Prethermal discrete time crystals in driven-dissipative dipolar systems

In this presentation, we provide a theoretical framework to analyze discrete time-crystalline (DTC) phases in the dissipative dipolar systems subjected to a two-pulse excitation. As a particular realization, we choose a quantum many-body system that exhibits prethermalization due to the presence of the quasi-conserved quantities. The analysis uses a fluctuation-regulated quantum master equation that captures the drive's and dipolar coupling's dissipative effects on the dynamics regularized by the thermal fluctuations. We show that the effects of such dissipation lend stability to the dynamics and are directly responsible for the robustness. Specifically, we find that longer fluctuation correlation time enhances the stability of DTC. We also obtain the lifetime of such a robust period doubling response, a salient feature of the DTC phase, by varying several system parameters. Our results agree with the existing experimental findings in dipolar systems using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Finally, we show and quantify how the DTC performance degrades with temperature.