Symmetry classification correspondence between quadratic Lindbladians and their steady states
Phys. Rev. B 112, 085136 – Published 20 August, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/p8xr-4yzl
Abstract
Symmetry classification is crucial in understanding universal properties of quantum matter. Recently, the scope of symmetry classification has been extended to open quantum systems governed by the Lindblad master equation. However, the classifications of Lindbladians and steady states remain largely separate, because the former requires the non-Hermitian classification framework, while the latter relies on the classification scheme for Hermitian matrices. In this paper we build connections between symmetry classes of quadratic Lindbladians and their steady states, despite their different classification frameworks. We classify the full matrix representation of generic quadratic Lindbladians with particle conservation, showing they fall into 27 non-Hermitian symmetry classes. Among these, 22 classes lead to an infinite-temperature steady state. The remaining five classes have one-to-one correspondence with five steady-state Hermitian symmetry classes. Numerical simulations of random Lindbladian dynamics confirm the convergence to the correct steady-state symmetry classes at long time.
