Quantum Quenches from the Critical Point: Theory and Experimental Validation in a Trapped-Ion Quantum Simulator

TL;DR

This paper explores quantum quenches from a critical point using a trapped-ion quantum simulator, revealing universal defect statistics scaling and validating theoretical models through experimental data.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental validation of defect statistics scaling in quantum quenches from a critical point, combining theory and experiment.

Findings

Defect number cumulants scale universally with quench depth.

Gaussian behavior dominates at leading order in defect distributions.

Experimental results match theoretical predictions with high precision.

Abstract

We investigate quantum quenches starting from a critical point and experimentally probe the associated defect statistics using a trapped-ion quantum simulator of the transverse-field Ising model. The cumulants of the defect number distribution exhibit universal scaling with quench depth, featuring Gaussian behavior at leading order and systematic subleading corrections. Our results are in excellent agreement with both exact and approximate theoretical predictions, establishing quench-depth scaling as a powerful and precise experimental benchmark for nonequilibrium quantum critical dynamics.