Observation of microscopic confinement dynamics by a tunable topological $\theta$-angle

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2306.11794v1
• Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2023 18:00:02 GMT
• Title: Observation of microscopic confinement dynamics by a tunable topological $\theta$-angle
• Authors: Wei-Yong Zhang, Ying Liu, Yanting Cheng, Ming-Gen He, Han-Yi Wang, Tian-Yi Wang, Zi-Hang Zhu, Guo-Xian Su, Zhao-Yu Zhou, Yong-Guang Zheng, Hui Sun, Bing Yang, Philipp Hauke, Wei Zheng, Jad C. Halimeh, Zhen-Sheng Yuan, Jian-Wei Pan
• Abstract summary: We report on the experimental realization of a tunable topological $theta$-angle in a Bose--Hubbard gauge-theory quantum simulator. We demonstrate the rich physics due to this angle by the direct observation of the confinement--deconfinement transition of $(1+1)$-dimensional quantum electrodynamics.
• Score: 12.311760383676763
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: The topological $\theta$-angle is central to the understanding of a plethora of phenomena in condensed matter and high-energy physics such as the strong CP problem, dynamical quantum topological phase transitions, and the confinement--deconfinement transition. Difficulties arise when probing the effects of the topological $\theta$-angle using classical methods, in particular through the appearance of a sign problem in numerical simulations. Quantum simulators offer a powerful alternate venue for realizing the $\theta$-angle, which has hitherto remained an outstanding challenge due to the difficulty of introducing a dynamical electric field in the experiment. Here, we report on the experimental realization of a tunable topological $\theta$-angle in a Bose--Hubbard gauge-theory quantum simulator, implemented through a tilted superlattice potential that induces an effective background electric field. We demonstrate the rich physics due to this angle by the direct observation of the confinement--deconfinement transition of $(1+1)$-dimensional quantum electrodynamics. Using an atomic-precision quantum gas microscope, we distinguish between the confined and deconfined phases by monitoring the real-time evolution of particle--antiparticle pairs, which exhibit constrained (ballistic) propagation for a finite (vanishing) deviation of the $\theta$-angle from $\pi$. Our work provides a major step forward in the realization of topological terms on modern quantum simulators, and the exploration of rich physics they have been theorized to entail.

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