Aashish Clerk [University of Chicago]

Abstract:

Quantum systems subject to both driving and dissipation are ubiquitous in many fields, and often have complex, non-thermal steady states. I’ll discuss how a subtle kind of quantum detailed balance can enable exact solutions of a number of non-trivial models, including many-body systems relevant to a variety of experimental platforms. These solutions directly enable understanding of a variety of interesting phenomena, ranging from the practical (e.g. new kinds of photon blockade effects in weakly nonlinear photonic systems), to the more fundamental (e.g. exact descriptions of driven-dissipative phase transitions). The needed “hidden symmetry” exists in a diverse set of systems, including a kind pair-driven Bose-Hubbard model (reminiscent of coherent Ising machine setups), a driven transverse field Ising model (relevant to recent cold atom experiments on superradiant phase transitions), and a boundary driven XXZ spin chain.