Time crystalline solitons and their stochastic dynamics in a driven-dissipative \phi^4 model

Abstract

Periodically driven systems provide unique opportunities to investigate the dynamics of topological excitations far from equilibrium. In this paper, we report a time-crystalline soliton (TCS) state in a driven-dissipative $\phi^4$ model. This state exhibits spontaneous breaking of discrete time-translational symmetry while simultaneously displaying spatial soliton behavior. During time evolution, the soliton pattern periodically oscillates between kink and anti-kink configurations. We further study TCS dynamics under noise, demonstrating that soliton random walk can induce a dynamical transition between two distinct $Z_2$ symmetry-breaking time-crystalline phases in time domain. Finally, we examine the annihilation of two spatially separated TCSs under noise. Importantly, in contrast to the confined behavior of time-crystalline monopoles reported in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 056502 (2023)], the dynamics of time-crystalline solitons is deconfined despite the nonequilibrium nature of our model: the statistically averaged annihilation time scales as a power law with the solitons' initial separation.