Measurement-induced phase transitions (MIPT), characterizing abrupt changes in entanglement properties in quantum many-body systems subjected to unitary evolution with interspersed projective measurements, have garnered increasing interest. In this work, we generalize the Kibble-Zurek (KZ) driven critical dynamics that has achieved great success in traditional quantum and classical phase transitions to MIPT. By linearly changing the measurement probability
p to cross the critical point
pc with driving velocity
R, we identify the dynamic scaling relation of the entanglement entropy
S versus
R at
pc. For decreasing
p from the area-law phase,
S satisfies
S∝lnR; while for increasing
p from the volume-law phase,
S satisfies
S∝R1/r in which
r=z+1/ν with
z and
ν being the dynamic and correlation length exponents, respectively. Moreover, we find that the driven dynamics from the volume-law phase violates the adiabatic-impulse scenario of the KZ mechanism. In spite of this, a unified finite-time scaling (FTS) form can be developed to describe these scaling behaviors. Besides, the dynamic scaling of the entanglement entropy of an auxiliary qubit
SQ is also investigated to further confirm the universality of the FTS form. By successfully establishing the driven dynamic scaling theory of this newfashioned entanglement transition, we bring a new fundamental perspective into MIPT that can be detected in fast-developing quantum computers.
Abstract The Kibble–Zurek mechanism (KZM) describes the dynamics across a phase transition leading to the formation of topological defects, such as vortices in superfluids and domain walls in spin systems. Here, we experimentally probe the distribution of kink pairs in a one-dimensional quantum Ising chain driven across the paramagnet-ferromagnet quantum phase transition, using a single trapped ion as a quantum simulator in momentum space. The number of kink pairs after the transition follows a Poisson binomial distribution, in which all cumulants scale with a universal power law as a function of the quench time in which the transition is crossed. We experimentally verified this scaling for the first cumulants and report deviations due to noise-induced dephasing of the trapped ion. Our results establish that the universal character of the critical dynamics can be extended beyond KZM, which accounts for the mean kink number, to characterize the full probability distribution of topological defects.
The Kibble-Zurek mechanism provides a unified theory to describe the universal scaling laws in the dynamics when a system is driven through a second-order quantum phase transition. However, for first-order quantum phase transitions, the Kibble-Zurek mechanism is usually not applicable. Here, we experimentally demonstrate and theoretically analyze a power-law scaling in the dynamics of a spin-1 condensate across a first-order quantum phase transition when a system is slowly driven from a polar phase to an antiferromagnetic phase. We show that this power-law scaling can be described by a generalized Kibble-Zurek mechanism. Furthermore, by experimentally measuring the spin population, we show the power-law scaling of the temporal onset of spin excitations with respect to the quench rate, which agrees well with our numerical simulation results. Our results open the door for further exploring the generalized Kibble-Zurek mechanism to understand the dynamics across first-order quantum phase transitions.