Coherent Two-Body Correlations

V. E. Colussi, John Corson, José Paulo D'Incao

We investigate dynamical three-body correlations in the Bose gas during the earliest stages of evolution after a quench to the unitary regime. The development of few-body correlations is theoretically observed by determining the two- and three-body contacts. We find that the growth of three-body correlations is gradual compared to two-body correlations. The three-body contact oscillates coherently, and we identify this as a signature of Efimov trimers. We show that the growth of three-body correlations depends nontrivially on parameters derived from both the density and Efimov physics. These results demonstrate the violation of scaling invariance of unitary bosonic systems via the appearance of log-periodic modulation of three-body correlations.

A. Osman

Sven Krönke, Peter Schmelcher

The relationship between natural orbitals, one-body coherences, and two-body correlations is explored for bosonic many-body systems of definite parity with two occupied single-particle states. We show that the strength of local two-body correlations at the parity-symmetry center characterizes the number-state distribution and controls the structure of nonlocal two-body correlations. A recipe for the experimental reconstruction of the natural-orbital densities and quantum depletion is derived. These insights into the structure of the many-body wave function are applied to the predicted quantum-fluctuation-induced decay of dark solitons.

E. Krotscheck, C. E. Campbell

Sten Rettrup

Richard J. Fletcher, Raphael Lopes, Jay Man +4 more

In many-body systems governed by pairwise contact interactions, a wide range of observables is linked by a single parameter, the two-body contact, which quantifies two-particle correlations. This profound insight has transformed our understanding of strongly interacting Fermi gases. Using Ramsey interferometry, we studied coherent evolution of the resonantly interacting Bose gas, and we show here that it cannot be explained by only pairwise correlations. Our experiments reveal the crucial role of three-body correlations arising from Efimov physics and provide a direct measurement of the associated three-body contact.