Exploring Dynamical Quantum Phase Transitions via the Dynamical Phase Accumulated at an Equilibrium Critical Point

Abstract

We investigate dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) generated by a two-step linear quench with a finite waiting time at the equilibrium critical point. The waiting stage leads to the accumulation of a dynamical phase that depends on the waiting time and directly reflects the critical spectral structure. In the transverse Ising chain, this accumulated phase modifies the critical structure of DQPTs from a single-critical-mode (SCM) regime to a multiple-critical-mode (MCM) regime. We analytically and numerically determine the boundary between the two regimes. Along this boundary, the waiting time approaches a constant in the sudden-quench limit, whereas in the slow-quench limit it follows Kibble--Zurek (KZ) scaling with the quench time. In the SCM regime, the rate function exhibits a conventional linear singularity, $r(t)-r(t^{\ast })\propto |t-t^{\ast }{|}^{\alpha }$, with the critical exponent $\alpha =1$ near the critical time. At the SCM--MCM boundary, this exponent changes to $\alpha =1/2$, leading to a divergent first derivative of the rate function. Additional discrete parameter lines with $\alpha =1/2$ also appear within the MCM regime in the parameter plane spanned by the waiting and quench times. Our findings establish a direct connection between the accumulated dynamical phase and the critical structure of DQPTs, further supported by an extended Su--Schrieffer--Heeger (SSH) model.