Topologically ordered time crystals.

ABSTRACT: Time crystals are a dynamical phase of periodically driven quantum many-body systems where discrete time-translation symmetry is broken spontaneously. Time-crystallinity however subtly requires also spatial order, ordinarily related to further symmetries, such as spin-flip symmetry when the spatial order is ferromagnetic. Here we define topologically ordered time crystals, a time-crystalline phase borne out of intrinsic topological order-a particularly robust form of spatial order that requires no symmetry. We show that many-body localization can stabilize this phase against generic perturbations and establish some of its key features and signatures, including a dynamical, time-crystal form of the perimeter law for topological order. We link topologically ordered and ordinary time crystals

SUBMITTER: Wahl TB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11561053 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature