Aperiodic dynamical quantum phase transition in multi-band Bloch Hamiltonian and its origin

Abstract

We investigate the dynamical quantum phase transition (DQPT) in the multi-band Bloch Hamiltonian of the one-dimensional periodic Kitaev model, focusing on quenches from a Bloch band. By analyzing the dynamical free energy and Pancharatnam geometric phase, we show that the critical times of DQPTs deviate from periodic spacing due to the multi-band effect, contrasting with results from two-band models. We propose a geometric interpretation to explain this non-uniform spacing. Additionally, we clarify the conditions needed for DQPT occurrence in the multi-band Bloch Hamiltonian, highlighting that a DQPT only arises when the quench from the Bloch states collapses the band gap at the critical point. Moreover, we establish that the dynamical topological order parameter, defined by the winding number of the Pancharatnam geometric phase, is not quantized but still exhibits discontinuous jumps at DQPT critical times due to periodic modulation. Additionally, we extend our analysis to mixed-state DQPT and find its absence at non-zero temperatures.