Dr Berislav Buca

Abstract:

We discuss the emergence of non-stationarity in open quantum many-body systems. This leads us to the definition of dissipative time crystals which display experimentally observable, persistent, time-periodic oscillations induced by noisy contact with an environment. We use the Loschmidt echo and local observables to indicate the presence of a finite sized dissipative time crystal. Starting from the closed Hubbard model we then provide examples of dissipation mechanisms that yield experimentally observable quantum periodic dynamics and allow analysis of the emergence of finite sized dissipative time crystals. For a disordered Hubbard model including two-particle loss and gain we find a dark Hamiltonian driving oscillations between GHZ states in the long-time limit. Finally, we discuss how the presented examples could be experimentally realized.

Abstract:

We demonstrate analytically and numerically that the paradigmatic model of quantum magnetism, the Heisenberg XXZ spin chain, does not equilibrate. It constitutes an example of persistent nonstationarity in a quantum many-body system that does not rely on external driving or coupling to an environment. We trace this phenomenon to the existence of extensive dynamical symmetries. We discuss how the ensuing persistent oscillations that seemingly violate one of the most fundamental laws of physics could be observed experimentally.

Abstract:

We study the null space degeneracy of open quantum systems with multiple non-abelian, strong symmetries. By decomposing the Hilbert space representation of these symmetries into an irreducible representation involving the direct sum of multiple, commuting, invariant subspaces we derive a tight lower bound for the stationary state degeneracy. We apply these results within the context of open quantum many-body systems, presenting three illustrative examples: a fully-connected quantum network, the XXX Heisenberg model and the Hubbard model. We find that the derived bound, which scales at least cubically in the system size the SU(2) symmetric cases, is often saturated. Moreover, our work provides a theory for the systematic block-decomposition of a Liouvillian with non-abelian symmetries, reducing the computational difficulty involved in diagonalising these objects and exposing a natural, physical structure to the steady states—which we observe in our examples.