This dissertation, based on six included papers, theoretically investigates properties of quantum few-particle systems. An overview of related experimental research - ultra-cold trapped dilute gases, and electrons in quantum dots - is given, followed by a description of some of the studied many-particle phenomena - Bose-Einstein condensation, quantized vortices, Wigner localization and the Tonks-Girardeau gas. As the research results are presented in the included papers, a main part of the text in this thesis sets focus on methodology. Most of the papers involve use of the configuration interaction method, a numerical method which can give approximative eigenvalues and eigenstates of a few-particle Hamiltonian. The research has also involved further development of this method, by use of the Lee-Suzuki approximation. Formal descriptions of the methods are presented, together with a discussion about the numerical implementation. Explicit examples are given in an appendix. Papers I and II investigate properties of a rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensate, in particular emerging vortex structures and associated wavefunctions. Paper III demonstrates that the Lee-Suzuki approximation, initially developed in the field of nuclear structure theory, can be useful to describe short-range particle-particle correlations in a trapped bosonic gas. Paper IV investigates the possibility to observe Wigner localization in a nanowire quantum dot, and compares predicted electron transport properties with experimental measurements. Paper V analyzes structures of ultra-cold atoms or molecules with dipolar interactions, in a quasi-one-dimensional trap. Paper VI also considers cold atoms or molecules with dipolar interactions, but in a quasi-two-dimensional setup, with a focus on the resulting Wigner states' dependence on the anisotropy of the interaction.
This dissertation, based on six included papers, theoretically investigates properties of quantum few-particle systems. An overview of related experimental research - ultra-cold trapped dilute gases, and electrons in quantum dots - is given, followed by a description of some of the studied many-particle phenomena - Bose-Einstein condensation, quantized vortices, Wigner localization and the Tonks-Girardeau gas. As the research results are presented in the included papers, a main part of the text in this thesis sets focus on methodology. Most of the papers involve use of the configuration interaction method, a numerical method which can give approximative eigenvalues and eigenstates of a few-particle Hamiltonian. The research has also involved further development of this method, by use of the Lee-Suzuki approximation. Formal descriptions of the methods are presented, together with a discussion about the numerical implementation. Explicit examples are given in an appendix. Papers I and II investigate properties of a rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensate, in particular emerging vortex structures and associated wavefunctions. Paper III demonstrates that the Lee-Suzuki approximation, initially developed in the field of nuclear structure theory, can be useful to describe short-range particle-particle correlations in a trapped bosonic gas. Paper IV investigates the possibility to observe Wigner localization in a nanowire quantum dot, and compares predicted electron transport properties with experimental measurements. Paper V analyzes structures of ultra-cold atoms or molecules with dipolar interactions, in a quasi-one-dimensional trap. Paper VI also considers cold atoms or molecules with dipolar interactions, but in a quasi-two-dimensional setup, with a focus on the resulting Wigner states' dependence on the anisotropy of the interaction.
This dissertation investigates properties of two-dimensional many-body systems. Studies are performed using the Spin-Density Functional Theory with the Local Spin-Density Approximation, and numerical exact diagonalization. The properties studied include symmetry-breaking states in few-electron quantum dots, gaps in confined few-body systems, magnetic properties of cold fermionic atoms in optical lattices, and vortex formation in few-body systems. The dissertation also studies the properties of the SDFT-LSDA method for many-body calculations itself. The dissertation comprises five original papers, which are presented following an introduction to the fields of research, and the methods used, and the systems studied. Paper I investigates symmetry-breaking states in quantum dots, and the reliability of SDFT-LSDA for such systems. It is found that SDFT-LSDA may introduce artificial energy splittings between the members of a degenerate spin multiplet in the ground state. Paper II investigates the reliability of SDFT-LSDA when used to calculate gaps, and addition and removal energies in few-body systems. It is found that, contrary to studies of atoms and bilk solids, Kohn-Sham eigenvalues can be used to calculate addition and removal energies in parabolically confined systems. Also, in Paper II, van der Waals blockade is predicted to occur in systems of cold atoms, in analogy to Coulomb blockade in electronic systems. In Papers III and IV, mean-field theory is used to study the magnetic properties of cold fermionic atoms in an optical lattice. The results are compared with a similar study for quantum-dot lattices. It is found that there is a rich magnetic phase diagram, with non-magnetic, ferromagnetic, and anti-ferromagnetic states. The phase diagram of the optical lattice is found to be very similar to the phase diagram of the quantum-dot lattice. Paper V uses exact diagonalization to study vortex formation in rotating few-body quantum systems. Systems consisting of Coulomb-interacting fermions (electrons), Coulomb-interacting bosons, and bosons with a short-range interaction are studied. It is found that vortex formation in these systems has universal properties.
This dissertation deals with finite-size effects in a few different quantum many-body phenomena in ultracold atomic systems. The finite-sized systems were simulated numerically using both mean-field methods and methods beyond mean-field, e.g. quadratic configuration interaction and exact diagonalization. The thesis is based on five scientific papers:Paper I is about the finite-size effects in the dynamics of a few-body soliton-like state. The collapses and revivals of the solitary wavefront in the particle density is characterized both analytically and numerically in the limit of weak interactions.Paper II analyzes a scheme to renormalize the contact interaction when used for exact diagonalization in a two-dimensional space. By relating the coupling strength in the diagonalization using the two-particle system, for which regularized solutions exists, converged results are obtained.Paper III deals with the formation of quantized vortices when stirring a harmonically trapped finite-sized system with a quadrupole deformation. I the energy spectrum the avoided crossing is found to be described by either of two types of correlated states. The type of avoided crossing can be controlled by the inclusion of an extra quartic deformation. Hysteresis in the mean-field description is found to be related to the types of avoided crossings exhibited and the full many-body time-evolution is compared to mean-field results. Paper IV investigates vortices in rotating fermionic droplets with dipole-dipole interactions. The vortex structure is found to still be present after the interaction is made anisotropic by having the dipoles tilt. Paper V contains an investigation of the effects on shell structure in fermionic droplets with dipole-dipole interactions. For a anisotropic harmonic oscillator, by tilting the dipoles, the shell structure of an isotropic oscillator can be restored.
The main theme of this review is the many-body physics of vortices in quantum droplets of bosons or fermions in the limit of small particle numbers. Systems of interest include cold atoms in traps as well as electrons confined in quantum dots. When set to rotate, these in principle different quantum systems show remarkable analogies. The topics reviewed include the structure of the finite rotating many-body state, universality of vortex formation and localization of vortices in both bosonic and fermionic systems, and the emergence of particle-vortex composites in the quantum Hall regime. An overview of the computational many-body techniques sets focus on the configuration-interaction and density-functional methods. Studies of quantum droplets with one or several particle components, where vortices as well as coreless vortices may occur, are reviewed, and theoretical as well as experimental challenges are discussed.
In this thesis, the behavior of ultracold bosonic systems in external potentials is investigated. Such systems are typically realized as Bose-Einstein condensates, where dilute atomic gases cooled to extremely low temperatures exhibit collective quantum behavior. Because of the large degree of control they allow over the external potential and over the interaction parameters of the many-body system, Bose-Einstein condensates constitute a testing ground for the dedicated study of coherence, correlations, and quantum phase transitions in interacting bosonic systems. This thesis presents an investigation of the many-body physics of ultracold bosons, focusing specifically on how the many-body properties of these ultracold bosonic systems change with changing external potential, how they manifest themselves in experimentally accessible observables, and how these properties can be analyzed using both numerical many-body methods and data-driven approaches. The first part of this thesis focuses on the theoretical description of ultracold bosonic systems in external trapping potentials. Using the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method for bosons (MCTDH-X), numerically exact simulations were performed that allow the calculation of reduced density matrices, natural orbitals, and correlation functions. These quantities were used to analyze the coherence properties and fragmentation of trapped bosonic systems. In particular, double-well systems were investigated as model scenarios in which the gradual formation of a central barrier leads to a redistribution of natural occupations and a transition from a condensed to a fragmented many-body state. In this context, we demonstrate the usefulness of single-shot images, which represent projective measurements of the many-body wave function, for the experimental investigation of the many-body physics of fragmenting system. Single-shot images can be simulated numerically using MCTDH-X, but they are more commonly obtained through experimental measurements. The possibility of extracting many-body information in an experimental context, where said many-body information is not otherwise accessible, is discussed. Supervised machine learning models were trained on simulated single-shot data sets to investigate whether information about the underlying many-body state can be inferred directly from measurement outcomes. The results show that machine learning models are capable of learning patterns in the single-shot images that correlate with properties of the underlying many-body state and can therefore predict density-related quantities with good accuracy. The second part of this thesis focuses on a joint theoretical and experimental investigation of a system of ultracold bosons coupled to an optical cavity. In this system, the atoms interact with a dynamically generated optical potential produced by the cavity field. We use a new theoretical framework that combines a mean-field treatment of the cavity field with a many-body description of the atomic degrees of freedom to be able to capture the emergence of a superradiant self-organized phase and the subsequent transition to a self-organized Mott-insulating state. Our simulations show good agreement with the experimental results, and we discuss where the use of a beyond mean-field treatment in the simulations becomes essential in describing the physics of the different involved phases and quantum states. In summary, the results presented in this thesis demonstrate how numerical many-body simulations and machine learning methods can be used to analyze experimentally accessible observables and to gain insight into the many-body physics of ultracold bosonic systems.
In this thesis, the behavior of ultracold bosonic systems in external potentials is investigated. Such systems are typically realized as Bose-Einstein condensates, where dilute atomic gases cooled to extremely low temperatures exhibit collective quantum behavior. Because of the large degree of control they allow over the external potential and over the interaction parameters of the many-body system, Bose-Einstein condensates constitute a testing ground for the dedicated study of coherence, correlations, and quantum phase transitions in interacting bosonic systems. This thesis presents an investigation of the many-body physics of ultracold bosons, focusing specifically on how the many-body properties of these ultracold bosonic systems change with changing external potential, how they manifest themselves in experimentally accessible observables, and how these properties can be analyzed using both numerical many-body methods and data-driven approaches. The first part of this thesis focuses on the theoretical description of ultracold bosonic systems in external trapping potentials. Using the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method for bosons (MCTDH-X), numerically exact simulations were performed that allow the calculation of reduced density matrices, natural orbitals, and correlation functions. These quantities were used to analyze the coherence properties and fragmentation of trapped bosonic systems. In particular, double-well systems were investigated as model scenarios in which the gradual formation of a central barrier leads to a redistribution of natural occupations and a transition from a condensed to a fragmented many-body state. In this context, we demonstrate the usefulness of single-shot images, which represent projective measurements of the many-body wave function, for the experimental investigation of the many-body physics of fragmenting system. Single-shot images can be simulated numerically using MCTDH-X, but they are more commonly obtained through experimental measurements. The possibility of extracting many-body information in an experimental context, where said many-body information is not otherwise accessible, is discussed. Supervised machine learning models were trained on simulated single-shot data sets to investigate whether information about the underlying many-body state can be inferred directly from measurement outcomes. The results show that machine learning models are capable of learning patterns in the single-shot images that correlate with properties of the underlying many-body state and can therefore predict density-related quantities with good accuracy. The second part of this thesis focuses on a joint theoretical and experimental investigation of a system of ultracold bosons coupled to an optical cavity. In this system, the atoms interact with a dynamically generated optical potential produced by the cavity field. We use a new theoretical framework that combines a mean-field treatment of the cavity field with a many-body description of the atomic degrees of freedom to be able to capture the emergence of a superradiant self-organized phase and the subsequent transition to a self-organized Mott-insulating state. Our simulations show good agreement with the experimental results, and we discuss where the use of a beyond mean-field treatment in the simulations becomes essential in describing the physics of the different involved phases and quantum states. In summary, the results presented in this thesis demonstrate how numerical many-body simulations and machine learning methods can be used to analyze experimentally accessible observables and to gain insight into the many-body physics of ultracold bosonic systems.
The research in this dissertation is devoted to few-body bound state physics in experimentally relevant systems of trapped atoms and molecules. First, the complexes of tubes containing dipoles are considered. The tubes are assumed to have zero width such that one-dimensional treatment can be applied. For this setup few-body bound structures are found for different polarization an- gles and dipole strengths by using stochastic variational methods. After that a similar analysis is provided for two-dimensional planes filled with dipolar par- ticles. At the end of the thesis, a system of particles in one-dimensional traps is analyzed assuming that two-body interactions are of zero range. It is shown that such a system is solvable in the limit of infinitely strong repulsion between particles.