Phase Transitions in Nonreciprocal Driven-Dissipative Condensates

TL;DR

This paper explores how boundaries and nonreciprocity affect phase transitions in driven-dissipative bosonic systems, revealing complex phases and symmetry breaking phenomena in a model applicable to superconducting circuits.

Contribution

It introduces a mean-field analysis of nonreciprocal driven-dissipative condensates, uncovering a rich phase diagram with static, dynamical, and symmetry-breaking phases under different boundary conditions.

Findings

Periodic boundaries lead to traveling wave condensates.

Open boundaries exhibit multiple static and dynamical phases.

Spontaneous particle-hole symmetry breaking occurs at critical exceptional points.

Abstract

We investigate the influence of boundaries and spatial nonreciprocity on nonequilibrium driven-dissipative phase transitions. We focus on a one-dimensional lattice of nonlinear bosons described by a Lindblad master equation, where the interplay between coherent and incoherent dynamics generates nonreciprocal interactions between sites. Using a mean-field approach, we analyze the phase diagram under both periodic and open boundary conditions. For periodic boundaries, the system always forms a condensate at nonzero momentum and frequency, resulting in a time-dependent traveling wave pattern. In contrast, open boundaries reveal a far richer phase diagram, featuring multiple static and dynamical phases, as well as exotic phase transitions, including the spontaneous breaking of particle-hole symmetry associated with a critical exceptional point and phases with distinct bulk and edge behavior. Our model does not require post-selection and is experimentally realizable in platforms such as superconducting circuits.