Date: Friday, May 13, 2022 | 11:00 (GMT+1) (Virtual)
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Prof. Rosario Fazio | International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy.
TITLE:
Time-crystals and quantum synchronisation
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ABSTRACT:
Landau's idea of classifying phases of matter in terms of symmetry breaking is a cornerstone of modern physics. Can time-translation invariance be spontaneously broken? The possible existence of time-crystals was first addressed by Wilczek for quantum many-body systems launching an intense activity both theoretically and experimentally. Despite their conceptual simplicity and apparent similarity to ordinary crystals, they were experimentally observed only two years ago, eighty years after the Landau theory of symmetry breaking.
I will introduce boundary time-crystals where continuous time-translation symmetry breaking occurs at the boundary (or generically in a macroscopic portion) of a many-body quantum system. After introducing their definition and properties, I analyse in details a solvable model. I will provide examples of other systems where boundary time crystalline phases can occur. The existence of the boundary time crystals is intimately connected to the emergence of time-periodic steady state in the thermodynamic limit of a many-body open quantum system. Connection to quantum synchronisation will be also discussed. I will finally discuss an example of classical many-body system where time-crystal like features and syncronisation will be present.
