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Researchers at the Center of Physics and Engineering of Advanced Materials (CeFEMA),  University of Lisbon, Portugal  and the Department of Electrophysics at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu, Republic of China, have published a new article in npj-Quantum Information, a prestigious Nature Partner Journal. The article is titled "Efficient Quantum Information Probes of Nonequilibrium Quantum Criticality."

The study addresses the issue of nonequilibrium quantum criticality, a topic that has garnered increasing attention in recent times. Quantum criticality refers to phase transitions that take place at zero temperature and are driven by quantum fluctuations that become more dominant as the transition point is approached. While there is a well-established theory for conventional quantum criticality in thermal equilibrium, a complete description of quantum criticality in non-equilibrium conditions is still lacking.

To overcome this challenge, the authors propose a class of quantities that define a measure of distance between quantum states, serving as a general tool to determine the location of critical points in out-of-equilibrium systems. These quantities are efficiently accessible through state-of-the-art numerical techniques in condensed matter physics and are expected to be of interest to a wide range of disciplines.

Lead author Miguel Oliveira explains that the proposed measure is not only capable of identifying previously known nonequilibrium phase transitions, but also has the power to predict unknown phases in far-from-equilibrium quantum matter models.

The research article can be accessed at https://rdcu.be/c3nYf