Ising Quantum Chains

A phase transition indicates a sudden change in the properties of a large system. For temperature-driven phase transitions this is related to non-analytic behavior of the free energy density at the critical temperature: The knowledge of the free energy density in one phase is insufficient to predict the properties of the other phase. In this paper we show that a close analogue of this behavior can occur in the real time evolution of quantum systems, namely non-analytic behavi...

We consider the non-stationary quantum relaxation of the Ising spin chain in a transverse field of strength h. Starting from a homogeneously magnetized initial state the system approaches a stationary state by a process possessing quasi long range correlations in time and space, independent of the value of $h$. In particular the system exhibits aging (or lack of time translational invariance on intermediate time scales) although no indications of coarsening are present.

Understanding the equilibration of isolated quantum systems under unitary dynamics is an interesting topic. In this paper, we look at the early time behaviour of periodically and quasi-periodically driven Transverse field Ising chains when and their corresponding dynamical free energies. We study the system under different frequencies and observe how the system evolves with changes in the field amplitudes in both types of oscillations.

We consider the spin-1/2 Ising chain in a regularly alternating transverse field to examine the effects of regular alternation on the quantum phase transition inherent in the quantum Ising chain. The number of quantum phase transition points strongly depends on the specific set of the Hamiltonian parameters but never exceeds 2p where p is the period of alternation. Calculating the spin correlation functions numerically (for long chains of up to 5400 sites) and determining the...

For a transverse-field Ising chain with weak long-range interactions we develop a perturbative scheme, based on quantum kinetic equations, around the integrable nearest-neighbour model. We introduce, discuss, and benchmark several truncations of the time evolution equations up to eighth order in the Jordan-Wigner fermionic operators. The resulting set of differential equations can be solved for lattices with $O(10^2)$ sites and facilitates the computation of spin expectation ...

An exact description of integrable spin chains at finite temperature is provided using an elementary algebraic approach in the complete Hilbert space of the system. We focus on spin chain models that admit a description in terms of free fermions, including paradigmatic examples such as the one-dimensional transverse-field quantum Ising and XY models. The exact partition function is derived and compared with the ubiquitous approximation in which only the positive parity sect...

Open driven quantum systems have defined a powerful paradigm of non-equilibrium phases and phase transitions; however, quantum phase transitions are generically not expected in this setting due to the decohering effect of dissipation. In this work, we show that a driven-dissipative quantum spin chain exhibits a peculiar sensitivity to the ground-state quantum phase transition. Specifically, we consider a quantum Ising model subject to bulk dissipation (at rate $\Gamma$) and s...

We study the time evolution in the transverse-field Ising chain subject to quantum quenches of finite duration, ie, a continuous change in the transverse magnetic field over a finite time. Specifically, we consider the dynamics of the total energy, one- and two-point correlation functions and Loschmidt echo during and after the quench as well as their stationary behaviour at late times. We investigate how different quench protocols affect the dynamics and identify universal p...

Spectral analysis of the {\em adjoint} propagator in a suitable Hilbert space (and Lie algebra) of quantum observables in Heisenberg picture is discussed as an alternative approach to characterize infinite temperature dynamics of non-linear quantum many-body systems or quantum fields, and to provide a bridge between ergodic properties of such systems and the results of classical ergodic theory. We begin by reviewing some recent analytic and numerical results along this lines....

Quantum spin chains are prototype quantum many-body systems. They are employed in the description of various complex physical phenomena. The goal of this paper is to provide an introduction to the subject by focusing on the time evolution of a Heisenberg spin-1/2 chain and interpreting the results based on the analysis of the eigenvalues, eigenstates, and symmetries of the system. We make available online all computer codes used to obtain our data.