Renormalization Group Analysis of Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions in Driven Disordered Systems

Laura Urba

Density-matrix renormalization-group analysis of quantum phase transitions in disordered spin chains

Taiki Haga

William Berdanier, Michael Kolodrubetz, S. A. Parameswaran +1 more

Quenched randomness can lead to robust nonequilibrium phases of matter in periodically driven (Floquet) systems. Analyzing transitions between such dynamical phases requires a method capable of treating the twin complexities of disorder and discrete time-translation symmetry. We introduce a real-space renormalization group approach, asymptotically exact in the strong-disorder limit, and exemplify its use on the periodically driven interacting quantum Ising model. We analyze the universal physics near the critical lines and multicritical point of this model, and demonstrate the robustness of our results to the inclusion of weak interactions.

Anna Hazenfratz

Steven Mathey, Sebastian Diehl

We address the nature of phase transitions in periodically driven systems coupled to a bath. The latter enables a synchronized nonequilibrium Floquet steady state at finite entropy, which we analyze for rapid drives within a nonequilibrium renormalization group (RG) approach. While the infinitely rapidly driven limit exhibits a second-order phase transition, here we reveal that fluctuations turn the transition first order when the driving frequency is finite. This can be traced back to a universal mechanism, which crucially hinges on the competition of degenerate, near critical modes associated with higher Floquet Brillouin zones. The critical exponents of the infinitely rapidly driven system-including a new, independent one-can yet be probed experimentally upon smoothly tuning towards that limit.

武 辰巳