Time Quasilattices in Dissipative Dynamical Systems
Felix Flicker
SciPost Phys. 5, 001 (2018) · published 3 July 2018
- doi: 10.21468/SciPostPhys.5.1.001
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Abstract
We establish the existence of 'time quasilattices' as stable trajectories in dissipative dynamical systems. These tilings of the time axis, with two unit cells of different durations, can be generated as cuts through a periodic lattice spanned by two orthogonal directions of time. We show that there are precisely two admissible time quasilattices, which we term the infinite Pell and Clapeyron words, reached by a generalization of the period-doubling cascade. Finite Pell and Clapeyron words of increasing length provide systematic periodic approximations to time quasilattices which can be verified experimentally. The results apply to all systems featuring the universal sequence of periodic windows. We provide examples of discrete-time maps, and periodically-driven continuous-time dynamical systems. We identify quantum many-body systems in which time quasilattices develop rigidity via the interaction of many degrees of freedom, thus constituting dissipative discrete 'time quasicrystals'.
Cited by 20
Author / Affiliations: mappings to Contributors and Organizations
See all Organizations.- 1 2 Felix Flicker
- 1 Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford
- 2 University of California, Berkeley [UCBL]
- English-Speaking Union
- New College, University of Oxford (through Organization: University of Oxford)