The quantum Fisher information has gained popularity due to its versatility and its multi-purposed nature. For example, in quantum metrology the quantum Fisher information is used to quantify the maximal accuracy for which a parameter may be estimated and in quantum information theory it is used as a witness of multipartite entanglement. In condensed matter physics the quantum Fisher information has been used to study phase transitions, primarily in equilibrium quantum many body systems. In this work we study the quantum Fisher information for a p+ip superfluid both in equilibrium and out of equilibrium. In equilibrium the p+ip superfluid exhibits a topological quantum phase transition between a topological weak pairing phase (BCS) and a topologically trivial strong pairing phase (BEC). After an instantaneous interaction quench, the long time asymptotic state of p+ip superfluid is characterized by three different dynamical phases and within each phase the behaviour of the asymptotic order parameter changes. In equilibrium, we find that the QFI calculated with respect to particle number using the BCS ground-state fails to probe the topological quantum phase transition. On the other hand, in our non-equilibrium treatment we find that by quenching the system out of equilibrium the quantum Fisher information can be used to extract topological information of the pre-quench state and the character of the energy dispersion of the post-quench state. Our results therefore suggest that by introducing a quantum quench the quantum Fisher information is able to extract useful information and does not rely on the choice of operator, as opposed to the equilibrium case.
The quantum Fisher information has gained popularity due to its versatility and its multi-purposed nature. For example, in quantum metrology the quantum Fisher information is used to quantify the maximal accuracy for which a parameter may be estimated and in quantum information theory it is used as a witness of multipartite entanglement. In condensed matter physics the quantum Fisher information has been used to study phase transitions, primarily in equilibrium quantum many body systems. In this work we study the quantum Fisher information for a p+ip superfluid both in equilibrium and out of equilibrium. In equilibrium the p+ip superfluid exhibits a topological quantum phase transition between a topological weak pairing phase (BCS) and a topologically trivial strong pairing phase (BEC). After an instantaneous interaction quench, the long time asymptotic state of p+ip superfluid is characterized by three different dynamical phases and within each phase the behaviour of the asymptotic order parameter changes. In equilibrium, we find that the QFI calculated with respect to particle number using the BCS ground-state fails to probe the topological quantum phase transition. On the other hand, in our non-equilibrium treatment we find that by quenching the system out of equilibrium the quantum Fisher information can be used to extract topological information of the pre-quench state and the character of the energy dispersion of the post-quench state. Our results therefore suggest that by introducing a quantum quench the quantum Fisher information is able to extract useful information and does not rely on the choice of operator, as opposed to the equilibrium case.
Quantum Fisher information in a quenched p+ip superfluid
The quantum Fisher information (QFI) is widely used to characterize quantum phases and transitions, but its diagnostic power sometimes relies on selecting special generators based on prior knowledge of the underlying physics. We ask whether this requirement can be relaxed in nonequilibrium systems by studying the QFI of the long-time asymptotic state of a two-dimensional p+ip superfluid following an instantaneous quench of the coupling strength, using the particle number within a large subextensive subsystem as the generator. In equilibrium, the ground-state QFI is continuous across the topological transition between the weak-pairing BCS and the strong-pairing BEC phases, showing no direct signature of the transition. After the quench, however, the QFI associated with the same generator distinguishes the three dynamical phases and can encode the topology of the pre-quench state. In phase I, with a vanishing order parameter, the QFI Fourier spectrum consists of a single zero-frequency spike determined by the nonequilibrium distribution function. In phase II, with a constant nonzero order parameter, the QFI spectrum contains a zero-frequency spike and two continua separated by a gap set by the minimum asymptotic quasiparticle energy. The continuum edge behavior reveals whether this minimum occurs at zero or finite momentum. In the former case, the spectral weight vanishes at the edge, with the sign just inside the continuum encoding the pre-quench topology for large subsystem. In phase III, with a time-periodic order parameter, the QFI spectrum exhibits discrete peaks at integer multiples of the oscillation frequency, together with continua associated with the Floquet quasienergy spectrum. Our results show that driving the system out of equilibrium can enhance the diagnostic power of the QFI for a standard physical observable, revealing information inaccessible in equilibrium.
We study the nonadiabatic dynamics of a two-dimensional p+ip superfluid following an instantaneous quantum quench of the BCS coupling constant. The model describes a topological superconductor with a nontrivial BCS (trivial BEC) phase appearing at weak- (strong-) coupling strengths. We extract the exact long-time asymptotics of the order parameter $\ensuremath{\Delta}(t)$ by exploiting the integrability of the classical p-wave Hamiltonian, which we establish via a Lax construction. Three different types of asymptotic behavior can occur depending upon the strength and direction of the interaction quench. We refer to these as the nonequilibrium phases {I, II, III}, characterized as follows. In phase I, the order parameter asymptotes to zero due to dephasing. In phase II, $\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{\ensuremath{\infty}}$, a nonzero constant. Phase III is characterized by persistent oscillations of $\ensuremath{\Delta}(t)$. For quenches within phases I and II, we determine the topological character of the asymptotic states. We show that two different formulations of the bulk topological winding number, although equivalent in the BCS or BEC ground states, must be regarded as independent out of equilibrium. The first winding number Q characterizes the Anderson pseudospin texture of the initial state; we show that Q is generically conserved. For $Q\ensuremath{\ne}0$, this leads to the prediction of a ``gapless topological'' state when $\ensuremath{\Delta}$ asymptotes to zero. The presence or absence of Majorana edge modes in a sample with a boundary is encoded in the second winding number W, which is formulated in terms of the retarded Green's function. We establish that W can change following a quench across the quantum critical point. When the order parameter asymptotes to a nonzero constant, the final value of W is well defined and quantized. We discuss the implications for the (dis)appearance of Majorana edge modes. Finally, we show that the parity of zeros in the bulk out-of-equilibrium Cooper-pair distribution function constitutes a Z2-valued quantum number, which is nonzero whenever $W\ensuremath{\ne}Q$. The pair distribution can in principle be measured using rf spectroscopy in an ultracold-atom realization, allowing direct experimental detection of the Z2 number. This has the following interesting implication: topological information that is experimentally inaccessible in the bulk ground state can be transferred to an observable distribution function when the system is driven far from equilibrium.
Symmetry breaking underlies diverse phenomena from phase transitions in condensed matter to fundamental interactions in gauge theories. Despite many proposed indicators, a general quantification of symmetry breaking that is faithful, computable, and valid in the thermodynamic limit has remained elusive. Here, within quantum resource theory, we propose the quantum Fisher information (QFI) as such a measure. We demonstrate its utility by computing QFI for paradigmatic models: in the BCS superconductor, the QFI counts the number of Cooper pairs; in the transverse-field XY spin chains, it captures topological phase transition that has no local order parameter; and in quantum quench dynamics, it allows us to exactly derive the microscopic origin and conditions of the quantum Mpemba effect in terms of excitation propagation, including in the thermodynamic limit--beyond the reach of previous analyses. Our results show that the QFI, which is a complete resource monotone in the resource theory of asymmetry that plays the role of entanglement entropy in entanglement theory, faithfully captures symmetry breaking in condensed-matter systems. These results highlight the QFI as a universal and physically meaningful diagnostic of symmetry breaking in both equilibrium and non-equilibrium quantum many-body systems.
Quantum Fisher Information (QFI) is a ubiquitous quantity with applications ranging from quantum metrology and resource theories to condensed matter physics. In equilibrium local quantum many-body systems, the QFI of a subsystem with respect to an extensive observable is typically proportional to the subsystem's volume. Specifically, in large subsystems at equilibrium, the QFI per unit volume squared becomes negligible. We reveal a natural mechanism that amplifies the QFI in a quantum spin chain with a zero-temperature ordered phase. At zero or sufficiently low temperatures, a transient localized perturbation enhances the QFI, causing it to scale quadratically with the subsystem's length. Furthermore, this enhancement can be controlled through more general localized kicking protocols. We also revisit the behavior of the quantum Fisher information after a global quench in the thermodynamic limit, focusing on the generation of localized -- confined within compact subsystems -- multipartite entanglement. We show that the density of localized multipartite entanglement approaches zero at late times, but there is an optimal time frame proportional to the length in which subsystems fall into macroscopic quantum states. We test our predictions against numerical data obtained using a novel technique, based on a remarkable identity between quantum Fisher information and Wigner-Yanase-Dyson skew information, that allows one to compute the quantum Fisher information with respect to the order parameter in noninteracting spin chains.
The topological order of the Kitaev toric code is insensitive to disorder in its couplings since all star and plaquette operators commute; consequently, the stabilizer ground-state manifold is independent of the individual coupling strengths, and the phase remains stable against weak local perturbations. This insensitivity, however, is a property of the eigenstates and not of the dynamics they generate, and we show that the disorder sensitivity of a probe prepared outside that eigenbasis can be a metrological resource. In particular, we investigate the estimation of the strength of three topological-order-breaking perturbations, the nonlinear Castelnovo-Chamon deformation, nearest-neighbor Ising interactions, and a magnetic field along horizontal edges, encoded on an initially separable probe through unitary evolution under the disordered toric code Hamiltonian. We demonstrate that the quenched average quantum Fisher information (QFI), a figure of merit for metrological precision, exceeds that of its ordered counterpart in suitable regimes of perturbation strength and encoding time. For the ordered case, we further identify optimal product probes, for which the quadratic and cubic terms of the short-time expansion vanish identically, leaving a transient quartic scaling of QFI. Interestingly, this window persists as long as the multipartite entanglement generated by the encoding continues to increase, and it survives under local dephasing, bit-flip, and amplitude damping noise acting independently on each site, with the non-unital channel being the least detrimental.
Understanding the properties of far-from-equilibrium quantum systems is becoming a major challenge of both fundamental and applied physics. For instance, the lack of thermalization in integrable and (many body) localized systems provides new insights in the understanding of the relaxation dynamics of quantum phases. On a more applicative side, the possibility of exploiting the properties of far-from-equilibrium states, for example in pump-probe experiments, opens unprecedented scenarios. The effort in providing a classification of far-from-equilibrium phases, in terms of local or topological order parameters, is hence intense. In this context, the concept of Dynamical Quantum Phase Transition (DQPT) has been introduced. A DQPT is (roughly) defined as a zero of the Loschmidt-Echo as a function of time and represents a natural non-equilibrium counterpart of a thermal phase transition. Here, we investigate the DQPTs occurring in the quantum xy chain subject to a quantum quench of finite duration. We show that the number of distinct DQPTs can vary as the duration of the quantum quench is varied. However, the parity of such number only depends on the pre-quench and post-quench Hamiltonians and is related to a topological invariant.