We explore the nature of the Bose condensation transition in driven open quantum systems, such as exciton-polariton condensates. Using a functional renormalization group approach formulated in the Keldysh framework, we characterize the dynamical critical behavior that governs decoherence and an effective thermalization of the low frequency dynamics. We identify a critical exponent special to the driven system, showing that it defines a new dynamical universality class. Hence critical points in driven systems lie beyond the standard classification of equilibrium dynamical phase transitions. We show how the new critical exponent can be probed in experiments with driven cold atomic systems and exciton-polariton condensates.
We explore the nature of the Bose condensation transition in driven open quantum systems, such as exciton-polariton condensates. Using a functional renormalization group approach formulated in the Keldysh framework, we characterize the dynamical critical behavior that governs decoherence and an effective thermalization of the low frequency dynamics. We identify a critical exponent special to the driven system, showing that it defines a new dynamical universality class. Hence critical points in driven systems lie beyond the standard classification of equilibrium dynamical phase transitions. We show how the new critical exponent can be probed in experiments with driven cold atomic systems and exciton-polariton condensates.
We present a comprehensive analysis of critical behavior in the driven-dissipative Bose condensation transition in three spatial dimensions. The starting point is a microscopic description of the system in terms of a many-body quantum master equation, where coherent and driven-dissipative dynamics occur on an equal footing. An equivalent Keldysh real-time functional integral reformulation opens up the problem to a practical evaluation using the tools of quantum field theory. In particular, we develop a functional renormalization group approach to quantitatively explore the universality class of this stationary nonequilibrium system. Key results comprise the emergence of an asymptotic thermalization of the distribution function, while manifest nonequilibrium properties are witnessed in the response properties in terms of a new, independent critical exponent. Thus, the driven-dissipative microscopic nature is seen to bear observable consequences on the largest length scales. The absence of two symmetries present in closed equilibrium systems---underlying particle number conservation and detailed balance, respectively---is identified as the root of this new nonequilibrium critical behavior. Our results are relevant for broad ranges of open quantum systems on the interface of quantum optics and many-body physics, from exciton-polariton condensates to cold atomic gases.
We identify a new universality class in one-dimensional driven open quantum systems with a dark state. Salient features are the persistence of both the microscopic nonequilibrium conditions as well as the quantum coherence of dynamics close to criticality. This provides a nonequilibrium analogue of quantum criticality, and is sharply distinct from more generic driven systems, where both effective thermalization as well as asymptotic decoherence ensue, paralleling classical dynamical criticality. We quantify universality by computing the full set of independent critical exponents within a functional renormalization group approach.
This thesis investigates the physics of strongly interacting driven–dissipative bosonic systems in one dimension, combining field-theoretical approaches with various numerical simulation techniques. While weakly interacting condensates are accurately described by a generalized Gross–Pitaevskii equation, the strongly correlated regime of the same microscopic models remains far less understood, particularly out of equilibrium. This thesis aims to bridge this gap by developing controlled quantum-many-body simulations for open systems governed by Lindblad dynamics, as well as investigating the corresponding action under the functional renormalization group.In the first part, we formulate a field-theoretical description of driven–dissipative one-dimen-sional bosons using the Schwinger–Keldysh formalism and the functional renormalization group (fRG).Two models are analyzed: (i) a driven-dissipative condensate whose phase dynamics is expected to exhibit emergent Kardar–Parisi–Zhang (KPZ) behavior, for which we search the emergent KPZ fixed point starting from the bosonic field theory; and (ii) a two-photon–driven system with two-body losses realizing dissipative cat qubits. For the latter, we determine the phase diagram and identify a continuous phase transition between symmetry-broken and symmetric phases, which motivates the construction of an fRG Ansatz capturing this critical behavior.The second part of the thesis focuses on the open system dynamics using exact diagonalization and tensor-network methods. For the Bose–Hubbard model with incoherent pump and loss, we characterize the steady state, and study spectral functions across the full parameter space. We show that key ground-state features are absent under dissipation, while the high-temperature unitary spectrum captures aspects of the open-system dynamics. In an extended model with additional two-body and non-local losses, we establish the semi-classical emergence of KPZ scaling and extract the KPZ dynamical exponent from the spectral function. A finite-size analysis exposes the current limitations of the tensor-network methods for reaching the high occupancy regime in the full quantum evolution.Finally, a last project develops a two-loop perturbative RG analysis of a spin-1 chain at its continuous symmetry breaking quantum critical point, revealing critical exponents distinct from the Ising universality class.Together, these results advance the understanding of strongly interacting open quantum systems, elucidating their symmetries, effective field theories, and dynamical properties, and outlining key directions for future theoretical and numerical work.
The condensation of photons in a dye-filled optical microcavity represents a landmark achievement in macroscopic quantum phenomena, bridging quantum optics and statistical mechanics. While ordinary Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of massive particles is governed by well-established critical exponents, photon condensation occurs in an open, dissipative system where thermalization is mediated through repeated absorption and re-emission cycles by dye molecules. In this paper, we systematically investigate whether photon condensation exhibits independent critical exponents. We define the scaling of the condensed photon density as n_gamma proportional to |T - T_c|^(beta_gamma) and examine whether the critical exponent beta_gamma deviates significantly from the classical values associated with standard three-dimensional or trapped two-dimensional Bose systems. Through a rigorous theoretical formulation based on master equations, grand canonical statistical mechanics, and renormalization group techniques, we explore the universal properties of this light-matter phase transition. Establishing a distinct set of critical exponents for photon condensation could lay the foundational stone for a new universal class of non-equilibrium quantum phase transitions, offering profound implications for fundamental physics and advanced quantum technologies.
Using a non-perturbative quantum kinetic framework, we develop a unified description of the far-from-equilibrium dynamics of three-dimensional Bose gases following cooling quenches across the Bose-Einstein condensation transition. By tracking the spatio-temporal evolution of the momentum distribution, we show that the equilibrium condensation threshold simultaneously acts as a dynamical critical point, separating distinct far-from-equilibrium universality classes governed by different non-equilibrium attractors. While quenches above the transition exhibit a single-timescale relaxation toward a thermal fixed point, quenches below the transition display a crossover from a transient weak-turbulence regime to a coarsening fixed point governed by the diffusive recombination of vortex lines. Quenches directly to the condensation threshold, finally, are controlled by a previously unidentified critical fixed point characterized by the superdiffusive spreading of critical fluctuations and a distinct set of dynamical exponents. Together, these dynamical scaling laws establish a far-from-equilibrium counterpart of the condensation phase transition, in which the equilibrium critical point also organizes the long-time non-equilibrium dynamics.
We review recent results on the coherence and superfluidity of driven dissipative condensates, i.e., systems of weakly interacting nonconserved bosons, such as polariton condensates. The presence of driving and dissipation has dramatically different effects depending on dimensionality and anisotropy. In three dimensions, equilibrium behaviour is recovered at large scales for static correlations, while the dynamical behaviour is altered by the microscopic driving. In two dimensions, for an isotropic system, drive and dissipation destroy the algebraic order that would otherwise exist; however, a sufficiently anisotropic system can still show algebraic phase correlations. We discuss the consequences of this behaviour for recent experiments measuring phase coherence and outline potential measurements that might directly probe superfluidity. Introduction This chapter is dedicated to superfluidity and its relation to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), a topic with a long history. Many reviews of the concepts of condensation and superfluidity in thermal equilibrium can be found; see for example Refs. [1, 2, 3, 4]. The focus of this chapter is on how these concepts apply (or fail to apply) to driven dissipative condensates – systems of bosons with a finite lifetime, in which loss is balanced by continuous pumping. We focus entirely on the steady state of such systems, neglecting transient, time-dependent behaviour. Experimentally, the most studied example of a driven dissipative condensate has been microcavity polaritons, an overview of which is given in Ref. [5] and Chapter 4. However, similar issues can arise in many other systems, most obviously photon condensates [6] (see also Chapter 19), magnon condensates [7] (see also Chapters 25–26), and potentially exciton condensates (although typical exciton lifetimes are much longer than for polaritons). Even experiments on cold atoms (see, e.g., Chapter 3) could be driven into a regime in which such physics occurs, when considering continuous loading of atoms balancing threebody losses [8] or atom laser setups [9, 10, 11]. Experiments on polaritons are two-dimensional, and in two dimensions it is particularly important to clearly distinguish three concepts often erroneously treated as equivalent: superfluidity, condensation, and phase coherence. This is because no true Bose-Einstein condensate exists in a homogeneous two-dimensional system.