IQIM Postdoctoral and Graduate Student Seminar

Abstract: The dynamics of isolated quantum systems following a sudden quench reveal complex phenomena with implications for thermalization, non-equilibrium phase transitions, and Floquet phase engineering. Yet, far-from-equilibrium quench dynamics remains challenging to capture --- particularly beyond one dimension, where classical simulations are limited. In this work, we use QuEra's neutral-atom analog quantum simulator to systematically investigate large-scale quench dynamics with up to 180 atoms. Initializing the system in a product state and performing hardware-native quenches across a broad parameter space, we discover stable yet qualitatively distinct dynamical regimes. We trace their robustness to Floquet-like prethermal steady states sustained by strong dynamical constraints on emergent timescales, and further correlate sharp peaks in the dynamical response with the structured melting of prethermalization through resonances. In two dimensions, we uncover a system-size-converging dynamical response edge linked to the proliferation of Neel-order defects and suggestive of a dynamical phase transition that is distinct from equilibrium criticalities and potentially inaccessible to current classical simulations. These results reveal a subtle interplay between quantum prethermalization and dynamical phases, demonstrating how programmable quantum simulators can reveal non-equilibrium phenomena at the frontier of theory and numerics.

Following the talk, lunch will be provided on the lawn outside East Bridge.