  The interaction of a quantum system, which is not accessible by direct
measurement, with an external probe can be exploited to infer specific features
of the system itself. We introduce a probing scheme based on the emergence of
spontaneous quantum synchronization between an out-of-equilibrium qubit, in
contact with an external environment, and a probe qubit. Tuning the frequency
of the probe leads to a transition between synchronization in phase and
antiphase. The sharp transition between these two regimes is locally accessible
by monitoring the probe dynamics alone and allows one to reconstruct the shape
of the spectral density of the environment.
