JCMS: A quench-probe setup for analyzing fractional entanglement spreading

by Nicolas Bauer (Würzburg University)

Monday 26 Feb 2024, 10:30 → 12:00 Europe/Stockholm

Albano 3: 6228 - Mega (22 seats) (Albano Building 3)

We propose a novel spatially inhomogeneous setup for revealing quench-induced fractionalized excitations in entanglement dynamics. In this quench-probe setting, the region undergoing a quantum quench is tunnel-coupled to a static region, the probe. Subsequently, the time dependent entanglement signatures of a tunable subset of excitations propagating to the probe are monitored. We exemplify the power of this generic approach by identifying a unique dynamical signature associated with the presence of an isolated Majorana zero mode in the post-quench Hamiltonian. In this case excitations emitted from the topological part of the system give rise to a fractionalized jump of log(2)/2 in the entanglement entropy of the probe. This dynamical effect is highly sensitive to the localized nature of the Majorana zero mode, but does not require the preparation of a topological initial state.