Nonequilibrium magnetic phases in spin lattices with gain and loss

Huber, Julian and Kirton, Peter and Rabl, Peter (2020) Nonequilibrium magnetic phases in spin lattices with gain and loss. Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, 102 (1). 012219. ISSN 1050-2947 (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.102.012219)

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Abstract

We study the magnetic phases of a nonequilibrium spin chain, where coherent interactions between neighboring lattice sites compete with alternating gain and loss processes. This competition between coherent and incoherent dynamics induces transitions between magnetically aligned and highly mixed phases, across which the system changes from a low to an infinite temperature state. We show that the origin of these transitions can be traced back to the dynamical effect of parity–time-reversal symmetry breaking, which has no counterpart in the theory of equilibrium phase transitions. This mechanism also results in very atypical features and we find first-order transitions without phase coexistence and mixed-order transitions which do not break the underlying U(1) symmetry, even in the appropriate thermodynamic limit. Thus, despite its simplicity, the current model considerably extends the phenomenology of nonequilibrium phase transitions beyond that commonly assumed for driven-dissipative spins and related systems.

  • Item type:Article
    ID code:73366
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    27 July 2020
    Published
    1 July 2020
    Accepted
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:29 Jul 2020 12:46
    Last modified:09 Apr 2024 01:41
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/73366
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