Prethermalization in aperiodically driven classical spin systems

Abstract

Periodically driven classical many-body systems can host a rich zoo of prethermal dynamical phases. In this work, we extend the paradigm of classical prethermalization to aperiodically driven systems. We establish the existence of a long-lived prethermal regime in spin systems subjected to random multipolar drives (RMDs). We demonstrate that the thermalization time scales as $(1/T)^{2n+2}$, where $n$ is the multipolar order and $T$ is the intrinsic time-scale associated with the drive. In the $n \rightarrow \infty$ limit, the drive becomes quasi-periodic and the thermalization time becomes exponentially long ($\sim \exp(\beta/T)$). We further establish the robustness of prethermalization by demonstrating that these thermalization time scaling laws hold for a wide range of initial state energy densities. Intriguingly, the thermalization process in these classical systems is parametrically slower than their quantum counterparts, thereby highlighting important differences between classical and quantum prethermalization. Finally, we propose a protocol to harness this classical prethermalization to realize time rondeau crystals.