Dissipative phase transition in a quantum many-body system: from qubits to qudits

Abstract

We investigate the fate of dissipative phase transitions in quantum many-body systems when the individual constituents are qudits (d-level systems) instead of qubits. As an example system, we employ a permutation- invariant XY model of N infinite-range interacting d-level spins (Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model) undergoing individual and collective dissipation. In the mean-field limit, we identify a dissipative phase transition, whose critical point is independent of d after a suitable rescaling of parameters. When the decay rates between all adjacent levels are identical and d ≥ 4, the critical point expands, in terms of the ratio between dissipation and interaction strengths, to a critical region in which two phases coexist and which increases as d grows. In addition, a larger d leads to a more pronounced change in spin expectation values at the critical point. Numerical investigations for finite N reveal symmetry breaking signatures in the Liouvillian spectrum at the phase transition. The phase transition is furthermore marked by maximum entanglement negativity and a significant purity change of the steady state, which become more pronounced as d increases. Considering qudits instead of qubits thus opens new perspectives on accessing rich phase diagrams in open many-body systems.