Effective Abelian and non-Abelian gauge potentials in cavity QED

Onset of quantum thermalization in the Jahn-Teller model

We investigate the onset of quantum thermalization in a system governed by the Jahn-Teller Hamiltonian, which describes the interaction between a single spin and two bosonic modes. We find that the Jahn-Teller model exhibits a finite-size quantum phase transition between the normal phase and two types of super-radiant phase when the ratios of spin-level splitting to each of the two bosonic frequencies grow to infinity. We test the prediction of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis in the Jahn-Teller model. We show that the expectation value of the spin observable quickly approaches its long-time average value. We find that the distance between the diagonal ensemble average and the microcanonical ensemble average of the spin observable decreases with the effective thermodynamic parameter. Furthermore, we show that the mean time fluctuations of the spin observable are small and are inversely proportional to the effective system dimension.

Axial Anomaly in SU(N) Yang-Mills Matrix Models

The SU(N) Yang-Mills matrix model admits self-dual and anti-self-dual instantons. When coupled to N_{f} flavors of massless quarks, the Euclidean Dirac equation in an instanton background has n_{+} positive and n_{-} negative chirality zero modes. The vacua of the gauge theory are N-dimensional representations of SU(2), and the (anti-) self-dual instantons tunnel between two commuting representations, the initial one composed of r_{0}^{(1)} irreps and the final one with r_{0}^{(2)} irreps. We show that the index (n_{+}-n_{-}) in such a background is equal to a new instanton charge T_{new}=±[r_{0}^{(2)}-r_{0}^{(1)}]. Thus T_{new}=(n_{+}-n_{-}) is the matrix model version of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem. Further, we show that the path integral measure is not invariant under a chiral rotation, and relate the noninvariance of the measure to the index of the Dirac operator. Axial symmetry is broken anomalously, with the residual symmetry being a finite group. For N_{f} fundamental fermions, this residual symmetry is Z_{2N_{f}}, whereas for adjoint quarks it is Z_{4N_{f}}.

Collective atomic-population-inversion and stimulated radiation for two-component Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical cavity

In this paper we investigate the ground-state properties and related quantum phase transitions for the two-component Bose-Einstein condensate in a single-mode optical cavity. Apart from the usual normal and superradiant phases, multi-stable macroscopic quantum states are realized by means of the spin-coherent-state variational method. We demonstrate analytically the stimulated radiation from a collective state of atomic population inversion, which does not exist in the normal Dicke model with single-component atoms. It is also revealed that the stimulated radiation can be generated only from one component of atoms and the other remains in the ordinary superradiant state. However, the order of superradiant and stimulated-radiation states is interchangeable between two components of atoms by tuning the relative atom-field couplings and the frequency detuning as well.

Light-induced gauge fields for ultracold atoms

Gauge fields are central in our modern understanding of physics at all scales. At the highest energy scales known, the microscopic universe is governed by particles interacting with each other through the exchange of gauge bosons. At the largest length scales, our Universe is ruled by gravity, whose gauge structure suggests the existence of a particle-the graviton-that mediates the gravitational force. At the mesoscopic scale, solid-state systems are subjected to gauge fields of different nature: materials can be immersed in external electromagnetic fields, but they can also feature emerging gauge fields in their low-energy description. In this review, we focus on another kind of gauge field: those engineered in systems of ultracold neutral atoms. In these setups, atoms are suitably coupled to laser fields that generate effective gauge potentials in their description. Neutral atoms 'feeling' laser-induced gauge potentials can potentially mimic the behavior of an electron gas subjected to a magnetic field, but also, the interaction of elementary particles with non-Abelian gauge fields. Here, we review different realized and proposed techniques for creating gauge potentials-both Abelian and non-Abelian-in atomic systems and discuss their implication in the context of quantum simulation. While most of these setups concern the realization of background and classical gauge potentials, we conclude with more exotic proposals where these synthetic fields might be made dynamical, in view of simulating interacting gauge theories with cold atoms.

Absence of vacuum induced Berry phases without the rotating wave approximation in cavity QED

We revisit earlier studies on Berry phases suggested to appear in certain cavity QED settings. It has been especially argued that a nontrivial geometric phase is achievable even in the situation of no cavity photons. We, however, show that such results hinge on imposing the rotating wave approximation (RWA), while without the RWA no Berry phases occur in these schemes. A geometrical interpretation of our results is obtained by introducing semiclassical energy surfaces which in a simple way brings out the phase-space dynamics. With the RWA, a conical intersection between the surfaces emerges and encircling it gives rise to the Berry phase. Without the RWA, the conical intersection is absent and therefore the Berry phase vanishes. It is believed that this is a first example showing how the application of the RWA in the Jaynes-Cummings model may lead to false conclusions, regardless of the mutual strengths between the system parameters.

Non-Abelian anions from degenerate landau levels of ultracold atoms in artificial gauge potentials

We show that non-Abelian potentials acting on ultracold gases with two hyperfine levels can give rise to ground states with non-Abelian excitations. We consider a realistic gauge potential for which the Landau levels can be exactly determined: The non-Abelian part of the vector potential makes the Landau levels nondegenerate. In the presence of strong repulsive interactions, deformed Laughlin ground states occur in general. However, at the degeneracy points of the Landau levels, non-Abelian quantum Hall states appear: These ground states, including deformed Moore-Read states (characterized by Ising anyons as quasiholes), are studied for both fermionic and bosonic gases.