Work statistics across a quantum critical surface

TL;DR

This paper investigates the universal behavior of work statistics when a quantum system is driven through a critical surface, extending previous theories from critical points to critical surfaces, with exact results demonstrated in the 2D Kitaev model.

Contribution

It generalizes the scaling laws of work statistics from quantum critical points to critical surfaces and provides exact solutions for the 2D Kitaev model.

Findings

Universal scaling behavior of work cumulants across critical surfaces

Extension of Kibble-Zurek mechanism to critical surfaces

Exact characteristic function for the 2D Kitaev model at zero temperature

Abstract

We study the universality of work statistics of a system quenched through a quantum critical surface. By using the adiabatic perturbation theory, we obtain the general scaling behavior for all cumulants of work. These results extend the studies of Kibble-Zurek mechanism scaling of work statistics from an isolated quantum critical point to a critical surface. As an example, we study the scaling behavior of work statistics in the two-dimensional (2D) Kitaev honeycomb model featured with a critical line. By utilizing the trace formula for quadratic fermionic Hamiltonian, we obtain the exact characteristic function of work of the 2D Kitaev model at zero temperature. The results confirm our prediction.