We simulate the dynamics of a disordered interacting spin chain subject to a quasiperiodic time-dependent drive, corresponding to a stroboscopic Fibonacci sequence of two distinct Hamiltonians. Exploiting the recursive drive structure, we can efficiently simulate exponentially long times. After an initial transient, the system exhibits a long-lived glassy regime characterized by a logarithmically slow growth of entanglement and decay of correlations analogous to the dynamics at the many-body delocalization transition. Ultimately, at long time scales, which diverge exponentially for weak or rapid drives, the system thermalizes to infinite temperature. The slow relaxation enables metastable dynamical phases, exemplified by a "time quasicrystal" in which spins exhibit persistent oscillations with a distinct quasiperiodic pattern from that of the drive. We show that in contrast with Floquet systems, a high-frequency expansion strictly breaks down above fourth order, and fails to produce an effective static Hamiltonian that would capture the prethermal glassy relaxation.
We simulate the dynamics of a disordered interacting spin chain subject to a quasiperiodic time-dependent drive, corresponding to a stroboscopic Fibonacci sequence of two distinct Hamiltonians. Exploiting the recursive drive structure, we can efficiently simulate exponentially long times. After an initial transient, the system exhibits a long-lived glassy regime characterized by a logarithmically slow growth of entanglement and decay of correlations analogous to the dynamics at the many-body delocalization transition. Ultimately, at long time scales, which diverge exponentially for weak or rapid drives, the system thermalizes to infinite temperature. The slow relaxation enables metastable dynamical phases, exemplified by a "time quasicrystal" in which spins exhibit persistent oscillations with a distinct quasiperiodic pattern from that of the drive. We show that in contrast with Floquet systems, a high-frequency expansion strictly breaks down above fourth order, and fails to produce an effective static Hamiltonian that would capture the prethermal glassy relaxation.
We study the emergence and stability of a prethermal phase in an integrable many-body system subjected to a Fibonacci drive. Despite not being periodic, Fibonacci drives have been shown to introduce dynamical constraints due to their self-similar structure, unlike random driving protocols. From perturbative analysis, this has been argued to result in an exponentially long prethermal phase in the high frequency limit of driving. Examining higher order terms in the perturbative expansion, we show that the perturbative description breaks down eventually in such systems at a finite universal order, which depends solely on features of the Fibonacci sequence. This leads to an onset of energy absorption at long time scales for intermediate and low driving frequencies. Interestingly, in spite of the breakdown of an effective Hamiltonian in the perturbative analysis, we still observe slow logarithmic heating time-scales, unlike purely random drives.
We study prethermal time quasicrystalline (TQC) order in a quasiperiodically driven chain of non-interacting spin-1/2 particles. The drive consists of two parts, switched on and off periodically with frequency ωd: (i) disordered Ising interactions, with exchange couplings chosen from a symmetric interval [−J/2,J/2], allowing random antiferromagnetic or ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor couplings, together with a random transverse field; and (ii) a rotating transverse magnetic field with frequency Ω. The ratio ωd/Ω is chosen to be irrational, producing multiple incommensurate frequencies and yielding quasiperiodic dynamics beyond Floquet theory. Using exact diagonalization, we analyze the time autocorrelation function, dynamical structure factor, and entanglement entropy (EE). In the high-frequency regime, robust spectral peaks at incommensurate frequencies (not integer multiples of the fundamental drives) signal quasiperiodic time-translation symmetry breaking (QTTSB). The EE exhibits sublinear power-law growth followed by a prethermal plateau, indicating suppressed resonant heating due to an energy scale mismatch. The nonequilibrium lifetime increases rapidly with driving frequency. Unlike symmetric disorder sampling, an asymmetric distribution of the Ising exchange couplings induces collective spin rigidity, enhancing the system's resistance to heating. The TQC phase remains stable against next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) exchange perturbations and rotational imperfections, with robustness comparable to discrete time crystals (TCs) under periodic driving. Our results establish this quasiperiodically driven system as a platform for long-lived nonequilibrium temporal order, revealing the interplay of disorder, collective rigidity, and quasiperiodic driving.
Motivated by the search for non-equilibrium phases of matter beyond the Floquet paradigm, we propose a route to realize perfect revivals and time quasicrystals (TQCs) in a Fibonacci-driven central-spin model with Ising interactions between the central and satellite spins in the absence of disorder. We analytically demonstrate that when the interaction strength, λ is tuned to 2mπ, no entanglement is generated between the central and satellite spins at stroboscopic times, independent of the strength of the transverse driving field and the drive sequence. This leads to indefinitely long-lived quasiperiodic oscillations in satellite spin magnetization. Furthermore, for initial states with a definite bath magnetization, no entanglement is generated when the transverse driving field, θ is tuned to π for any value of $ λ$, and the satellite spin magnetization oscillations exhibit period-3 revivals at Fibonacci times. Examining the robustness of these oscillations away from this fine-tuned limit, we identify a parameter regime where the quasiperiodic response does not decay over the timescales probed, giving rise to a long-lived π-pulse-proximate TQC regime. We further show that at special Clifford points, the system exhibits perfect quasiperiodic oscillations of the satellite spin magnetization, with a parity-dependent Fourier response. This response persists over the timescales probed, even away from the Clifford points for an even number of satellite spins, leading to the formation of a Clifford-proximate TQC. Finally, we demonstrate that at this Clifford points, the system is steered along an entangled trajectory, leading to the dynamical generation of Bell-cat and spin-cat states. These states exhibit magnetization of collective spin fluctuates quadratically with the number of satellite spins, thereby enabling Heisenberg-limited metrology.
We study the non-equilibrium dynamics of a disordered periodically driven quantum spin chain, with the competition between the interaction, disorder, and Floquet driving being of particular interest. We study dynamics of entanglement entropy, energy absorption to characterize dynamical regimes of the system whether it stays in the Floquet-MBL(many-body localization) region or thermalized region. Starting with a product state in the computational basis, followed by reduced density matrix which in turn gives rise to the entanglement entropy density. With the strength of the interaction, the transverse field, the parallel field, the disorder strength W and the driving frequency, we discover the distinct behaviors of fast delocalization and logarithmic entanglement growth and long-lasting memory of the initial state, indicative of localized or prethermal Floquet regimes. We observe that strong disorder arrests transport and enables slow entanglement dynamics, whereas strong driving frequency arrests energy absorption and creates a long-lived non-equilibrium state. Conversely, weak disorder or low driving frequency leads to delocalization. The outcomes show strong support for non-equilibrium phases in driven many-body systems.
We investigate the role of a quasiperiodically driven electric field in a disordered fermionic chain. In the clean noninteracting case, we show the emergence of dynamical localization---a phenomenon previously known to exist only for a perfect periodic drive. In contrast, in the presence of disorder, where a high-frequency periodic drive preserves Anderson localization, we show that the quasiperiodic drive destroys it and leads to slow relaxation. Considering the role of interactions, we uncover the phenomenon of quasiperiodic driving-induced logarithmic relaxation, where a suitably tuned drive (corresponding to dynamical localization in the clean, noninteracting limit) slows down the dynamics even when the disorder is small enough for the system to be in the ergodic phase. This is in sharp contrast to the fast relaxation seen in the undriven model, as well as the absence of thermalization (drive-induced many-body localization) exhibited by a high-frequency periodic drive.
Time quasicrystals (TQCs) represent a compelling extension of the concept of time crystals (TCs). While TCs break discrete time-translation symmetry by exhibiting a periodic response at a subharmonic of the driving frequency, TQCs display a more complex temporal order. They respond at multiple incommensurate frequencies, values that are not integer multiples of the fundamental driving frequency, resulting in quasiperiodic dynamics. In this work, we investigate the emergence of a TQC in a disordered quantum Ising chain subjected to a quasiperiodic transverse field. Using exact diagonalization, we find that the transverse magnetization exhibits quasiperiodic oscillations which persist over extended prethermal timescales before eventual decay. This indicates that the TQC exists as a long-lived, prethermal dynamical phase rather than a true equilibrium state. We further assess the robustness of this prethermal TQC against interactions and driving imperfections, confirming its stability under realistic experimental conditions. Finite-size analysis reveals that the prethermal TQC lifetime exhibits minimal dependence on system size. Additionally, we explore the emergence of TQCs in the same chain under symmetric sampling of exchange couplings. Our results demonstrate that the TQC phase is highly sensitive to both the choice of coupling distribution and the values of the driving frequencies. These findings highlight promising experimental prospects for realizing TQCs in cold atomic systems and quantum simulators, providing valuable insights into their stability, dynamical properties, and potential for exploring novel non-equilibrium quantum phases.