Dynamics of entanglement after exceptional quantum quench
Ádám Bácsi, Balázs Dóra
Abstract
We investigate a quantum quench from a critical to an exceptional point. The initial state, prepared in the ground state of a critical Hermitian system, is time evolved with a non-Hermitian SSH model, tuned to its exceptional point. The single particle density matrix exhibits supersonic modes and multiple light cones, characteristic of non-Hermitian time evolution. These propagate with integer multiples of the original Fermi velocity. In the long time limit, the fermionic Green's function decays spatially as $1/{x}^{2}$, in sharp contrast to the usual $1/x$ decay of noninteracting fermions. The entanglement entropy is understood as if all these supersonic modes arise from independent quasiparticles (though they do not), traveling with the corresponding supersonic light cone velocity. The entropy production rate decreases with time and develops plateaus during the time evolution, signaling the distinct velocities in the propagation of nonlocal quantum correlations. At late times, the entanglement entropy saturates to a finite value, satisfying a volume law.