In this work, we develop a novel form of non-perturbative theory to identify a light pseudo-Goldstone mode with a small mass, as well as a new type of Goldstone mode with a tiny slope (termed the slow-Goldstone mode), which may not be obtained via traditional perturbative methods. We demonstrate our formalism in the context of superfluids formed by Rashba spin-orbit coupled spinor bosons in a square lattice weakly interacting with a spin-anisotropic interaction. The experimental detections of these two modes, especially their roles leading to the quantum information scramblings at a finite temperature are discussed. The slow-Goldstone mode is compared with the slow light and the soft mode in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev models. This non-perturbative formalism can be widely applied to study other emergent particles in various quantum matter.
In this work, we develop a novel form of non-perturbative theory to identify a light pseudo-Goldstone mode with a small mass, as well as a new type of Goldstone mode with a tiny slope (termed the slow-Goldstone mode), which may not be obtained via traditional perturbative methods. We demonstrate our formalism in the context of superfluids formed by Rashba spin-orbit coupled spinor bosons in a square lattice weakly interacting with a spin-anisotropic interaction. The experimental detections of these two modes, especially their roles leading to the quantum information scramblings at a finite temperature are discussed. The slow-Goldstone mode is compared with the slow light and the soft mode in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev models. This non-perturbative formalism can be widely applied to study other emergent particles in various quantum matter.
Abstract The order from quantum disorders (OFQD) phenomenon is well-known and ubiquitous in particle physics and frustrated magnetic systems. Typically, OFQD transfers a spurious Goldstone mode into a pseudo-Goldstone mode with a tiny gap. Here, we report an opposite phenomenon: OFQD transfers a spurious quadratic mode into a true linear Goldstone mode with a very small velocity (named slow-Goldstone mode). This new phenomenon is demonstrated in an interacting bosonic system subjected to an Abelian flux. We develop a new and systematic OFQD analysis to determine the true quantum ground state and the whole excitation spectrum. In the weak-coupling limit, the superfluid ground state has a 4-sublattice 90° coplanar spin structure, which supports 4 linear Goldstone modes with 3 different velocities. One of which is generated by the OFQD is much softer than the other 3 Goldstone modes, so it can be easily detected in the cold atom or photonic experiments. In the strong-coupling limit, the ferromagnetic Mott ground state with a true quadratic Goldstone mode. We speculate that there could be some topological phases intervening between the two symmetry broken states. These novel phenomena may be observed in the current cold-atom or photonic experiments subjected to an Abelian flux at the weak coupling limit where the heatings may be well under control. Possible connections to Coleman-Weinberg potential in particle physics, 1/N expansion of Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev models and zero temperature quantum black hole entropy are outlined.
Quantum chaos concerns the emergence of universal statistical and dynamical prop- erties in quantum systems whose classical counterparts exhibit chaotic behavior. Unlike classical chaos, which can be characterized by sensitivity to initial conditions and exponential divergence of trajectories, quantum chaos manifests itself through a variety of indirect diagnostics, including spectral correlations, operator growth, and information scrambling. Understanding how these signatures arise from microscopic dynamics, and how they can be accessed in realistic many-body systems, is a central challenge in modern physics. This thesis investigates quantum chaos from complementary theoretical and practical perspectives. On the theoretical side, it develops effective descriptions of chaotic dy- namics in many-body systems with approximate symmetries, focusing on how weak symmetry breaking controls the exploration of Hilbert space and the crossover to random-matrix universality. Using perturbative arguments, numerical simulations, and a nonlinear sigma-model formulation, we identify a regime of Hilbert-space dif- fusion in which chaotic dynamics unfolds through a slow, collective spreading across nearly decoupled symmetry sectors. On the practical side, the thesis addresses the question of how paradigmatic chaotic models can be realized and probed in controlled experimental platforms. In partic- ular, it explores quantum simulation schemes for Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev (SYK) models using cavity quantum electrodynamics. By employing time-dependent disorder and Trotterized evolution in single-mode optical cavities, we demonstrate how low-rank interactions can be systematically promoted to effective all-to-all randomness, re- producing the spectral and dynamical signatures of SYK physics. Extensions to open-system dynamics are discussed, including Lindbladian realizations and the role of dissipation. The thesis thus highlights the connections between effective descriptions of quantum chaos and their implementation in controlled quantum simulation settings.
Significant experimental progress has been made recently for observing long-sought supersolidlike states in Bose-Einstein condensates, where spatial translational symmetry is spontaneously broken by anisotropic interactions to form a stripe order. Meanwhile, the superfluid stripe ground state was also observed by applying a weak optical lattice that forces the symmetry breaking. Despite the similarity of the ground states, here we show that these two symmetry breaking mechanisms can be distinguished by their collective excitation spectra. In contrast to gapless Goldstone modes of the spontaneous stripe state, we propose that the excitation spectra of the forced stripe phase can provide direct experimental evidence for the gapped pseudo-Goldstone modes. We characterize the pseudo-Goldstone mode of such lattice-induced stripe phase through its excitation spectrum and static structure factor. Our work may pave the way for exploring spontaneous and forced or approximate symmetry breaking mechanisms in different physical systems.
Recent advances in theoretical physics have increasingly focused on the dynamics of quantum systems with many interacting degrees of freedom, while ultracold atom platforms now enable the realization of diverse theoretical models with precise control over system parameters and advanced monitoring techniques. A prominent example is cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED), where large atomic or molecular ensembles are coupled to high-finesse optical cavities, enabling strong interaction with confined electromagnetic modes and leading to phenomena such as the superradiant phase transition, in which atoms and photons form a coherent state. Most theoretical studies of CQED have concentrated on regimes of spatially uniform atom–cavity coupling, where collective behavior allows a description in terms of the classical dynamics of a few macroscopic variables. However, experimental capabilities now permit exploration beyond this limit, though theoretical progress is hindered by the exponential computational complexity of simulating large quantum systems, particularly when environmental coupling is included. This thesis addresses such challenges by developing efficient approaches, within the Keldysh formalism of non-equilibrium quantum field theory, to study systems with strongly disordered interactions coupled to external reservoirs. Two representative models are considered: a disordered spin–boson model describing light–matter interactions with quenched disorder, relevant to recent CQED experiments in confocal cavities, and a fermion–phonon system governed by the Yukawa–Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev (Yukawa-SYK) model. Both systems are quantum critical, exhibiting a continuum of low-energy modes above their stationary states, yet disorder produces qualitatively distinct dynamical behaviors: in the spin–boson system it induces slow, glassy relaxation, whereas in the Yukawa-SYK model it leads to rapid thermalization. These contrasting outcomes reveal the non-trivial role of disorder in quantum many-body systems and motivate further investigation into its effects on non-equilibrium quantum dynamics.
Approximate symmetries abound in nature. If these symmetries are also spontaneously broken, the would-be Goldstone modes acquire a small mass, or inverse correlation length, and are referred to as pseudo-Goldstones. At nonzero temperature, the effects of dissipation can be captured by hydrodynamics at sufficiently long scales compared to the local equilibrium. Here, we show that, in the limit of weak explicit breaking, locality of hydrodynamics implies that the damping of pseudo-Goldstones is completely determined by their mass and diffusive transport coefficients. We present many applications: superfluids, QCD in the chiral limit, Wigner crystal and density wave phases in the presence of an external magnetic field or not, nematic phases, and (anti)ferromagnets. For electronic density wave phases, pseudo-Goldstone damping generates a contribution to the resistivity independent of the strength of disorder, which can have a linear temperature dependence provided the associated diffusivity saturates a bound. This is reminiscent of the phenomenology of strange metal high-T_{c} superconductors, where charge density waves are observed across the phase diagram.
Real-time dynamics of strongly correlated systems, in particular its critical dynamics near phase transitions, have been always on the cutting edge of studies in diverse fields of physics, e.g., high energy physics, condensed matter, holography, etc. In this work, we investigate the critical damping of collective modes associated with spontaneous breaking of approximate symmetries, which are called pseudo-Goldstone modes, in strongly correlated systems. Using the Schwinger-Keldysh field theory, we find a universal pseudo-Goldstone damping via the critical O(N) model that has never been found before by other approaches. Different from the conventional damping found in holography and hydrodynamics, the new one is controlled by critical fluctuations, hence is invisible in mean-field systems or strongly correlated systems with classical gravity duals. Since the critical damping depends solely on the universalities of the critical point, irrespective of the microscopic details, our conclusion should be applicable to a wide class of interacting systems. Strongly correlated systems exhibit universal dynamics near phase transitions, from particle to condensed matter physics. However, despite the successes of various theoretical approaches, systematic treatments of fluctuations are scarce. Here the authors unveil a universal damping of pseudo-Goldstone modes in systems with approximate symmetries, advancing our understanding of near-critical dynamics in several contexts.