Unveiling hidden structure of many-body wave functions of integrable systems via sudden-expansion experiments

Mei, Zhongtao; Vidmar, L.; Heidrich-Meisner, F. and Bolech, C. J. (2016): Unveiling hidden structure of many-body wave functions of integrable systems via sudden-expansion experiments. In: Physical Review A, Vol. 93, No. 2, 21607

Abstract

In the theory of Bethe-ansatz integrable quantum systems, rapidities play an important role as they are used to specify many-body states, apart from phases. The physical interpretation of rapidities going back to Sutherland is that they are the asymptotic momenta after letting a quantum gas expand into a larger volume making it dilute and noninteracting. We exploit this picture to make a direct connection to quantities that are accessible in sudden-expansion experiments with ultracold quantum gases. By a direct comparison of Bethe-ansatz and time-dependent density matrix renormalization group results, we demonstrate that the expansion velocity of a one-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard model can be predicted from knowing the distribution of occupied rapidities defined by the initial state. Curiously, an approximate Bethe-ansatz solution works well also for the Bose-Hubbard model.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Physics
• Subjects: 500 Science > 530 Physics
• ISSN: 2469-9926
• Language: English