Dynamical phase transitions in the two-dimensional ANNNI model

Interacting many-body systems that are driven far away from equilibrium can exhibit phase transitions between dynamically emerging quantum phases, which manifest as singularities in the Loschmidt echo. Whether and under which conditions such dynamical transitions occur in higher-dimensional systems with spontaneously broken continuous symmetries is largely elusive thus far. Here, we study the dynamics of the Loschmidt echo in the three dimensional O(N) model following a quantum quench from a symmetry breaking initial state. The O(N) model exhibits a dynamical transition in the asymptotic steady state, separating two phases with a finite and vanishing order parameter, that is associated with the broken symmetry. We analytically calculate the rate function of the Loschmidt echo and find that it exhibits periodic kink singularities when this dynamical steady-state transition is crossed. The singularities arise exactly at the zero-crossings of the oscillating order parameter. As a consequence, the appearance of the kink singularities in the transient dynamics is directly linked to a dynamical transition in the order parameter. Furthermore, we argue, that our results for dynamical quantum phase transitions in the O(N) model are general and apply to generic systems with continuous symmetry breaking.

Quantum states beyond thermodynamic equilibrium represent fascinating and cutting-edge research. However, the behavior of dynamical quantum phase transitions in complex open quantum systems remains poorly understood. Here, using state-of-the-art numerical approaches, we show that by quenching the qubits-oscillator coupling in a dissipative two-qubit Rabi model, the system undergoes dynamical quantum phase transitions. These transitions are characterized by kinks in the Loschmidt echo rate function at parameter values close to a thermodynamic quantum phase transition and are associated with distinct entanglement features. The two classes of critical phenomena depend on qubit interactions and entanglement, revealing different behaviors of the critical exponent of the first kink of the Loschmidt echo for interacting versus non-interacting qubits. This research enhances our understanding of non-equilibrium quantum systems and offers potential applications in quantum sensing and metrology, as it examines how dynamical transitions can enhance the sensitivity of the Loschmidt echo to the quench parameters.

Dynamically order–disorder transition in the kinetic Ising model on a triangular lattice driven by a time dependent magnetic field

We propose a new computational method of the Loschmidt amplitude in a generic spin system on the basis of the complex semiclassical analysis on the spin-coherent state path integral. We demonstrate how the dynamical transitions emerge in the time evolution of the Loschmidt amplitude for the infinite-range transverse Ising model with a longitudinal field, exposed by a quantum quench of the transverse field $\Gamma$ from $\infty$ or $0$. For both initial conditions, we obtain the dynamical phase diagrams that show the presence or absence of the dynamical transition in the plane of transverse field after a quantum quench and the longitudinal field. The results of semiclassical analysis are verified by numerical experiments. Experimental observation of our findings on the dynamical transition is also discussed.

When a ferromagnetic system is driven by an oscillating magnetic field, the system shows various intriguing magnetic properties. The two most common features are dynamic phase transition and dynamic hysteresis resulting from the competition between the period of the external field and the metastable lifetime of the system. In this article, we mainly review the similarities and dissimilarities between ferromagnetic systems in thermal equilibrium and those exposed to a driving time-dependent magnetic field. Extensive studies performed over two decades have shown that dynamic and thermodynamic phase transitions correspond to the same universality class and have similar phase diagrams, among other similarities. Remarkably, recent experimental studies have revealed that both fluctuations in dynamic order parameter and susceptibility can demonstrate anomalously sharp sidebands, which are known as metamagnetic anomalies, in the dynamically paramagnetic phase close to the critical point. This behavior is one of the most interesting behaviors observed in the magnetic systems driven by a time-dependent field which does not have an analog in the corresponding equilibrium counterparts. We discuss the general picture regarding the effects of the applied field components on the metamagnetic anomalies. As a main conclusion, we remark that a comprehensive literature overview reveals that the similarities between conventional thermodynamic phase transitions and corresponding dynamic counterpart are only limited to the vicinity of critical period regime with zero bias field, and they should be treated very carefully in the presence of surfaces. Finally, some of the main questions waiting to be answered and potential future research directions are underlined.

In studies of the QCD deconfining phase transition or crossover by means of heavy ion experiments, one ought to be concerned about non-equilibrium effects due to heating and cooling of the system. Motivated by this, we look at hysteresis methods to study the dynamics of phase transitions. Our systems are temperature driven through the phase transition using updating procedures in the Glauber universality class. Hysteresis calculations are presented for a number of observables, including the (internal) energy, properties of Fortuin-Kasteleyn clusters and structure functions. We test the methods for 2d Potts models, which provide a rich collection of phase transitions with a number of rigorously known properties. Comparing with equilibrium configurations we find a scenario where the dynamics of the transition leads to a spinodal decomposition which dominates the statistical properties of the configurations. One may expect an enhancement of low energy gluon production due to spinodal decomposition of the Polyakov loops, if such a scenario is realized by nature.

The evidence establishing first order melting of the vortex lattice in clean YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7} is reviewed. Dynamic transitions in the moving vortex system are demonstrated experimentally through resistivity and magnetization measurements. In general there is a strong interplay between dynamic transitions and equilibrium phase transitions, because the character of the motion is determined in part by the same thermal fluctuation and interaction energies among vortices and pin sites which control the equilibrium phases.

We study the dynamical response of a two-dimensional Ising model subject to a square-wave oscillating external field. In contrast to earlier studies, the system evolves under a so-called soft Glauber dynamic [Rikvold and Kolesik, J. Phys. A 35, L117 (2002)], for which both nucleation and interface propagation are slower and the interfaces smoother than for the standard Glauber dynamic. We choose the temperature and magnitude of the external field such that the metastable decay of the system following field reversal occurs through nucleation and growth of many droplets of the stable phase, i.e., the multidroplet regime. Using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, we find that the system undergoes a nonequilibrium phase transition, in which the symmetry-broken dynamic phase corresponds to an asymmetric stationary limit cycle for the time-dependent magnetization. The critical point is located where the half period of the external field is approximately equal to the metastable lifetime of the system. We employ finite-size scaling analysis to investigate the characteristics of this dynamical phase transition. The critical exponents and the fixed-point value of the fourth-order cumulant are found to be consistent with the universality class of the two-dimensional equilibrium Ising model. This universality class has previously been established for the same nonequilibrium model evolving under the standard Glauber dynamic, as well as in a different nonequilibrium model of CO oxidation. The results reported in the present paper support the hypothesis that this far-from-equilibrium phase transition is universal with respect to the choice of the stochastic dynamics.

Discrete time crystals are related to non-equilibrium dynamics of periodically driven quantum many-body systems where the discrete time translation symmetry of the Hamiltonian is spontaneously broken into another discrete symmetry. Recently, the concept of phase transitions has been extended to non-equilibrium dynamics of time-independent systems induced by a quantum quench, i.e. a sudden change of some parameter of the Hamiltonian. There, the return probability of a system to the ground state reveals singularities in time which are dubbed dynamical quantum phase transitions. We show that the quantum quench in a discrete time crystal leads to dynamical quantum phase transitions where the return probability of a periodically driven system to a Floquet eigenstate before the quench reveals singularities in time. It indicates that dynamical quantum phase transitions are not restricted to time-independent systems and can be also observed in systems that are periodically driven. We discuss how the phenomenon can be observed in ultra-cold atomic gases.

The dynamic phase behavior of a classical Heisenberg spin system with a bilinear exchange anisotropy in a planar thin film geometry has been investigated by Monte Carlo simulations using different forms for the stochastic dynamics. In simulations of the dynamic phase transition (DPT) in films subject to a pulsed oscillatory external field with competing surface fields, both Glauber and Metropolis dynamics show a continuous DPT. But while the field amplitude dependence of the DPT is similar in both cases, the transition region for the DPT as a function of temperature is more extended with Metropolis dynamics. The difference arises from a decoupling of the surface and bulk responses of the film near the dynamic phase transition with Metropolis dynamics that is not evident for Glauber dynamics.

We study the time evolution of the Hamming distance and survival probability between two configurations submitted to the same thermal noise for the antiferromagnetic Ising model on a triangular lattice. The dynamical phase transition temperature Td we obtained is very close to the percolation transition temperature Tp which is obtained by studying the percolation properties of defined clusters of spin pairs satisfying the interaction. All our results support the idea that the dynamical transition and the percolation transition may be related.

A dynamical quantum phase transition can occur during time evolution of sudden quenched quantum systems across a phase transition. It corresponds to the nonanalytic behavior at a critical time of the rate function of the quantum state return amplitude, analogous to nonanalyticity of the free energy density at the critical temperature in macroscopic systems. A variety of many-body systems can be represented in momentum space as a spin-1/2 state evolving on the Bloch sphere, where each momentum mode is decoupled and thus can be simulated independently by a single qubit. Here, we report the observation of a dynamical quantum phase transition in a superconducting qubit simulation of the quantum quench dynamics of many-body systems. We take the Ising model with a transverse field as an example for demonstration. In our experiment, the spin state, which is initially polarized longitudinally, evolves based on a Hamiltonian with adjustable parameters depending on the momentum and strength of the transverse magnetic field. The time evolving quantum state is read out by state tomography. Evidence of dynamical quantum phase transitions, such as paths of time evolution states on the Bloch sphere, non-analytic behavior of the dynamical free energy and the emergence of Skyrmion lattice in momentum-time space, is observed. The experimental data agrees well with theoretical and numerical calculations. The experiment demonstrates for the first time explicitly the topological invariant, both topologically trivial and non-trivial, for dynamical quantum phase transitions. Our results show that the quantum phase transitions of this class of many-body systems can be simulated successfully with a single qubit by varying certain control parameters over the corresponding momentum range.

Dynamic phase transition in disordered Ising model in two dimensions has been studied in presence of external time dependent oscillating magnetic field applying Glauber Monte Carlo techniques. Dynamic phase transitions are identified estimating dynamic order parameter against temperature for different concentrations of disorder. For a given field strength and frequency for which there was no hysteresis, it is observed that disorder is able induce hysteresis in the system. Effect of increasing concentration of disorder on hysteresis loop area has also been studied.

Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics exhibit a variety of complex phenomena far from equilibrium. It inherits challenges of equilibrium, including accurately describing the joint distribution of a large number of configurations, and also poses new challenges as the distribution evolves over time. Characterizing dynamical phase transitions as an emergent behavior further requires tracking nonequilibrium systems under a control parameter. While a number of methods have been proposed, such as tensor networks for one-dimensional lattices, we lack a method for arbitrary time beyond the steady state and for higher dimensions. Here, we develop a general computational framework to study the time evolution of nonequilibrium systems in statistical mechanics by leveraging variational autoregressive networks, which offer an efficient computation on the dynamical partition function, a central quantity for discovering the phase transition. We apply the approach to prototype models of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, including the kinetically constrained models of structural glasses up to three dimensions. The approach uncovers the active-inactive phase transition of spin flips, the dynamical phase diagram, as well as new scaling relations. The result highlights the potential of machine learning dynamical phase transitions in nonequilibrium systems.

Dynamic phase transition of natural gas hydrates confined within complex pore–throat structures is a key factor impacting the safe and efficient development of hydrate-bearing deposits. In this work, hydrate-bearing samples with varying saturation were first reconstructed with the proposed ice-seeding method using actual marine soil in hydrate-bearing sediments from the South China Sea. Dynamic evolution characteristics of hydrate formation in evolving porous media under different temperature and pressure conditions were analyzed in detail. Combined with high-resolution CT scanning, image processing, pore network extraction, and statistical analysis, the typical microscopic pore–throat structures of hydrate-bearing sediments were revealed, and the presence of nanopores was identified. Furthermore, highly controllable heterogeneous pore–throat structures were constructed for microfluidic chips by integrating stochastic modeling, equivalent modeling, and machine learning approaches. On this basis, a novel microfluidic testing method was developed for investigating the dynamic formation, dissociation, and phase transition characteristics of natural gas hydrates in complex pore structures by controlling the temperature. This study provides reliable data support and theoretical guidance for the productivity prediction of marine hydrate-bearing deposits.