Modulation instability in the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a synthetic magnetic field: gauge matters

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the phenomenon of modulation instability for systems obeying nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which are under the influence of an external homogeneous synthetic magnetic field. For an initial condition, the instability is detected numerically by comparing dynamics with and without a small initial perturbation; the perturbations are characterized in a standard fashion by wavevectors in momentum space. We demonstrate that the region of (in)stability in momentum space, as well as time-evolution in real space, for identical initial conditions, depend on the choice of the gauge (i.e., vector potential) used to describe the homogeneous synthetic magnetic field. This superficially appears as if the gauge invariance is broken, but this is not true. When the system is evolved from an identical initial condition in two different gauges, it is equivalent to suddenly turning on the synthetic magnetic field at $t=0$. This gives rise, via Faraday's law, to an initial instantaneous kick of a synthetic electric field to the wavepacket, which can differ for gauges yielding an identical uniform magnetic field at $t>0$.