Asymptotic work statistics of periodically driven Ising chains

We study the work statistics of a periodically-driven integrable closed quantum system, addressing in particular the role played by the presence of a quantum critical point. Taking the example of a one-dimensional transverse Ising model in the presence of a spatially homogeneous but periodically time-varying transverse field of frequency $ω_0$, we arrive at the characteristic cumulant generating function $G(u)$, which is then used to calculate the work distribution function $P(W)$. By applying the Floquet theory we show that, in the infinite time limit, $P(W)$ converges, starting from the initial ground state, towards an asymptotic steady state value whose small-$W$ behaviour depends only on the properties of the small-wave-vector modes and on a few important ingredients: the time-averaged value of the transverse field, $h_0$, the initial transverse field, $h_{\rm i}$, and the equilibrium quantum critical point $h_c$, which we find to generate a sequence of non-equilibrium critical points $h_{*l}=h_c+lω_0/2$, with $l$ integer. When $h_{\rm i}\neq h_c$, we find a "universal" edge singularity in $P(W)$ at a threshold value of $W_{\rm th}=2|h_{\rm i}-h_c|$ which is entirely determined by $h_{\rm i}$. The form of that singularity --- Dirac delta derivative or square root --- depends on $h_0$ being or not at a non-equilibrium critical point $h_{*l}$. On the contrary, when $h_{\rm i}=h_c$, $G(u)$ decays as a power-law for large $u$, leading to different types of edge singularity at $W_{\rm th}=0$. Generalizing our calculations to the case in which we initialize the system in a finite temperature density matrix, the irreversible entropy generated by the periodic driving is also shown to reach a steady state value in the infinite time limit.

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