// NATURE NEWS — SPAZIO & SCIENZA
Observation of prethermal dynamical phase transitions and resonant melting
Nature
(2026) Cite this article
The dynamics of isolated quantum systems following a sudden quench has a central role in many areas of material science, high-energy physics and quantum chemistry1,2,3,4. Such far-from-equilibrium quantum dynamics—which features complex phenomena with implications for thermalization, non-equilibrium phase transitions and Floquet phase engineering5,6,7,8—is challenging to study numerically, in particular, in high-dimensional systems9,10. Here we use a programmable neutral-atom quantum simulator11 to systematically explore quench dynamics in spin models with up to 180 qubits. By initializing the system in a product state and performing quenches across a broad parameter space, we discover several stable, qualitatively distinct dynamical regimes. We trace their robustness to Floquet-like prethermal steady states8 that are stabilized over exponentially long emergent timescales by strong dynamical constraints. We further observe sharp peaks in the dynamical response that are quantitatively explained by the structured melting of prethermalization through resonances. In two dimensions, we uncover a prethermally driven, first-order dynamical phase transition linked to the proliferation of Néel-order defects6,12, and probe it quantitatively using a generalized Clausius–Clapeyron test. Together, these results establish a programmable route to high-energy prethermal phase structure: long-lived dynamical phases, their resonant breakdown and a first-order dynamical phase transition that is not inherited from the equilibrium phase boundaries.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Data processing and statistical analysis procedures are described in Methods and Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper. The full raw datasets are not included in the accompanying files because of their volume and are available from the corresponding authors upon request.
No custom code central to the conclusions of this study was developed. The software packages used for numerical simulations are described and cited in Methods.
Polkovnikov, A., Sengupta, K., Silva, A. & Vengalattore, M. Nonequilibrium dynamics of closed interacting quantum systems. Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 863–883 (2011).
Mitra, A. Quantum quench dynamics. Annu. Rev. Condens. Matter Phys. 9, 245–259 (2018).