Chains of Rydberg atoms have emerged as an amazing playground to study quantum physics in 1D. Playing with inter-atomic distances and laser detuning, one can in particular explore the commensurate-incommensurate transition out of charge-density waves through the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, and the possible presence of a chiral transition with dynamical exponent $z>1$. Here we address this problem theoretically with effective blockade models where the short-distance repulsions are replaced by a constraint of no double occupancy. For the period-4 phase, we show there is an Ashkin-Teller transition point with exponent $ν=0.78$ surrounded by a direct chiral transition with a dynamical exponent $z=1.14$ and a Kibble-Zurek exponent $μ=0.4$. For Rydberg atoms with a van der Waals potential, we suggest that the experimental value $μ=0.25$ is due to a chiral transition with $z\simeq 1.9$ and $ν\simeq 0.47$ surrounding an Ashkin-Teller transition close to the 4-state Potts universality.
When a classical system is driven through a continuous phase transition, its nonequilibrium response is universal and exhibits Kibble-Zurek scaling. We explore this dynamical scaling in the novel context of a three-dimensional topological magnet with fractionalized excitations, namely the liquid-gas transition of the emergent mobile magnetic monopoles in dipolar spin ice. Using field-mixing and finite-size scaling techniques, we place the critical point of the liquid-gas line in the three-dimensional Ising universality class. We then demonstrate Kibble-Zurek scaling for sweeps of the magnetic …
We study the dynamics of systems quenched through topological quantum phase transitions and investigate the behavior of the bulk and edge excitations with various quench rates. Specifically, we consider the Haldane model and checkerboard model in slow quench processes with distinct band-touching structures leading to topology changes. The generation of bulk excitations is found to obey the power-law relation Kibble-Zurek and Landau-Zener theories predict. However, an anti-Kibble-Zurek behavior is observed in the edge excitations. The mechanism of excitation generation on edge states is reveale…
Dissipation-Induced Deviations from Kibble-Zurek Scaling in Non-Hermitian Quantum Annealing
Sharif University of Technology（谢里夫理工大学）；Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS)（基础科学高等研究所）；Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)（基本科学研究院）
Even though no local order parameter in the sense of the Landau theory exists for topological quantum phase transitions in Chern insulators, the highly non-local Berry curvature exhibits critical behavior near a quantum critical point. We investigate the critical properties of its real space analog, the local Chern marker, in weakly disordered Chern insulators. Due to disorder, inhomogeneities appear in the spatial distribution of the local Chern marker. Their size exhibits power-law scaling with the critical exponent matching the one extracted from the Berry curvature of a clean system. We dr…
We propose that Kibble-Zurek scaling can be studied in optical lattices by creating geometries that support, Dirac, Semi-Dirac and Quadratic Band Crossings. On a Honeycomb lattice with fermions, as a staggered on-site potential is varied through zero, the system crosses the gapless Dirac points, and we show that the density of defects created scales as $1/τ$, where $τ$ is the inverse rate of change of the potential, in agreement with the Kibble-Zurek relation. We generalize the result for a passage through a semi-Dirac point in $d$ dimensions, in which spectrum is linear in $m$ parallel direct…
Non-Hermitian descriptions of quantum matter have seen impressive progress recently, with major advances in understanding central aspects such as their topological properties or the physics of exceptional points, the non-Hermitian counterpart of critical points. Here, we use single-photon interferometry to reconstruct the non-Hermitian Kibble-Zurek mechanism and its distinct scaling behavior for exceptional points, by simulating the defect production upon performing slow parameter ramps. Importantly, we are able to realise also higher-order exceptional points, providing experimental access to …
Exceptional points (EPs) are ubiquitous in non-hermitian systems, and represent the complex counterpart of critical points. By driving a system through a critical point at finite rate induces defects, described by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, which finds applications in diverse fields of physics. Here we generalize this to a ramp across an EP. We find that adiabatic time evolution brings the system into an eigenstate of the final non-hermitian Hamiltonian and demonstrate that for a variety of drives through an EP, the defect density scales as $τ^{-(d+z)ν/(zν+1)}$ in terms of the usual critical …
We consider the non-equilibrium dynamics of topologically ordered systems driven across a continuous phase transition into proximate phases with no, or reduced, topological order. This dynamics exhibits scaling in the spirit of Kibble and Zurek but now {\it without} the presence of symmetry breaking and a local order parameter. The late stages of the process are seen to exhibit a slow, coarsening dynamics for the string-net that underlies the physics of the topological phase, a potentially interesting signature of topological order. We illustrate these phenomena in the context of particular ph…
Kibble and Zurek proposed that rapid symmetry breaking transitions in the hot, early universe could result in causally disconnected topological defects such as cosmic strings. This type of first order transition has analogues in certain second order transitions present in condensed matter such as liquid crystals, super fluids, and charge density waves in terms of flux tubes or vortices. Recently, we discovered that Rhodopseudomonas acidophilus photosynthetic light harvesting complex might have different types of coherent ground and excited states, suggesting that there are two different symmet…
Kibble-Zurek theory (KZ) stands out as the most robust theory of defect generation in the dynamics of phase transitions. KZ utilizes the structure of equilibrium states away from the transition point to estimate the excitations due to the transition using adiabatic and impulse approximations. Here we show, the actual nonequilibrium dynamics lead to a qualitatively different scenario from KZ, as far correlations between the defects (rather than their densities) are concerned. For a quantum Ising chain, we show, this gives rise to a Gaussian spatial decay in the domain wall (kinks) correlations,…
The conventional Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) describes the driven critical dynamics in the Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson (LGW) spontaneous symmetry-breaking phase transitions. However, whether the KZM is still applicable in the deconfined quantum criticality, which is beyond the LGW paradigm, has not been explored. In this paper, we study the driven critical dynamics near a one-dimensional incarnation of deconfined quantum critical point between a ferromagnetic (FM) phase and a valance-bond-solid (VBS) phase. By investigating the dependence of the density of the topological defects on the driving ra…
Kibble-Zurek Dynamics in Two-dimensional Frustrated Systems with a Neural Foundation-state Subspace Method
Institute of Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)（洛桑联邦理工学院物理研究所）；Center for Computational Quantum Physics, Flatiron Institute（平顿研究所计算量子物理中心）
We address dissipation effects on the non-equilibrium quantum dynamics of an ensemble of spins-1/2 coupled via an Ising interaction. Dissipation is modeled by a (ohmic) bath of harmonic oscillators at zero temperature and correspond either to the sound modes of a one-dimensional Bose-Einstein (quasi-)condensate or to the zero-point fluctuations of a long transmission line. We consider the dimer comprising two spins and the quantum Ising chain with long-range interactions, and develop a (mathematically and numerically) exact stochastic approach to address non-equilibrium protocols in the presen…
