Orthogonalization speed-up from quantum coherence after a sudden quench

Year: 2026

Authors: Donelli B., De Chiara G., Scazza F., Gherardini S.

Autors Affiliation: CNR, Ist Nazl Ottica, INO, I-50125 Florence, Italy; Univ Firenze, European Lab Nonlinear Spect, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Dept Fis, Fis Teor Informacio & Fenomens Quynt, Bellaterra 08193, Spain; Queens Univ Belfast, Ctr Quantum Mat & Technol, Sch Math & Phys, Belfast BT7 1NN, North Ireland; Univ Trieste, Dept Phys, I-34127 Trieste, Italy; CNR, Ist Nazl Ottica, INO, I-34149 Trieste, Italy.

Abstract: We introduce a nonequilibrium phenomenon, reminiscent of Anderson’s orthogonality catastrophe, that arises in the transient dynamics following an interaction quench between a quantum system and a localized defect. Even if the system comprises only a single particle, the overlap between the asymptotic and initial superposition states vanishes according to a power-law scaling with the number of energy eigenstates entering the initial state and an exponent that depends on the interaction strength. The presence of quantum coherence in the initial state is reflected onto the discrete counterpart of an infinite discontinuity in the quasiprobability distribution of work due to the quench transformation, and onto the subsequent power-law decay of the work distribution. The positivity loss of the work distribution is directly linked with a reduction of the minimal time imposed by quantum mechanics for the state to orthogonalize, thus leading to a quantum coherence-enhanced state-orthogonalization. We propose an experimental test of coherence-enhanced orthogonalization dynamics based on Ramsey interferometry of a trapped cold-atom system.

Journal/Review: SCIPOST PHYSICS

Volume: 20 (6)      Pages from: 181-1  to: 181-24

More Information: B.D., F.S. and S.G. acknowledge financial support from the PNRR MUR project PE0000023-NQSTI funded by the European Union-Next Generation EU. G.D.C. and S.G. acknowledge support from the Royal Society Project IESR3223086 Dissipation-based quantum inference for out-of-equilibrium quantum many-body systems. F.S. acknowledges financial support also from the European Union under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (project OrbiDynaMIQs, GA No. 949438) and under the Horizon Europe program HORIZON-CL4-2022-QUANTUM-02-SGA (project PASQuanS2.1, GA no. 101113690). G.D.C. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigacion project a PID2024-162153NB-I00 and UKRI-EPSRC project UKRI3314.
KeyWords: Motion
DOI: 10.21468/SciPostPhys.20.6.181