Work

Spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry and time-crystal states in chiral atomic systems

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: Half-integer spin systems are characterized by a degenerate ground state. Here, the authors show that the chiral interactions of a spin-\textonehalf{} qubit with the vacuum fluctuations may spontaneously break both the time-reversal and the time-translation symmetries. In the former case, the electron spin becomes anchored along some particular direction of space determined by a geometrical symmetry. In contrast, the latter situation occurs when the intrinsic spin magnetic moment undergoes a cyclic oscillation in the ground state, realizing a time crystal.

Source: Physical review. B./Physical review. B

DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.108.235154

Authors: Mário G. Silveirinha, Hugo Terças, Mauro Antezza