Linear dynamics of classical spin as Möbius transformation

Abstract

Though the overwhelming majority of natural processes occur far from the equilibrium, general theoretical approaches to non-equilibrium phase transitions remain scarce. Recent breakthroughs introduced a description of open dissipative systems in terms of non-Hermitian quantum mechanics enabling the identification of a class of non-equilibrium phase transitions associated with the loss of combined parity (reflection) and time-reversal symmetries. Here we report that the time evolution of a single classical spin (e.g. monodomain ferromagnet) governed by the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert-Slonczewski equation in the absence of magnetic anisotropy terms is described by a Möbius transformation in complex stereographic coordinates. We identify the parity-time symmetry-breaking phase transition occurring in spin-transfer torque-driven linear spin systems as a transition between hyperbolic and loxodromic classes of Möbius transformations, with the critical point of the transition corresponding to the parabolic transformation. This establishes the understanding of non-equilibrium phase transitions as topological transitions in configuration space.