Kavli Affiliate: Natalia Chepiga
| First 5 Authors: Jose Soto Garcia, Natalia Chepiga, , ,
| Summary:
Quantum phase transitions are characterised by the universal scaling laws in
the critical region surrounding the transitions. This universality is also
manifested in the critical real-time dynamics through the quantum Kibble-Zurek
mechanism. In recent experiments on a Rydberg atom quantum simulator, the
Kibble-Zurek mechanism has been used to probe the nature of quantum phase
transitions.
In this paper we analyze the caveats associated with this method and develop
strategies to improve its accuracy. Focusing on two minimal models —
transverse-field Ising and three-state Potts — we study the effect of boundary
conditions, the location of the endpoints and some subtleties in the definition
of the kink operators.
In particular, we show that the critical scaling of the most intuitive types
of kinks is extremely sensitive to the correct choice of endpoint, while more
advanced types of kinks exhibit remarkably robust universal scaling.
Furthermore, we show that when kinks are tracked over the entire chain, fixed
boundary conditions improve the accuracy of the scaling. Surprisingly, the
Kibble-Zurek critical scaling appears to be equally accurate whether the fixed
boundary conditions are chosen to be symmetric or anti-symmetric. Finally, we
show that the density of kinks extracted in the central part of long chains
obeys the predicted universal scaling for all types of boundary conditions.
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