2018/04/30 by Fabrizio Minganti, Alberto Biella, Nicola Bartolo +1 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #quant-ph #cond-mat.other
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.98.042118
published as Phys. Rev. A 98, 042118 (2018) · 14 pages, 7 figures
arxiv created 2018/10/12 · arxiv updated 2018/10/19
A state of an open quantum system is described by a density matrix, whose dynamics is governed by a Liouvillian superoperator. Within a general framework, we explore fundamental properties of both first-order dissipative phase transitions and second-order dissipative phase transitions associated with a symmetry breaking. In the critical region, we determine the general form of the steady-state density matrix and of the Liouvillian eigenmatrix whose eigenvalue defines the Liouvillian spectral gap. We illustrate our exact results by studying some paradigmatic quantum optical models exhibiting critical behavior.