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arXiv:2110.06194

Time-crystalline long-range order in squeezed ground state

Nobuyuki Ōkuma

Published Oct 12, 2021• 1 citation
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Abstract

It is widely believed that ground-state time crystals are not realizable in realistic macroscopic systems. In particular, Watanabe and Oshikawa proved a theorem that implies the absence of the time-dependent long-range order (TDLRO) in the ground states of short-range many-body systems. However, this theorem does not forbid the presence of the ground-state TDLRO for macroscopic quantities. In this work, we investigate a simple bosonic model with a squeezed ground state and point out that the time-dependence of the ground-state TDLRO for the number operator is proportional to the square of the average number in the infinite-squeezing limit, or equivalently, the infinite average-number limit. This result implies the presence of the TDLRO for macroscopic boson number. We also discuss the physical implementations in optical, spin, and tight-binding systems, including the variants. We find an example with the macroscopic TDLRO whose essence is low-lying-state physics and another with $marginal$ TDLRO at the quantum critical point. In addition, we reconsider the definition of the ground-state time crystal in terms of the Floquet picture.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2110.06194

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It is widely believed that ground-state time crystals are not realizable in realistic macroscopic systems. In particular, Watanabe and Oshikawa proved a theorem that implies the absence of the time-dependent long-range order (TDLRO) in the ground states of short-range many-body systems. However, this theorem does not forbid the presence of the ground-state TDLRO for macroscopic quantities. In this work, we investigate a simple bosonic model with a squeezed ground state and point out that the time-dependence of the ground-state TDLRO for the number operator is proportional to the square of the average number in the infinite-squeezing limit, or equivalently, the infinite average-number limit. This result implies the presence of the TDLRO for macroscopic boson number. We also discuss the physical implementations in optical, spin, and tight-binding systems, including the variants. We find an example with the macroscopic TDLRO whose essence is low-lying-state physics and another with marginalmarginalmarginal TDLRO at the quantum critical point. In addition, we reconsider the definition of the ground-state time crystal in terms of the Floquet picture.
It is widely believed that there is no macroscopic time-crystalline order in the ground states of short-range interacting systems. In this paper, we consider a time-dependent correlation function for an order operator with a spatially discontinuous weight in a one-dimensional chiral fermionic system. Although both the Hamiltonian and the order parameter are composed of spatially local operators, the time-dependent correlation function diverges logarithmically in equal time intervals. This result implies a breakdown of an inequality that claims the absence of time-crystalline long-range order in the ground states, unless the upper-bound constant is set to be infinity. This behavior is due to the combination of the discontinuity of the order operator and the infinite dimensionality of quantum field theory. In the language of bosonization, it can also be related to the divergence of a space-time-resolved bosonic correlation function.
Abstract We address the question whether time translation symmetry can be spontaneously broken in a quantum many-body system. One way of detecting such a symmetry breaking is to examine the time-dependence of a correlation function. If the large-distance behavior of the correlation function exhibits a nontrivial time-dependence in the thermodynamic limit, the system would develop a temporal long-range order, realizing a time crystal. In an earlier publication, we sketched a proof for the absence of such time dependence in the thermal equilibrium described by the Gibbs state (Watanabe and Oshikawa in Phys Rev Lett 114:251603, 2015). Here we present a complete proof and extend the argument to a more general class of stationary states than the Gibbs states.
In analogy with crystalline solids around us, Wilczek recently proposed the idea of "time crystals" as phases that spontaneously break the continuous time translation into a discrete subgroup. The proposal stimulated further studies and vigorous debates whether it can be realized in a physical system. However, a precise definition of the time crystal is needed to resolve the issue. Here we first present a definition of time crystals based on the time-dependent correlation functions of the order parameter. We then prove a no-go theorem that rules out the possibility of time crystals defined as such, in the ground state or in the canonical ensemble of a general Hamiltonian, which consists of not-too-long-range interactions.
In a recent paper (Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 210602), Kozin and Kyriienko claim to realize "genuine" ground state time crystals by studying models with long-ranged and infinite-body interactions. Here we point out that their models are doubly problematic: they are unrealizable and{\it and}and they violate well established principles for defining phases of matter. Indeed with infinite body operators allowed, almost all quantum systems are time crystals. In addition, one of their models is highly unstable and another amounts to isolating, via fine tuning, a single degree of freedom in a many body system--allowing for this elevates the pendulum of Galileo and Huygens to a genuine time crystal.
Recently, Wilczek proposed a fascinating new concept of time crystals, which spontaneously break the continuous time translation symmetry, in analogy with ordinary crystals which break the continuous spatial translation symmetry. Li et al. soon followed with a concrete proposal for an experimental realization and observation of a (space-)time crystal using trapped ions in a ring threaded by an Aharonov-Bohm flux. However, the very existence, even as a matter of principle, of time crystals is rather controversial. Bruno proved a no-go theorem for time crystals for a specific class of Hamiltonians, which covers the original proposal. A similar observation was made for a charge density wave in a superconducting ring by Nozieres. However, since these arguments were not fully general, several new realizations of time crystals, which avoid these no-go arguments, were proposed. In fact, a part of the confusion can be attributed to the lack of a precise mathematical definition of time crystals. Here, we first propose a definition of time crystals in the equilibrium, which is a natural generalization of that of ordinary crystals and can be formulated precisely also for time crystals. We then prove generally the absence of time crystals defined as such, in the ground state of an arbitrary Hamiltonian which consists only of short-range interactions. While the nature of the time crystal is less understood, it is natural to expect that time crystals would be most easily realized, if at all, at zero temperature, as in the case of ordinary crystals. Thus, we focus on the question whether time crystals can exist as the ground state, as in Wilczek’s original proposal. Naively, time crystals would be defined in terms of the ground-state expectation value of an observable O(t). If it exhibits a periodic time dependence, the system may be regarded as a time crystal. However, the very definition of the ground state Ĥ|0〉 = E0|0〉 immediately implies that the expectation value of any Heisenberg operator O(t) ≡ eiĤtO(0)e−iĤt is time-independent. Yet it is too early to reject the idea of time crystals just from this observation, since a similar argument would preclude ordinary (spatial) crystals. One might naively define crystals from a spatially modulating expectation value of the density operator ρ(~x) = e−i ~ P ·~xρ(~0)ei ~ P ·~x. The unique ground state of the Hamiltonian in a finite box is nevertheless symmetric and hence ~ P |0〉 = 0, implying that 〈0|ρ(~x)|0〉 is constant over space.
For a strongly interacting boson system, it has been proposed that the concept of off-diagonal long-range ordering (ODLRO) is equivalent to Bose-Einstein condensation for a free boson system. Therefore, the existence of ODLRO in the ground state implies superfluidity. The author checks the validity of this proposition from another point of view. He rigorously shows that, for a hard-core lattice-boson system with a short-ranged interaction ODLRO is suppressed when a charged excitation gap develops and, hence, the boson system becomes a Mott-insulator. Finally, by using his theorem, he shows some interesting properties of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model, which can be taken as a hard-core lattice-boson system.