arXiv subjects

Aditi Mitra

Publications and source records attributed to Aditi Mitra.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Long-range Kitaev Chains via Planar Josephson Junctions

We show how a recently proposed solid state Majorana platform comprising a planar Josephson junction proximitized to a 2D electron gas (2DEG) with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman field can be viewed as an effectively one dimensional (1D) Kitaev chain with long-range pairing and hopping terms. We highlight how the couplings of the 1D system may be tuned by changing experimentally realistic parameters. We also show that the mapping is robust to disorder by computing the Clifford pseudospectrum index in real space for the long-range Kitaev chain across several topological phases. This mapping opens up the possibility of using current experimental setups to explore 1D topological superconductors with non-standard, and tunable couplings.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Dynamical generation of superconducting order of different symmetries in hexagonal lattices

The growth of superconducting order after an interaction quench in a hexagonal lattice is studied. The cases of both time-reversal (TR) preserving graphene, as well as the TR broken Haldane model are explored. Spin singlet superconducting order is studied where the $s$, $d+id$, and $d-id$ wave orders are the irreducible representations of the hexagonal lattice. For small quenches, the $d$-wave order parameter grows the fastest, a result also expected when the system is in thermal equilibrium. For the TR symmetry preserving case, the growth rate of the two $d$-wave orders is identical, while the TR-broken case prefers one of the chiral $d$-wave orders over the other, leading to a TR broken topological superconductor. As the interaction quench becomes larger, a smooth crossover is found where eventually the growth rate of the $s$-wave becomes the largest. Thus for large interaction quenches, the $s$-wave is preferred over the $d$-wave for both TR preserving and TR broken systems. This result is explained in terms of the high energy quasi-particles responsible for the dynamics as the interaction quench amplitude grows. The results are relevant for time-resolved measurements that can probe the symmetry of the superconducting fluctuations in a transient regime.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Time-resolved spectral density of interacting fermions following a quench to a superconducting critical point

Results are presented for the time evolution of fermions initially in a non-zero temperature normal phase, following the switch on of an attractive interaction. The dynamics are studied in the disordered phase close to the critical point, where the superfluid fluctuations are large. The analysis is conducted within a two-particle irreducible, large $N$ approximation. The system is considered from the perspective of critical quenches where it is shown that the fluctuations follow universal model A dynamics. A signature of this universality is found in a singular correction to the fermion lifetime, given by a scaling form $t^{(3-d)/2}S_d(\varepsilon^2 t)$, where $d$ is the spatial dimension, $t$ is the time since the quench, and $\varepsilon$ is the fermion energy. The singular behavior of the spectral density is interpreted as arising due to incoherent Andreev reflections off superfluid fluctuations.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Entanglement properties of the time periodic Kitaev Chain

The entanglement properties of the time periodic Kitaev chain with nearest neighbor and next nearest neighbor hopping, is studied. The cases of the exact eigenstate of the time periodic Hamiltonian, referred to as the Floquet ground state (FGS), as well as a physical state obtained from time-evolving an initial state unitarily under the influence of the time periodic drive are explored. Topological phases are characterized by different numbers of Majorana zero ($\mathbb{Z}_0$) and $π$ ($\mathbb{Z}_π$) modes, where the zero modes are present even in the absence of the drive, while the $π$ modes arise due to resonant driving. The entanglement spectrum (ES) of the FGS as well as the physical state show topological Majorana modes whose number is different from that of the quasi-energy spectrum. The number of Majorana edge modes in the ES of the FGS vary in time from $|\mathbb{Z}_0-\mathbb{Z}_π|$ to $\mathbb{Z}_0+\mathbb{Z}_π$ within one drive cycle, with the maximal $\mathbb{Z}_0+\mathbb{Z}_π$ modes appearing at a special time-reversal symmetric point of the cycle. For the physical state on the other hand, only the modes inherited from the initial wavefunction, namely the $\mathbb{Z}_0$ modes, appear in the ES. The $\mathbb{Z}_π$ modes are absent in the physical state as they merge with the bulk excitations that are simultaneously created due to resonant driving. The topological properties of the Majorana zero and $π$ modes in the ES are also explained by mapping the parent wavefunction to a Bloch sphere.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Quantum quench dynamics

Quench dynamics is an active area of study encompassing condensed matter physics and quantum information, with applications to cold-atomic gases and pump-probe spectroscopy of materials. Recent theoretical progress in studying quantum quenches is reviewed. Quenches in interacting one dimensional systems as well as systems in higher spatial dimensions are covered. The appearance of non-trivial steady states following a quench in exactly solvable models is discussed, and the stability of these states to perturbations is described. Proper conserving approximations needed to capture the onset of thermalization at long times are outlined. The appearance of universal scaling for quenches near critical points, and the role of the renormalization group in capturing the transient regime, are reviewed. Finally the effect of quenches near critical points on the dynamics of entanglement entropy and entanglement statistics is discussed. The extraction of critical exponents from the entanglement statistics is outlined.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Entanglement properties of Floquet Chern insulators

Results are presented for the entanglement entropy and spectrum of half-filled graphene following the switch on of a circularly polarized laser. The laser parameters are chosen to correspond to several different Floquet Chern insulator phases. The entanglement properties of the unitarily evolved wavefunctions are compared with the state where one of the Floquet bands is completely occupied. The true states show a volume law for the entanglement, whereas the Floquet states show an area law. Qualitative differences are found in the entanglement properties of the off-resonant and on-resonant laser. Edge states are found in the entanglement spectrum corresponding to certain physical edge states expected in a Chern insulator. However, some edge states that would be expected from the Floquet band structure are missing from the entanglement spectrum. An analytic theory is developed for the long time structure of the entanglement spectrum. It is argued that only edge states corresponding to off-resonant processes appear in the entanglement spectrum.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Short-time universal scaling and light-cone dynamics after a quench in an isolated quantum system in $d$ spatial dimensions

We investigate the effects of fluctuations on the dynamics of an isolated quantum system represented by a $ϕ^4$ field theory with $O(N)$ symmetry after a quench in $d>2$ spatial dimensions. A perturbative renormalization-group approach involving a dimensional expansion in $ε=4-d$ is employed in order to study the evolution within a prethermal regime controlled by elastic dephasing. In particular, we focus on a quench from a disordered initial state to the critical point, which introduces an effective temporal boundary in the evolution. At this boundary, the relevant fields acquire an anomalous scaling dimension, while the evolution of both the order parameter and its correlation and response functions display universal aging. Since the relevant excitations propagate ballistically, a light cone in real space emerges. At longer times, the onset of inelastic scattering appears as secularly growing self-generated dissipation in the effective Keldysh field theory, with the strength of the dissipative vertices providing an estimate for the time needed to leave the prethermal regime.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Entanglement properties of the critical quench of O(N) bosons

The entanglement properties of quenched quantum systems have been studied for a decade, however results in dimensions other than $d=1$ are generally lacking. We remedy this by investigating the entanglement properties of bosonic critical systems in $d=3$, both numerically and analytically, comparing the free and the interacting critical quench of an $O(N)$ model. We find that the evolution of the entanglement entropy for these two systems is nearly identical, as expected from the "quasi-particle" picture. However, the low-lying entanglement spectrum is controlled by the different critical exponent of the two systems, and therefore these exponents may be extracted by purely entanglement-theoretic calculations. We verify this scaling numerically.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

From Kardar-Parisi-Zhang scaling to explosive desynchronization in arrays of limit-cycle oscillators

We study the synchronization physics of 1D and 2D oscillator lattices subject to noise and predict a dynamical transition that leads to a sudden drastic increase of phase diffusion. Our analysis is based on the widely applicable Kuramoto-Sakaguchi model, with local couplings between oscillators. For smooth phase fields, the time evolution can initially be described by a surface growth model, the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) theory. We delineate the regime in which one can indeed observe the universal KPZ scaling in 1D lattices. For larger couplings, both in 1D and 2D, we observe a stochastic dynamical instability that is linked to an apparent finite-time singularity in a related KPZ lattice model. This has direct consequences for the frequency stability of coupled oscillator lattices, and it precludes the observation of non-Gaussian KPZ-scaling in 2D lattices.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Floquet topological systems in the vicinity of band crossings: Reservoir induced coherence and steady-state entropy production

Results are presented for an open Floquet topological system represented by Dirac fermions coupled to a circularly polarized laser and an external reservoir. It is shown that when the separation between quasi-energy bands becomes small, and comparable to the coupling strength to the reservoir, the reduced density matrix in the Floquet basis, even at steady-state, has non-zero off-diagonal elements, with the magnitude of the off-diagonal elements increasing with the strength of the coupling to the reservoir. In contrast, the coupling to the reservoir only weakly affects the diagonal elements, hence inducing an effective coherence. The steady-state reduced density matrix synchronizes with the periodic drive, and a Fourier analysis allows the extraction of the occupation probabilities of the Floquet quasi-energy levels. The lack of detailed balance at steady-state is quantified in terms of an entropy production rate, and it is shown that this equals the heat current flowing out of the system, and into the reservoir. It is also shown that the entropy production rate mainly depends on the off-diagonal components of the Floquet density matrix. Thus a stronger coupling to the reservoir leads to an enhanced entropy production rate, implying a more efficient removal of heat from the system, which in turn helps the system maintain coherence. Analytic expressions in the vicinity of the Dirac point are derived which highlights these results, and also indicates how the reservoir may be engineered to enhance the coherence of the system.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Occupation probabilities and current densities of bulk and edge states of a Floquet topological insulator

Results are presented for the occupation probabilities and current densities of bulk and edge states of half-filled graphene in a cylindrical geometry, and irradiated by a circularly polarized laser. It is assumed that the system is closed, and that the laser has been switched on as a quench. Laser parameters corresponding to some representative topological phases are studied: one where the Chern number of the Floquet bands equals the number of chiral edge modes, a second where anomalous edge states appear in the Floquet Brillouin zone boundaries, and a third where the Chern number is zero, yet topological edge states appear at the center and boundaries of the Floquet Brillouin zone. Qualitative differences are found for the high frequency off-resonant and low frequency on-resonant laser with edge states arising due to resonant processes occupied with a high effective temperature on the one hand, while edge states arising due to off-resonant processes occupied with a low effective temperature on the other. For an ideal half-filled system where only one of the bands in the Floquet Brillouin zone is occupied and the other empty, particle-hole and inversion symmetry of the Floquet Hamiltonian implies zero current density. However the laser switch-on protocol breaks the inversion symmetry, resulting in a net cylindrical sheet of current density at steady-state. Due to the underlying chirality of the system, this current density profile is associated with a net charge imbalance between the top and bottom of the cylinders.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Short-time universal scaling in an isolated quantum system after a quench

Renormalization-group methods provide a viable approach for investigating the emergent collective behavior of classical and quantum statistical systems in both equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions. Within this approach we investigate here the dynamics of an isolated quantum system represented by a scalar $ϕ^4$ theory after a global quench of the potential close to a dynamical critical point. We demonstrate that, within a pre-thermal regime, the time dependence of the relevant correlations is characterized by a short-time universal exponent, which we calculate at the lowest order in a dimensional expansion.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Aging and coarsening in isolated quantum systems after a quench: exact results for the quantum $O(N)$ model with $N \to \infty$

The non-equilibrium dynamics of an isolated quantum system after a sudden quench to a dynamical critical point is expected to be characterized by scaling and universal exponents due to the absence of time scales. We explore these features for a quench of the parameters of a Hamiltonian with $O(N)$ symmetry, starting from a ground state in the disordered phase. In the limit of infinite $N$, the exponents and scaling forms of the relevant two-time correlation functions can be calculated exactly. Our analytical predictions are confirmed by the numerical solution of the corresponding equations. Moreover, we find that the same scaling functions, yet with different exponents, also describe the coarsening dynamics for quenches below the dynamical critical point.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

Optical Hall conductivity of a Floquet Topological Insulator

Results are presented for the optical Hall conductivity of a Floquet topological insulator (FTI) for an ideal closed quantum system, as well as an open system in a nonequilibrium steady-state with a reservoir. The steady-state, even for the open system, is strongly dependent on the topological phase of the FTI, with certain phases showing a remarkable near-cancellation from pockets of Berry-curvature of opposite signs, leading to a suppressed low-frequency Hall conductivity, that also shows an anomalous temperature dependence, by increasing as the temperature of the reservoir is increased. Such a behavior is in complete contrast to heating, and arises because of a strong modification of the effective system-reservoir coupling by the laser. The Berry curvature of the Floquet modes is time-dependent, and its frequency components are found to control the main features of the high-frequency Hall conductivity.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Transport Across an Impurity in One Dimensional Quantum Liquids Far From Equilibrium

We study the effect of a single impurity on the transport properties of a one dimensional quantum liquid highly excited away from its ground state by a sudden quench of the bulk interaction. In particular we compute the time dependent dc current to leading order in the impurity potential, using bosonization and starting both from the limit of a uniform system and from the one of two decoupled semi-infinite systems. Our results reveal that the nonequilibrium excitation of bulk modes induced by the global quench has important effects on the conductor-insulator quantum phase transition, which turns into a crossover for any small quench amplitude. In addition, the dynamics of the current displays a faster decay towards the steady-state as compared to the equilibrium case, a signature of quench-induced decoherence.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Out of equilibrium electrons and the Hall conductance of a Floquet topological insulator

Graphene irradiated by a circularly polarized laser has been predicted to be a Floquet topological insulator showing a laser-induced quantum Hall effect. A circularly polarized laser also drives the system out of equilibrium resulting in non-thermal electron distribution functions that strongly affect transport properties. Results are presented for the Hall conductance for two different cases. One is for a closed system such as a cold-atomic gas where transverse drift due to non-zero Berry curvature can be measured in time of flight measurements. For this case the effect of a circularly polarized laser that has been switched on suddenly is studied. The second is for an open system coupled to an external reservoir of phonons. While for the former, the Hall conductance is far from the quantized limit, for the latter, coupling to a sufficiently low temperature reservoir of phonons is found to produce effective cooling, and thus an approach to the quantum limit, provided the frequency of the laser is large as compared to the band-width. For laser frequencies comparable to the band-width, strong deviations from the quantum limit of conductance is found even for a very low temperature reservoir, with the precise value of the Hall conductance determined by a competition between reservoir induced cooling and the excitation of photo-carriers by the laser. For the closed system, the electron distribution function is determined by the overlap between the initial wavefunction and the Floquet states which can result in a Hall conductance which is opposite in sign to that of the open system.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Dissipative Floquet Topological Systems

Motivated by recent pump-probe spectroscopies, we study the effect of phonon dissipation and potential cooling on the nonequilibrium distribution function in a Floquet topological state. To this end, we apply a Floquet kinetic equation approach to study two dimensional Dirac fermions irradiated by a circularly polarized laser, a system which is predicted to be in a laser induced quantum Hall state. We find that the initial electron distribution shows an anisotropy with momentum dependent spin textures whose properties are controlled by the switching-on protocol of the laser. The phonons then smoothen this out leading to a non-trivial isotropic nonequilibrium distribution which has no memory of the initial state and initial switch-on protocol, and yet is distinct from a thermal state. An analytical expression for the distribution at the Dirac point is obtained that is relevant for observing quantized transport.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Transient Orthogonality Catastrophe in a Time Dependent Nonequilibrium Environment

We study the response of a highly-excited time dependent quantum many-body state to a sudden local perturbation, a sort of orthogonality catastrophe problem in a transient non-equilibrium environment. To this extent we consider, as key quantity, the overlap between time dependent wave-functions, that we write in terms of a novel two-time correlator generalizing the standard Loschmidt Echo. We discuss its physical meaning, general properties, and its connection with experimentally measurable quantities probed through non-equilibrium Ramsey interferometry schemes. Then we present explicit calculations for a one dimensional interacting Fermi system brought out of equilibrium by a sudden change of the interaction, and perturbed by the switching on of a local static potential. We show that different scattering processes give rise to remarkably different behaviors at long times, quite opposite from the equilibrium situation. In particular, while the forward scattering contribution retains its power law structure even in the presence of a large non-equilibrium perturbation, with an exponent that is strongly affected by the transient nature of the bath, the backscattering term is a source of non-linearity which generates an exponential decay in time of the Loschmidt Echo, reminiscent of an effective thermal behavior.

cond-mat.str-el↗