Correlated nonequilibrium steady states without energy flux

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that strongly interacting driven quantum systems coupled to baths can reach nonequilibrium steady states with zero average energy flux, maintaining their nonequilibrium character despite apparent energy balance.

Contribution

It introduces a class of nonequilibrium steady states in driven lattice models where energy exchange with baths averages to zero, revealing new stable nonequilibrium phenomena.

Findings

Steady states with zero cycle-averaged energy transfer exist in driven lattice models.

These states retain nonequilibrium properties despite zero net energy flux.

The results challenge traditional views on energy flow in nonequilibrium systems.

Abstract

Floquet engineering of closed quantum systems can lead to the formation of long-lived prethermal states that, in general, eventually thermalize to infinite temperature. Coupling these driven systems to dissipative baths can stabilize such states, establishing a true nonequilibrium steady state. We demonstrate that in a certain strongly interacting lattice model coupled to a bath and driven by an electric field, such steady states can have the remarkable property that the cycle-averaged rate of energy transfer between the lattice and the baths vanishes. Despite this, we show that these states retain a clear nonequilibrium nature.