Dynamical phase transitions for single particles in the semiclassical and weak noise limits
Abstract
We present a unifying description of dynamical phase transitions in the unitary evolution of an isolated quantum particle and the dissipative relaxation of a classical Brownian particle, based on a dynamical generat- ing function. In the semiclassical and weak-noise limits, Fisher zeros of this function condense in the complex- time plane and reach the corresponding physical axes, producing dynamical phase transitions through a competition between return trajectories. This establishes a direct connection between quantum and classical (finite-time) dynamical phase transitions, where the semiclassical limit plays the role of the thermodynamic limit. In particular, the established link naturally provides a classical version of the Loschmidt amplitude and shows how dynamical quantum phase transitions, typically associated with isolated many-body systems, can arise in a single-particle quantum system. The dynamical phases are distinguished by a unifying, trajectory- based order parameter, realized as a classical correlation function and a sequential quantum weak value.
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BibTeX
@misc{asriyan2026dynamical,
title = {{Dynamical phase transitions for single particles in the semiclassical and weak noise limits}},
author = {Norayr Asriyan and Jan Meibohm and Vasco Cavina and Massimiliano Esposito},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.01197},
eprint = {2609.01197},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01197},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Dynamical phase transitions for single particles in the semiclassical and weak noise limits
AU - Norayr Asriyan
AU - Jan Meibohm
AU - Vasco Cavina
AU - Massimiliano Esposito
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.01197
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01197
AB - We present a unifying description of dynamical phase transitions in the unitary evolution of an isolated quantum particle and the dissipative relaxation of a classical Brownian particle, based on a dynamical generat- ing function. In the semiclassical and weak-noise limits, Fisher zeros of this function condense in the complex- time plane and reach the corresponding physical axes, producing dynamical phase transitions through a competition between return trajectories. This establishes a direct connection between quantum and classical (finite-time) dynamical phase transitions, where the semiclassical limit plays the role of the thermodynamic limit. In particular, the established link naturally provides a classical version of the Loschmidt amplitude and shows how dynamical quantum phase transitions, typically associated with isolated many-body systems, can arise in a single-particle quantum system. The dynamical phases are distinguished by a unifying, trajectory- based order parameter, realized as a classical correlation function and a sequential quantum weak value.
ER -