arXiv subjects

Annabelle Bohrdt

Publications and source records attributed to Annabelle Bohrdt.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Enhancing disorder-free localization through dynamically emergent local symmetries

Disorder-free localization is a recently discovered phenomenon of nonergodicity that can emerge in quantum many-body systems hosting gauge symmetries when the initial state is prepared in a superposition of gauge superselection sectors. Thermalization is then prevented up to all accessible evolution times despite the model being nonintegrable and translation-invariant. In a recent work [Halimeh, Zhao, Hauke, and Knolle, arXiv:2111.02427], it has been shown that terms linear in the gauge-symmetry generator stabilize disorder-free localization in $\mathrm{U}(1)$ gauge theories against gauge errors that couple different superselection sectors. Here, we show in the case of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge theories that disorder-free localization can not only be stabilized, but also \textit{enhanced} by the addition of translation-invariant terms linear in a local $\mathbb{Z}_2$ \textit{pseudogenerator} that acts identically to the full generator in a single superselection sector, but not necessarily outside of it. We show analytically and numerically how this leads through the quantum Zeno effect to the dynamical emergence of a renormalized gauge theory with an enhanced local symmetry, which contains the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge symmetry of the ideal model, associated with the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ pseudogenerator. The resulting proliferation of superselection sectors due to this dynamically emergent gauge theory creates an effective disorder greater than that in the original model, thereby enhancing disorder-free localization. We demonstrate the experimental feasibility of the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ pseudogenerator by providing a detailed readily implementable experimental proposal for the observation of disorder-free localization in a Rydberg setup.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Magnetically mediated hole pairing in fermionic ladders of ultracold atoms

Pairing of mobile charge carriers in doped antiferromagnets plays a key role in the emergence of unconventional superconductivity. In these strongly correlated materials, the pairing mechanism is often assumed to be mediated by magnetic correlations, in contrast to phonon-mediated interactions in conventional superconductors. A precise understanding of the underlying mechanism in real materials is, however, still lacking, and has been driving experimental and theoretical research for the past 40 years. Early theoretical studies established the emergence of binding among dopants in ladder systems, where idealised theoretical toy models played an instrumental role in the elucidation of pairing, despite repulsive interactions. Here, we realise this long-standing theoretical prediction and report on the observation of hole pairing due to magnetic correlations in a quantum gas microscope setting. By engineering doped antiferromagnetic ladders with mixed-dimensional couplings we suppress Pauli blocking of holes at short length scales. This results in a drastic increase in binding energy and decrease in pair size, enabling us to observe pairs of holes predominantly occupying the same rung of the ladder. We find a hole-hole binding energy on the order of the superexchange energy, and, upon increased doping, we observe spatial structures in the pair distribution, indicating repulsion between bound hole pairs. By engineering a configuration in which binding is strongly enhanced, we delineate a novel strategy to increase the critical temperature for superconductivity.

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arXiv2021

Dynamical signatures of thermal spin-charge deconfinement in the doped Ising model

The mechanism underlying charge transport in strongly correlated quantum systems, such as doped antiferromagnetic Mott insulators, remains poorly understood. Here we study the expansion dynamics of an initially localized hole inside a two-dimensional (2D) Ising antiferromagnet at variable temperature. Using a combination of classical Monte Carlo and a truncated basis method, we reveal two dynamically distinct regimes: A spin-charge confined region below a critical temperature $T^*$, characterized by slow spreading, and a spin-charge deconfined region above $T^*$, characterized by an unbounded diffusive expansion. The deconfinement temperature $T^*\approx 0.65 J_z$ we find is around the Néel temperature $T_{\rm N} = 0.567 J_z$ of the Ising background in 2D, but we expect $T^* < T_{\rm N}$ in higher dimensions. In both regimes we find that the mobile hole does not thermalize with the Ising spin background on the considered time scales, indicating weak effective coupling of spin- and charge degrees of freedom. Our results can be qualitatively understood by an effective parton model, and can be tested experimentally in state-of-the-art quantum gas microscopes.

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arXiv2021

Strong pairing in mixed dimensional bilayer antiferromagnetic Mott insulators

Interacting many-body systems combining confined and extended dimensions, such as ladders and few layer systems are characterized by enhanced quantum fluctuations, which often result in interesting collective properties. Recently two-dimensional bilayer systems, such as twisted bilayer graphene or ultracold atoms, have sparked a lot of interest because they can host rich phase diagrams, including unconventional superconductivity. Here we present a theoretical proposal for realizing high temperature pairing of fermions in a class of bilayer Hubbard models. We introduce a general, highly efficient pairing mechanism for mobile dopants in antiferromagnetic Mott insulators, which leads to binding energies proportional to $t^{1/3}$, where $t$ is the hopping amplitude of the charge carriers. The pairing is caused by the energy that one charge gains when retracing a string of frustrated bonds created by another charge. Concretely, we show that this mechanism leads to the formation of highly mobile, but tightly bound pairs in the case of mixed-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard bilayer systems. This setting is closely related to the Fermi-Hubbard model believed to capture the physics of copper oxides, and can be realized by currently available ultracold atom experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Exploration of doped quantum magnets with ultracold atoms

In the last decade, quantum simulators, and in particular cold atoms in optical lattices, have emerged as a valuable tool to study strongly correlated quantum matter. These experiments are now reaching regimes that are numerically difficult or impossible to access. In particular they have started to fulfill a promise which has contributed significantly to defining and shaping the field of cold atom quantum simulations, namely the exploration of doped and frustrated quantum magnets and the search for the origins of high-temperature superconductivity in the fermionic Hubbard model. Despite many future challenges lying ahead, such as the need to further lower the experimentally accessible temperatures, remarkable studies have already emerged. Among them, spin-charge separation in one-dimensional systems has been demonstrated, extended-range antiferromagnetism in two-dimensional systems has been observed, connections to modern day large-scale numerical simulations were made, and unprecedented comparisons with microscopic trial wavefunctions have been carried out at finite doping. In many regards, the field has acquired new realms, putting old ideas to a new test and producing new insights and inspiration for the next generation of physicists. In the first part of this paper, we review the results achieved in cold atom realizations of the Fermi-Hubbard model in recent years. In the second part of this paper, with the stage set and the current state of the field in mind, we propose a new direction for cold atoms to explore: namely mixed-dimensional bilayer systems, where the charge motion is restricted to individual layers which remain coupled through spin-exchange. We propose a novel, strong pairing mechanism in these systems, which puts the formation of hole pairs at experimentally accessible, elevated temperatures within reach.

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arXiv2021

Attraction from frustration in ladder systems

We analyze the formation of multi-particle bound states in ladders with frustrated kinetic energy in two component bosonic and two component fermionic systems. We focus on the regime of light doping relative to insulating states at half-filling, spin polarization close to 100 percent, and strong repulsive interactions. A special feature of these systems is that the binding energy scales with single particle tunneling $t$ rather than exchange interactions, since effective attraction arises from alleviating kinetic frustration. For two component Fermi systems on a zigzag ladder we find a bound state between a hole and a flipped spin (magnon) with a binding energy that can be as large as $0.6t$. We demonstrate that magnon-hole attraction leads to formation of clusters comprised of several holes and magnons and expound on antiferromagentic correlations for the transverse spin components inside the clusters. We identify several many-body states that result from self-organization of multi-particle bound states, including a Luttinger liquid of hole-magnon pairs and a density wave state of two hole - three magnon composites. We establish a symmetry between the spectra of Bose and Fermi systems and use it to establish the existence of antibound states in two component Bose mixtures with SU(2) symmetric repulsion on a zigzag ladder. We also consider Bose and Fermi systems on a square ladder with flux and demonstrate that both systems support bound states. We discuss experimental signatures of multi-particle bound states in both equilibrium and dynamical experiments. We point out intriguing connections between these systems and the quark bag model in QCD.

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arXiv2021

Visualizing spinon Fermi surfaces with time-dependent spectroscopy

Quantum simulation experiments have started to explore regimes that are not accessible with exact numerical methods. In order to probe these systems and enable new physical insights, the need for measurement protocols arises that can bridge the gap to solid state experiments, and at the same time make optimal use of the capabilities of quantum simulation experiments. Here we propose applying time-dependent photo-emission spectroscopy, an established tool in solid state systems, in cold atom quantum simulators. Concretely, we suggest combining the method with large magnetic field gradients, unattainable in experiments on real materials, to drive Bloch oscillations of spinons, the emergent quasiparticles of spin liquids. We show in exact diagonalization simulations of the one-dimensional $t-J$ model that the spinons start to populate previously unoccupied states in an effective band structure, thus allowing to visualize states invisible in the equilibrium spectrum. The dependence of the spectral function on the time after the pump pulse reveals collective interactions among spinons. In numerical simulations of small two-dimensional systems, spectral weight appears at the ground state energy at momentum $\mathbf{q} = (π,π)$, where the equilibrium spectral response is strongly suppressed up to higher energies, indicating a possible route towards solving the mystery of the Fermi arcs in the cuprate materials.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Coupling a mobile hole to an antiferromagnetic spin background: Transient dynamics of a magnetic polaron

Understanding the interplay between charge and spin and its effects on transport is a ubiquitous challenge in quantum many-body systems. In the Fermi-Hubbard model, this interplay is thought to give rise to magnetic polarons, whose dynamics may explain emergent properties of quantum materials such as high-temperature superconductivity. In this work, we use a cold-atom quantum simulator to directly observe the formation dynamics and subsequent spreading of individual magnetic polarons. Measuring the density- and spin-resolved evolution of a single hole in a 2D Hubbard insulator with short-range antiferromagnetic correlations reveals fast initial delocalization and a dressing of the spin background, indicating polaron formation. At long times, we find that dynamics are slowed down by the spin exchange time, and they are compatible with a polaronic model with strong density and spin coupling. Our work enables the study of out-of-equilibrium emergent phenomena in the Fermi-Hubbard model, one dopant at a time.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Higher-Order Spin-Hole Correlations around a Localized Charge Impurity

Analysis of higher-order correlation functions has become a powerful tool for investigating interacting many-body systems in quantum simulators, such as quantum gas microscopes. Experimental measurements of mixed spin-charge correlation functions in the 2D Hubbard have been used to study equilibrium properties of magnetic polarons and to identify coherent and incoherent regimes of their dynamics. In this paper we consider theoretically an extension of this technique to systems which use a pinning potential to reduce the mobility of a single dopant in the Mott insulating regime of the 2D Hubbard model. We find that localization of the dopant has a dramatic effect on its magnetic dressing. The connected third-order spin correlations are weakened in the case of a mobile hole but strengthened near an immobile hole. In the case of the fifth-order correlation function, we find that its bare value has opposite signs in cases of the mobile and of fully pinned dopant, whereas the connected part is similar for both cases. We study suppression of higher-order correlators by thermal fluctuations and demonstrate that they can be observed up to temperatures comparable to the spin-exchange energy $J$. We discuss implications of our results for understanding the interplay of spin and charge in doped Mott insulators.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Correlator Convolutional Neural Networks: An Interpretable Architecture for Image-like Quantum Matter Data

Machine learning models are a powerful theoretical tool for analyzing data from quantum simulators, in which results of experiments are sets of snapshots of many-body states. Recently, they have been successfully applied to distinguish between snapshots that can not be identified using traditional one and two point correlation functions. Thus far, the complexity of these models has inhibited new physical insights from this approach. Here, using a novel set of nonlinearities we develop a network architecture that discovers features in the data which are directly interpretable in terms of physical observables. In particular, our network can be understood as uncovering high-order correlators which significantly differ between the data studied. We demonstrate this new architecture on sets of simulated snapshots produced by two candidate theories approximating the doped Fermi-Hubbard model, which is realized in state-of-the art quantum gas microscopy experiments. From the trained networks, we uncover that the key distinguishing features are fourth-order spin-charge correlators, providing a means to compare experimental data to theoretical predictions. Our approach lends itself well to the construction of simple, end-to-end interpretable architectures and is applicable to arbitrary lattice data, thus paving the way for new physical insights from machine learning studies of experimental as well as numerical data.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Microscopic evolution of doped Mott insulators from polaronic metal to Fermi liquid

The competition between antiferromagnetism and hole motion in two-dimensional Mott insulators lies at the heart of a doping-dependent transition from an anomalous metal to a conventional Fermi liquid. Condensed matter experiments suggest charge carriers change their nature within this crossover, but a complete understanding remains elusive. We observe such a crossover in Fermi-Hubbard systems on a cold-atom quantum simulator and reveal the transformation of multi-point correlations between spins and holes upon increasing doping at temperatures around the superexchange energy. Conventional observables, such as spin susceptibility, are furthermore computed from the microscopic snapshots of the system. Starting from a magnetic polaron regime, we find the system evolves into a Fermi liquid featuring incommensurate magnetic fluctuations and fundamentally altered correlations. The crossover is completed for hole dopings around $30\%$. Our work benchmarks theoretical approaches and discusses possible connections to lower temperature phenomena.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Parton theory of ARPES spectra in anti-ferromagnetic Mott insulators

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) has revealed peculiar properties of mobile dopants in correlated anti-ferromagnets (AFMs). But describing them theoretically, even in simplified toy models, remains a challenge. Here we study ARPES spectra of a single mobile hole in the $t-J$ model. Recent progress in the microscopic description of mobile dopants allows us to use a geometric decoupling of spin and charge fluctuations at strong couplings, from which we conjecture a one-to-one relation of the one-dopant spectral function and the spectrum of a constituting spinon in the \emph{undoped} parent AFM. We thoroughly test this hypothesis for a single hole doped into a 2D Heisenberg AFM by comparing our semi-analytical predictions to previous quantum Monte Carlo results and our large-scale time-dependent matrix product state (td-MPS) calculations of the spectral function. Our conclusion is supported by a microscopic trial wavefuntion describing spinon-chargon bound states, which captures the momentum and $t/J$ dependence of the quasiparticle residue. Our conjecture suggests that ARPES measurements in the pseudogap phase of cuprates can directly reveal the Dirac-fermion nature of the constituting spinons. Specifically, we demonstrate that our trial wavefunction provides a microscopic explanation for the sudden drop of spectral weight around the nodal point associated with the formation of Fermi arcs, assuming that additional frustration suppresses long-range AFM ordering. We benchmark our results by studying the cross-over from two to one dimension, where spinons and chargons are confined and deconfined respectively.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Multiparticle interactions for ultracold atoms in optical tweezers: Cyclic ring-exchange terms

Dominant multi-particle interactions can give rise to exotic physical phases with anyonic excitations and phase transitions without local order parameters. In spin systems with a global $SU(N)$ symmetry, cyclic ring-exchange couplings constitute the first higher-order interaction in this class. In this letter we propose a protocol how $SU(N)$ invariant multi-body interactions can be implemented in optical tweezer arrays. We utilize the flexibility to re-arrange the tweezer configuration on time scales short compared to the typical lifetimes, in combination with strong non-local Rydberg interactions. As a specific example we demonstrate how a chiral cyclic ring-exchange Hamiltonian can be implemented in a two-leg ladder geometry. We study its phase diagram using DMRG simulations and identify phases with dominant vector chirality, a ferromagnet, and an emergent spin-$1$ Haldane phase. We also discuss how the proposed protocol can be utilized to implement the strongly frustrated $J-Q$ model, a candidate for hosting a deconfined quantum critical point.

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arXiv2019

String patterns in the doped Hubbard model

Understanding strongly correlated quantum many-body states is one of the most difficult challenges in modern physics. For example, there remain fundamental open questions on the phase diagram of the Hubbard model, which describes strongly correlated electrons in solids. In this work we realize the Hubbard Hamiltonian and search for specific patterns within the individual images of many realizations of strongly correlated ultracold fermions in an optical lattice. Upon doping a cold-atom antiferromagnet we find consistency with geometric strings, entities that may explain the relationship between hole motion and spin order, in both pattern-based and conventional observables. Our results demonstrate the potential for pattern recognition to provide key insights into cold-atom quantum many-body systems.

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arXiv2019

Dynamical formation of a magnetic polaron in a two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnet

We numerically study the real-time dynamics of a single hole created in the $t-J$ model on a square lattice. Initially, the hole spreads ballistically with a velocity proportional to the hopping matrix element. At intermediate to long times, the dimensionality as well as the spin background determine the hole dynamics. A hole created in the ground state of a two dimensional quantum antiferromagnet propagates again ballistically at long times but with a velocity proportional to the spin exchange coupling, showing the formation of a magnetic polaron. We provide an intuitive explanation of this dynamics in terms of a parton construction, which leads to a good quantitative agreement with the numerical simulations. In the limit of infinite temperature and no spin exchange couplings, the dynamics can be approximated by a quantum random walk on the Bethe lattice. Adding Ising interactions corresponds to an effective disordered potential, which can dramatically slow down the hole propagation, consistent with subdiffusive dynamics.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Time-Resolved Observation of Spin-Charge Deconfinement in Fermionic Hubbard Chains

Elementary particles such as the electron carry several quantum numbers, for example, charge and spin. However, in an ensemble of strongly interacting particles, the emerging degrees of freedom can fundamentally differ from those of the individual constituents. Paradigmatic examples of this phenomenon are one-dimensional systems described by independent quasiparticles carrying either spin (spinon) or charge (holon). Here we report on the dynamical deconfinement of spin and charge excitations in real space following the removal of a particle in Fermi-Hubbard chains of ultracold atoms. Using space- and time-resolved quantum gas microscopy, we track the evolution of the excitations through their signatures in spin and charge correlations. By evaluating multi-point correlators, we quantify the spatial separation of the excitations in the context of fractionalization into single spinons and holons at finite temperatures.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Microscopic spinon-chargon theory of magnetic polarons in the t-J model

The interplay of spin and charge degrees of freedom, introduced by doping mobile holes into a Mott insulator with strong anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) correlations, is at the heart of strongly correlated matter such as high-Tc cuprate superconductors. Here we capture this interplay in the strong coupling regime and propose a trial wavefunction of mobile holes in an AFM. Our method provides a microscopic justification for a class of theories which describe doped holes moving in an AFM environment as meson-like bound states of spinons and chargons. We discuss a model of such bound states from the perspective of geometric strings, which describe a fluctuating lattice geometry introduced by the fast motion of the chargon. This is demonstrated to give rise to short-range hidden string order, signatures of which have recently been revealed by ultracold atom experiments. We present evidence for the existence of such short-range hidden string correlations also at zero temperature by performing numerical DMRG simulations. To test our microscopic approach, we calculate the ground state energy and dispersion relation of a hole in an AFM, as well as the magnetic polaron radius, and obtain good quantitative agreement with advanced numerical simulations at strong couplings. We discuss extensions of our analysis to systems without long range AFM order to systems with short-range magnetic correlations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Classifying Snapshots of the Doped Hubbard Model with Machine Learning

Quantum gas microscopes for ultracold atoms can provide high-resolution real-space snapshots of complex many-body systems. We implement machine learning to analyze and classify such snapshots of ultracold atoms. Specifically, we compare the data from an experimental realization of the two-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard model to two theoretical approaches: a doped quantum spin liquid state of resonating valence bond type, and the geometric string theory, describing a state with hidden spin order. This approach considers all available information without a potential bias towards one particular theory by the choice of an observable and can therefore select the theory which is more predictive in general. Up to intermediate doping values, our algorithm tends to classify experimental snapshots as geometric-string-like, as compared to the doped spin liquid. Our results demonstrate the potential for machine learning in processing the wealth of data obtained through quantum gas microscopy for new physical insights.

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