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Anomalous Dynamical Scaling at Topological Quantum Criticality

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2026-04-21 v2 Statistical Mechanics Quantum Physics

Abstract

We study the nonequilibrium driven dynamics at topologically nontrivial quantum critical points (QCPs), and find that topological edge modes at criticality give rise to anomalous dynamical scaling behavior. By analyzing the driven dynamics of bulk and boundary order parameters at topologically distinct QCPs in quantum spin chains, we demonstrate that, while the bulk dynamics remain indistinguishable and follow standard Kibble Zurek (KZ) scaling, the anomalous boundary dynamics are unique to topological criticality, obeying modified scaling relation beyond the traditional KZ framework. To elucidate the unified origin of this anomaly, we further study the dynamics of defect production at topologically distinct QCPs in free-fermion models and demonstrate similar anomalous scaling exclusive to topological criticality. These findings establish the existence of anomalous dynamical scaling arising from the interplay between topology and driven dynamics, challenging standard paradigms of quantum critical dynamics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.15537,
  title  = {Anomalous Dynamical Scaling at Topological Quantum Criticality},
  author = {Menghua Deng and Sheng Yang and Chen Sun and Fuxiang Li and Xue-Jia Yu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.15537},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

5 + 20 pages, 16 figures. revised version

R2 v1 2026-07-01T08:29:25.086Z