Reservoir-induced Thouless pumping and symmetry protected topological order in open quantum chains

TL;DR

This paper develops a classification scheme for topological phases in open quantum systems using a generalized polarization, demonstrating robust topological transport in open-system Thouless pumps despite decoherence.

Contribution

It introduces a new topological classification based on generalized polarization for open quantum systems, extending the concept of Thouless pumping to non-unitary dynamics.

Findings

Generalized polarization can detect topological properties in open systems.

Symmetries enforce a winding of the generalized polarization, indicating topological order.

Topological features are robust against dephasing and particle loss.

Abstract

We introduce a classification scheme for symmetry protected topological phases applicable to stationary states of open systems based on a generalization of the many-body polarization. The polarization can be used to probe the topological properties of non-interacting and interacting closed and open systems as well and remains a meaningful quantity even in the presence of moderate particle-number fluctuations. As examples, we discuss two open-system versions of a topological Thouless pump in the steady state of one-dimensional lattices driven by Markovian reservoirs. In the analogous unitary system, the Rice-Mele model, symmetries enforce topological properties which lead to a non-trivial winding of the geometric Zak phase upon cyclic variations of model parameters. Associated with this is a winding of the many-body polarization, corresponding to a quantized transport in the bulk (Thouless pump). We here show that in the open system, where the Zak phase looses its meaning, the same symmetries enforce a winding of the generalized many- body polarization. This winding is shown to be robust against Hamiltonian perturbations as well as homogeneous dephasing and particle losses..