Publications

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• Weak ergodicity breaking in non-Hermitian many-body systems

  Qianqian Chen, Shuai A. Chen, Zheng Zhu

  SciPost Phys. 15, 052 (2023) · published 7 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The recent discovery of persistent revivals in the Rydberg-atom quantum simulator has revealed a weakly ergodicity-breaking mechanism dubbed quantum many-body scars, which are a set of nonthermal states embedded in otherwise thermal spectra. Until now, such a mechanism has been mainly studied in Hermitian systems. Here, we establish the non-Hermitian quantum many-body scars and systematically characterize their nature from dynamic revivals, entanglement entropy, physical observables, and energy level statistics. Notably, we find the non-Hermitian quantum many-body scars exhibit significantly enhanced coherent revival dynamics when approaching the exceptional point. The signatures of non-Hermitian scars switch from the real-energy axis to the imaginary-energy axis after a real-to-complex spectrum transition driven by increasing non-Hermiticity, where an exceptional point and a quantum tricritical point emerge simultaneously. We further examine the stability of non-Hermitian quantum many-body scars against external fields, reveal the non-Hermitian quantum criticality and eventually set up the whole phase diagram. The possible connection to the open quantum many-body systems is also explored. Our findings offer insights for realizing long-lived coherent states in non-Hermitian many-body systems.

  6 citations

• First-order photon condensation in magnetic cavities: A two-leg ladder model

  Zeno Bacciconi, Gian M. Andolina, Titas Chanda, Giuliano Chiriacò, Marco Schirò, Marcello Dalmonte

  SciPost Phys. 15, 113 (2023) · published 25 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider a model of free fermions in a ladder geometry coupled to a non-uniform cavity mode via Peierls substitution. Since the cavity mode generates a magnetic field, no-go theorems on spontaneous photon condensation do not apply, and we indeed observe a phase transition to a photon condensed phase characterized by finite circulating currents, alternatively referred to as the equilibrium superradiant phase. We consider both square and triangular ladder geometries, and characterize the transition by studying the energy structure of the system, light-matter entanglement, the properties of the photon mode, and chiral currents. The transition is of first order and corresponds to a sudden change in the fermionic band structure as well as the number of its Fermi points. Thanks to the quasi-one dimensional geometry we scrutinize the accuracy of (mean field) cavity-matter decoupling against large scale density-matrix renormalization group simulations. We find that light-matter entanglement is essential for capturing corrections to matter properties at finite sizes and for the description of the correct photon state. The latter remains Gaussian in the the thermodynamic limit both in the normal and photon condensed phases.

  6 citations

• Triangular Gross-Pitaevskii breathers and Damski-Chandrasekhar shock waves

  M. Olshanii, D. Deshommes, J. Torrents, M. Gonchenko, V. Dunjko, G. E. Astrakharchik

  SciPost Phys. 10, 114 (2021) · published 26 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The recently proposed map [arXiv:2011.01415] between the hydrodynamic equations governing the two-dimensional triangular cold-bosonic breathers [Phys. Rev. X 9, 021035 (2019)] and the high-density zero-temperature triangular free-fermionic clouds, both trapped harmonically, perfectly explains the former phenomenon but leaves uninterpreted the nature of the initial ($t=0$) singularity. This singularity is a density discontinuity that leads, in the bosonic case, to an infinite force at the cloud edge. The map itself becomes invalid at times $t<0$. A similar singularity appears at $t = T/4$, where $T$ is the period of the harmonic trap, with the Fermi-Bose map becoming invalid at $t > T/4$. Here, we first map---using the scale invariance of the problem---the trapped motion to an untrapped one. Then we show that in the new representation, the solution [arXiv:2011.01415] becomes, along a ray in the direction normal to one of the three edges of the initial cloud, a freely propagating one-dimensional shock wave of a class proposed by Damski in [Phys.~Rev.~A 69, 043610 (2004)]. There, for a broad class of initial conditions, the one-dimensional hydrodynamic equations can be mapped to the inviscid Burgers' equation, which is equivalent to a nonlinear transport equation. More specifically, under the Damski map, the $t=0$ singularity of the original problem becomes, verbatim, the initial condition for the wave catastrophe solution found by Chandrasekhar in 1943 [Ballistic Research Laboratory Report No. 423 (1943)]. At $t=T/8$, our interpretation ceases to exist: at this instance, all three effectively one-dimensional shock waves emanating from each of the three sides of the initial triangle collide at the origin, and the 2D-1D correspondence between the solution of [arXiv:2011.01415] and the Damski-Chandrasekhar shock wave becomes invalid.

  6 citations

• Cavity induced collective behavior in the polaritonic ground state

  Vasil Rokaj, Simeon I. Mistakidis, H. R. Sadeghpour

  SciPost Phys. 14, 167 (2023) · published 22 June 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Cavity quantum electrodynamics provides an ideal platform to engineer and control light-matter interactions with polariton quasiparticles. In this work, we investigate collective phenomena in a system of many particles in a harmonic trap coupled to a homogeneous cavity vacuum field. The system couples collectively to the cavity field, through its center of mass, and collective polariton states emerge. The cavity field mediates pairwise long-range interactions and enhances the effective mass of the particles. This leads to an enhancement of localization in the matter ground state density, which features a maximum when light and matter are on resonance, and demonstrates a Dicke-like, collective behavior with the particle number. The light-matter interaction also modifies the photonic properties of the polariton system, as the ground state is populated with bunched photons. In addition, it is shown that the diamagnetic $A^2$ term is necessary for the stability of the system, as otherwise the superradiant ground state instability occurs. We demonstrate that coherent transfer of polaritonic population is possible with an external magnetic field and by monitoring the Landau-Zener transition probability.

  6 citations

• Hole-induced anomaly in the thermodynamic behavior of a one-dimensional Bose gas

  Giulia De Rosi, Riccardo Rota, Grigori E. Astrakharchik, Jordi Boronat

  SciPost Phys. 13, 035 (2022) · published 26 August 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We reveal an intriguing anomaly in the temperature dependence of the specific heat of a one-dimensional Bose gas. The observed peak holds for arbitrary interaction and remembers a superfluid-to-normal phase transition in higher dimensions, but phase transitions are not allowed in one dimension. The presence of the anomaly signals a region of unpopulated states which behaves as an energy gap and is located below the hole branch in the excitation spectrum. The anomaly temperature is found to be of the same order of the energy of the maximum of the hole branch. We rely on the Bethe Ansatz to obtain the specific heat exactly and provide interpretations of the analytically tractable limits. The dynamic structure factor is computed with the Path Integral Monte Carlo method for the first time. We notice that at temperatures similar to the anomaly threshold, the energy of the thermal fluctuations become comparable with the maximal hole energy, leading to a qualitative change in the structure of excitations. This excitation pattern experiences the breakdown of the quasi-particle description for any value of the interaction strength at the anomaly, similarly to any superfluid phase transition at the critical temperature. We provide indications for future observations and how the hole anomaly can be employed for in-situ thermometry, identifying different collisional regimes and understanding other anomalies in atomic, solid-state, electronic, spin-chain and ladder systems.

  6 citations

• Enhancement of chiral edge currents in ($d$+1)-dimensional atomic Mott-band hybrid insulators

  Matteo Ferraretto, Andrea Richaud, Lorenzo Del Re, Leonardo Fallani, Massimo Capone

  SciPost Phys. 14, 048 (2023) · published 24 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider the effect of a local interatomic repulsion on synthetic heterostructures where a discrete synthetic dimension is created by Raman processes on top of $SU(N)$-symmetric two-dimensional lattice systems. At a filling of one fermion per site, increasing the interaction strength, the system is driven towards a Mott state which is adiabatically connected to a band insulator. The chiral currents associated with the synthetic magnetic field increase all the way to the Mott transition, where they reach the maximum value, and they remain finite in the whole insulating state. The transition towards the Mott-band insulator is associated with the opening of a gap within the low-energy quasiparticle peak, while a mean-field picture is recovered deep in the insulating state.

  5 citations

• Relativistic density-functional theory based on effective quantum electrodynamics

  Julien Toulouse

  SciPost Chem. 1, 002 (2021) · published 18 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A relativistic density-functional theory based on a Fock-space effective quantum-electrodynamics (QED) Hamiltonian using the Coulomb or Coulomb-Breit two-particle interaction is developed. This effective QED theory properly includes the effects of vacuum polarization through the creation of electron-positron pairs but does not include explicitly the photon degrees of freedom. It is thus a more tractable alternative to full QED for atomic and molecular calculations. Using the constrained-search formalism, a Kohn-Sham scheme is formulated in a quite similar way to non-relativistic density-functional theory, and some exact properties of the involved density functionals are studied, namely charge-conjugation symmetry and uniform coordinate scaling. The usual no-pair Kohn-Sham scheme is obtained as a well-defined approximation to this relativistic density-functional theory.

  5 citations

• Analysis of the buildup of spatiotemporal correlations and their bounds outside of the light cone

  Nils O. Abeling, Lorenzo Cevolani, Stefan Kehrein

  SciPost Phys. 5, 052 (2018) · published 26 November 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In non-relativistic quantum theories the Lieb-Robinson bound defines an effective light cone with exponentially small tails outside of it. In this work we use it to derive a bound for the time evolution of the correlation function of two local disjoint observables if the initial state has a power-law decay. We show that the exponent of the power-law of the bound is identical to the initial (equilibrium) decay. We explicitly verify this result by studying the full dynamics of the susceptibilities and correlations in the exactly solvable Luttinger model after a sudden quench from the non-interacting to the interacting model.

  5 citations

• Emulating twisted double bilayer graphene with a multiorbital optical lattice

  Junhyun Lee, J. H. Pixley

  SciPost Phys. 13, 033 (2022) · published 25 August 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  This work theoretically explores how to emulate twisted double bilayer graphene with ultracold atoms in multiorbital optical lattices. In particular, the quadratic band touching of Bernal stacked bilayer graphene is emulated using a square optical lattice with $p_x$, $p_y$, and $d_{x^2−y^2}$ orbitals on each site, while the effects of a twist are captured through the application of an incommensurate potential. The quadratic band touching is stable until the system undergoes an Anderson like delocalization transition in momentum space, which occurs concomitantly with a strongly renormalized single particle spectrum inducing flat bands, which is a generalization of the magic-angle condition realized in Dirac semimetals. The band structure is described perturbatively in the quasiperiodic potential strength, which captures miniband formation and the existence of magic-angles that qualitatively agrees with the exact numerical results in the appropriate regime. We identify several magic-angle conditions that can either have part or all of the quadratic band touching point become flat. In each case, these are accompanied by a diverging density of states and the delocalization of plane wave eigenstates. It is discussed how these transitions and phases can be observed in ultracold atom experiments.

  5 citations

• Optical lattice with spin-dependent sub-wavelength barriers

  Edvinas Gvozdiovas, Povilas Račkauskas, Gediminas Juzeliūnas

  SciPost Phys. 11, 100 (2021) · published 2 December 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We analyze a tripod atom light coupling scheme characterized by two dark states playing the role of quasi-spin states. It is demonstrated that by properly configuring the coupling laser fields, one can create a lattice with spin-dependent sub-wavelength barriers. This allows to flexibly alter the atomic motion ranging from atomic dynamics in the effective brick-wall type lattice to free motion of atoms in one dark state and a tight binding lattice with a twice smaller periodicity for atoms in the other dark state. Between the two regimes, the spectrum undergoes significant changes controlled by the laser fields. The tripod lattice can be produced using current experimental techniques. The use of the tripod scheme to create a lattice of degenerate dark states opens new possibilities for spin ordering and symmetry breaking.

  4 citations