Non-equilibrium and non-homogeneous phenomena around a first-order quantum phase transition

Abstract

We consider non-equilibrium phenomena in a very simple model that displays a zero-temperature first-order phase transition. The quantum Ising model with a four-spin exchange is adopted as a general representative of first-order quantum phase transitions that belong to the Ising universality class, such as for instance the order-disorder ferroelectric transitions, and possibly first-order T = 0 Mott transitions. In particular, we address quantum quenches in the exactly solvable limit of infinite connectivity and show that, within the coexistence region around the transition, the system can remain trapped in a metastable phase, as long as it is spatially homogeneous so that nucleation can be ignored. Motivated by the physics of nucleation, we then study in the same model static but inhomogeneous phenomena that take place at surfaces and interfaces. The first order nature implies that both phases remain locally stable across the transition, and with that the possibility of a metastable wetting layer showing up at the surface of the stable phase, even at T=0. We use mean-field theory plus quantum fluctuations in the harmonic approximation to study quantum surface wetting.

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• Quantum Quench in the Transverse Field Ising Chain
• Quench dynamics and non equilibrium phase diagram of the Bose-Hubbard model
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• Quantum quenches and off-equilibrium dynamical transition in the infinite-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model
• Melting and nonmelting of solid surfaces and nanosystems
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• New theoretical approaches for correlated systems in nonequilibrium
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• Macroscopic quantum tunneling and quantum-classical phase transitions of the escape rate in large spin systems
• $Z_2$-gauge theory description of the Mott transition in infinite dimensions

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Lindblad dissipative dynamics in presence of phase coexistence
• Shielding and localization in presence of long range hopping
• Transient trapping into metastable states in systems with competing orders
• Phase space geometry and optimal state preparation in quantum metrology with collective spins
• Quantum Critical Detector : Amplifying Weak Signals Using First-Order Dynamical Quantum Phase Transitions
• Dissipative phase transitions in the fully-connected Ising model with $p$-spin interaction
• Floquet time crystals in driven spin systems with all-to-all $p$-body interactions
• Engineering First-Order Quantum Phase Transitions for Weak Signal Detection
• Exciton condensation in strongly correlated quantum spin Hall insulators
• Ensemble inequivalence in long-range quantum systems
• Pump induced motion of an interface between competing orders
• Revealing spinons by proximity effect
• Dynamic phase transition into a mixed-CDW state in 1$T$-TaS${}_2$ via a thermal quench
• Wetting critical behavior in the quantum Ising model within the framework of Lindblad dissipative dynamics
• Divergence of the Grüneisen ratio at symmetry-enhanced first-order quantum phase transitions
• Ensemble Inequivalence in Long-Range Quantum Spin Systems