Discontinuous strong-to-weak symmetry breaking transition from thermal pure states

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2606.15062v1
• Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2026 02:39:05 GMT
• Title: Discontinuous strong-to-weak symmetry breaking transition from thermal pure states
• Abstract summary: We investigate strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking in many-body quantum systems undergoing decoherence from thermal pure states.<n>For generic initial pure states with volume-law entanglement entropy, we show that the system undergoes a discontinuous dynamical phase transition at a critical time.<n>Our results reveal that the emergence of a decohered mixed state from a highly entangled state is not a gradual relaxation, but rather a sharp phase transition driven by a sudden collapse of global coherence.
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• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: We investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics of strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking in many-body quantum systems undergoing decoherence from thermal pure states. For generic initial pure states with volume-law entanglement entropy, we show that the system undergoes a discontinuous dynamical phase transition at a critical time. This transition is accompanied by a singularity in the entropy of the system, which saturates to its maximum value at the same critical time. Through numerical simulations of the dephasing Ising and hard-core boson models, we establish the universality of this transition across different symmetries. Our results reveal that the dynamical emergence of a decohered mixed state from a highly entangled state is not a gradual asymptotic relaxation, but rather a sharp phase transition driven by a sudden collapse of global coherence.

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