Signatures of topology in quantum quench dynamics and their interrelation

Abstract

Motivated by recent experimental progress in the study of quantum systems far from equilibrium, we investigate the relation between several dynamical signatures of topology in the coherent time evolution after a quantum quench. Specifically, we study the conditions for the appearance of entanglement spectrum crossings, dynamical quantum phase transitions, and dynamical Chern numbers. For noninteracting models, we show that in general there is no direct relation between these three quantities. Instead, we relate the presence of level crossings in the entanglement spectrum to localized boundary modes that may not be of topological origin in the conventional sense. We exemplify our findings with explicit simulations of one-dimensional two-banded models. Finally, we investigate how interactions influence the presence of entanglement spectrum crossings and dynamical quantum phase transitions, by means of time-dependent density matrix renormalization group simulations.