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

arXiv:2610.14591 · quant-ph · Submitted 2026-10-10 · Read on arXiv

quant-ph

Submitted: 2026-10-10

Updated: 2026-10-10

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: We investigate dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) generated by a two-step linear quench with a finite waiting time at the equilibrium critical point.

Terminology

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*) proportional to t-t* α, with the critical exponent α=1 near the critical time. At the SCM--MCM boundary, this exponent changes to α=1/2, leading to a divergent first derivative of the rate function. Additional discrete parameter lines with α=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.

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