Dynamical correlations and domain wall relocalisation in transverse field Ising chains

Abstract: We study order parameters and out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) for a wide variety of transverse field Ising chains: classical and quantum, clean and disordered, integrable and generic. The setting we consider is that of a quantum quench. We find a remarkably rich phenomenology, ranging from stable periodic to signals decaying with varying rates. This variety is due to a complex interplay of dynamical constraints (imposed by integrability and symmetry) which thermalisation is subject to. In particular, a process we term dynamical domain wall relocalisation provides a long-lived signal in the clean, integrable case, which can be degraded by the addition of disorder even without interactions. Our results shed light on a proposal to use an OTOC specifically as a local dynamical diagnostic of a quantum phase transition even when evaluated in a state with an energy density corresponding to the paramagnetic phase.