Observation of Dynamical Quantum Phase Transitions with Correspondence in an Excited State Phase Diagram

T. Tian, H.-X. Yang, L.-Y. Qiu, H.-Y. Liang, Y.-B. Yang, Y. Xu, and L.-M. Duan
Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 043001 – Published 31 January 2020
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Abstract

Dynamical quantum phase transitions are closely related to equilibrium quantum phase transitions for ground states. Here, we report an experimental observation of a dynamical quantum phase transition in a spinor condensate with correspondence in an excited state phase diagram, instead of the ground state one. We observe that the quench dynamics exhibits a nonanalytical change with respect to a parameter in the final Hamiltonian in the absence of a corresponding phase transition for the ground state there. We make a connection between this singular point and a phase transition point for the highest energy level in a subspace with zero spin magnetization of a Hamiltonian. We further show the existence of dynamical phase transitions for finite magnetization corresponding to the phase transition of the highest energy level in the subspace with the same magnetization. Our results open a door for using dynamical phase transitions as a tool to probe physics at higher energy eigenlevels of many-body Hamiltonians.

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  • Received 14 October 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.043001

© 2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

T. Tian*, H.-X. Yang*, L.-Y. Qiu, H.-Y. Liang, Y.-B. Yang, Y. Xu, and L.-M. Duan

  • Center for Quantum Information, IIIS, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People’s Republic of China

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • yongxuphy@tsinghua.edu.cn
  • lmduan@tsinghua.edu.cn

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Issue

Vol. 124, Iss. 4 — 31 January 2020

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