Space-time symmetry breaking in nonequilibrium frustrated magnetism

Spontaneous symmetry breaking is responsible for rich phenomena in equilibrium physics. Driving a system out-of-equilibrium can significantly enrich the possibility of spontaneous symmetry breaking, which occurs not only in space, but also in the time domain. This study investigates a driven-dissipative frustrated magnetic system with alternate ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic coupling. Results show that frustration in such a far-from-equilibrium system could lead to nonequilibrium phases with intriguing space-time symmetry breaking, e.g., a discrete time crystal accompanied by a time-dependent magnetism with alternating tripartite stripe and ferromagnetic orders.