Dynamics of a Nonequilibrium Discontinuous Quantum Phase Transition in a Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2023
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| _version_ | 1866910909997252608 |
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| author | Wheeler, Matthew T. Salman, Hayder Borgh, Magnus O. |
| author_facet | Wheeler, Matthew T. Salman, Hayder Borgh, Magnus O. |
| contents | Symmetry-breaking quantum phase transitions lead to the production of topological defects or domain walls in a wide range of physical systems. In second-order transitions, these exhibit universal scaling laws described by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, but for first-order transitions a similarly universal approach is still lacking. Here we propose a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate as a testbed system where critical scaling behavior in a first-order quantum phase transition can be understood from generic properties. We demonstrate the applicability of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism for this transition to determine the critical exponents for: (1) the onset of the decay of the metastable state on short times scales, and (2) the number of resulting phase-separated ferromagnetic domains at longer times, as a one-dimensional spin-1 condensate is ramped across a first-order quantum phase transition. The predictions are in excellent agreement with mean-field numerical simulations and provide a paradigm for studying the decay of metastable states in experimentally accessible systems. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_16555 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Dynamics of a Nonequilibrium Discontinuous Quantum Phase Transition in a Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate Wheeler, Matthew T. Salman, Hayder Borgh, Magnus O. Quantum Gases Statistical Mechanics High Energy Physics - Theory Quantum Physics Symmetry-breaking quantum phase transitions lead to the production of topological defects or domain walls in a wide range of physical systems. In second-order transitions, these exhibit universal scaling laws described by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, but for first-order transitions a similarly universal approach is still lacking. Here we propose a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate as a testbed system where critical scaling behavior in a first-order quantum phase transition can be understood from generic properties. We demonstrate the applicability of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism for this transition to determine the critical exponents for: (1) the onset of the decay of the metastable state on short times scales, and (2) the number of resulting phase-separated ferromagnetic domains at longer times, as a one-dimensional spin-1 condensate is ramped across a first-order quantum phase transition. The predictions are in excellent agreement with mean-field numerical simulations and provide a paradigm for studying the decay of metastable states in experimentally accessible systems. |
| title | Dynamics of a Nonequilibrium Discontinuous Quantum Phase Transition in a Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate |
| topic | Quantum Gases Statistical Mechanics High Energy Physics - Theory Quantum Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.16555 |