- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review Research

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Fermionic transport through a driven quantum point contact: Breakdown of Floquet thermalization controlled by the driving frequency

Ivan V. Dudinets*

Oleg Lychkovskiy

  • *Contact author: dudinets@phystech.edu
PDF

Phys. Rev. Research 7, 043119 – Published 31 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qgbs-l7d3

Abstract

We study a quantum system that consists of two fermionic chains coupled by a driven quantum point contact (QPC). The QPC contains a bond with a periodically varying tunneling amplitude. Initially, the left chain is packed with fermions, while the right one is empty. We numerically track the evolution of the system and demonstrate that, at frequencies above a certain threshold, the current through the QPC halts, and the particle imbalance between the chains remains forever. This implies a spectacular breakdown of the Floquet version of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis that predicts a homogeneous particle density profile at large times. We confirm the effect for various driving protocols and interparticle interactions.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (68)

  1. Y. V. Nazarov and Y. M. Blanter, Quantum Transport: Introduction to Nanoscience (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2009).
  2. G. Platero and R. Aguado, Photon-assisted transport in semiconductor nanostructures, Phys. Rep. 395, 1 (2004).
  3. S. Kohler, J. Lehmann, and P. Hänggi, Driven quantum transport on the nanoscale, Phys. Rep. 406, 379 (2005).
  4. D. A. Ryndyk, Theory of Quantum Transport at Nanoscale An Introduction, Springer Series in Solid-State Sciences, Vol. 185 (Springer, Cham, 2016).
  5. G. T. Landi, D. Poletti, and G. Schaller, Nonequilibrium boundary-driven quantum systems: Models, methods, and properties, Rev. Mod. Phys. 94, 045006 (2022).
  6. O. Gamayun, A. Slobodeniuk, J.-S. Caux, and O. Lychkovskiy, Nonequilibrium phase transition in transport through a driven quantum point contact, Phys. Rev. B 103, L041405 (2021).
  7. See also Ref. [8] for a very similar phase transition in a classical system of anharmonic oscillators, and Ref. [9] for a somewhat similar phase transition driven by the frequency of the periodic external voltage bias.
  8. M. Romero-Bastida, Effect of external potential on the energy transport in harmonically driven segmented Frenkel-Kontorova lattices, Phys. Rev. E 110, 054115 (2024).
  9. M. Žnidarič, B. Žunkovič, and T. Prosen, Transport properties of a boundary-driven one-dimensional gas of spinless fermions, Phys. Rev. E 84, 051115 (2011).
  10. A. Lazarides, A. Das, and R. Moessner, Equilibrium states of generic quantum systems subject to periodic driving, Phys. Rev. E 90, 012110 (2014).
  11. L. D’Alessio and M. Rigol, Long-time behavior of isolated periodically driven interacting lattice systems, Phys. Rev. X 4, 041048 (2014).
  12. K. Seetharam, P. Titum, M. Kolodrubetz, and G. Refael, Absence of thermalization in finite isolated interacting Floquet systems, Phys. Rev. B 97, 014311 (2018).
  13. B. Ye, F. Machado, C. D. White, R. S. K. Mong, and N. Y. Yao, Emergent hydrodynamics in nonequilibrium quantum systems, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 030601 (2020).
  14. A. Pizzi, D. Malz, G. De Tomasi, J. Knolle, and A. Nunnenkamp, Time crystallinity and finite-size effects in clean Floquet systems, Phys. Rev. B 102, 214207 (2020).
  15. T. N. Ikeda and A. Polkovnikov, Fermi’s golden rule for heating in strongly driven Floquet systems, Phys. Rev. B 104, 134308 (2021).
  16. A. Morningstar, D. A. Huse, and V. Khemani, Universality classes of thermalization for mesoscopic Floquet systems, Phys. Rev. B 108, 174303 (2023).
  17. P. Weinberg and M. Bukov, QuSpin: A Python package for dynamics and exact diagonalisation of quantum many body systems. Part I: Spin chains, SciPost Phys. 2, 003 (2017).
  18. P. Weinberg and M. Bukov, QuSpin: A Python package for dynamics and exact diagonalisation of quantum many body systems. Part II: Bosons, fermions and higher spins, SciPost Phys. 7, 020 (2019).
  19. I. Ermakov, O. Lychkovskiy, and B. V. Fine, Periodic classical trajectories and quantum scars in many-spin systems, arXiv:2409.00258.
  20. Observe, however, that 〈NR〉∞ does not necessarily monotonically decrease with the frequency, as one could expect. For example, 〈NR〉∞|ω=2<〈NR〉∞|ω=2.5 at U=1, as one can see from Fig. 5.
  21. F. Yan, L. Yang, and B. Li, Formal exact solution for the Heisenberg spin system in a time-dependent magnetic field and Aharonov-Anandan phase, Phys. Lett. A 251, 289 (1999).
  22. F. Yan, L. Yang, and B. Li, Invariant Hermitian operator and geometric phase for the Heisenberg spin system in a time-dependent magnetic field, Phys. Lett. A 259, 207 (1999).
  23. O. V. Gamayun and O. V. Lychkovskiy, A map between time-dependent and time-independent quantum many-body Hamiltonians, Proc. Steklov Inst. Math. 313, 41 (2021).
  24. N. Il‘in, A. Aristova, and O. Lychkovskiy, Adiabatic theorem for closed quantum systems initialized at finite temperature, Phys. Rev. A 104, L030202 (2021).
  25. X. Wang, X. He, and J. Wu, Quantum geometry and many-body Landau-Zener tunneling in time-dependent quantum systems with instantaneous quantum integrability, arXiv:2503.18396.
  26. A. Colcelli, G. Mussardo, G. Sierra, and A. Trombettoni, Integrable Floquet Hamiltonian for a periodically tilted 1D gas, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 130401 (2019).
  27. V. Gritsev and A. Polkovnikov, Integrable Floquet dynamics, SciPost Phys. 2, 021 (2017).
  28. K. Mizuta, K. Takasan, and N. Kawakami, Exact Floquet quantum many-body scars under Rydberg blockade, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 033284 (2020).
  29. H. Yarloo, A. Emami Kopaei, and A. Langari, Homogeneous Floquet time crystal from weak ergodicity breaking, Phys. Rev. B 102, 224309 (2020).
  30. V. Khemani, M. Hermele, and R. Nandkishore, Localization from Hilbert space shattering: From theory to physical realizations, Phys. Rev. B 101, 174204 (2020).
  31. B. Mukherjee, S. Nandy, A. Sen, D. Sen, and K. Sengupta, Collapse and revival of quantum many-body scars via Floquet engineering, Phys. Rev. B 101, 245107 (2020).
  32. S. Moudgalya, B. A. Bernevig, and N. Regnault, Quantum many-body scars and Hilbert space fragmentation: A review of exact results, Rep. Prog. Phys. 85, 086501 (2022).
  33. A. Teretenkov and O. Lychkovskiy, Duality between open systems and closed bilayer systems, and thermofield double states as quantum many-body scars, Phys. Rev. B 110, L241105 (2024).
  34. A. Das, Exotic freezing of response in a quantum many-body system, Phys. Rev. B 82, 172402 (2010).
  35. S. Bhattacharyya, A. Das, and S. Dasgupta, Transverse Ising chain under periodic instantaneous quenches: Dynamical many-body freezing and emergence of slow solitary oscillations, Phys. Rev. B 86, 054410 (2012).
  36. A. Haldar, R. Moessner, and A. Das, Onset of Floquet thermalization, Phys. Rev. B 97, 245122 (2018).
  37. A. Haldar, D. Sen, R. Moessner, and A. Das, Dynamical freezing and scar points in strongly driven Floquet matter: Resonance vs emergent conservation laws, Phys. Rev. X 11, 021008 (2021).
  38. C. Fleckenstein and M. Bukov, Prethermalization and thermalization in periodically driven many-body systems away from the high-frequency limit, Phys. Rev. B 103, L140302 (2021).
  39. S. Sugiura, T. Kuwahara, and K. Saito, Many-body scar state intrinsic to periodically driven system, Phys. Rev. Res. 3, L012010 (2021).
  40. S. Aditya and D. Sen, Dynamical localization and slow thermalization in a class of disorder-free periodically driven one-dimensional interacting systems, SciPost Phys. Core 6, 083 (2023).
  41. S. Ghosh, I. Paul, and K. Sengupta, Prethermal fragmentation in a periodically driven fermionic chain, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 120401 (2023).
  42. D. A. Abanin, W. De Roeck, and F. Huveneers, Exponentially slow heating in periodically driven many-body systems, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 256803 (2015).
  43. T. Mori, T. Kuwahara, and K. Saito, Rigorous bound on energy absorption and generic relaxation in periodically driven quantum systems, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 120401 (2016).
  44. A. Rubio-Abadal, M. Ippoliti, S. Hollerith, D. Wei, J. Rui, S. L. Sondhi, V. Khemani, C. Gross, and I. Bloch, Floquet prethermalization in a Bose-Hubbard system, Phys. Rev. X 10, 021044 (2020).
  45. W. Beatrez, O. Janes, A. Akkiraju, A. Pillai, A. Oddo, P. Reshetikhin, E. Druga, M. McAllister, M. Elo, B. Gilbert, D. Suter, and A. Ajoy, Floquet prethermalization with lifetime exceeding 90 s in a bulk hyperpolarized solid, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 170603 (2021).
  46. W. W. Ho, T. Mori, D. A. Abanin, and E. G. Dalla Torre, Quantum and classical Floquet prethermalization, Ann. Phys. 454, 169297 (2023).
  47. D. H. Dunlap and V. M. Kenkre, Dynamic localization of a charged particle moving under the influence of an electric field, Phys. Rev. B 34, 3625 (1986).
  48. F. Grossmann, T. Dittrich, P. Jung, and P. Hänggi, Coherent destruction of tunneling, Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 516 (1991).
  49. H. Guo, R. Mukherjee, and D. Chowdhury, Dynamical freezing in exactly solvable models of driven chaotic quantum dots, Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 226501 (2025).
  50. R. Mukherjee, H. Guo, K. Lewellen, and D. Chowdhury, Arresting quantum chaos dynamically in transmon arrays, Newton 1, 100011 (2025).
  51. D. J. Luitz, Y. Bar Lev, and A. Lazarides, Absence of dynamical localization in interacting driven systems, SciPost Phys. 3, 029 (2017).
  52. T. Kuwahara, T. Mori, and K. Saito, Floquet–Magnus theory and generic transient dynamics in periodically driven many-body quantum systems, Ann. Phys. 367, 96 (2016).
  53. M. Bukov, L. D'Alessio, and A. Polkovnikov, Universal high-frequency behavior of periodically driven systems: From dynamical stabilization to Floquet engineering, Adv. Phys. 64, 139 (2015).
  54. D. E. Parker, X. Cao, A. Avdoshkin, T. Scaffidi, and E. Altman, A universal operator growth hypothesis, Phys. Rev. X 9, 041017 (2019).
  55. We also note recent experimental evidence supporting the breakdown of the Floquet ETH [56].
  56. Y. Guo, S. Dhar, A. Yang, Z. Chen, H. Yao, M. Horvath, L. Ying, M. Landini, and H.-C. Nägerl, Observation of many-body dynamical localization, Science 389, 716 (2025).
  57. M. B. Zvonarev, V. V. Cheianov, and T. Giamarchi, Spin dynamics in a one-dimensional ferromagnetic Bose gas, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 240404 (2007).
  58. M. Knap, C. J. M. Mathy, M. Ganahl, M. B. Zvonarev, and E. Demler, Quantum flutter: Signatures and robustness, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 015302 (2014).
  59. E. Burovski, V. Cheianov, O. Gamayun, and O. Lychkovskiy, Momentum relaxation of a mobile impurity in a one-dimensional quantum gas, Phys. Rev. A 89, 041601 (2014).
  60. O. Lychkovskiy, Perpetual motion of a mobile impurity in a one-dimensional quantum gas, Phys. Rev. A 89, 033619 (2014).
  61. O. Lychkovskiy, Perpetual motion and driven dynamics of a mobile impurity in a quantum fluid, Phys. Rev. A 91, 040101(R) (2015).
  62. B. Bertini, F. Heidrich-Meisner, C. Karrasch, T. Prosen, R. Steinigeweg, and M. Žnidarič, Finite-temperature transport in one-dimensional quantum lattice models, Rev. Mod. Phys. 93, 025003 (2021).
  63. F. Arute, K. Arya, R. Babbush, D. Bacon, J. C. Bardin, R. Barends, R. Biswas, S. Boixo, F. G. S. L. Brandao, D. A. Buell et al., Quantum supremacy using a programmable superconducting processor, Nature (London) 574, 505 (2019).
  64. M. Gong et al., Quantum walks on a programmable two-dimensional 62-qubit superconducting processor, Science 372, 948 (2021).
  65. S. Ebadi, T. T. Wang, H. Levine, A. Keesling, G. Semeghini, A. Omran, D. Bluvstein, R. Samajdar, H. Pichler, W. W. Ho et al., Quantum phases of matter on a 256-atom programmable quantum simulator, Nature (London) 595, 227 (2021).
  66. P. Scholl, M. Schuler, H. Williams, A. Eberharter, D. Barredo, K. Schymik, V. Lienhard, L.-P. Henry, T. Lang, T. Lahaye et al., Quantum simulation of 2D Ising models using Rydberg atoms, Nature (London) 595, 233 (2021).
  67. H. Bernien et al., Probing many-body dynamics on a 51-atom quantum simulator, Nature 551, 579 (2017).
  68. I. Ermakov and O. Lychkovskiy, Effect of dephasing on the current through a periodically driven quantum point contact, JETP Lett. 119, 40 (2024).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Research 7, 043119– Published 31 October, 2025
  • Received 8 November 2024
  • Accepted 19 September 2025
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation