with the exponent of the order parameter β≃1/2, while the Σ- and Λ-driven transitions are first order. We further characterize the associated dynamical singularities through a local scaling exponent α, with αχ≃2/3, αΛ≃1/3, and αΣ≃3/2 of all three parameters. The distinct scaling behaviours across the parameter channels show that dynamical criticality is not determined solely by the equilibrium order of the transition, revealing multiple dynamical scaling regimes. These non-analyticities are associated with the Fisher zeros of the Loschmidt amplitude, which cross the real time axis at critical times and the time derivatives of the return-rate function to characterize the order of DQPTs within the extended Agassi model.
Abstract We explain and exploit the random matrix formulation of the Loschmidt echo for the XX spin chain, valid for multiple domain wall initial states and also for an XX spin chain generalized with additional interactions to more neighbours. For models with interactions decaying as e − α l − j / l − j p + 1 , with p integer or natural number and α ⩾ 0, we show that there are third order phase transitions in a scaling limit of the complex-time Loschmidt echo amplitudes. For the long-range version of the chain, we use an exact result for Toeplitz determinants with a pure Fisher–Hartwig singularity, to obtain exactly the Loschmidt echo for complex times and discuss the associated Stokes phenomena. We also study the case of a finite chain for one of the generalized XX models.