Tuning between Continuous Time Crystals and Many-Body Scars in Long-Range <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>X</mml:mi><mml:mi>Y</mml:mi><mml:mi>Z</mml:mi></mml:math> Spin Chains
Kieran Bull, Andrew Hallam, Zlatko Papić, Ivar Martin
Abstract
Persistent oscillatory dynamics in nonequilibrium many-body systems is a tantalizing manifestation of ergodicity breakdown that continues to attract much attention. Recent works have focused on two classes of such systems: discrete time crystals and quantum many-body scars (QMBS). While both systems host oscillatory dynamics, its origin is expected to be fundamentally different: discrete time crystal is a phase of matter which spontaneously breaks the ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ symmetry of the external periodic drive, while QMBS span a subspace of nonthermalizing eigenstates forming an su(2) algebra representation. Here, we ask a basic question: is there a physical system that allows us to tune between these two dynamical phenomena? In contrast to much previous work, we investigate the possibility of a continuous time crystal (CTC) in undriven, energy-conserving systems exhibiting prethermalization. We introduce a long-range $XYZ$ spin model and show that it encompasses both a CTC phase as well as QMBS. We map out the dynamical phase diagram using numerical simulations based on exact diagonalization and time-dependent variational principle in the thermodynamic limit. We identify a regime where QMBS and CTC order coexist, and we discuss experimental protocols that reveal their similarities as well as key differences.