Tracking metastable phases by complex Lee-Yang zeros (opens in new tab)

Metastable phases (MPs) are energetically unfavorable states typically suppressed in equilibrium phase diagrams. Rather than remaining ''hidden'', we show that they exist in the complex plane of thermal fields, as regions delineated by Lee-Yang zeros (LYZs). We demonstrate this numerically in a toy model with a tunable density of states featuring three Gaussian peaks and in a more realistic periodically driven system. In both cases, as artificia...