Time-crystalline behavior in central-spin models with Heisenberg interactions

Abstract

Time-crystalline behavior has been predicted and observed in quantum central-spin systems with periodic driving and Ising interactions. Here, we theoretically show that it can also arise in central-spin systems with Heisenberg interactions. We present two methods to achieve this: application of a sufficiently large Zeeman splitting on the central spin compared to the satellite spins, or else by applying additional pulses to the central spin every Floquet period. In both cases, we show that the system exhibits a subharmonic response in spin magnetizations in the presence of disorder for both pure Heisenberg and XXZ interactions. Our results pertain to any XXZ central-spin system, including hyperfine-coupled electron-nuclear systems in quantum dots or color centers.