Long-range interaction in an open boundary-driven Heisenberg spin lattice: A far-from-equilibrium transition to ballistic transport

Abstract: We study an open Heisenberg XXZ spin chain with long-range Ising-type interaction, which is incoherently driven at its boundaries and therefore a far-from-equilibrium steady state current is induced. Quantum Monte Carlo techniques make a regime accessible, where the system size is large enough to examine the transition from a diffusive to a ballistic transport regime. We find that the chain lengths for this transition are increasing with decreasing range of the Ising-type interactions between distant spins, while the strength of the incoherent driving does not have a relevant effect on the transport transition. The transition can be explained by the suppression of ferromagnetic domains at the edges of the chain.