Signatures of quantum phase transitions after quenches in quantum chaotic one-dimensional systems

Abstract

Quantum phase transitions are central to our understanding of why matter at very low temperatures can exhibit starkly different properties upon small changes of microscopic parameters. Accurately locating those transitions is challenging experimentally and theoretically. Here we show that the antithetic strategy of forcing systems out of equilibrium via sudden quenches provides a route to locate quantum phase transitions. Specifically, we show that such transitions imprint distinctive features in the intermediate-time dynamics, and results after equilibration, of local observables in quantum-chaotic spin chains. Furthermore, we show that the effective temperature in the expected thermal-like states after equilibration can exhibit minima in the vicinity of the quantum critical points. We discuss how to test our results in experiments with Rydberg atoms, and explore nonequilibrium signatures of quantum critical points in models with topological transitions.

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• A simple theory for quantum quenches in the ANNNI model
• Detecting exceptional points through dynamics in non-Hermitian systems
• Quantum Quench Dynamics of Geometrically Frustrated Ising Models
• Late-time critical behavior of local string-like observables under quantum quenches
• Quantum reservoir probing of quantum phase transitions
• Detecting quantum phase transitions in the quasi-stationary regime of Ising chains
• Probing dynamical criticality near quantum phase transitions
• Predicting topological quantum phase transition from dynamics via multisite entanglement
• Charge excitations across a superconductor-insulator transition
• On quenches to the critical point of the three states Potts model -- Matrix Product State simulations and CFT