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arXiv:1805.04734 · Science

Quantum scale anomaly and spatial coherence in a 2D Fermi superfluid

Puneet A. Murthy, Nicolò Defenu, Luca Bayha, Marvin Holten, Philipp M. Preiss, Tilman Enss, Selim Jochim

Published Jul 18, 2019• 52 citations
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Abstract

Quantum anomalies are violations of classical scaling symmetries caused by divergences that appear in the quantization of certain classical theories. Although they play a prominent role in the quantum field theoretical description of many-body systems, their influence on experimental observables is difficult to discern. In this study, we discovered a distinctive manifestation of a quantum anomaly in the momentum-space dynamics of a two-dimensional (2D) Fermi superfluid of ultracold atoms. The measured pair momentum distributions of the superfluid during a breathing mode cycle exhibit a scaling violation in the strongly interacting regime. We found that the power-law exponents that characterize long-range phase correlations in the system are modified by the quantum anomaly, emphasizing the influence of this effect on the critical properties of 2D superfluids.

DOI
10.1126/science.aau4402

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•Jun 12, 2018•0 citations
Quantum anomalies are violations of classical scaling symmetries caused by divergences that appear in the quantization of certain classical theories. Although they play a prominent role in the quantum field theoretical description of many-body systems, their influence on experimental observables is difficult to discern. In this study, we discovered a distinctive manifestation of a quantum anomaly in the momentum-space dynamics of a two-dimensional (2D) Fermi superfluid of ultracold atoms. The measured pair momentum distributions of the superfluid during a breathing mode cycle exhibit a scaling violation in the strongly interacting regime. We found that the power-law exponents that characterize long-range phase correlations in the system are modified by the quantum anomaly, emphasizing the influence of this effect on the critical properties of 2D superfluids.
A two-dimensional (2D) harmonically trapped interacting Fermi gas is anticipated to exhibit a quantum anomaly and possesses a breathing mode at frequencies different from a classical scale-invariant value ω_{B}=2ω_{⊥}, where ω_{⊥} is the trapping frequency. The predicted maximum quantum anomaly (∼10%) has not been confirmed in experiments. Here, we theoretically investigate the zero-temperature density equation of state and the breathing mode frequency of an interacting Fermi superfluid at the dimensional crossover from three to two dimensions. We find that the simple model of a 2D Fermi gas with a single s-wave scattering length is not adequate to describe the experiments in the 2D limit, as commonly believed. A more complete description of quasi-2D leads to a much weaker quantum anomaly, consistent with the experimental observations. We clarify that the reduced quantum anomaly is due to the significant confinement-induced effective range of interactions.
Quantum Gases At low temperatures, two-dimensional (2D) systems with contact interactions are expected to exhibit quantum anomalies—a breakdown of scaling laws that characterize such systems in the classical regime. Signatures of these anomalies have been observed in the real-space properties of 2D Fermi gases, but the effect is much less pronounced than expected on theoretical grounds. Murthy et al. studied the momentum-space profiles of 2D superfluids of fermionic atoms. They initially perturbed the gas and then monitored the momentum distribution of its atoms. In the regime of strong interactions between the atoms, the momentum profiles deviated markedly from the classical scaling. Science , this issue p. [268][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aau4402
The frequency of the breathing mode of a two-dimensional Fermi gas with zero-range interactions in a harmonic confinement is fixed by the scale invariance of the Hamiltonian. Scale invariance is broken in the quantized theory by introducing the two-dimensional scattering length as a regulator. This is an example of a quantum anomaly in the field of ultracold atoms and leads to a shift of the frequency of the collective breathing mode of the cloud. In this work, we study this anomalous frequency shift for a two-component Fermi gas in the strongly interacting regime. We measure significant upwards shifts away from the scale-invariant result that show a strong interaction dependence. This observation implies that scale invariance is broken anomalously in the strongly interacting two-dimensional Fermi gas.
A quantum anomaly manifests itself in the deviation of the breathing mode frequency from the scale invariant value of 2ω in two-dimensional harmonically trapped Fermi gases, where ω is the trapping frequency. Its recent experimental observation with cold atoms reveals an unexpected role played by the effective range of interactions, which requires a quantitative theoretical understanding. Here we provide accurate, benchmark results on a quantum anomaly from a few-body perspective. We consider the breathing mode of a few trapped interacting fermions in two dimensions up to six particles and present the mode frequency as a function of scattering length for a wide range of effective range. We show that the maximum quantum anomaly gradually reduces as the effective range increases while the maximum position shifts towards the weak-coupling limit. We extrapolate our few-body results to the many-body limit and find a good agreement with the experimental measurements. Our results may also be directly applicable to a few-fermion system prepared in microtraps and optical tweezers.
We present an experimental investigation of collective oscillations in harmonically trapped Fermi gases through the crossover from two to three dimensions. Specifically, we measure the frequency of the radial monopole oscillation or breathing mode in highly oblate gases with tunable interactions. The breathing mode frequency is set by the adiabatic compressibility and probes the thermodynamic equation of state. In 2D, a dynamical scaling symmetry for atoms interacting via a δ potential predicts the breathing mode to occur at exactly twice the harmonic confinement frequency. However, a renormalized quantum treatment introduces a new length scale which breaks this classical scale invariance resulting in a so-called quantum anomaly. Our measurements deep in the 2D regime lie above the scale-invariant prediction for a range of interaction strengths providing evidence for the quantum anomaly and signifying the breakdown of an elementary δ-potential model of atomic interactions. By varying the atom number we can tune the chemical potential and see the breathing mode frequency evolve smoothly between the 2D to 3D thermodynamic limits.
A harmonically trapped strongly interacting Fermi gas in two dimensions is anticipated to exhibit a quantum anomaly and possesses a breathing mode at frequencies different from a classical scale invariant value ωB=2ω⊥\omega_{B}=2\omega_{\perp}ωB​=2ω⊥​, where ω⊥\omega_{\perp}ω⊥​ is the frequency of the trapping potential. This quantum anomaly, however, has never been conclusively confirmed in current experiments {[}E. Vogt \textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{108}, 070404 (2012); Holten \textit{et al.}, arXiv:1803.08879; Peppler \textit{et al.}, arXiv:1804.05102{]}. Here, we theoretically investigate the universal density equation of state and the breathing mode frequency of a unitary Fermi gas at the dimensional crossover from three to two dimensions. We find that the simple model of a two-dimensional strongly interacting Fermi gas with a single sss-wave scattering length is not adequate to describe the experiments, as commonly believed. A more complete description of quasi-two-dimensions leads to a much weaker quantum anomaly in the breathing mode frequency, consistent with the experimental observations.