Connected correlations in cold atom experiments
Abstract
The recent development of single-atom-resolved probes has made full counting statistics measurements accessible in quantum gas experiments. This capability provides access to high-order moments of physical observables, from which cumulants, or equivalently connected correlations, can be precisely determined. Through a selection of recent cold atom experiments, this article illustrates the significance of connected correlations in characterizing ensembles of interacting quantum particles. First, non-zero connected correlations of order n > 2 unambiguously identify non-Gaussian quantum states. Second, connected correlations of order n identify clusters made of n elements whose statistical properties are irreducible to combinations of smaller clusters. The ability to identify such multi-particle clusters offers a an interesting perspective on strongly correlated quantum states of matter at the microscopic scale.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2511.00448,
title = {Connected correlations in cold atom experiments},
author = {Thomas Chalopin and Igor Ferrier-Barbut and Thierry Lahaye and Antoine Browaeys and David Clément},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.00448},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
Contribution to the special issue "Quantum measurements" of the Comptes Rendus de l'Acad\'emie des Sciences