Aashish Clerk
Quantum systems subject to both driving and dissipation often have complex, non-thermal steady states, and are at the forefront of research in many areas of physics. For classical systems, microscopic time-reversal symmetry leads to open systems satisfying detailed balance; this symmetry makes it extremely easy to find their stationary states. In this talk, I’ll discuss a new way to think about detailed balance in fully quantum settings based on the existence of a “hidden” time-reversal symmetry. This symmetry has a direct operational utility: it provides a surprisingly simple way to find exact descriptions of non-trivial steady states. This symmetry is present in a number of experimentally-relevant systems. and has clear observable signatures. I’ll try to give a gentle introduction to these ideas, with a particular focus on models of driven, interacting bosonic modes (as can be realized in superconducting circuits and a variety of quantum optical platforms).