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V. E. Colussi

Publications and source records attributed to V. E. Colussi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Probing non-Gaussian correlations through entanglement generation in a many-body quantum system

In understanding strongly correlated quantum systems, quantifying the non-Gaussian nature of interparticle correlations is invaluable. We show that, for a uniform quantum gas, there exists a natural connection between non-Gaussian correlations and the generation of momentum-space entanglement. Furthermore, this entanglement can be directly measured in an experiment using time-of-flight techniques. To prototype our method, we numerically study entanglement generation in a degenerate Bose gas following a quench to the unitary regime, where Gaussian and non-Gaussian correlations are generated sequentially in time.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Non-equilibrium dynamics and atom-pair coherence in strongly interacting Bose-Fermi mixtures

Theoretical treatments of non-equilibrium dynamics in strongly interacting Bose-Fermi mixtures are complicated by the inherent non-Gaussian nature of the vacuum two-body physics, invalidating the typical Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approximation. Here, we apply the cumulant expansion to study non-equilibrium Bose-Fermi mixtures, which allows us to explicitly include the missing non-Gaussian quantum correlations, leading to a consistent dynamical theory of a Bose-Fermi mixture near an interspecies Feshbach resonance. We first apply our theory to a study of atom-pair coherence in the gas, which is significantly enhanced by the competing influences of the Fermi sea and Bose-Einstein condensation, in agreement with analytical calculations. Then, we study the depletion of a degenerate Bose-Fermi mixture following a quench to the unitary regime, characterizing the resulting depletion of the Bose-Einstein condensate, the deformation of the Fermi surface, and the production of molecules. We find that at early times, the population dynamics scale quadratically with the hold time, and define an associated characteristic timescale set by the parameters of the mixture and the width of the Feshbach resonance.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Resonance triplet dynamics in the quenched unitary Bose gas

The quenched unitary Bose gas is a paradigmatic example of a strongly interacting out-of-equilibrium quantum system, whose dynamics become difficult to describe theoretically due to the growth of non-Gaussian quantum correlations. We develop a conserving many-body theory capable of capturing these effects, allowing us to model the post-quench dynamics in the previously inaccessible time regime where the gas departs from the universal prethermal stage. Our results show that this departure is driven by the growth of strong lossless three-body correlations, rather than atomic losses, thus framing the heating of the gas in this regime as a fully coherent phenomenon. We uncover the specific few-body scattering processes that affect this heating, and show that the expected connection between the two-body and three-body contacts and the tail of the momentum distribution is obscured following the prethermal stage, explaining the absence of this connection in experiments. Our general framework, which reframes the dynamics of unitary quantum systems in terms of explicit connections to microscopic physics, can be broadly applied to any quantum system containing strong few-body correlations.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Higgs oscillations in a unitary Fermi superfluid

Symmetry-breaking phase transitions are central to our understanding of states of matter. When a continuous symmetry is spontaneously broken, new excitations appear that are tied to fluctuations of the order parameter. In superconductors and fermionic superfluids, the phase and amplitude can fluctuate independently, giving rise to two distinct collective branches. However, amplitude fluctuations are difficult to both generate and measure, as they do not couple directly to the density of fermions and have only been observed indirectly to date. Here, we excite amplitude oscillations in an atomic Fermi gas with resonant interactions by an interaction quench. Exploiting the sensitivity of Bragg spectroscopy to the amplitude of the order parameter, we measure the time-resolved response of the atom cloud, directly revealing amplitude oscillations at twice the frequency of the gap. The magnitude of the oscillatory response shows a strong temperature dependence, and the oscillations appear to decay faster than predicted by time-dependent BCS theory applied to our experimental setup.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Lattice polarons across the superfluid to Mott insulator transition

We study the physics of a mobile impurity confined in a lattice, moving within a Bose-Hubbard bath at zero temperature. Within the Quantum Gutzwiller formalism, we develop a beyond-Fröhlich model of the bath-impurity interaction. Results for the properties of the polaronic quasiparticle formed from the dressing of the impurity by quantum fluctuations of the bath are presented throughout the entire phase diagram, focusing on the quantum phase transition between the superfluid and Mott insulating phases. Here we find that the modification of the impurity properties is highly sensitive to the different universality classes of the transition, providing an unambiguous probe of correlations and collective modes in a quantum critical many-body environment.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Optimization of the Variational Quantum Eigensolver for Quantum Chemistry Applications

This work studies the variational quantum eigensolver algorithm, designed to determine the ground state of a quantum mechanical system by combining classical and quantum hardware. Methods of reducing the number of required qubit manipulations, prone to induce errors, for the variational quantum eigensolver are studied. We formally justify the qubit removal process as sketched by Bravyi, Gambetta, Mezzacapo and Temme [arXiv:1701.08213 (2017)]. Furthermore, different classical optimization and entangling methods, both gate based and native, are surveyed by computing ground state energies of H$_2$ and LiH. This paper aims to provide performance-based recommendations for entangling methods and classical optimization methods. Analyzing the VQE problem is complex, where the optimization algorithm, the method of entangling, and the dimensionality of the search space all interact. In specific cases however, concrete results can be shown, and an entangling method or optimization algorithm can be recommended over others. In particular we find that for high dimensionality (many qubits and/or entanglement depth) certain classical optimization algorithms outperform others in terms of energy error.

quant-ph

Evolution of the unitary Bose gas for broad to narrow Feshbach resonances

We study the post-quench dynamics of unitary Bose gases using a two-channel model, focusing on the effect of variations in the width of the Feshbach resonance due to density changes. We generally find that increasing the density leads to a corresponding increase in the production of closed channel molecules, a decrease in the build up of quantum depletion and a transition from linear to quadratic early-time growth of the two-body contact as well as the condensed pair fraction. Motivated by the presence of closed-channel molecules in the unitary regime, we study the embedded two-body problem finding a transition from open to closed-channel dominated dimers due to many-body effects.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Bose-Einstein condensation of Efimovian triples in the unitary Bose gas

In an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate quenched to the unitary regime, we predict the sequential formation of a significant fraction of condensed pairs and triples. At short-distances, we demonstrate the two-body and Efimovian character of the condensed pairs and triples, respectively. As the system evolves, the size of the condensed pairs and triples becomes comparable to the interparticle distance, such that many-body effects become significant. The structure of the condensed triples depends on the relative size of Efimov states to density scales. Unexpectedly, we find universal condensed triples in the limit where these scales are well-separated. Our findings provide a new framework for understanding dynamics in the unitary regime as the Bose-Einstein condensation of few-body composites.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Quantum Gutzwiller approach for the two-component Bose-Hubbard model

We study the effects of quantum fluctuations in the two-component Bose-Hubbard model generalizing to mixtures the quantum Gutzwiller approach introduced recently in [Phys. Rev. Research 2, 033276 (2020)]. As a basis for our study, we analyze the mean-field ground-state phase diagram and spectrum of elementary excitations, with particular emphasis on the quantum phase transitions of the model. Within the quantum critical regimes, we address both the superfluid transport properties and the linear response dynamics to density and spin probes of direct experimental relevance. Crucially, we find that quantum fluctuations have a dramatic effect on the drag between the superfluid species of the system, particularly in the vicinity of the paired and antipaired phases absent in the usual one-component Bose-Hubbard model. Additionally, we analyse the contributions of quantum corrections to the one-body coherence and density/spin fluctuations from the perspective of the collective modes of the system, providing results for the few-body correlations in all the regimes of the phase diagram.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Three-body spin mixing in spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates

We study zero-energy collisions between three identical bosons with spin $f = 1$ interacting via pairwise potentials. We quantify the corresponding three-body scattering hypervolumes, which parametrize the effective three-body interaction strengths in a many-body description of spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates. Our results demonstrate universal behavior of the scattering hypervolumes for strong $s$- and $p$-wave two-body interactions. At weak interactions we find that the real parts of the scattering hypervolumes are predominantly determined by hard-hyperspherelike collisions which we characterize by a simple formula. With this universal result we estimate that spin mixing via three-body collisions starts to dominate over two-body spin mixing at a typical particle density of $10^{17}~\mathrm{cm}^{-3}$ for ${}^{23}$Na and ${}^{41}$K spinor condensates. This density can be reduced by tuning the two-body interactions to an $s$- or $p$-wave dimer resonance or to a point where two-body spin mixing effectively vanishes. Another possibility to observe effects of three-body spin mixing involves the application of weak magnetic fields to cancel out the effective two-body interaction strength in the characteristic timescale describing the spin dynamics.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Three-body universality in ultracold $p$-wave resonant mixtures

We study three-body collisions within ultracold mixtures with resonant interspecies $p$-wave interactions. Our results for the three-body effective interaction strength and decay rate are crucial towards understanding the stability and lifetime of these dilute quantum fluids. On resonance, we find that a class of universal scattering pathways emerges, regardless of the details of the short-range interactions. This gives rise quite generally to a remarkable regime where three-body effective interactions dominate over both inelastic decay and two-body effective interactions. Additionally, we find a series of mass-ratio-dependent trimer resonances further from resonance.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Cumulant theory of the unitary Bose gas: Prethermal and Efimovian dynamics

We study the quench of a degenerate ultracold Bose gas to the unitary regime, where interactions are as strong as allowed by quantum mechanics. We lay the foundations of a cumulant theory able to capture simultaneously the three-body Efimov effect and ergodic evolution. After an initial period of rapid quantum depletion, a universal prethermal stage is established characterized by a kinetic temperature and an emergent Bogoliubov dispersion law while the microscopic degrees of freedom remain far-from-equilibrium. Integrability is then broken by higher-order interaction terms in the many-body Hamiltonian, leading to a momentum-dependent departure from power law to decaying exponential behavior of the occupation numbers at large momentum. We find also signatures of the Efimov effect in the many-body dynamics and make a precise identification between the observed beating phenomenon and the binding energy of an Efimov trimer. Throughout the work, our predictions for a uniform gas are quantitatively compared with experimental results for quenched unitary Bose gases in uniform potentials.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Van der Waals universality near a quantum tricritical point

We study the three-body scattering hypervolume $D$ of atoms whose scattering length $a$ is on the order of or smaller than the typical range $r_{\mathrm{vdW}}$ of the van der Waals attraction. We find that the real part of $D$ behaves universally in this weakly interacting regime ($|a|/r_{\mathrm{vdW}}\lesssim 1$) in the absence of trimer resonances. This universality originates from hard-spherelike collisions that dominate elastic three-body scattering. We use this result to make quantitative predictions for the thermodynamics and elementary excitations of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in the vicinity of a quantum tricritical point, including quantum droplets stabilized by effective three-body interactions.

physics.atom-ph

Scattering hypervolume for ultracold bosons from weak to strong interactions

The elastic scattering properties of three bosons at low energy enter the many-body description of ultracold Bose gases via the three-body scattering hypervolume $D$. We study this quantity for identical bosons that interact via a pairwise finite-range potential. Our calculations cover the regime from strongly repulsive potentials towards attractive potentials supporting multiple two-body bound states and are consistent with the few existing predictions for $D$. We present the first numerical confirmation of the universal predictions for $D$ in the strongly interacting regime, where Efimov physics dominates, for a local nonzero-range potential. Our findings highlight how $D$ is influenced by three-body quasibound states with strong $d$-wave or $g$-wave characteristics in the weakly interacting regime.

physics.atom-ph

Pair formation in quenched unitary Bose gases

We study a degenerate Bose gas quenched to unitarity by solving a many-body model including three-body losses and correlations up to second order. As the gas evolves in this strongly-interacting regime, the buildup of correlations leads to the formation of extended pairs bound purely by many-body effects, analogous to the phenomenon of Cooper pairing in the BCS regime of the Fermi gas. Through fast sweeps away from unitarity, we detail how the correlation growth and formation of bound pairs emerge in the fraction of unbound atoms remaining post sweep, finding quantitative agreement with experiment. We comment on the possible role of higher-order effects in explaining the deviation of our theoretical results from experiment for slower sweeps and longer times spent in the unitary regime.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Two-body and three-body contacts for three bosons in the unitary regime: Analytic expressions and limiting forms

The two and three-body contacts are central to a set of univeral relations between microscopic few-body physics within an ultracold Bose gas and its thermodynamical properties. They may also be defined in trapped few-particle systems, which is the subject of this work. In this work, we focus on the unitary three-body problem in a trap, where interactions are as strong as allowed by quantum mechanics. We derive analytic results for the two and three-body contacts in this regime and compare with existing limiting expressions and previous numerical studies.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Bunching, clustering, and the buildup of few-body correlations in a quenched unitary Bose gas

We study the growth of two- and three-body correlations in an ultracold Bose gas quenched to unitarity. This is encoded in the dynamics of the two- and three-body contacts analyzed in this work. Via a set of relations connecting many-body correlations dynamics with few-body models, signatures of the Efimov effect are mapped out as a function of evolution time at unitarity over a range of atomic densities $n$. For the thermal resonantly interacting Bose gas, we find that atom-bunching leads to an enhanced growth of few-body correlations. These atom-bunching effects also highlight the interplay between few-body correlations that occurs before genuine many-body effects enter on Fermi timescales.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Efimov Physics in Quenched Unitary Bose Gases

We study the impact of three-body physics in quenched unitary Bose gases, focusing on the role of the Efimov effect. Using a local density model, we solve the three-body problem and determine three-body decay rates at unitary, finding density-dependent, log-periodic Efimov oscillations, violating the expected continuous scale-invariance in the system. We find that the breakdown of continuous scale-invariance, due to Efimov physics, manifests also in the earliest stages of evolution after the interaction quench to unitarity, where we find the growth of a substantial population of Efimov states for densities in which the interparticle distance is comparable to the size of an Efimov state. This agrees with the early-time dynamical growth of three-body correlations at unitarity [Colussi {\em et al}., Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 100401 (2018)]. By varying the sweep rate away from unitarity, we also find a departure from the usual Landau-Zener analysis for state transfer when the system is allowed to evolve at unitarity and develop correlations.

physics.atom-ph