Non-equilibrium quantum dynamics and formation of the Bose polaron
Abstract
Advancing our understanding of non-equilibrium phenomena in quantum many-body systems remains among the greatest challenges in physics. Here, we report on the experimental observation of a paradigmatic many-body problem, namely the non-equilibrium dynamics of a quantum impurity immersed in a bosonic environment. We use an interferometric technique to prepare coherent superposition states of atoms in a Bose-Einstein condensate with a small impurity-state component, and monitor the evolution of such quantum superpositions into polaronic quasiparticles. These results offer a systematic picture of polaron formation from weak to strong impurity interactions. They reveal three distinct regimes of evolution with dynamical transitions that provide a link between few-body processes and many-body dynamics. Our measurements reveal universal dynamical behavior in interacting many-body systems and demonstrate new pathways to study non-equilibrium quantum phenomena.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2005.00424,
title = {Non-equilibrium quantum dynamics and formation of the Bose polaron},
author = {Magnus G. Skou and Thomas G. Skov and Nils B. Jørgensen and Kristian K. Nielsen and Arturo Camacho-Guardian and Thomas Pohl and Georg M. Bruun and Jan J. Arlt},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2005.00424},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
15 pages, 9 figures