Exposing local symmetries in distorted driven lattices via time-averaged invariants

Abstract

Time-averaged two-point currents are derived and shown to be spatially invariant within domains of local translation or inversion symmetry for arbitrary time-periodic quantum systems in one dimension. These currents are shown to provide a valuable tool for detecting deformations of a spatial symmetry in static and driven lattices. In the static case the invariance of the two-point currents is related to the presence of time-reversal invariance and/or probability current conservation. The obtained insights into the wavefunctions are further exploited for a symmetry-based convergence check which is applicable for globally broken but locally retained potential symmetries.