Temporal Entanglement Transitions in the Periodically Driven Ising Chain

Periodically driven quantum systems can host nonequilibrium phenomena without static analogs, including in their entanglement dynamics. Here, we discover temporal entanglement transitions (TETs) in a Floquet spin chain, which correspond to a quantum phase transition in the spectrum of the entanglement Hamiltonian and are signaled by dynamical spontaneous symmetry breaking. We identify the symmetry principles underlying these transitions: they appear when the driven Hamiltonian preserves global symmetry (here, Z_{2}), the initial state respects this symmetry, and the reduced density matrix carries weight in both subsystem-parity sectors, with TETs occurring precisely when the sector weights become equal (given the previous two conditions are also satisfied). Intriguingly, we find these transitions across a broad range of driving frequencies (from adiabatic to high-frequency regime) and independent of drive details, where they manifest as periodic, sharp entanglement spectrum reorganizations marked by the Schmidt-gap closure, a vanishing entanglement echo, and symmetry-quantum-number flips, while remaining invisible to conventional local observables. At high frequencies, the entanglement Hamiltonian acquires an intrinsic timescale decoupled from the drive period, rendering the transitions genuine steady-state features. Finite-size scaling reveals universal critical behavior with correlation-length exponent ν=1, matching equilibrium Ising universality despite its emergence from purely dynamical mechanisms decoupled from static criticality. Our Letter establishes TETs as novel features in Floquet quantum matter.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Physical Review Letters
Published
2026-02-23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/cxq7-q9pd
Primary Topic
Quantum many-body systems
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Temporal Entanglement Transitions in the Periodically Driven Ising Chain

Karun Gadge, Abhinav Prem, Rishabh Jha
Physical Review Letters
Quantum many-body systems
article

Temporal Entanglement Transitions in the Periodically Driven Ising Chain

Karun Gadge, Abhinav Prem, Rishabh Jha
article en

Abstract

Periodically driven quantum systems can host nonequilibrium phenomena without static analogs, including in their entanglement dynamics. Here, we discover temporal entanglement transitions (TETs) in a Floquet spin chain, which correspond to a quantum phase transition in the spectrum of the entanglement Hamiltonian and are signaled by dynamical spontaneous symmetry breaking. We identify the symmetry principles underlying these transitions: they appear when the driven Hamiltonian preserves global symmetry (here, Z_{2}), the initial state respects this symmetry, and the reduced density matrix carries weight in both subsystem-parity sectors, with TETs occurring precisely when the sector weights become equal (given the previous two conditions are also satisfied). Intriguingly, we find these transitions across a broad range of driving frequencies (from adiabatic to high-frequency regime) and independent of drive details, where they manifest as periodic, sharp entanglement spectrum reorganizations marked by the Schmidt-gap closure, a vanishing entanglement echo, and symmetry-quantum-number flips, while remaining invisible to conventional local observables. At high frequencies, the entanglement Hamiltonian acquires an intrinsic timescale decoupled from the drive period, rendering the transitions genuine steady-state features. Finite-size scaling reveals universal critical behavior with correlation-length exponent ν=1, matching equilibrium Ising universality despite its emergence from purely dynamical mechanisms decoupled from static criticality. Our Letter establishes TETs as novel features in Floquet quantum matter.

Physical Review LettersVol. 136(10)
Bard College (US), University of Göttingen (DE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 45%
Quantum many-body systems
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.