Simulating dynamical gauge potentials with ultracold atoms: theory and experiments

Speaker: Dr Matthew Edmonds
Affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies, University of Queensland

Abstract

Ultracold atoms have become a versatile tool for performing quantum simulation in a clean and controllable setting. One prominent example is the achievement of mimicking various gauge theories with these many-body systems. This in turn has enabled the study of effects drawn from a variety of physical systems; ranging from condensed matter to high energy physics. Very recently, ground breaking experiments demonstrating a qualitatively novel form of synthetic magnetism in the continuum have been realized in the form of density-dependent gauge theories [1,2].

This presentation will give an overview of the recent theoretical and experimental achievements in this field, including a description of the emergent superfluid behaviour of these unusual systems in a quasi two-dimensional setting, reveling the nature of the vortex lattices and how their phenomenology depends on the different available experimentally tunable parameters such as the interaction strength and trapping geometry [3]. Finally, comments regarding future opportunities will be given for these synthetic forms of matter.

[1] K.-X. Yao et al., Nature 602 68, (2022)

[2] A. Fröllian et al., Nature 608, 293 (2022)

[3] M. Edmonds and M. Nitta, Phys. Rev. A 102, 011303(R) (2020)