Higher-order and fractional discrete time crystals in clean long-range interacting systems

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the existence of higher-order and fractional discrete time crystals in a clean spin-1/2 system with long-range interactions, stable under continuous driving, expanding the understanding of non-equilibrium phases.

Contribution

It reveals new higher-order and fractional discrete time crystals in a long-range interacting spin system, with thorough characterization and potential for experimental realization.

Findings

Existence of higher-order and fractional discrete time crystals.

Stability of these phases under long- and short-range interactions.

Potential implementation in ultracold atoms or trapped ions.

Abstract

Discrete time crystals are periodically driven systems characterized by a response with periodicity $nT$, with $T$ the period of the drive and $n>1$. Typically, $n$ is an integer and bounded from above by the dimension of the local (or single particle) Hilbert space, the most prominent example being spin-$1/2$ systems with $n$ restricted to $2$. Here we show that a clean spin-$1/2$ system in the presence of long-range interactions and transverse field can sustain a huge variety of different `higher-order' discrete time crystals with integer and, surprisingly, even fractional $n > 2$. We characterize these (arguably prethermal) non-equilibrium phases of matter thoroughly using a combination of exact diagonalization, semiclassical methods, and spin-wave approximations, which enable us to establish their stability in the presence of competing long- and short-range interactions. Remarkably, these phases emerge in a model with continous driving and time-independent interactions, convenient for experimental implementations with ultracold atoms or trapped ions.