Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 87: Many-body Quantum Dynamics II (joint session DY/TT)

TT 87.4: Talk

Thursday, March 12, 2026, 15:45–16:00, HÜL/S186

Pairing-induced phase transition in the non-reciprocal Kitaev chain — •Pietro Brighi and Andreas Nunnenkamp — Faculty of physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090, Vienna, Austria

Investigating the robustness of non-reciprocity in the presence of competing interactions is central to understanding non-reciprocal quantum matter. In this work, we use reservoir engineering to induce non-reciprocal hopping and pairing in the fermionic Kitaev chain, and reveal the emergence of a pairing-induced phase transition. The two phases appear in the spectrum of the non-Hermitian Kitaev Hamiltonian describing the dynamics of correlations, separated by an exceptional point. In the non-reciprocal phase, dynamics are characterized by directionality and slow relaxation, and the steady state supports non-reciprocal density and spatial correlations. At strong pairing, we uncover an unexpected density wave phase, featuring short relaxation times, a modulation in particle occupation and strikingly different correlation spreading depending on pairing non-reciprocity. Our work highlights the non-trivial breakdown of non-reciprocity due to superconducting pairing and invites experimental investigation of non-reciprocal fermionic systems.

Keywords: Non-reciprocal dynamics; Reservoir engineering; Kitaev chain; Nonequilibrium and dissipative phase transitions; Superconducting pairing