Prethermal Phases of Non-equilibrium Matter in Long-range Interacting Systems

  • Francisco Machado ,
  • Dominic V. Else ,
  • Gregory D. Kahanamoku-Meyer ,
  • ,
  • Norman Y. Yao

2019 arXiv: Statistical Mechanics

We prove the existence of non-equilibrium phases of matter in the prethermal regime of periodically-driven, long-range interacting systems, with power-law exponent $\alpha > d$, where $d$ is the dimensionality of the system. In this context, we predict the existence of a disorder-free, prethermal discrete time crystal in one dimension — a phase strictly forbidden in the absence of long-range interactions. Finally, using a combination of analytic and numerical methods, we highlight key experimentally observable differences between such a prethermal time crystal and its many-body localized counterpart.