Prethermalization in aperiodically driven classical spin systems

Area of Science:

• Condensed Matter Physics
• Statistical Mechanics
• Dynamical Systems

Background:

• Periodically driven classical many-body systems exhibit prethermal dynamical phases.
• Extending prethermalization to aperiodic driving is a key challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate prethermalization in aperiodically driven classical spin systems.
• To establish the existence and characteristics of a prethermal regime under random multipolar drives.
• To explore the potential applications of classical prethermalization.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of spin systems subjected to random multipolar drives.
• Derivation of thermalization time scaling laws based on multipolar order (n) and drive timescale (T).
• Investigation of robustness across various initial state energy densities.

Main Results:

• Established a long-lived prethermal regime in classical spin systems with random multipolar drives.
• Demonstrated thermalization time scaling as (1/T)^{2n+2}, increasing with multipolar order.
• Observed exponentially long thermalization times in the quasiperiodic limit (n→∞).
• Confirmed robustness of prethermalization to initial state energy density.
• Noted that classical prethermalization is parametrically slower than quantum prethermalization.

Conclusions:

• Classical prethermalization is achievable in aperiodically driven systems.
• The observed scaling laws provide a quantitative understanding of prethermal dynamics.
• Classical prethermalization offers a distinct and potentially slower pathway compared to quantum systems.
• Proposed a protocol to utilize classical prethermalization for realizing time crystals.