Thermal Phase Transitions in Finite Quantum Systems

David J. Dean

Kwai-Kong Ng, Min-Fong Yang

The investigation of nonequilibrium thermodynamics in quantum many-body systems underscores the importance of quantum work, which differs from its classical counterpart due to its statistical nature. Recent studies have shown that quantum work can serve as an effective indicator of quantum phase transitions in systems subjected to sudden quenches. However, the potential of quantum work to identify thermal phase transitions remains largely unexplored. In this paper, we examine several types of thermal phase transitions in a sudden-quench hard-core boson model, including Ising, three-state Potts, and Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions. Through finite-size scaling analysis, we conclude that work statistics can also characterize the critical behaviors of thermal phase transitions in generic many-body systems. This study lays the groundwork for broader applications of work statistics in analyzing critical phenomena across diverse settings.

Andrew Das Arulsamy

We systematically explore and show the existence of finite-temperature continuous quantum phase transition (CTQPT) at a critical point, namely, during solidification or melting such that the first-order thermal phase transition is a special case within CTQPT. Infact, CTQPT is related to chemical reaction where quantum fluctuation (due to wavefunction transformation) is caused by thermal energy and it can occur maximally for temperatures much higher than zero Kelvin. To extract the quantity related to CTQPT, we use the ionization energy theory and the energy-level spacing renormalization group method to derive the energy-level spacing entropy, renormalized Bose-Einstein distribution and the time-dependent specific heat capacity. This work unambiguously shows that the quantum phase transition applies for any finite temperatures.

Tsuyoshi Yamamoto, 康弘 都倉

The quantum Rabi model exhibits a superradiant phase transition when the coupling becomes strong, even though it involves only two components: a two-level atom and a single bosonic mode. This phase transition is referred to as a finite-component quantum phase transition, in contrast to conventional phase transitions in many-body systems. In this Letter, we investigate heat transport across an atom embedded in bosonic modes, modeled by the quantum Rabi model, between two thermal baths. We found a manifestation of the superradiant phase transition in the thermal conductance, which represents the linear response to a temperature bias. Our Letter can be helpful for the development of quantum heat devices utilizing controllable finite-component quantum phase transitions.