Phase transitions in first-detection statistics of monitored long-range quantum walks

Abstract

In a quantum walk, the first-detection return probability (FDRP) characterizes salient features, determining whether the quantum walk is transient or recurrent. We study the FDRP of quantum walks on a chain where the initial site is stroboscopically monitored by a detector and the walker performs long-range hopping between sites. We assume that the hopping strength decays with the distance $d$ as $d^{-\alpha}$ and $\alpha\geq 0$ and show that the power-law exponent $\alpha$ critically determines the behavior of the FDRP. The value $\alpha=1$ separates recurrent ($\alpha<1$) from transient ($\alpha>1$) quantum walks through a continuous phase transition in the total detection probability. For $\alpha<1$, strong long-range hopping induces localization, resulting in unit total detection probability. Instead, for $\alpha>1$ the long-range walk is transient and the return probability decays algebraically as a function of time as $t^{-\beta}$. The associated decay exponent $\beta$ features nonanalytic points as a function of $\alpha$. Such singularities are not exclusively determined by the low-energy spectrum, but are caused by the interference between infrared and ultraviolet energy modes induced by projective measurements, signalling the emergence of critical behavior intrinsic to the non-unitary dynamics. These dynamics are solely controlled by tuning the long-range exponent $\alpha$ and can thus be experimentally probed in atomic and molecular systems.