arXiv subjects

Armando Relaño

Publications and source records attributed to Armando Relaño.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Lindbladian quantum chaos beyond classical strange attractors

We investigate the connection between classical and quantum chaos in a dissipative system of two coupled collective spins. Although the classical dynamics possesses a stable fixed-point attractor, we find pronounced signatures of chaos in the transient dynamics preceding relaxation. In the quantum model, such transient chaos is accompanied by a transition to random-matrix statistics in the relevant part of the Liouvillian spectrum and by a qualitative increase in the number of Liouvillian modes contributing to expectation values of physical observables. The transition occurs before the bifurcation at which the stable fixed point disappears and a chaotic attractor emerges. Our results show that Liouvillian quantum chaos can be associated with transient classical chaos, rather than requiring a chaotic asymptotic attractor, and provide a refinement of the Grobe-Haake-Sommers conjecture.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Quantum many-body scars leading to time-translation symmetry breaking in kicked interacting spin models

We study an Ising model with long-range interactions undergoing a time-periodic kicking. For different initial states we observe persistent period doubling. When there is period doubling we find that the initial state has relevant overlap with Floquet states showing time-translation symmetry breaking, organized in doublets displaying $π$-spectral pairing (as highlighted by the $π$-spectral gap) and long-range order (as shown by the eigenvalues of the magnetization in the doublet). We observe period doubling for initial states with domain walls and tilted spins, and for the latter ones a finite-size scaling of the relevant $π$-shifted gap and magnetization eigenvalues suggests period-doubling oscillations persisting for larger system sizes and lasting a time exponential in the system size. We find that just a minority of Floquet states displays time-translation symmetry breaking while the rest is thermal, a weak-ergodicity breaking situation typical of systems with quantum scars. Although the time-translation symmetry breaking eigenstates are the minority, their number is exponential in the system size and this motivates the period doubling observed for many different initial states.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2026

Chaos, thermalization and breakdown of quantum-classical correspondence in a collective many-body system

We investigate thermalization and the quantum-classical correspondence in the collective Bose-Hubbard model, focusing on the four-site case. Our analysis of the classical phase-space structure and its excited-state quantum phase transitions leads us to three dynamical regimes: symmetry-breaking low-energy states, an intermediate region where quantum and classical equilibrium states markedly disagree, and a high-energy regime with restored correspondence. The observed classical intermittency above the first excited-state quantum phase transition contrasts with quantum dynamics, which remains trapped in symmetry-breaking sectors despite the existence of a classically connected phase. This mismatch originates from the population of imbalance-carrying eigenstates and persists even for relatively large number of particles. Our results reveal unexpectedly slow convergence to the classical limit, signaling robust finite-size effects in collective many-body dynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Scarred ferromagnetic phase in the long-range transverse-field Ising model

We report the existence of a large set of ferromagnetic scarred states in the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model with long-range interactions, in a regime with no ferromagnetic phase at finite temperature. These scarred states are distributed over different spectral regions, surrounded by paramagnetic states. We show that simple initial conditions, consisting in a few small magnetic domains, selectively populate these scarred states. This leads to the appearance of a special dynamical phase, which we call scarred ferromagnetic phase. As a consequence, initial states with a small number of small magnetic domains evolve towards ferromagnetic equilibrium states, whereas initial states with larger domains or no magnetic structure relax to the expected thermal paramagnetic equilibrium state.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2025

Quantum thermalization mechanism and the emergence of symmetry-breaking phases

We propose a generalization of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis accounting for the emergence of symmetry-breaking phases. It consists of two conditions that any system with a degenerate spectrum must fulfill in order to thermalize. The failure of each of them generates a different non-thermalizing scenario. One is due to the absence of chaos and may indicate that extra constants of motion are required to describe equilibrium states. The other one implies the existence of initial conditions evolving towards symmetry-breaking equilibrium states. If it spreads across an entire spectral region, then this region gives rise to a symmetry-breaking phase. We explore the applicability of this formalism by means of numerical experiments on a three-site Bose-Hubbard model with two non-commuting discrete symmetries.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Unifying Finite-Temperature Dynamical and Excited-State Quantum Phase Transitions

In recent years, various notions of dynamical phase transitions have emerged to describe far-from-equilibrium criticality. A unifying framework connecting these different concepts is still missing, and would provide significant progress towards understanding far-from-equilibrium quantum many-body universality. Initializing our system in a thermal ensemble and subsequently performing quantum quenches in the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model, we establish a direct connection between excited-state quantum phase transitions (ESQPTs) and two major types of dynamical phase transitions (DPTs), by relating the phases of the latter to the critical energies and conservation laws in the former. Our work provides further insight into how various concepts of non-ground-state criticality are intimately connected, paving the way for a unified framework of far-from-equilibrium universality.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Constants of motion characterizing continuous symmetry-broken phases

We present a theory characterizing the phases emerging as a consequence of continuous symmetry-breaking in quantum and classical systems. In symmetry-breaking phases, dynamics is restricted due to the existence of a set of conserved charges derived from the order parameter of the phase transition. Their expectation values are determined by the privileged direction appearing in the ordered phase as a consequence of symmetry breaking, and thus they can be used to determine whether this direction is well defined or it has quantum fluctuations. Our theory is numerically exemplified via the two-dimensional limit of the vibron model, a fully connected system invariant under a rotation operator which generates the continuous symmetry-breaking.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Relaxation time as a control parameter for exploring dynamical phase diagrams

We explore a full dynamical phase diagram by means of a double quench protocol that depends on a relaxation time as the only control parameter. The protocol comprises two fixed quenches and an intermediate relaxation time that determines the phase in which the quantum state is placed after the final quench. We apply it to an anharmonic Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model. This model displays two excited-state quantum phase transitions which split the spectrum into three different phases: two of them are symmetry-breaking phases, and one is a disordered phase. As a consequence, our protocol induces several kind of dynamical phase transitions. We characterize all of them in terms of the constants of motion characterizing all three phases of the model.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Experimental observation of phase transitions of a deformed Dicke model using a reconfigurable, bi-parametric electronic platform

We experimentally study the infinite-size limit of the Dicke model of quantum optics with a parity-breaking deformation strength that couples the system to an external bosonic reservoir. We focus on the dynamical consequences of such symmetry-breaking, which makes the classical phase space asymmetric with non-equivalent energy wells. We present an experimental implementation of the classical version of the deformed Dicke model using a state-of-the-art bi-parametric electronic platform. Our platform constitutes a playground for studying representative phenomena of the deformed Dicke model in electrical circuits with the possibility of externally controlling parameters and initial conditions. In particular, we investigate the dynamics of the ground state, various phase transitions, and the asymmetry of the energy wells as a function of the coupling strength $γ$ and the deformation strength $α$ in the resonant case. Additionally, to characterize the various behavior regimes, we present a two-dimensional phase diagram as a function of the two intrinsic system parameters. The onset of chaos is also analyzed experimentally. Our findings provide a clear connection between theoretical predictions and experimental observations, demonstrating the usefulness of our bi-parametric electronic setup.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

General theory for discrete symmetry-breaking equilibrium states

Spontaneous symmetry-breaking in phase transitions occurs when the system Hamiltonian is symmetric under a certain transformation, but the equilibrium states observed in nature are not. Here, we prove that when a discrete symmetry is spontaneously broken in a quantum system, then the time evolution necessarily conserves two additional and non-commuting quantities, besides the one linked to the symmetry. This implies the existence of equilibrium states consisting in superpositions of macroscopic configurations. Then, we propose an experimental realization of such equilibrium states with the current state-of-the art in quantum technologies. Through numerical calculations, we show that they survive as very long-lived pre-thermal states, even very far away from the thermodynamic limit. Finally, we also show that a small symmetry-breaking perturbation in the Hamiltonian stabilizes the conservation of one of the two former quantities, implying that symmetry-breaking equilibrium states become stable even in small quantum systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Theory of dynamical phase transitions in quantum systems with symmetry-breaking eigenstates

We present a theory for the two kinds of dynamical quantum phase transitions, termed DPT-I and DPT-II, based on a minimal set of symmetry assumptions. In the special case of collective systems with infinite-range interactions, both are triggered by excited-state quantum phase transitions. For quenches below the critical energy, the existence of an additional conserved charge, identifying the corresponding phase, allows for a nonzero value of the dynamical order parameter characterizing DPTs-I, and precludes the main mechanism giving rise to nonanalyticities in the return probability, trademark of DPTs-II. We propose a statistical ensemble describing the long-time averages of order parameters in DPTs-I, and provide a theoretical proof for the incompatibility of the main mechanism for DPTs-II with the presence of this additional conserved charge. Our results are numerically illustrated in the fully-connected transverse-field Ising model, which exhibits both kinds of dynamical phase transitions. Finally, we discuss the applicability of our theory to systems with finite-range interactions, where the phenomenology of excited-state quantum phase transitions is absent. We illustrate our findings by means of numerical calculations with experimentally relevant initial states.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Comment on 'Revisiting the phase transitions of the Dicke model'

In the work of Das and Sharma [Phys. Rev. A 105, 033716 (2022)] the phase transitions of the Dicke model are studied. Its main result is that, besides the well-known quantum phase transition, excited-state quantum phase transition and thermal phase transition exhibited by the model, there exists an upper bound energy, $E_{*}$, beyond which the model ceases to exhibit quantum chaotic behavior and the structure of the eigenfunctions changes. Based on this finding, a number of well-established results about the Dicke model are called into question. We argue that this result and all its consequences are spurious numerical effects resulting from an improper truncation of the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space necessary for numerical diagonalization.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Dynamical and excited-state quantum phase transitions in collective systems

We study dynamical phase transitions (DPTs) in quantum many-body systems with infinite-range interaction, and present a theory connecting the two kinds of known DPTs (sometimes referred to as DPTs-I and DPTs-II) with the concept of excited-state quantum phase transition (ESQPT), traditionally found in collective models. We show that DPTs-I appear as a manifestation of symmetry restoration after a quench from the broken-symmetry phase, the limits between these two phases being demarcated precisely by an ESQPT. We describe the order parameters of DPTs-I with a generalization of the standard microcanonical ensemble incorporating the information of an additional conserved charge identifying the corresponding phase. We also show that DPTs-I are linked to a mechanism of information erasure brought about by the ESQPT, and quantify this information loss with the statistical ensemble that we propose. Finally, we show analytically that DPTs-II are forbidden in these systems for quenches leading a broken-symmetry initial state to the same broken-symmetry phase, on one side of the ESQPT, and we provide a formulation of DPTs-II depending on the side of the ESQPT where the quench ends. We analyze the connections between various indicators of DPTs-II. Our results are numerically illustrated in the infinite-range transverse-field Ising model and are applicable to a large class of collective quantum systems satisfying a set of conditions.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Exceptional Spectral Phase in a Dissipative Collective Spin Model

We study a model of a quantum collective spin weakly coupled to a spin-polarized Markovian environment and find that the spectrum is divided into two regions that we name normal and exceptional Liouvillian spectral phases. In the thermodynamic limit, the exceptional spectral phase displays the unique property of being made up exclusively of second order exceptional points. As a consequence, the evolution of any initial density matrix populating this region is slowed down and cannot be described by a linear combination of exponential decays. This phase is separated from the normal one by a critical line in which the density of Liouvillian eigenvalues diverges, a phenomenon analogous to that of excited-state quantum phase transitions observed in some closed quantum systems. In the limit of no bath polarization, this criticality is transferred onto the steady state, implying a dissipative quantum phase transition and the formation of a boundary time crystal.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Energy cat states induced by a parity-breaking excited-state quantum phase transition

We show that excited-state quantum phase transitions (ESQPTs) in a system in which the parity symmetry is broken can be used to engineer an energy-cat state -- a Schrödinger cat state involving a quantum superposition of both different positions and energies. By means of a generalization of the Rabi model, we show that adding a parity-breaking term annihilates the ground-state quantum phase transition between normal and superradiant phases, and induces the formation of three excited-state phases, all of them identified by means of an observable with two eigenvalues. In one of these phases, level crossings are observed in the thermodynamic limit. These allow us to separate a wavefunction in two parts: one, with lower energy, trapped within one region of the spectrum, and a second one, with higher energy, trapped within another. Finally, we show that a generalized microcanonical ensemble, including two different average energies, is required to properly describe equilibrium states in this situation. Our results illustrate yet another physical consequence of ESQPTs.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Chaos in a deformed Dicke model

The critical behavior in an important class of excited state quantum phase transitions is signaled by the presence of a new constant of motion only at one side of the critical energy. We study the impact of this phenomenon in the development of chaos in a modified version of the paradigmatic Dicke model of quantum optics, in which a perturbation is added that breaks the parity symmetry. Two asymmetric energy wells appear in the semiclassical limit of the model, whose consequences are studied both in the classical and in the quantum cases. Classically, Poincaré sections reveal that the degree of chaos not only depends on the energy of the initial condition chosen, but also on the particular energy well structure of the model. In the quantum case, Peres lattices of physical observables show that the appearance of chaos critically depends on the quantum conserved number provided by this constant of motion. The conservation law defined by this constant is shown to allow for the coexistence between chaos and regularity at the same energy. We further analyze the onset of chaos in relation with an additional conserved quantity that the model can exhibit.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Constant of motion identifying excited-state quantum phases

We propose that a broad class of excited-state quantum phase transitions (ESQPTs) gives rise to two different excited-state quantum phases. These phases are identified by means of an operator, $\hat{\mathcal{C}}$, which is a constant of motion only in one of them. Hence, the ESQPT critical energy splits the spectrum into one phase where the equilibirium expectation values of physical observables crucially depend on this constant of motion, and another phase where the energy is the only relevant thermodynamic magnitude. The trademark feature of this operator is that it has two different eigenvalues, $\pm1$, and therefore it acts as a discrete symmetry in the first of these two phases. This scenario is observed in systems with and without an additional discrete symmetry; in the first case, $\hat{\mathcal{C}}$ explains the change from degenerate doublets to non-degenerate eigenlevels upon crossing the critical line. We present stringent numerical evidence in the Rabi and Dicke models, suggesting that this result is exact in the thermodynamic limit, with finite-size corrections that decrease as a power-law.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Signatures of a critical point in the many-body localization transition

Disordered interacting spin chains that undergo a many-body localization transition are characterized by two limiting behaviors where the dynamics are chaotic and integrable. However, the transition region between them is not fully understood yet. We propose here a possible finite-size precursor of a critical point that shows a typical finite-size scaling and distinguishes between two different dynamical phases. The kurtosis excess of the diagonal fluctuations of the full one-dimensional momentum distribution from its microcanonical average is maximum at this singular point in the paradigmatic disordered $J_1$-$J_2$ model. For system sizes accessible to exact diagonalization, both the position and the size of this maximum scale linearly with the system size. Furthermore, we show that this singular point is found at the same disorder strength at which the Thouless and the Heisenberg energies coincide. Below this point, the spectral statistics follow the universal random matrix behavior up to the Thouless energy. Above it, no traces of chaotic behavior remain, and the spectral statistics are well described by a generalized semi-Poissonian model, eventually leading to the integrable Poissonian behavior. We provide, thus, an integrated scenario for the many-body localization transition, conjecturing that the critical point in the thermodynamic limit, if it exists, should be given by this value of disorder strength.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗