Ideal n-body correlations with massive particles
Abstract
In 1963 Glauber introduced the modern theory of quantum coherence, which extended the concept of first-order (one-body) correlations, describing phase coherence of classical waves, to include higher-order (n-body) quantum correlations characterizing the interference of multiple particles. Whereas the quantum coherence of photons is a mature cornerstone of quantum optics, the quantum coherence properties of massive particles remain largely unexplored. To investigate these properties, here we use a uniquely correlated source of atoms that allows us to observe n-body correlations up to the sixth-order at the ideal theoretical limit (n!). Our measurements constitute a direct demonstration of the validity of one of the most widely used theorems in quantum many-body theory--Wisck's theorem--for a thermal ensemble of massive particles. Measurements involving n-body correlations may play an important role in the understanding of thermalization of isolated quantum systems and the thermodynamics of exotic many-body systems, such as Efimov trimers.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1403.2831,
title = {Ideal n-body correlations with massive particles},
author = {R. G. Dall and A. G. Manning and S. S. Hodgman and Wu RuGway and K. V. Kheruntsyan and A. G. Truscott},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1403.2831},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
10 pages, 3 figures, plus Supplementary Information