Noise-induced synchronization and spontaneous phase-locking in quantum oscillators

While recovering from an illness in 1665, Christiaan Huygens observed that two identical pendulum clocks, when suspended from a common substantial beam, quickly synchronized with the same periods and amplitudes. He described this intriguing behavior as ``an odd sympathy" and concluded that synchronization occurs due to the small vibrations transmitted through the support, which acts as a coupling mechanism between the pendula.

In my talk, I'll demonstrate this effect and present a discussion of a quantum analogue of this system that we recently developed whereby synchronization is achieved via correlated interaction with a common dissipative channel.  We show that this is due to PT symmetry breaking whereby one mode of the system becomes completely decoupled from the thermal/dissipative environment, even at T = 0K. Lastly, time permitting, I will discuss an "anyonic" version of the model in which fractional statistical effects modify the dynamics. 

The results have implication for the design of quantum computing topologies and opto-mechanical devices that are essentially immune from decoherence and dissipation.