Clerk, Aashish

Date:   Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Time:   16:00
Place:   scheduled Zoom meeting
Host:    Géraldine Haack

Driven-dissipative quantum systems and hidden time-reversal symmetries

Aashish Clerk
University of Chicago

Quantum systems subject to both driving and dissipation often have complex, non-thermal steady states, and are at the forefront of research in many areas of physics. For classical systems, microscopic time-reversal symmetry leads to open systems satisfying detailed balance; this symmetry makes it extremely easy to find their stationary states. In this talk, I’ll discuss a new way to think about detailed balance in fully quantum settings based on the existence of a “hidden” time-reversal symmetry. I’ll show how this symmetry has a direct operational utility: it provides a direct way to find exact solutions of non-trivial states. This symmetry is present in a number of experimentally-relevant systems. and has clear experimental signatures. I’ll try to give a gentle introduction to these ideas, with a particular focus on models of driven, interacting bosonic modes (as can be realized in superconducting circuits and a variety of quantum optical platforms).