Criticality around the Spinodal Point of First-Order Quantum Phase Transitions

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2605.06436v1
• Date: Thu, 07 May 2026 15:36:48 GMT
• Title: Criticality around the Spinodal Point of First-Order Quantum Phase Transitions
• Abstract summary: We show that quantum criticality can emerge around the quantum spinodal point of FOQPTs where metastability disappears.<n>This work indicates that the FOQPT dynamics is usually governed by an emergent critical point around the quantum spinodal point.
• Score: 2.4085634966481337
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Universality and scaling are hallmarks of second-order phase transitions but are generally unexpected in first-order quantum phase transitions (FOQPTs). We present a microscopic theory showing that quantum criticality can emerge around the quantum spinodal point of FOQPTs where metastability disappears. We demonstrate that, at this instability, resonant local excitations dynamically decouple a Hilbert subspace characterized by an emergent discrete translational symmetry. Projecting the original Hamiltonian onto this subspace yields an effective Hamiltonian that exhibits a genuine second-order quantum phase transition (SOQPT) and the Kibble-Zurek scaling. We validate this framework in the tilted Ising chain which breaks Z_2 symmetry, and predict the absence of criticality in the staggered-field PXP model. This work indicates that the FOQPT dynamics is usually governed by an emergent critical point around the quantum spinodal point. Our study establishes a bridge between the dynamics of the FOQPT and SOQPT, and thus sheds new light on the long-standing conundrum of the dynamics of the FOQPT.

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