Finite-size effects in a mean-field kinetically constrained model: dynamical glassiness and quantum criticality

On the example of a mean-field Fredrickson-Andersen kinetically constrained model, we focus on the known property that equilibrium dynamics take place at a first-order dynamical phase transition point in the space of time realizations. We investigate the finite-size properties of this first-order transition. By discussing and exploiting a mapping of the classical dynamical transition—an argued glassiness signature—to a first-order quantum transition, we show that the quantum analogy can be exploited to extract finite-size properties, which in many respects are similar to those in genuine mean-field quantum systems with a first-order transition. We fully characterize the finite-size properties of the order parameter across the first-order transition.