Topologically protected boundary discrete time crystal for a solvable model

Abstract

Floquet time crystal, which breaks discrete time-translation symmetry, is an intriguing phenomenon in non-equilibrium systems. It is crucial to understand the rigidity and robustness of discrete time crystal (DTC) phases in a many-body system, and finding a precisely solvable model can pave a way for understanding of the DTC phase. Here, we propose and study a solvable spin chain model by mapping it to a Floquet superconductor through the Jordan-Wigner transformation. The phase diagrams of Floquet topological systems are characterized by topological invariants and tell the existence of anomalous edge states. The sub-harmonic oscillation, which is the typical signal of the DTC, can be generated from such edge states and protected by topology. We also examine the robustness of the DTC by adding symmetry-preserving and symmetry-breaking perturbations. Our results on topologically protected DTC can provide a deep understanding of the DTC when generalized to other interacting or dissipative systems.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure