Death and resurrection of a current by disorder, interaction or activity

TL;DR

This paper explores how disorder, interactions, and activity can cause abrupt changes in current behavior, including phase transitions, resurrection phenomena, and the effects of particle exclusion or attraction, using simple, mathematically tractable models.

Contribution

It introduces simple models that demonstrate dynamical phase transitions in current due to disorder, modulation, and particle interactions, with full mathematical analysis.

Findings

Disorder causes first-order phase transitions in current-field characteristics.

Time modulation can induce a discontinuous resurrection of current.

Particle exclusion and attraction significantly influence current behavior in trapping models.

Abstract

Because of disorder the current-field characteristic may show a first order phase transition as function of the field, at which the current jumps to zero when the driving exceeds a threshold. The discontinuity is caused by adding a finite correlation length in the disorder. At the same time the current may resurrect when the field is modulated in time, also discontinuously: a little shaking enables the current to jump up. Finally, in trapping models exclusion between particles postpones or even avoids the current from dying, while attraction may enhance it. We present simple models that illustrate those dynamical phase transitions in detail, and that allow full mathematical control.