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Quantum simulation of the spinor-4 Dirac equation with an artificial gauge field

Jean Claude Garreau, Véronique Zehnlé

Published Mar 27, 2019• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

A two-dimensional spatially and temporally modulated Wannier-Stark system of ultracold atoms in optical lattices is shown to mimic the behavior of a Dirac particle. Suitable additional modulations generate an artificial gauge field which simulates a magnetic field and imposes the use of the full spinor-4 Dirac equation.

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We calculate the time-of-flight patterns of strongly interacting bosons confined in a two-dimensional square lattice in the presence of an artificial magnetic field, using a quantum rotor model that is inherently combined with the Bogoliubov approach. We consider various geometries of the magnetic flux, which are expected to be realizable, or have already been implemented in experimental settings. The flexibility of the method allowed us to study cases where the artificial magnetic field is uniform or staggered or forms a checkerboard configuration. The effects of additional temporal modulation of the optical potential that results from application of Raman lasers driving particle transitions between lattice sites are also included. The time-of-flight patterns presented may serve as a verification of the chosen gauge in experiments, but also provide important hints on unconventional, nonzero-momentum condensates, or the possibility of observing graphenelike physics resulting from the occurrence of Dirac cones in artificial magnetic fields in systems of ultracold bosons in optical lattices. Also, we elucidate the differences between the effects of magnetic fields in solids and of artificial magnetic fields in optical lattices, which can be controlled on a much higher level, leading to effects not possible in condensed matter physics.
Quantum simulation is a powerful tool to study a variety of problems in physics, ranging from high-energy physics to condensed-matter physics. In this article, we review the recent theoretical and experimental progress in quantum simulation of Dirac equation with tunable parameters by using ultracold neutral atoms trapped in optical lattices or subject to light-induced synthetic gauge fields. The effective theories for the quasiparticles become relativistic under certain conditions in these systems, making them ideal platforms for studying the exotic relativistic effects. We focus on the realization of one, two, and three dimensional Dirac equations as well as the detection of some relativistic effects, including particularly the well-known Zitterbewegung effect and Klein tunneling. The realization of quantum anomalous Hall effects is also briefly discussed.
We argue that the Fermi–Hubbard Hamiltonian describing the physics of ultracold atoms on optical lattices in the presence of artificial non-Abelian gauge fields is exactly equivalent to the gauge theory Hamiltonian describing Dirac fermions in the lattice. We show that it is possible to couple the Dirac fermions to an 'artificial' gravitational field, i.e. to consider the Dirac physics in a curved spacetime. We identify the special class of spacetime metrics that admit a simple realization in terms of a Fermi–Hubbard model subjected to an artificial SU(2) field, corresponding to position-dependent hopping matrices. As an example, we discuss in more detail the physics of the 2+1D Rindler metric and its possible experimental realization and detection.
Artificial magnetic fields and spin-orbit couplings have been recently generated in ultracold gases in view of realizing topological states of matter and frustrated magnetism in a highly-controllable environment. Despite being dynamically tunable, such artificial gauge fields are genuinely classical and exhibit no back-action from the neutral particles. Here we go beyond this paradigm, and demonstrate how quantized dynamical gauge fields can be created in mixtures of ultracold atoms in optical lattices. Specifically, we propose a protocol by which atoms of one species carry a magnetic flux felt by another species, hence realizing an instance of flux-attachment. This is obtained by combining coherent lattice modulation techniques with strong Hubbard interactions. We demonstrate how this setting can be arranged so as to implement lattice models displaying a local Z2 gauge symmetry, both in one and two dimensions. We also provide a detailed analysis of a ladder toy model, which features a global Z2 symmetry, and reveal the phase transitions that occur both in the matter and gauge sectors. Mastering flux-attachment in optical lattices envisages a new route towards the realization of strongly-correlated systems with properties dictated by an interplay of dynamical matter and gauge fields.