Observation of an anomaly in the statistics of Kibble-Zurek defects

TL;DR

This paper reports an unexpected anomaly in defect statistics during adiabatic phase transitions in Rydberg atom chains, revealing complex correlated quantum phenomena beyond independent domain formation.

Contribution

It uncovers a defect distribution anomaly in long ramp experiments, linking it to non-critical coarsening dynamics and demonstrating quantum simulators' capability to reveal new quantum effects.

Findings

Anomaly in defect number distribution at long ramp times

Link between anomaly and non-critical coarsening dynamics

Suppression of anomaly in prepare-and-hold experiments

Abstract

The Kibble-Zurek mechanism quantifies defect formation during adiabatic passage across a continuous phase transition, providing key insights into universality in quantum many-body systems. We explore counting statistics of defects in adiabatic passage experiments on long 1D Rydberg atom chains. The experiments reveal an anomaly in the defect number distribution at long ramp times, challenging the hypothesis of defect formation through independent domain mergers. Numerical simulations confirm the anomaly and suggest its link to non-critical coarsening dynamics, which we suppress in prepare-and-hold experiments. Our results highlight the ability of quantum simulators to uncover unexpected correlated quantum phenomena.