TITLE:
Quantum-inspired prethermalization in classical many-body kicked rotors
ABSTRACT:
Periodic drives are a common tool to control physical systems and create interesting Hamiltonian dynamics. For many-body systems, this method has a limited applicability due to the unavoidable heating caused by the drive. Recent theoretical works demonstrated that the heating can be exponentially suppressed at high frequencies, in quantum-coherent systems with a finite bandwidth. We release both constraints by considering a classical system with an unbound single-particle spectrum, described by a non-integrable chain of kicked rotors. Previous studies by Chirikov and others demonstrated that at long times this model shows regular diffusion. Nevertheless, our numerical calculations indicate unequivocally that the model can be localized in a prethermal state for exponentially long times. We present a statistical argument that accurately captures this novel physical effect. Our work demonstrates that insights from many-body quantum dynamics can help us gain a better understanding of interacting classical systems.