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arXiv:1906.11262 · Physical Review Letters

Many-Body Synchronization in a Classical Hamiltonian System

Reyhaneh Khasseh, Rosario Fazio, Stefano Ruffo, Angelo Russomanno

Published Oct 31, 2019• 27 citations
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Abstract

We study synchronization between periodically driven, interacting classical spins undergoing a Hamiltonian dynamics. In the thermodynamic limit there is a transition between a regime where all the spins oscillate synchronously for an infinite time with a period twice the driving period (synchronized regime) and a regime where the oscillations die after a finite transient (chaotic regime). We emphasize the peculiarity of our result, having been synchronization observed so far only in driven-dissipative systems. We discuss how our findings can be interpreted as a period-doubling time crystal and we show that synchronization can appear both for an overall regular and overall chaotic dynamics.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.123.184301

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We study synchronization between periodically driven, interacting classical spins undergoing a Hamiltonian dynamics. In the thermodynamic limit there is a transition between a regime where all the spins oscillate synchronously for an infinite time with a period twice the driving period (synchronized regime) and a regime where the oscillations die after a finite transient (chaotic regime). We emphasize the peculiarity of our result, having been synchronization observed so far only in driven-dissipative systems. We discuss how our findings can be interpreted as a period-doubling time crystal and we show that synchronization can appear both for an overall regular and overall chaotic dynamics.
Abstract We investigate the dynamics of two coherently coupled dissipative time crystals. In the classical mean-field limit of infinite spin length, we identify a regime of chaotic synchronization, marked by a positive largest Lyapunov exponent and a Pearson correlation coefficient close to one. At the boundary of this regime, the Pearson coefficient varies abruptly, marking a crossover between staggered and uniform z -magnetization. To address finite-size quantum dynamics, we employ a quantum-trajectory approach and study the trajectory-resolved expectations of subsystem z -magnetizations. Their histograms over time and trajectory realizations exhibit maxima that undergo a staggered-to-uniform crossover analogous to the classical one. In analogy with the classical case, we interpret this behavior as quantum chaotic synchronization, with dissipative quantum chaos highlighted by the steady-state density matrix exhibiting Gaussian unitary ensemble statistics. The classical and quantum crossover points are different due to the noncommutativity of the infinite-time and infinite-spin-magnitude limits and the role played by entanglement in the quantum case, quantified via the two-subsystem entanglement entropy.
Nonlinear classical dissipative systems present a rich phenomenology in their "route to chaos," including period doubling, i.e., the system evolves with a period which is twice that of the driving. However, typically the attractor of a periodically driven quantum open system evolves with a period which exactly matches that of the driving. Here, we analyze a periodically driven many-body open quantum system whose classical correspondent presents period doubling. We show that by studying the dynamical correlations, it is possible to show the occurrence of period doubling in the quantum (period-one) steady state. We also discuss that such systems are natural candidates for clean and intrinsically robust Floquet time crystals.
We investigate the emergence of a time crystal (TC) in a driven dissipative many-body spin array. In this system the interplay between incoherent spin pumping and collective emission stabilizes a synchronized non-equilibrium steady state which in the thermodynamic limit features a self-generated time-periodic pattern imposed by collective elastic interactions. In contrast to prior realizations where the time symmetry is already broken by an external drive, here it is only spontaneously broken by the elastic exchange interactions and manifest in the two-time correlation spectrum. Employing a combination of exact numerical calculations and a second-order cumulant expansion, we investigate the impact of many-body correlations on the TC formation and establish a connection between the regime where it is stable and where the system features a slow growth rate of the mutual information. This observation allows us to conclude that the TC studied here is an emergent semi-classical out-of-equilibrium state of matter. We also confirm the rigidity of the TC to single-particle dephasing. Finally, we discuss an experimental implementation using long lived dipoles in an optical cavity.
We reveal a continuous dynamical heating transition between a prethermal and an infinite-temperature stage in a clean, chaotic periodically driven classical spin chain. The transition time is a steep exponential function of the drive frequency, showing that the exponentially long-lived prethermal plateau, originally observed in quantum Floquet systems, survives the classical limit. Even though there is no straightforward generalization of Floquet's theorem to nonlinear systems, we present strong evidence that the prethermal physics is well described by the inverse-frequency expansion. We relate the stability and robustness of the prethermal plateau to drive-induced synchronization not captured by the expansion. Our results set the pathway to transfer the ideas of Floquet engineering to classical many-body systems, and are directly relevant for photonic crystals and cold atom experiments in the superfluid regime.
We investigate the emergence of a time crystal in a driven-dissipative many-body spin array. In this system the interplay between incoherent spin pumping and collective emission stabilizes a synchronized non-equilibrium steady state which in the thermodynamic limit features a self-generated time-periodic pattern imposed by collective elastic interactions. In contrast to prior realizations where the time symmetry is already broken by an external drive, here it is only spontaneously broken by the elastic exchange interactions and manifest in the two-time correlation spectrum. Employing a combination of exact numerical calculations and a second-order cumulant expansion, we investigate the impact of many-body correlations on the time crystal formation and establish a connection between the regime where it is stable and a slow growth rate of the mutual information, signalling that the time crystal studied here is an emergent semi-classical out-of-equilibrium state of matter. We also confirm the rigidity of the time crystal to single-particle dephasing. Finally, we discuss an experimental implementation using long-lived dipoles in an optical cavity
Exploiting the rich phenomenology of periodically driven many-body systems is notoriously hindered by persistent heating in both the classical and the quantum realm. Here, we investigate to what extent coupling to a large thermal reservoir makes stabilization of a nontrivial steady state possible. To this end, we model both the system and the reservoir as classical spin chains where driving is applied through a rotating magnetic field, and we simulate the Hamiltonian dynamics of this setup. We find that the intuitive limits of infinite frequency and vanishing frequency, where the system dynamics is governed by the average and the instantaneous Hamiltonian, respectively, can be smoothly extended into entire regimes separated only by a small crossover region. At high frequencies, the driven system stroboscopically attains a Floquet-type Gibbs state at the reservoir temperature. At low frequencies, a global synchronized Gibbs state emerges, whose temperature may depart significantly from the initial temperature of the reservoir. Although our analysis in some parts relies on the specific properties of our setup, we argue that much of its phenomenology could be generic.