Decay of Loschmidt echo enhanced by quantum criticality

Exact zeros of fidelity in finite-size systems as a signature for probing quantum phase transitions

The fidelity is widely used to detect quantum phase transitions, which is characterized by either a sharp change of fidelity or the divergence of fidelity susceptibility in the thermodynamical limit when the phase-driving parameter is across the transition point. In this work, we unveil that the occurrence of exact zeros of fidelity in finite-size systems can be applied to detect quantum phase transitions. In general, the fidelity F(γ,γ[over ̃]) always approaches zero in the thermodynamical limit, due to the Anderson orthogonality catastrophe, no matter whether the parameters of two ground states (γ and γ[over ̃]) are in the same phase or different phases, and this makes it difficult to distinguish whether an exact zero of fidelity exists by finite-size analysis. To overcome the influence of orthogonality catastrophe, we study finite-size systems with twist boundary conditions, which can be introduced by applying a magnetic flux, and demonstrate that exact zeros of fidelity can be always accessed by tuning the magnetic flux when γ and γ[over ̃] belong to different phases. On the other hand, no exact zero of fidelity can be observed if γ and γ[over ̃] are in the same phase. We demonstrate the applicability of our theoretical scheme by studying concrete examples, including the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, Creutz model, and Haldane model. Our work provides a practicable way to detect quantum phase transitions via the calculation of fidelity of finite-size systems.

Spin Echo, Fidelity, and the Quantum Critical Fan in TmVO_{4}

Using spin-echo nuclear magnetic resonance in the model transverse field Ising system TmVO_{4}, we show that low frequency quantum fluctuations at the quantum critical point have a very different effect on ^{51}V nuclear spins than classical low-frequency noise or fluctuations that arise at a finite temperature critical point. Spin echoes filter out the low-frequency classical noise but not the quantum fluctuations. This allows us to directly visualize the quantum critical fan and demonstrate the persistence of quantum fluctuations at the critical coupling strength in TmVO_{4} to high temperatures in an experiment that remains transparent to finite temperature classical phase transitions. These results show that while dynamical decoupling schemes can be quite effective in eliminating classical noise in a qubit, a quantum critical environment may lead to rapid entanglement and decoherence.

Tunability in 3-Site Electronic Excitation Transfer Dynamics: Insights into the Role of Perturbative Coupling

Electronic excitation transfer dynamics in photosynthetic systems, including the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex, are often modeled using the interaction picture of three two-level systems, also known as the 3-site system. Among the two possible configurations, uphill and downhill, a recent publication reported an intriguing correlation between population dynamics and the intersite coupling. Specifically, the uphill configuration has been shown to have a pronounced dependence on perturbations in the intersite coupling, whereas the downhill configuration displays negligible dependence. In this study, we consider a generic 3-site configuration and model site interactions through the Markovian master equation. Through this approach, we derive succinct analytical expressions for the population dynamics between the sites, shedding light on the differences in behavior between the two configurations. Using these analytical expressions, we demonstrate the range of tunability in population dynamics achievable with minimal changes in intersite coupling, and we validate these findings through simulation results. These insights into the population dynamics of a 3-site system are expected to play a crucial role in facilitating the design of efficient energy-transfer pathways in molecular systems.

Temperature fluctuations in mesoscopic systems

Temperature is a fundamental concept in thermodynamics. In macroscopic thermodynamics, systems possess their own intrinsic temperature which equals the reservoir temperature when they equilibrate. In stochastic thermodynamics for simple systems at the microscopic level, thermodynamic quantities other than temperature (a deterministic parameter of the reservoir) are stochastic. To bridge the disparity in the perspectives about temperature between the micro- and macroregimes, we assign a generic mesoscopic N-body system an intrinsic fluctuating temperature T in this work. We simplify the complicated dynamics of numerous particles to one stochastic differential equation with respect to T, where the noise term accounts for finite-size effects arising from random energy transfer between the system and the reservoir. Our analysis reveals that these fluctuations make the extensive quantities (in the thermodynamic limit) deviate from being extensive. Moreover, we derive finite-size corrections, characterized by heat capacity of the system, to the Jarzynski equality. A possible violation of the principle of maximum work that scales with N^{-1} is also discussed. Additionally, we examine the impact of temperature fluctuations in a finite-size Carnot engine. We show that irreversible entropy production resulting from the temperature fluctuations of the working substance diminishes the average efficiency of the cycle as η_{C}-〈η〉∼N^{-1}, highlighting the unattainability of the Carnot efficiency η_{C} for mesoscopic heat engines even under the quasistatic limit. Our general framework paves the way for further exploration of nonequilibrium thermodynamics and the corresponding finite-size effects in a mesoscopic regime.

Mesoscopic fluctuations in entanglement dynamics

Understanding fluctuation phenomena plays a dominant role in the development of many-body physics. The time evolution of entanglement is essential to a broad range of subjects in many-body physics, ranging from exotic quantum matter to quantum thermalization. Stemming from various dynamical processes of information, fluctuations in entanglement evolution differ conceptually from out-of-equilibrium fluctuations of traditional physical quantities. Their studies remain elusive. Here we uncover an emergent random structure in the evolution of the many-body wavefunction in two classes of integrable-either interacting or noninteracting-lattice models. It gives rise to out-of-equilibrium entanglement fluctuations which fall into the paradigm of mesoscopic fluctuations of wave interference origin. Specifically, the entanglement entropy variance obeys a universal scaling law in each class, and the full distribution displays a sub-Gaussian upper and a sub-Gamma lower tail. These statistics are independent of both the system's microscopic details and the choice of entanglement probes, and broaden the class of mesoscopic universalities. They have practical implications for controlling entanglement in mesoscopic devices.

Exact quench dynamics from algebraic geometry

We develop a systematic approach to compute physical observables of integrable spin chains with finite length. Our method is based on the Bethe ansatz solution of the integrable spin chain and computational algebraic geometry. The final results are analytic and no longer depend on Bethe roots. The computation is purely algebraic and does not rely on further assumptions or numerics. This method can be applied to compute a broad family of physical quantities in integrable quantum spin chains. We demonstrate the power of the method by computing two important quantities in quench dynamics-the diagonal entropy and the Loschmidt echo-and obtain analytic results.

Excited-state quantum phase transitions in the anharmonic Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model: Dynamical aspects

The standard Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) model undergoes a second-order ground-state quantum phase transition (QPT) and an excited-state quantum phase transition (ESQPT). The inclusion of an anharmonic term in the LMG Hamiltonian gives rise to a second ESQPT that alters the static properties of the model [Gamito et al., Phys. Rev. E 106, 044125 (2022)2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.106.044125]. In the present work, the dynamical implications associated to this new ESQPT are analyzed. For that purpose, a quantum quench protocol is defined on the system Hamiltonian that takes an initial state, usually the ground state, into a complex excited state that evolves on time. The impact of the new ESQPT on the time evolution of the survival probability and the local density of states after the quantum quench, as well as on the Loschmidt echoes and the microcanonical out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC) are discussed. The anharmonity-induced ESQPT, despite having a different physical origin, has dynamical consequences similar to those observed in the ESQPT already present in the standard LMG model.

Quantum critical behaviors and decoherence of weakly coupled quantum Ising models within an isolated global system

We discuss the quantum dynamics of an isolated composite system consisting of weakly interacting many-body subsystems. We focus on one of the subsystems, S, and study the dependence of its quantum correlations and decoherence rate on the state of the weakly-coupled complementary part E, which represents the environment. As a theoretical laboratory, we consider a composite system made of two stacked quantum Ising chains, locally and homogeneously weakly coupled. One of the chains is identified with the subsystem S under scrutiny, and the other one with the environment E. We investigate the behavior of S at equilibrium, when the global system is in its ground state, and under out-of-equilibrium conditions, when the global system evolves unitarily after a quench of the coupling between S and E. When S develops quantum critical correlations in the weak-coupling regime, the associated scaling behavior crucially depends on the quantum state of E, whether it is characterized by short-range correlations (analogous to those characterizing disordered phases in closed systems), algebraically decaying correlations (typical of critical systems), or long-range correlations (typical of magnetized ordered phases). In particular, different scaling behaviors, depending on the state of E, are observed for the decoherence of the subsystem S, as demonstrated by the different power-law divergences of the decoherence susceptibility that quantifies the sensitivity of the coherence to the interaction with E.

Quantum Speed-Up Induced by the Quantum Phase Transition in a Nonlinear Dicke Model with Two Impurity Qubits

In this paper, we investigate the effect of the Dicke quantum phase transition on the speed of evolution of the system dynamics. At the phase transition point, the symmetry associated with the system parity operator begins to break down. By comparing the magnitudes of the two types of quantum speed limit times, we find that the quantum speed limit time of the system is described by one of the quantum speed limit times, whether in the normal or superradiant phase. We find that, in the normal phase, the strength of the coupling between the optical field and the atoms has little effect on the dynamical evolution speed of the system. However, in the superradiant phase, a stronger atom–photon coupling strength can accelerate the system dynamics’ evolution. Finally, we investigate the effect of the entanglement of the initial state of the system on the speed of evolution of the system dynamics. We find that in the normal phase, the entanglement of the initial state of the system has almost no effect on the system dynamics’ evolution speed. However, in the superradiant phase, larger entanglement of the system can accelerate the evolution of the system dynamics. Furthermore, we verify the above conclusions by the actual evolution of the system.

Sudden quench of harmonically trapped mass-imbalanced fermions

Dynamical properties of two-component mass-imbalanced few-fermion systems confined in a one-dimensional harmonic trap following a sudden quench of interactions are studied. It is assumed that initially the system is prepared in the non-interacting ground state and then, after a sudden quench of interactions, the unitary evolution is governed by interacting many-body Hamiltonian. By careful analysis of the evolution of the Loschmidt echo, density distributions of the components, and entanglement entropy between them, the role of mass imbalance and particle number imbalance on the system's evolution stability are investigated. All the quantities studied manifest a dramatic dependence on the number of heavy and lighter fermions in each component at a given quench strength. The results may have implications for upcoming experiments on fermionic mixtures with a well-defined and small number of particles.

Nonequilibrium work distributions in quantum impurity system-bath mixing processes

The fluctuation theorem, where the central quantity is the work distribution, is an important characterization of nonequilibrium thermodynamics. In this work, based on the dissipaton-equation-of-motion theory, we develop an exact method to evaluate the work distributions in quantum impurity system-bath mixing processes, in the presence of non-Markovian and strong couplings. Our results not only precisely reproduce the Jarzynski equality and Crooks relation, but also reveal rich information on large deviation. The numerical demonstrations are carried out with a spin-boson model system.

Numerical renormalization group study of the Loschmidt echo in Kondo systems

We study the dynamical properties of the one-channel and two-channel spin-1/2 Kondo models after quenching in Hamiltonian variables. Eigen spectrum of the initial and final Hamiltonians is calculated by using the numerical renormalization group method implemented within the matrix product states formalism. We consider multiple quench protocols in the considered Kondo systems, also in the presence of external magnetic field of different intensities. The main emphasis is put on the analysis of the behavior of the Loschmidt echo L(t), which measures the ability of the system's revival to its initial state after a quench. We show that the decay of the Loschmidt echo strongly depends on the type of quench and the ground state of the system. For the one-channel Kondo model, we show that L(t) decays as, [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is the Kondo temperature, while for the two-channel Kondo model, we demonstrate that the decay is slower and given by [Formula: see text]. In addition, we also determine the dynamical behavior of the impurity's magnetization, which sheds light on identification of the relevant time scales in the system's dynamics.

Quantum many-body spin rings coupled to ancillary spins: The sunburst quantum Ising model

We study the ground-state properties of a quantum sunburst model, composed of a quantum Ising spin ring in a transverse field, symmetrically coupled to a set of ancillary isolated qubits, to maintain a residual translation invariance and also a Z_{2} symmetry. The large-size limit is taken in two different ways: either by keeping the distance between any two neighboring ancillary qubits fixed or by fixing their number while increasing the ring size. Substantially different regimes emerge, depending on the various Hamiltonian parameters: For small energy scale δ of the ancillary subsystem and small ring-qubit interaction κ, we observe rapid and nonanalytic changes in proximity to the quantum transitions of the Ising ring, both first order and continuous, which can be carefully controlled by exploiting renormalization-group and finite-size scaling frameworks. Smoother behaviors are instead observed when keeping δ>0 fixed and in the Ising disordered phase. The effect of an increasing number n of ancillary spins turns out to scale proportionally to sqrt[n] for sufficiently large values of n.

Orthogonality catastrophe and quantum speed limit for spin chain at finite temperature

We present an interesting relationship between the orthogonality catastrophe (OC) and the quantum speed limit (QSL) for a spin chain with uniform nearest neighbour couplings perturbed by an impurity spin. We thoroughly study the catastrophic QSL that specifies a bound on the evolution time between the initial and final states and in this respect, link it to the emerging OC effect. It is found that the speed of state evolution subtle but fundamental, and the bound characterized by QSL shows the same behaviours as the OC effect in the thermodynamic limit. It allows us to reveal some universal properties, in particular finite temperature effects. Significantly, the threshold of temperature and system size is clearly demonstrated for the QSL under finite temperature.

High-Harmonic Generation Approaching the Quantum Critical Point of Strongly Correlated Systems

By employing the exact diagonalization method, we investigate the high-harmonic generation (HHG) of the correlated systems under the strong laser irradiation. For the extended Hubbard model on a periodic chain, HHG close to the quantum critical point (QCP) is more significant compared to two neighboring gapped phases (i.e., charge-density-wave and spin-density wave states), especially in low frequencies. We confirm that the systems in the vicinity of the QCP are supersensitive to the external field and more optical-transition channels via excited states are responsible for HHG. This feature holds the potential of obtaining high-efficiency harmonics by making use of materials approaching QCP. Based on the two-dimensional Haldane model, we further propose that the even- or odd-order components of generated harmonics can be promisingly regarded as spectral signals to distinguish the topologically ordered phases from locally ordered ones. Our findings in this Letter pave the way to achieve ultrafast light source from HHG in strongly correlated materials and to study quantum phase transition by nonlinear optics in strong laser fields.

Quantum entanglement and criticality in a one-dimensional deconfined quantum critical point

We investigate the ground-state quantum entanglement in a one-dimensional incarnation of deconfined quantum critical point by making use of the finite-size density matrix renormalization group method. We observe two distinct behaviors of two-site entanglement calculated on odd and even bonds, and the difference O_{E} is shown to obey conventional scaling relations for order parameters. Accurate deconfined critical point and associated critical exponents are numerically extracted from finite-size scaling analyses. We further notice a close similarity between O_{E} and the valence-bond-solid order parameter and same observations are also obtained for quantum coherence and trace distance. Furthermore, the deconfined critical point is suggested to possess rich quantum entanglement other than the two-site entanglement from the residual entanglement perspective. Our work explores the critical characteristics of the one-dimensional deconfined quantum critical point from the quantum information aspect and provides insights for its ground-state entanglement structure.

Magnetic phase diagram of a spin-1/2 XXZ chain with modulated Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

We consider the ground-state phase diagram of a one-dimensional spin-1/2 XXZ chain with a spatially modulated Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in the presence of an alternating magnetic field applied along the z[over ̂] axis. The model is studied using the continuum-limit bosonization approach and the finite system exact numerical technique. In the absence of a magnetic field, the ground-state phase diagram of the model includes, besides the ferromagnetic and gapless Luttinger-liquid phases, two gapped phases: the composite (C1) phase characterized by the coexistence of long-range-ordered (LRO) alternating dimerization and spin chirality patterns, and the composite (C2) phase characterized by, in addition to the coexisting spin dimerization and alternating chirality patterns, the presence of LRO antiferromagnetic order. In the case of mentioned composite gapped phases, and in the case of a uniform magnetic field, the commensurate-incommensurate type quantum phase transitions from a gapful phase into a gapless phase have been identified and described using the bosonization treatment and finite chain exact diagonalization studies. The upper critical magnetic field corresponding to the transition into a fully polarized state has been also determined. It has been shown that the very presence of a staggered component of the magnetic field vapes the composite (C1) in favor of the composite gapped (C2) phase.

Many-body thermodynamics on quantum computers via partition function zeros

Partition functions are ubiquitous in physics: They are important in determining the thermodynamic properties of many-body systems and in understanding their phase transitions. As shown by Lee and Yang, analytically continuing the partition function to the complex plane allows us to obtain its zeros and thus the entire function. Moreover, the scaling and nature of these zeros can elucidate phase transitions. Here, we show how to find partition function zeros on noisy intermediate-scale trapped-ion quantum computers in a scalable manner, using the XXZ spin chain model as a prototype, and observe their transition from XY-like behavior to Ising-like behavior as a function of the anisotropy. While quantum computers cannot yet scale to the thermodynamic limit, our work provides a pathway to do so as hardware improves, allowing the future calculation of critical phenomena for systems beyond classical computing limits.

Work statistics and symmetry breaking in an excited-state quantum phase transition

We examine how the presence of an excited-state quantum phase transition manifests in the dynamics of a many-body system subject to a sudden quench. Focusing on the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model initialized in the ground state of the ferromagnetic phase, we demonstrate that the work probability distribution displays non-Gaussian behavior for quenches in the vicinity of the excited-state critical point. Furthermore, we show that the entropy of the diagonal ensemble is highly susceptible to critical regions, making it a robust and practical indicator of the associated spectral characteristics. We assess the role that symmetry breaking has on the ensuing dynamics, highlighting that its effect is only present for quenches beyond the critical point. Finally, we show that similar features persist when the system is initialized in an excited state and briefly explore the behavior for initial states in the paramagnetic phase.

Quantum Phase Transition in a Quantum Ising Chain at Nonzero Temperatures

We study the response of a thermal state of an Ising chain to a nonlocal non-Hermitian perturbation, which coalesces the topological Kramer-like degeneracy in the ferromagnetic phase. The dynamic responses for initial thermal states in different quantum phases are distinct. The final state always approaches its half component with a fixed parity in the ferromagnetic phase but remains almost unchanged in the paramagnetic phase. This indicates that the phase diagram at zero temperature is completely preserved at finite temperatures. Numerical simulations for Loschmidt echoes demonstrate such dynamical behaviors in finite-size systems. In addition, it provides a clear manifestation of the bulk-boundary correspondence at nonzero temperatures. This work presents an alternative approach to understanding the quantum phase transitions of quantum spin systems at nonzero temperatures.

Dynamic Framework for Criticality-Enhanced Quantum Sensing

Quantum criticality, as a fascinating quantum phenomenon, may provide significant advantages for quantum sensing. Here we propose a dynamic framework for quantum sensing with a family of Hamiltonians that undergo quantum phase transitions (QPTs). By giving the formalism of the quantum Fisher information (QFI) for quantum sensing based on critical quantum dynamics, we demonstrate its divergent feature when approaching the critical point. We illustrate the basic principle and the details of experimental implementation using quantum Rabi model. The framework is applicable to a variety of examples and does not rely on the stringent requirement for particular state preparation or adiabatic evolution. It is expected to provide a route towards the implementation of criticality-enhanced quantum sensing.

Detecting Out-of-Time-Order Correlations via Quasiadiabatic Echoes as a Tool to Reveal Quantum Coherence in Equilibrium Quantum Phase Transitions

We propose a new dynamical method to connect equilibrium quantum phase transitions and quantum coherence using out-of-time-order correlations (OTOCs). Adopting the iconic Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick and transverse-field Ising models as illustrative examples, we show that an abrupt change in coherence and entanglement of the ground state across a quantum phase transition is observable in the spectrum of multiple quantum coherence intensities, which are a special type of OTOC. We also develop a robust protocol to obtain the relevant OTOCs using quasi-adiabatic quenches through the ground state phase diagram. Our scheme allows for the detection of OTOCs without time reversal of coherent dynamics, making it applicable and important for a broad range of current experiments where time reversal cannot be achieved by inverting the sign of the underlying Hamiltonian.

Nonequilibrium Green's Function's Approach to the Calculation of Work Statistics

The calculation of work distributions in a quantum many-body system is of significant importance and also of formidable difficulty in the field of nonequilibrium quantum statistical mechanics. To solve this problem, inspired by the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism, we propose the contour-integral formulation for work statistics. Based on this contour integral, we show how to do the perturbation expansion of the characteristic function of work (CFW) and obtain the approximate expression of the CFW to the second order of the work parameter for an arbitrary system under a perturbative protocol. We also demonstrate the validity of fluctuation theorems by utilizing the Kubo-Martin-Schwinger condition. Finally, we use noninteracting identical particles in a forced harmonic potential as an example to demonstrate the powerfulness of our approach.

Longitudinal magnetization dynamics in the quantum Ising ring: A Pfaffian method based on correspondence between momentum space and real space

As perhaps the most studied paradigm for a quantum phase transition, the periodic quantum Ising chain is exactly solvable via the Jordan-Wigner transformation followed by a Fourier transform that diagonalizes the model in the momentum space of spinless fermions. Although the above procedures are well-known, there remain some subtle points to be clarified regarding the correspondence between the real-space and momentum-space representations of the finite-size quantum Ising ring, especially those related to fermion parities. In this work, we establish the relationship between the two fully aligned ferromagnetic states in real space and the two degenerate momentum-space ground states of the classical Ising ring, with the former being a special case of the factorized ground states of the more general XYZ model on the frustration-free hypersurface. Based on this observation, we then provide a Pfaffian formula for calculating real-time dynamics of the parity-breaking longitudinal magnetization with the system initially prepared in one of the two ferromagnetic states and under translationally invariant drivings. The formalism is shown to be applicable to large systems with the help of online programs for the numerical computation of the Pfaffian, thus providing an efficient method to numerically study, for example, the emergence of discrete time crystals in related systems.

Work Statistics across a Quantum Phase Transition

We investigate the statistics of the work performed during a quench across a quantum phase transition using the adiabatic perturbation theory when the system is characterized by independent quasiparticles and the "single-excitation" approximation is assumed. It is shown that all the cumulants of work exhibit universal scaling behavior analogous to the Kibble-Zurek scaling for the average density of defects. Two kinds of transformations are considered: quenches between two gapped phases in which a critical point is traversed, and quenches that end near the critical point. In contrast to the scaling behavior of the density of defects, the scaling behavior of the cumulants of work are shown to be qualitatively different for these two kinds of quenches. However, in both cases the corresponding exponents are fully determined by the dimension of the system and the critical exponents of the transition, as in the traditional Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM). Thus, our study deepens our understanding about the nonequilibrium dynamics of a quantum phase transition by revealing the imprint of the KZM on the work statistics.

Orthogonality Catastrophe as a Consequence of the Quantum Speed Limit

A remarkable feature of quantum many-body systems is the orthogonality catastrophe that describes their extensively growing sensitivity to local perturbations and plays an important role in condensed matter physics. Here we show that the dynamics of the orthogonality catastrophe can be fully characterized by the quantum speed limit and, more specifically, that any quenched quantum many-body system, whose variance in ground state energy scales with the system size, exhibits the orthogonality catastrophe. Our rigorous findings are demonstrated by two paradigmatic classes of many-body systems-the trapped Fermi gas and the long-range interacting Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick spin model.

Probing the Possibilities of Ergodicity in the 1D Spin-1/2 XY Chain with Quench Dynamics

Ergodicity sits at the heart of the connection between statistical mechanics and dynamics of a physical system. By fixing the initial state of the system into the ground state of the Hamiltonian at zero temperature and tuning a control parameter, we consider the occurrence of the ergodicity with quench dynamics in the one-dimensional (1D) spin-1/2 XY model in a transverse magnetic field. The ground-state phase diagram consists of two ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases. It is known the magnetization in this spin system is non-ergodic. We set up two different experiments as we call them single and double quenches and test the dynamics of the magnetization along the Z-axis and the spin-spin correlation function along the X-axis which are the order parameters of the zero-temperature phases . Our exact results reveal that for single quenches at zero-temperature, the ergodicity depends on the initial state and the order parameter. In single quenches for a given order parameter, ergodicity will be observed with an ergodic-region for quenches from another phase, non-correspond to the phase of the order parameter, into itself. In addition, a quench from a ground-state phase point corresponding to the order parameter into or very close to the quantum critical point, hc = 1.0, discloses an ergodic behavior. Otherwise, for all other single quenches, the system behaves non-ergodic. Interestingly on the other setup, a double quench on a cyclic path, ergodicity is completely broken for starting from the phase corresponding to the order parameter. Otherwise, it depends on the first quenched point, and the quench time T when the model spent before a second quench in the way back which gives an ability to controlling the ergodicity in the system. Therefore, and contrary to expectations, in the mentioned model the ergodicity can be observed with probing quench dynamics at zero-temperature. Our results provide further insight into the zero-temperature dynamical behavior of quantum systems and their connections to the ergodicity phenomenon.

Possible Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquid State in 2D Materials with S=3/2

Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) form an extremely unusual magnetic state in which the spins are highly correlated and fluctuate coherently down to the lowest temperatures, but without symmetry breaking and without the formation of any static long-range-ordered magnetism. Such intriguing phenomena are not only of great fundamental relevance in themselves, but also hold promise for quantum computing and quantum information. Among different types of QSLs, the exactly solvable Kitaev model is attracting much attention, with most proposed candidate materials, e.g., RuCl_{3} and Na_{2}IrO_{3}, having an effective S=1/2 spin value. Here, via extensive first-principles-based simulations, we report the investigation of the Kitaev physics and possible Kitaev QSL state in epitaxially strained Cr-based monolayers, such as CrSiTe_{3}, that rather possess a S=3/2 spin value. Our study thus extends the playground of Kitaev physics and QSLs to 3d transition metal compounds.

Coherent and incoherent theories for photosynthetic energy transfer

There is a remarkable characteristic of photosynthesis in nature, that is, the energy transfer efficiency is close to 100%. Recently, due to the rapid progress made in the experimental techniques, quantum coherent effects have been experimentally demonstrated. Traditionally, the incoherent theories are capable of calculating the energy transfer efficiency, e.g., (generalized) Förster theory and modified Redfield theory (MRT). However, in order to describe the quantum coherent effects in photosynthesis, one has to exploit coherent theories, such as hierarchical equation of motion (HEOM), quantum path integral, coherent modified Redfield theory (CMRT), small-polaron quantum master equation, and general Bloch-Redfield theory in addition to the Redfield theory. Here, we summarize the main points of the above approaches, which might be beneficial to the quantum simulation of quantum dynamics of exciton energy transfer (EET) in natural photosynthesis, and shed light on the design of artificial light-harvesting devices.

Information geometric analysis of long range topological superconductors

The Uhlmann connection is a mixed state generalisation of the Berry connection. The latter has a very important role in the study of topological phases at zero temperature. Closely related, the quantum fidelity is an information theoretical quantity which is a measure of distinguishability of quantum states. Moreover, it has been extensively used in the analysis of quantum phase transitions. In this work, we study topological phase transitions in 1D and 2D topological superconductors with long-range hopping and pairing amplitudes, using the fidelity and the quantity [Formula: see text] closely related to the Uhlmann connection. The drop in the fidelity and the departure of [Formula: see text] from zero signal the topological phase transitions in the models considered. The analysis of the ground state fidelity susceptibility and its associated critical exponents are also applied to the study of the aforementioned topological phase transitions.

Emergent Prethermalization Signatures in Out-of-Time Ordered Correlations

How a many-body quantum system thermalizes-or fails to do so-under its own interaction is a fundamental yet elusive concept. Here we demonstrate nuclear magnetic resonance observation of the emergence of prethermalization by measuring out-of-time ordered correlations. We exploit Hamiltonian engineering techniques to tune the strength of spin-spin interactions and of a transverse magnetic field in a spin chain system, as well as to invert the Hamiltonian sign to reveal out-of-time ordered correlations. At large fields, we observe an emergent conserved quantity due to prethermalization, which can be revealed by an early saturation of correlations. Our experiment not only demonstrates a new protocol to measure out-of-time ordered correlations, but also provides new insights in the study of quantum thermodynamics.

Probing the Full Distribution of Many-Body Observables By Single-Qubit Interferometry

We present an experimental scheme to measure the full distribution of many-body observables in spin systems, both in and out of equilibrium, using an auxiliary qubit as a probe. We focus on the determination of the magnetization and the kink number statistics at thermal equilibrium. The corresponding characteristic functions are related to the analytically continued partition function. Thus, both distributions can be directly extracted from experimental measurements of the coherence of a probe qubit that is coupled to an Ising-type bath, as reported in [X. Peng et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 010601 (2015)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.114.010601] for the detection of Lee-Yang zeros.

Quantum critical detector: amplifying weak signals using discontinuous quantum phase transitions

We propose a quantum critical detector (QCD) to amplify weak input signals. Our detector exploits a first-order discontinuous quantum-phase-transition and exhibits giant sensitivity (χ ∝ N²) when biased at the critical point. We propose a model consisting of spins with long-range interactions coupled to a bosonic mode to describe the time-dynamics in the QCD. We numerically demonstrate dynamical features of the first order (discontinuous) quantum phase transition such as time-dependent quantum gain in a system with 80 interacting spins. We also show the linear scaling with the spin number N in both the quantum gain and the corresponding signal-to-quantum noise ratio during the time evolution of the device. Our work shows that engineering first order discontinuous quantum phase transitions can lead to a device application for metrology, weak signal amplification, and single photon detection.

Pulsed Quantum-State Reconstruction of Dark Systems

We propose a novel strategy to reconstruct the quantum state of dark systems, i.e., degrees of freedom that are not directly accessible for measurement or control. Our scheme relies on the quantum control of a two-level probe that exerts a state-dependent potential on the dark system. Using a sequence of control pulses applied to the probe makes it possible to tailor the information one can obtain and, for example, allows us to reconstruct the density operator of a dark spin as well as the Wigner characteristic function of a harmonic oscillator. Because of the symmetry of the applied pulse sequence, this scheme is robust against slow noise on the probe. The proof-of-principle experiments are readily feasible in solid-state spins and trapped ions.

Dynamical Quantum Phase Transition and Quasi Particle Excitation

Dynamical phase transitions (DPTs) are signaled by the non-analytical time evolution of the dynamical free energy after quenching some global parameters in quantum systems. The dynamical free energy is calculated from the overlap between the initial and the time evolved states (Loschmidt amplitude). In a recent study it was suggested that DPTs are related to the equilibrium phase transitions (EPTs) (Heyl, M. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 135704 (2013)). We here study an exactly solvable model, the extended XY model, the Loschmidt amplitude of which provides a counterexample. We show analytically that the connection between the DPTs and the EPTs does not hold generally. Analysing also the general compass model as a second example, assists us to propound the physical condition under which the DPT occurs without crossing the equilibrium critical point, and also no DPT by crossing the equilibrium critical point.

Identification of Unentangled–Entangled Border in the Luttinger Liquid Phase

Quantum discord and entanglement are both criteria for distinguishing quantum correlations in a quantum system. We studied the effect of the transverse magnetic field on the quantum discord of the one-dimensional spin-1/2 XX model. This study focused on the pair of spins at different distances. We show that quantum discord is finite for all studied spin pairs in the Luttinger liquid phase. In addition, relying on our calculations, we show that the derivatives of quantum discord can be used to identify the border between entangled and separable regions in the Luttinger liquid phase.

Orthogonality Catastrophe in Dissipative Quantum Many-Body Systems

We present an analog of the phenomenon of orthogonality catastrophe in quantum many-body systems subject to a local dissipative impurity. We show that the fidelity F(t), giving a measure for distance of the time-evolved state from the initial one, displays a universal scaling form F(t)∝t^{θ}e^{-γt}, when the system supports long-range correlations, in a fashion reminiscent of traditional instances of orthogonality catastrophe in condensed matter. An exponential falloff at rate γ signals the onset of environmental decoherence, which is critically slowed down by the additional algebraic contribution to the fidelity. This picture is derived within a second-order cumulant expansion suited for Liouvillian dynamics, and substantiated for the one-dimensional transverse field quantum Ising model subject to a local dephasing jump operator, as well as for XY and XX quantum spin chains, and for the two-dimensional Bose gas deep in the superfluid phase with local particle heating. Our results hint that local sources of dissipation can be used to inspect real-time correlations and to induce a delay of decoherence in open quantum many-body systems.

Ineffectiveness of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in the dynamical quantum phase transition in the ITF model

Quantum phase transition occurs at a quantum critical value of a control parameter such as the magnetic field in the Ising model in a transverse magnetic field (ITF). Recently, it is shown that ramping across the quantum critical point generates non-analytic behaviors in the time evolution of a closed quantum system in the thermodynamic limit at zero temperature. The mentioned phenomenon is called the dynamical quantum phase transition (DQPT). Here, we consider the one-dimensional ITF model with added the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). Using the fermionization technique, the Hamiltonian is exactly diagonalized. Although the DMI induces chiral phase in the ground state phase diagram of the model, the study of the rate function of the return probability has proven that the DMI does not affect the DQPT. We conclude accordingly that the ramping across the quantum critical point is not a necessary and sufficient condition for DQPT.

Phase diagram for the Harper model of the honeycomb lattice

The Harper equation arising out of a tight-binding model of electrons on a honeycomb lattice subject to a uniform magnetic field perpendicular to the plane is studied. Contrasting and complementary approaches involving von Neumann entropy, fidelity, fidelity susceptibility, and multifractal analysis are employed to characterize the phase diagram. Remarkably even in the absence of the quasi-periodic on-site potential term, the Hamiltonian allows for a metal-insulator transition. The phase diagram consists of three phases: two metallic phases and an insulating phase. A variant model where next nearest neighbor hopping is included, exhibits a mobility edge and does not allow for a simple single phase diagram characterizing all the eigenstates.

Experimental implementation of fully controlled dephasing dynamics and synthetic spectral densities

Engineering, controlling, and simulating quantum dynamics is a strenuous task. However, these techniques are crucial to develop quantum technologies, preserve quantum properties, and engineer decoherence. Earlier results have demonstrated reservoir engineering, construction of a quantum simulator for Markovian open systems, and controlled transition from Markovian to non-Markovian regime. Dephasing is an ubiquitous mechanism to degrade the performance of quantum computers. However, all-purpose quantum simulator for generic dephasing is still missing. Here, we demonstrate full experimental control of dephasing allowing us to implement arbitrary decoherence dynamics of a qubit. As examples, we use a photon to simulate the dynamics of a qubit coupled to an Ising chain in a transverse field and also demonstrate a simulation of nonpositive dynamical map. Our platform opens the possibility to simulate dephasing of any physical system and study fundamental questions on open quantum systems.

Effects of the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction on nonequilibrium thermodynamics in the XY chain in a transverse field

We examine the effects of the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya (DM) interaction on the nonequilibrium thermodynamics in an anisotropic XY spin chain, which is driven out of equilibrium by a sudden quench of the control parameter of the Hamiltonian. By analytically evaluating the statistical properties of the work distribution and the irreversible entropy production, we investigate the influences of the DM interaction on the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of the system with different parameters at various temperatures. We find that depending on the anisotropy of the system and the temperature, the DM interaction may have different impacts on the nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Interestingly, the critical line induced by the DM interaction can be revealed via the properties of the nonequilibrium thermodynamics. In addition, our results suggest that the strength of the DM interaction can be detected experimentally by studying the nonequilibrium thermodynamics.

Genuine quantum correlations in quantum many-body systems: a review of recent progress

Quantum information theory has considerably helped in the understanding of quantum many-body systems. The role of quantum correlations and in particular, bipartite entanglement, has become crucial to characterise, classify and simulate quantum many body systems. Furthermore, the scaling of entanglement has inspired modifications to numerical techniques for the simulation of many-body systems leading to the, now established, area of tensor networks. However, the notions and methods brought by quantum information do not end with bipartite entanglement. There are other forms of correlations embedded in the ground, excited and thermal states of quantum many-body systems that also need to be explored and might be utilised as potential resources for quantum technologies. The aim of this work is to review the most recent developments regarding correlations in quantum many-body systems focussing on multipartite entanglement, quantum nonlocality, quantum discord, mutual information but also other non classical measures of correlations based on quantum coherence. Moreover, we also discuss applications of quantum metrology in quantum many-body systems.

Entanglement entropy of a three-spin-interacting spin chain with a time-reversal-breaking impurity at one boundary

We investigate the effect of a time-reversal-breaking impurity term (of strength λ_{d}) on both the equilibrium and nonequilibrium critical properties of entanglement entropy (EE) in a three-spin-interacting transverse Ising model, which can be mapped to a p-wave superconducting chain with next-nearest-neighbor hopping and interaction. Importantly, we find that the logarithmic scaling of the EE with block size remains unaffected by the application of the impurity term, although, the coefficient (i.e., central charge) varies logarithmically with the impurity strength for a lower range of λ_{d} and eventually saturates with an exponential damping factor [∼exp(-λ_{d})] for the phase boundaries shared with the phase containing two Majorana edge modes. On the other hand, it receives a linear correction in term of λ_{d} for an another phase boundary. Finally, we focus to study the effect of the impurity in the time evolution of the EE for the critical quenching case where the impurity term is applied only to the final Hamiltonian. Interestingly, it has been shown that for all the phase boundaries, contrary to the equilibrium case, the saturation value of the EE increases logarithmically with the strength of impurity in a certain regime of λ_{d} and finally, for higher values of λ_{d}, it increases very slowly dictated by an exponential damping factor. The impurity-induced behavior of EE might bear some deep underlying connection to thermalization.

Probing the excited-state quantum phase transition through statistics of Loschmidt echo and quantum work

By analyzing the probability distributions of the Loschmidt echo (LE) and quantum work, we examine the nonequilibrium effects of a quantum many-body system, which exhibits an excited-state quantum phase transition (ESQPT). We find that depending on the value of the controlling parameter the distribution of the LE displays different patterns. At the critical point of the ESQPT, both the averaged LE and the averaged work show a cusplike shape. Furthermore, by employing the finite-size scaling analysis of the averaged work, we obtain the critical exponent of the ESQPT. Finally, we show that at the critical point of ESQPT the eigenstate is a highly localized state, further highlighting the influence of the ESQPT on the properties of the many-body system.

Quantum thermodynamic cycle with quantum phase transition

With the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) model as an illustration, we construct a thermodynamic cycle composed of two isothermal processes and two isomagnetic field processes, and we study the thermodynamic performance of this cycle accompanied by the quantum phase transition (QPT). We find that for a finite particle system working below the critical temperature, the efficiency of the cycle is capable of approaching the Carnot limit when the external magnetic field λ_{1} corresponding to one of the isomagnetic processes reaches the cross point of the ground states' energy level, which can become the critical point of the QPT in the large-N limit. Our analysis proves that the system's energy level crossings at low-temperature limits can lead to a significant improvement in the efficiency of the quantum heat engine. In the case of the thermodynamics limit (N→∞), the analytical partition function is obtained to study the efficiency of the cycle at high- and low-temperature limits. At low temperatures, when the magnetic fields of the isothermal processes are located on both sides of the critical point of the QPT, the cycle reaches maximum efficiency, and the Carnot efficiency can be achieved. This observation demonstrates that the QPT of the LMG model below critical temperature is beneficial to the thermodynamic cycle's operation.

Majorana charges, winding numbers and Chern numbers in quantum Ising models

Mapping a many-body state on a loop in parameter space is a simple way to characterize a quantum state. The connections of such a geometrical representation to the concepts of Chern number and Majorana zero mode are investigated based on a generalized quantum spin system with short and long-range interactions. We show that the topological invariants, the Chern numbers of corresponding Bloch band, is equivalent to the winding number in the auxiliary plane, which can be utilized to characterize the phase diagram. We introduce the concept of Majorana charge, the magnitude of which is defined by the distribution of Majorana fermion probability in zero-mode states, and the sign is defined by the type of Majorana fermion. By direct calculations of the Majorana modes we analytically and numerically verify that the Majorana charge is equal to Chern numbers and winding numbers.

Excited-state fidelity as a signal for the many-body localization transition in a disordered Ising chain

In this work, we use exact matrix diagonalization to explore the many-body localization (MBL) transitions in quantum Ising chains with disordered nearest-neighbour couplings, disordered next-nearest-neighbour couplings and disordered external fields. It is demonstrated that the fidelity can be used to characterize the interaction-driven MBL transition in this closed spin system in a manner that is consistent with previous analytical and numerical results. We compute the fidelity for high-energy many-body eigenstates, namely, the excited-state fidelity. It is demonstrated that disordered nearest-neighbour couplings, disordered next-nearest-neighbour couplings and disordered external fields each have different effects on the MBL transition. Furthermore, we investigate the MBL transition of a quantum Ising chain with both disordered nearest-neighbour couplings and disordered next-nearest-neighbour couplings to see how these two types of disordered couplings drive the occurrence of the MBL transition.

Loschmidt Echo Revivals: Critical and Noncritical

A quantum phase transition is generally thought to imprint distinctive characteristics on the nonequilibrium dynamics of a closed quantum system. Specifically, the Loschmidt echo after a sudden quench to a quantum critical point-measuring the time dependence of the overlap between initial and time-evolved states-is expected to exhibit an accelerated relaxation followed by periodic revivals. We here introduce a new exactly solvable model, the extended Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, the Loschmidt echo of which provides a counterexample. A parallell analysis of the quench dynamics of the three-site spin-interacting XY model allows us to pinpoint the conditions under which a periodic Loschmidt revival actually appears.

Quantum many-body theory for electron spin decoherence in nanoscale nuclear spin baths

Decoherence of electron spins in nanoscale systems is important to quantum technologies such as quantum information processing and magnetometry. It is also an ideal model problem for studying the crossover between quantum and classical phenomena. At low temperatures or in light-element materials where the spin-orbit coupling is weak, the phonon scattering in nanostructures is less important and the fluctuations of nuclear spins become the dominant decoherence mechanism for electron spins. Since the 1950s, semi-classical noise theories have been developed for understanding electron spin decoherence. In spin-based solid-state quantum technologies, the relevant systems are in the nanometer scale and nuclear spin baths are quantum objects which require a quantum description. Recently, quantum pictures have been established to understand the decoherence and quantum many-body theories have been developed to quantitatively describe this phenomenon. Anomalous quantum effects have been predicted and some have been experimentally confirmed. A systematically truncated cluster-correlation expansion theory has been developed to account for the many-body correlations in nanoscale nuclear spin baths that are built up during electron spin decoherence. The theory has successfully predicted and explained a number of experimental results in a wide range of physical systems. In this review, we will cover this recent progress. The limitations of the present quantum many-body theories and possible directions for future development will also be discussed.

Fidelity of the diagonal ensemble signals the many-body localization transition

In this work, we use exact matrix diagonalization to explore the many-body localization (MBL) transition in a random-field Heisenberg chain. We demonstrate that the fidelity and fidelity susceptibility can be utilized to characterize the interaction-driven many-body localization transition in this closed spin system which is in agreement with previous analytical and numerical results [S. Garnerone, N. T. Jacobson, S. Haas, and P. Zanardi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 057205 (2009)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.102.057205; P. Zanardi and N. Paunkovic, Phys. Rev. E 74, 031123 (2006)PLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.74.031123]. In particular, instead of ground-state fidelity, we test the fidelity between two diagonal ensembles related by a small parameter perturbation δh, it is special that here the parameter perturbation δh_{i} for each site are random variables like h_{i}. It shows that fidelity of the diagonal ensemble develop a pronounced drop at the transition. We utilize fidelity to estimate the critical disorder strength h_{c} for different system size, we get h_{c}∈ [2.5,3.9] and get a power-law decay with an exponent of roughly -1.49(2) for system size N, and can extrapolate h_{c}^{inf} of the infinite system is about 2.07 which all agree with a recent work by Huse and Pal, in which the MBL transition in the same model was predicted to be hc [2,4]. We also estimate the scaling of maximum of averaged fidelity susceptibility as a function of system size N, it shows a power law increase with an exponent of about 5.05(1).