Wang Han-Yi, Zhang Wei-Yong, Yao Zhiyuan, Liu Ying, Zhu Zi-Hang, Zheng Yong-Guang, Wang Xuan-Kai, Zhai Hui, Yuan Zhen-Sheng, Pan Jian-Wei
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Key Laboratory of Quantum Theory and Applications of MoE, Lanzhou Center for Theoretical Physics, and Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics of Gansu Province, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
Phys Rev Lett. 2023 Aug 4;131(5):050401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.050401.
Gauge theory and thermalization are both topics of essential importance for modern quantum science and technology. The recently realized atomic quantum simulator for lattice gauge theories provides a unique opportunity for studying thermalization in gauge theory, in which theoretical studies have shown that quantum thermalization can signal the quantum phase transition. Nevertheless, the experimental study remains a challenge to accurately determine the critical point and controllably explore the thermalization dynamics due to the lack of techniques for locally manipulating and detecting matter and gauge fields. We report an experimental investigation of the quantum criticality in the lattice gauge theory from both equilibrium and nonequilibrium thermalization perspectives, with the help of the single-site addressing and atom-number-resolved detection capabilities. We accurately determine the quantum critical point and observe that the Néel state thermalizes only in the critical regime. This result manifests the interplay between quantum many-body scars, quantum criticality, and symmetry breaking.
规范理论和热化是现代量子科学与技术中至关重要的两个主题。最近实现的用于晶格规范理论的原子量子模拟器为研究规范理论中的热化提供了独特机会，理论研究表明量子热化可以标志量子相变。然而，由于缺乏局部操纵和检测物质及规范场的技术，实验研究在准确确定临界点和可控探索热化动力学方面仍然是一项挑战。我们借助单格点寻址和原子数分辨检测能力，从平衡热化和非平衡热化的角度对晶格规范理论中的量子临界性进行了实验研究。我们准确确定了量子临界点，并观察到奈尔态仅在临界区域热化。这一结果体现了量子多体伤疤、量子临界性和对称性破缺之间的相互作用。
