Abstract
A fundamental assumption in statistical physics is that generic closed quantum many-body systems thermalize under their own dynamics. Recently, the emergence of many-body localized systems has questioned this concept and challenged our understanding of the connection between statistical physics and quantum mechanics. Here we report on the observation of a many-body localization transition between thermal and localized phases for bosons in a two-dimensional disordered optical lattice. With our single-site-resolved measurements, we track the relaxation dynamics of an initially prepared out-of-equilibrium density pattern and find strong evidence for a diverging length scale when approaching the localization transition. Our experiments represent a demonstration and in-depth characterization of many-body localization in a regime not accessible with state-of-the-art simulations on classical computers.
Item Type: | Journal article |
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Faculties: | Physics |
Subjects: | 500 Science > 530 Physics |
ISSN: | 0036-8075 |
Language: | English |
Item ID: | 47476 |
Date Deposited: | 27. Apr 2018, 08:13 |
Last Modified: | 08. May 2024, 09:23 |