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Tajik M, Gluza M, Sebe N, Schüttelkopf P, Cataldini F, Sabino J, Møller F, Ji SC, Erne S, Guarnieri G, Sotiriadis S, Eisert J, Schmiedmayer J. Experimental observation of curved light-cones in a quantum field simulator. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2301287120. [PMID: 37186865 PMCID: PMC10214178 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2301287120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigate signal propagation in a quantum field simulator of the Klein-Gordon model realized by two strongly coupled parallel one-dimensional quasi-condensates. By measuring local phononic fields after a quench, we observe the propagation of correlations along sharp light-cone fronts. If the local atomic density is inhomogeneous, these propagation fronts are curved. For sharp edges, the propagation fronts are reflected at the system's boundaries. By extracting the space-dependent variation of the front velocity from the data, we find agreement with theoretical predictions based on curved geodesics of an inhomogeneous metric. This work extends the range of quantum simulations of nonequilibrium field dynamics in general space-time metrics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammadamin Tajik
- Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna1020, Austria
| | - Marek Gluza
- School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore639673, Republic of Singapore
| | - Nicolas Sebe
- Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna1020, Austria
- Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin14195, Germany
- Département de Physique, École Polytechnique, Palaiseau91120, France
| | - Philipp Schüttelkopf
- Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna1020, Austria
| | - Federica Cataldini
- Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna1020, Austria
| | - João Sabino
- Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna1020, Austria
- Department of Physics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon1049-001, Portugal
| | - Frederik Møller
- Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna1020, Austria
| | - Si-Cong Ji
- Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna1020, Austria
| | - Sebastian Erne
- Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna1020, Austria
| | - Giacomo Guarnieri
- Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin14195, Germany
| | - Spyros Sotiriadis
- Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin14195, Germany
- Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics, Department of Physics, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Jens Eisert
- Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin14195, Germany
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, Berlin14109, Germany
| | - Jörg Schmiedmayer
- Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna1020, Austria
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