Quench dynamics and defects formation in the Ising chain in a transverse magnetic field

Abstract

We study analytically and numerically quench dynamics and defects formation in the quantum Ising model in the presence of a time-dependent transverse magnetic field. We generalize the Landau-Ziner formula to the case of non-adiabatic evolution of the quantum system. For a quasi-static magnetic field, with a slow dependence on time, our outcomes are similar to the results predicted by the Landau-Zener formula. However, a quench dynamics under a shock-wave load is more complicated. The final state of the system depends on the amplitude and pulse velocity, resulting in the mixture of ground and excited states and significant density of defects.