Interplay of noise and reservoir-induced decoherence in persistent currents
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Persistent current is a hallmark of quantum phase coherence. We study the fate of the persistent current in a non-equilibrium setting, where a tight-binding ring is subjected to stochastic disorder as well as a fermionic reservoir attached to each site. We evaluate the current using Keldysh technique and find that it exhibits non-monotonic behavior, suggesting two distinct mechanisms of decoherence. While coupling to the reservoirs introduces a coherence length scale given by the inverse of the coupling strength, the other mechanism is more subtle and driven by the ratio of noise strength to reservoir coupling. The interplay of noise and reservoir constitutes a purely non-equilibrium steady state with a flatter distribution function that we effectively describe using classical rate equations. We discuss possibilities of realizing our findings in ultracold-atom experiments.
Source: Physical Review Research
DOI: 10.1103/486b-4qgc
Author: Anonymous
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,625
OpenAlex ID: W7212391452