Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Quantum phase transitions far from equilibrium in short-range transverse field Ising models

Ceren B. Dağ, Kai Sun

Published Apr 26, 2020• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Dynamical phase transitions (DPTs) are generally defined under two different but related categories: DPT-I where the equilibrium value, or long-time average, of the order parameter as a function of the control parameter demonstrates a phase boundary; DPT-II where the Loschmidt return rate shows a cusp singularity in real-time dynamics. Quenched from polarized states, one-point observables have featureless steady state regimes for short-range transverse field Ising models (TFIM), which prevents them from exhibiting DPT-I, unlike long-range TFIM. In this Letter, we incorporate Lieb-Robinson bounds into the definition of DPT by choosing appropriate temporal cutoffs and show that in the lightcone, a quantum phase transition (QPT) far from equilibrium could emerge with an associated scaling law at the vicinity of the transition. More specifically, the observable at the cutoff could exhibit order parameterlike behavior in analogy to equilibrium quantum criticality, however with certain important differences that we discuss in detail. The scaling of the dynamical order parameter at the vicinity is determined via the decay rate of the observable in time, hence rendering the QPT a truly nonequilibrium phase transition. We apply the procedure to both integrable and nonintegrable short-range TFIM and elaborate on how the QPT signature changes with integrability.

Related papers

Dynamical crossover in the transient quench dynamics of short-range transverse-field Ising models

Ceren B. Dağ, Kai Sun

Dynamical detection of quantum phases and phase transitions (QPTs) in quenched systems with experimentally convenient initial states is a topic of interest from both theoretical and experimental perspectives. Quenched from polarized states, longitudinal magnetization decays exponentially to zero in time for the short-range transverse-field Ising model and hence has a featureless steady state regime, which prevents it from exhibiting dynamical phase transitions of type I. In this paper, we ask whether the transient regimes of such nonequilibrium processes probed by single-site observables, that is magnetization per site, could encode information about the underlying QPT. The decay rates of time-dependent and single-site observables exhibit a dynamical crossover that separates two dynamical regions, ordered and disordered, both of which have distinct nonequilibrium responses. We construct a dynamical order parameterlike quantity that exhibits a scaling law in the vicinity of the crossover. Our results reveal that scaling law exponent in short times in the close vicinity of the dynamical crossover is significantly different than the one predicted by analytical theory for long times. When integrability is strongly broken, the crossover boundary turns into a region that separates two other dynamical regions that act like dynamically ordered and disordered regimes.

arXiv:2004.12287•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Jun 1, 2021•13 citations

Disentangling dynamical phase transitions from equilibrium phase transitions

Szabolcs Vajna, Balázs Dóra

Dynamical phase transitions (DPTs) occur after quenching some global parameters in quantum systems, and are signalled by the nonanalytical time evolution of the dynamical free energy, which is calculated from the Loschmidt overlap between the initial and time evolved states. In a recent Letter [M. Heyl et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 135704 (2013)], it was suggested that DPTs are closely related to equilibrium phase transitions (EPTs) for the transverse field Ising model. By studying a minimal model, the XY chain in a transverse magnetic field, we show analytically that this connection does not hold generally. We present examples where DPT occurs without crossing any equilibrium critical lines by the quench, and a nontrivial example with no DPT but crossing a critical line by the quench. Although the nonanalyticities of the dynamical free energy on the real time axis do not indicate the presence or absence of an EPT, the structure of Fisher lines for complex times reveals a qualitative difference.

arXiv:1401.2865•Physical Review B•Apr 7, 2014•223 citations

Dynamical phase diagram of quantum spin chains with long-range interactions

Jad C. Halimeh, Valentin Zauner-Stauber

Using an infinite matrix product state (iMPS) technique based on the time-dependent variational principle (TDVP), we study two major types of dynamical phase transitions (DPT) in the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model (TFIM) with long-range power-law ($\ensuremath{\propto}1/{r}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ with $r$ interspin distance) interactions out of equilibrium in the thermodynamic limit---DPT-I: based on an order parameter in a (quasi-)steady state, and DPT-II: based on nonanalyticities (cusps) in the Loschmidt-echo return rate. We construct the corresponding rich dynamical phase diagram, while considering different quench initial conditions. We find a nontrivial connection between both types of DPT based on their critical lines. Moreover, and very interestingly, we detect a new DPT-II dynamical phase in a certain range of interaction exponent $\ensuremath{\alpha}$, characterized by what we call anomalous cusps that are distinct from the regular cusps usually associated with DPT-II. Our results provide the characterization of experimentally accessible signatures of the dynamical phases studied in this work.

arXiv:1610.02019•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Oct 26, 2017•192 citations

Dynamical phase transitions, time-integrated observables, and geometry of states

James M. Hickey, Sam Genway, Juan P. Garrahan

We show that there exist dynamical phase transitions (DPTs), as defined by Heyl et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 135704 (2013)], in the transverse-field Ising model (TFIM) away from the static quantum critical points. We study a class of special states associated with singularities in the generating functions of time-integrated observables as found by Hickey et al. [Phys. Rev. B 87, 184303 (2013)]. Studying the dynamics of these special states under the evolution of the TFIM Hamiltonian, we find temporal nonanalyticities in the initial-state return probability associated with dynamical phase transitions. By calculating the Berry phase and Chern number we show the set of special states have interesting geometric features similar to those associated with static quantum critical points.

arXiv:1309.1673•Physical Review B•Feb 10, 2014•61 citations

Dynamical phase transitions in quantum spin models with antiferromagnetic long-range interactions

Jad C. Halimeh, Maarten Van Damme, Lingzhen Guo +2 more

In recent years, dynamical phase transitions and out-of-equilibrium criticality have been at the forefront of ultracold gases and condensed matter research. Whereas universality and scaling are established topics in equilibrium quantum many-body physics, out-of-equilibrium extensions of such concepts still leave much to be desired. Using exact diagonalization and the time-dependent variational principle in uniform matrix product states, we calculate the time evolution of the local order parameter and Loschmidt return rate in transverse-field Ising chains with antiferromagnetic power law-decaying interactions, and map out the corresponding rich dynamical phase diagram. Anomalous cusps in the return rate, which are ubiquitous at small quenches within the ordered phase in the case of ferromagnetic long-range interactions, are absent within the accessible timescales of our simulations in the antiferromagnetic case, showing that long-range interactions are not a sufficient condition for their appearance. We attribute this to much weaker domain-wall binding in the antiferromagnetic case. For quenches across the quantum critical point, regular cusps appear in the return rate and connect to the local order parameter changing sign, indicating the concurrence of two major concepts of dynamical phase transitions. Our results consolidate conclusions of previous works that a necessary condition for the appearance of anomalous cusps in the return rate after quenches within the ordered phase is for topologically trivial local spin flips to be the energetically dominant excitations in the spectrum of the quench Hamiltonian. Our findings are readily accessible in modern trapped-ion setups and we outline the associated experimental considerations.

arXiv:2106.05282•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Sep 20, 2021•29 citations

Dynamical Quantum Phase Transitions in Spin Chains with Long-Range Interactions: Merging Different Concepts of Nonequilibrium Criticality

Bojan Žunkovič, Markus Heyl, Michael Knap +1 more

We theoretically study the dynamics of a transverse-field Ising chain with power-law decaying interactions characterized by an exponent α, which can be experimentally realized in ion traps. We focus on two classes of emergent dynamical critical phenomena following a quantum quench from a ferromagnetic initial state: The first one manifests in the time-averaged order parameter, which vanishes at a critical transverse field. We argue that such a transition occurs only for long-range interactions α≤2. The second class corresponds to the emergence of time-periodic singularities in the return probability to the ground-state manifold which is obtained for all values of α and agrees with the order parameter transition for α≤2. We characterize how the two classes of nonequilibrium criticality correspond to each other and give a physical interpretation based on the symmetry of the time-evolved quantum states.

arXiv:1609.08482•Physical Review Letters•Mar 27, 2018•275 citations
Dynamical phase transitions (DPTs) are generally defined under two different but related categories: DPT-I where the equilibrium value, or long-time average, of the order parameter as a function of the control parameter demonstrates a phase boundary; DPT-II where the Loschmidt return rate shows a cusp singularity in real-time dynamics. Quenched from polarized states, one-point observables have featureless steady state regimes for short-range transverse field Ising models (TFIM), which prevents them from exhibiting DPT-I, unlike long-range TFIM. In this Letter, we incorporate Lieb-Robinson bounds into the definition of DPT by choosing appropriate temporal cutoffs and show that in the lightcone, a quantum phase transition (QPT) far from equilibrium could emerge with an associated scaling law at the vicinity of the transition. More specifically, the observable at the cutoff could exhibit order parameterlike behavior in analogy to equilibrium quantum criticality, however with certain important differences that we discuss in detail. The scaling of the dynamical order parameter at the vicinity is determined via the decay rate of the observable in time, hence rendering the QPT a truly nonequilibrium phase transition. We apply the procedure to both integrable and nonintegrable short-range TFIM and elaborate on how the QPT signature changes with integrability.
Dynamical detection of quantum phases and phase transitions (QPTs) in quenched systems with experimentally convenient initial states is a topic of interest from both theoretical and experimental perspectives. Quenched from polarized states, longitudinal magnetization decays exponentially to zero in time for the short-range transverse-field Ising model and hence has a featureless steady state regime, which prevents it from exhibiting dynamical phase transitions of type I. In this paper, we ask whether the transient regimes of such nonequilibrium processes probed by single-site observables, that is magnetization per site, could encode information about the underlying QPT. The decay rates of time-dependent and single-site observables exhibit a dynamical crossover that separates two dynamical regions, ordered and disordered, both of which have distinct nonequilibrium responses. We construct a dynamical order parameterlike quantity that exhibits a scaling law in the vicinity of the crossover. Our results reveal that scaling law exponent in short times in the close vicinity of the dynamical crossover is significantly different than the one predicted by analytical theory for long times. When integrability is strongly broken, the crossover boundary turns into a region that separates two other dynamical regions that act like dynamically ordered and disordered regimes.
Dynamical phase transitions (DPTs) occur after quenching some global parameters in quantum systems, and are signalled by the nonanalytical time evolution of the dynamical free energy, which is calculated from the Loschmidt overlap between the initial and time evolved states. In a recent Letter [M. Heyl et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 135704 (2013)], it was suggested that DPTs are closely related to equilibrium phase transitions (EPTs) for the transverse field Ising model. By studying a minimal model, the XY chain in a transverse magnetic field, we show analytically that this connection does not hold generally. We present examples where DPT occurs without crossing any equilibrium critical lines by the quench, and a nontrivial example with no DPT but crossing a critical line by the quench. Although the nonanalyticities of the dynamical free energy on the real time axis do not indicate the presence or absence of an EPT, the structure of Fisher lines for complex times reveals a qualitative difference.
Using an infinite matrix product state (iMPS) technique based on the time-dependent variational principle (TDVP), we study two major types of dynamical phase transitions (DPT) in the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model (TFIM) with long-range power-law ($\ensuremath{\propto}1/{r}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ with rrr interspin distance) interactions out of equilibrium in the thermodynamic limit---DPT-I: based on an order parameter in a (quasi-)steady state, and DPT-II: based on nonanalyticities (cusps) in the Loschmidt-echo return rate. We construct the corresponding rich dynamical phase diagram, while considering different quench initial conditions. We find a nontrivial connection between both types of DPT based on their critical lines. Moreover, and very interestingly, we detect a new DPT-II dynamical phase in a certain range of interaction exponent $\ensuremath{\alpha}$, characterized by what we call anomalous cusps that are distinct from the regular cusps usually associated with DPT-II. Our results provide the characterization of experimentally accessible signatures of the dynamical phases studied in this work.
We show that there exist dynamical phase transitions (DPTs), as defined by Heyl et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 135704 (2013)], in the transverse-field Ising model (TFIM) away from the static quantum critical points. We study a class of special states associated with singularities in the generating functions of time-integrated observables as found by Hickey et al. [Phys. Rev. B 87, 184303 (2013)]. Studying the dynamics of these special states under the evolution of the TFIM Hamiltonian, we find temporal nonanalyticities in the initial-state return probability associated with dynamical phase transitions. By calculating the Berry phase and Chern number we show the set of special states have interesting geometric features similar to those associated with static quantum critical points.
In recent years, dynamical phase transitions and out-of-equilibrium criticality have been at the forefront of ultracold gases and condensed matter research. Whereas universality and scaling are established topics in equilibrium quantum many-body physics, out-of-equilibrium extensions of such concepts still leave much to be desired. Using exact diagonalization and the time-dependent variational principle in uniform matrix product states, we calculate the time evolution of the local order parameter and Loschmidt return rate in transverse-field Ising chains with antiferromagnetic power law-decaying interactions, and map out the corresponding rich dynamical phase diagram. Anomalous cusps in the return rate, which are ubiquitous at small quenches within the ordered phase in the case of ferromagnetic long-range interactions, are absent within the accessible timescales of our simulations in the antiferromagnetic case, showing that long-range interactions are not a sufficient condition for their appearance. We attribute this to much weaker domain-wall binding in the antiferromagnetic case. For quenches across the quantum critical point, regular cusps appear in the return rate and connect to the local order parameter changing sign, indicating the concurrence of two major concepts of dynamical phase transitions. Our results consolidate conclusions of previous works that a necessary condition for the appearance of anomalous cusps in the return rate after quenches within the ordered phase is for topologically trivial local spin flips to be the energetically dominant excitations in the spectrum of the quench Hamiltonian. Our findings are readily accessible in modern trapped-ion setups and we outline the associated experimental considerations.
We theoretically study the dynamics of a transverse-field Ising chain with power-law decaying interactions characterized by an exponent α, which can be experimentally realized in ion traps. We focus on two classes of emergent dynamical critical phenomena following a quantum quench from a ferromagnetic initial state: The first one manifests in the time-averaged order parameter, which vanishes at a critical transverse field. We argue that such a transition occurs only for long-range interactions α≤2. The second class corresponds to the emergence of time-periodic singularities in the return probability to the ground-state manifold which is obtained for all values of α and agrees with the order parameter transition for α≤2. We characterize how the two classes of nonequilibrium criticality correspond to each other and give a physical interpretation based on the symmetry of the time-evolved quantum states.