Curator's Take
AI Commentary
This article shows that the Kibble‑Zurek framework can be extended from simple order parameters to a genuinely quantum quantity—corner entanglement entropy—by demonstrating a universal finite‑time scaling law that holds across both gapped and Goldstone‑mode initial states. By extracting the conformal field theory’s corner coefficient directly from nonequilibrium dynamics, the work provides a practical method for probing criticality on near‑term quantum simulators such as Rydberg atom arrays or trapped‑ion platforms, where equilibrium measurements are often prohibitive. The results also bridge recent experimental studies of entanglement growth with theoretical scaling analyses, though they currently rely on Monte Carlo simulations of specific Dirac fermion models and will need validation in broader hardware contexts.
— Mark Eatherly
Summary
The Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) and finite-time scaling (FTS) provide a foundational framework for driven critical dynamics, yet their predictive power has been largely confined to local observables. Here, we establish a universal finite-time scaling theory for the nonequilibrium dynamics of quantum entanglement. Using unbiased quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate the corner entanglement entropy of (2+1)-dimensional interacting Dirac fermions driven from ordered phases toward a quantum critical point. We find that the corner entanglement accurately obeys a universal driven scaling governed by the driving rate and system size, persisting whether the initial ordered state is fully gapped or hosts gapless Goldstone modes. Crucially, this dynamical entanglement exhibits a logarithmic dependence on the driving rate, from which the universal corner coefficient of the underlying conformal field theory can be robustly extracted far from equilibrium. These results generalize the KZM from local observables to the intrinsic nonlocal quantum information measures, offering a practical blueprint for characterizing quantum criticality and entanglement on programmable quantum simulators.