Beyond mean-field bistability in driven-dissipative lattices: bunching-antibunching transition and quantum simulation

In the present work we investigate the existence of multiple nonequilibrium steady states in a coherently-driven XY lattice of dissipative two-level systems. A commonly-used mean-field ansatz, in which spatial correlations are neglected, predicts a bistable behavior with a sharp shift between low- and high-density states. In contrast one-dimensional matrix product methods reveal these effects to be artifacts of the mean-field approach, with both disappearing once correlations are taken fully into account. Instead a bunching-antibunching transition emerges. This indicates that alternative approaches should be considered for higher spatial dimensions, where classical simulations are currently infeasible. Thus we propose a circuit QED quantum simulator implementable with current technology, to enable an experimental investigation of the model considered.