title: First-order dynamical phase transitions.
abstract: Recently, dynamical phase transitions have been identified based on the nonanalytic behavior of the Loschmidt echo in the thermodynamic limit [Heyl et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 135704 (2013)]. By introducing conditional probability amplitudes, we show how dynamical phase transitions can be further classified, both mathematically, and potentially in experiment. This leads to the definition of first-order dynamical phase transitions. Furthermore, we develop a generalized Keldysh formalism which allows us to use nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory to study the Loschmidt echo and dynamical phase transitions in high-dimensional, nonintegrable models. We find dynamical phase transitions of first order in the Falicov-Kimball model and in the Hubbard model.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Research Department for Structural Dynamics, University of Hamburg-CFEL, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Canovi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Research Department for Structural Dynamics, University of Hamburg-CFEL, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eckstein