Metastable discrete time-crystal resonances in a dissipative central spin system

Cabot, Albert; Carollo, Federico; Lesanovsky, Igor

Abstract

We consider the nonequilibrium behavior of a central spin system where the central spin is periodically reset to its ground state. The quantum-mechanical evolution under this effectively dissipative dynamics is described by a discrete-time quantum map. Despite its simplicity this problem shows surprisingly complex dynamical features. In particular, we identify several metastable time-crystal resonances. Here the system does not relax rapidly to a stationary state but undergoes long-lived oscillations with a period that is an integer multiple of the reset period. At these resonances the evolution becomes restricted to a low-dimensional state space within which the system undergoes a periodic motion. Generalizing the theory of metastability in open quantum systems, we develop an effective description for the evolution within this long-lived metastable subspace and show that in the long-time limit a nonequilibrium stationary state is approached. Our study links to timely questions concerning emergent collective behavior in the "prethermal"stage of a dissipative quantum many-body evolution and may establish an intriguing link to the phenomenon of quantum synchronization.

Citation

Cabot, A., Carollo, F., & Lesanovsky, I. (2022). Metastable discrete time-crystal resonances in a dissipative central spin system. Physical Review B, 106(13), Article 134311. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.106.134311

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 13, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Oct 27, 2022
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Nov 1, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 2, 2022
• Journal: Physical Review B
• Print ISSN: 2469-9950
• Electronic ISSN: 2469-9969
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 106
• Issue: 13
• Article Number: 134311
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.106.134311
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/12902089
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.134311