Coupled activity-current fluctuations in open quantum systems under strong symmetries

TL;DR

This paper explores how strong symmetries influence transport and activity fluctuations in open quantum systems, revealing dynamical phase transitions and the impact of symmetry-breaking noise on these phenomena.

Contribution

It demonstrates the effects of strong symmetries on dynamical phase transitions in a three-qubit quantum system, including the interplay between activity and current fluctuations.

Findings

Identifies twin dynamical phase transitions in exciton current statistics.

Discovers a single DPT in activity statistics with coexistence of phases.

Shows symmetry-breaking dephasing destroys DPTs but leaves topological signatures.

Abstract

Strong symmetries in open quantum systems lead to broken ergodicity and the emergence of multiple degenerate steady states. From a quantum jump (trajectory) perspective, the appearance of multiple steady states is related to underlying dynamical phase transitions (DPTs) at the fluctuating level, leading to a dynamical coexistence of different transport channels classified by symmetry. In this paper, we investigate how strong symmetries affect both the transport properties and the activity patterns of a particular class of Markovian open quantum system, a three-qubit model under the action of a magnetic field and in contact with a thermal bath. We find a pair of twin DPTs in exciton current statistics, induced by the strong symmetry and related by time reversibility, where a zero-current exchange-antisymmetric phase coexists with a symmetric phase of negative exciton current. On the other hand, the activity statistics exhibits a single DPT where the symmetric and antisymmetric phases of different but nonzero activities dynamically coexists. The presence of a strong symmetry under non-equilibrium conditions implies non-analyticities in the dynamical free energy in the dual activity-current plane, including an activity-driven current lockdown phase for activities below some critical threshold. Finally, we also study the effect of a symmetry-breaking, ergodicity-restoring dephasing channel on the coupled activity-current statistics for this model. Interestingly, we observe that while this dephasing noise destroys the symmetry-induced DPTs, the underlying topological symmetry leaves a dynamical fingerprint in the form of intermittent, bursty on/off dynamics between the different symmetry sectors.