Nonreciprocity-enriched steady phases in open quantum systems
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2605.00101 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 30 Apr 2026] Title:Nonreciprocity-enriched steady phases in open quantum systems Authors:Ding Gu, Zhanpeng Fu, Zhong Wang View a PDF of the paper titled Nonreciprocity-enriched steady phases in open quantum systems, by Ding Gu and 2 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Nonreciprocity can profoundly alter the spectra and dynamics of open quantum systems, yet its impact on the long-time steady-state phases of matter has remained largely unexplored. Here we show that the interplay of nonreciprocity, symmetry defects, and spatial boundaries can generate phases beyond the standard spontaneous-symmetry-breaking paradigm. We demonstrate this mechanism by showing that sufficiently strong nonreciprocity turns boundaries into sources and drains of symmetry defects, while simultaneously endowing these defects with chiral dynamics in the bulk. As a result, the conventional uniform symmetry-broken state gives way to a domain-wall traveling-wave phase, in which symmetry defects form a persistent chiral wave. We showcase this mechanism in a bosonic model with \(Z_{2}\) symmetry, where periodic boundary conditions support only the conventional symmetric and symmetry-broken phases, whereas open boundary conditions allow the traveling-wave phase. We further show that even in the absence of symmetry breaking, the steady state can exhibit anomalous chiral relaxation: owing to the non-Hermitian skin effect in the stability matrix, local fluctuations are chirally amplified as they approach a boundary, where they eventually decay. Combining mean-field theory with truncated Wigner simulations, we characterize these phases, analyze the order parameter and Goldstone-mode fluctuations of the traveling-wave phase, and confirm its existence in three spatial dimensions. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas); Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el); Optics (physics.optics) Cite as: arXiv:2605.00101 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2605.00101v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.00101 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Ding Gu [view email] [v1] Thu, 30 Apr 2026 18:00:10 UTC (1,643 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Nonreciprocity-enriched steady phases in open quantum systems, by Ding Gu and 2 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-05 Change to browse by: cond-mat cond-mat.quant-gas cond-mat.str-el physics physics.optics References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)