Dynamical phase transitions in the collisionless pre-thermal states of isolated quantum systems: theory and experiments

TL;DR

This paper reviews the concept of dynamical phase transitions in isolated quantum systems out of equilibrium, emphasizing their prethermal nature, theoretical models, and experimental observations across various platforms.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of dynamical phase transitions, highlighting their prethermal regimes, theoretical frameworks, and experimental realizations in cold atoms and condensed matter systems.

Findings

DPTs are characterized by distinct temporal behaviors separated by a critical point.

Prethermal DPTs can exist without thermalization due to suppressed inelastic collisions.

Experimental evidence of DPTs has been observed in multiple quantum systems.

Abstract

We overview the concept of dynamical phase transitions in isolated quantum systems quenched out of equilibrium. We focus on non-equilibrium transitions characterized by an order parameter, which features qualitatively distinct temporal behaviour on the two sides of a certain dynamical critical point. Dynamical phase transitions are currently mostly understood as long-lived prethermal phenomena in a regime where inelastic collisions are incapable to thermalize the system. The latter enables the dynamics to substain phases that explicitly break detailed balance and therefore cannot be encompassed by traditional thermodynamics. Our presentation covers both cold atoms as well as condensed matter systems. We revisit a broad plethora of platforms exhibiting pre-thermal DPTs, which become theoretically tractable in a certain limit, such as for a large number of particles, large number of order parameter components, or large spatial dimension. The systems we explore include, among others, quantum magnets with collective interactions, $\phi^4$ quantum field theories, and Fermi-Hubbard models. A section dedicated to experimental explorations of DPTs in condensed matter and AMO systems connects this large variety of theoretical models.