The collapses and revivals of a coherent matter wave field of interacting particles can serve as a sensitive interferometric probe of the interactions and the number statistics of the underlying quantum field. Here we show how the ability to observe long time traces of collapse and revival dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate loaded into a three-dimensional (3D) optical lattice allowed us to directly reveal the atom number statistics and the presence of effective coherent multi-particle interactions in a lattice. The multi-particle interactions are generated via virtual transitions to higher lattice orbitals and can find use for simulations of effective field theories with ultracold atoms in optical lattices. We measured their absolute strengths up to the case of six-particle interactions and compare our findings with theory.
Sign-problem-free quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods provide one of the few polynomial-scaling routes to controlled, nonperturbative benchmarks of medium-mass and heavy nuclei. We present a detailed uncertainty analysis of the recently developed sign-problem-free spin-orbit lattice action LAT-OPT1 and use it to benchmark nuclear lattice effective field theory (NLEFT). We quantify various systematic uncertainties, finding that the cumulative many-body computational uncertainty in ground-state energies of doubly magic nuclei up to
100Sn is well below the percent level. In response to recent criticism of NLEFT benchmarks, we also revisit the relation between lattice transfer matrices, lattice Hamiltonians, Hartree--Fock variational bounds, finite-box and thermodynamic-limit calculations, and the continuum-limit behavior of regulated lattice interactions. We identify several conceptual and technical errors in the analysis of Ref.~\cite{Rothman2026_NuLattice}. These include (i) the comparison of inequivalent lattice transfer-matrix and lattice-Hamiltonian calculations, (ii) an inconsistent determination of correlation energies from comparisons of Hartree--Fock and full ground-state calculations with different boundary conditions, (iii) the attribution of nuclear saturation to lattice artifacts rather than to nonlocal smearing of interactions, a mechanism that can be demonstrated in continuous space, and (iv) an incorrect renormalization of short-range two-body interactions in the continuum limit. When the same regulated lattice theory, renormalization prescription, and finite-volume boundary conditions are used consistently and analyzed properly, the reported discrepancies and concerns about the corresponding published NLEFT results are resolved.
Chiral field theories describe large classes of matter, from the edges of Quantum Hall systems to the electroweak sector of the Standard Model, but defining them on the lattice has been an ongoing challenge due to a no-go theorem precluding free local models, the potential of symmetry anomalies, and sign problems. Some approaches define a
1+1d chiral field theory as the edge of a
2+1d system and argue that the edge decouples from the bulk, but this can be difficult to verify due to finite size effects and strong interactions. On the other hand, recent work has shown how to define the
2+1d bulk theory as an exactly solvable model with zero correlation length, in which case the edge theory may be extracted exactly. We use these techniques to derive a lattice field theory on a
1+1d spacetime lattice which carries an anomalous chiral
U(1) symmetry with zero chiral central charge. The lattice theory with anomalous chiral
U(1) symmetry is always gapless, regardless of lattice interactions. We demonstrate the chiral anomaly by coupling to a background gauge field, develop a field theory which demonstrates the chiral behavior, and show how to assemble a chiral, anomaly-free theory where the gauge field may be taken to be dynamical.