Optical quantum simulation of Abelian gauge field using cold atomic ensembles coupled with arrays of optical cavities

A potentially practical scheme is proposed to realize optical quantum simulation of artificial Abelian gauge field in a scalable architecture consisting of cold atomic ensembles with optical cavities.In the present model,the collective excitations of cold atomic ensembles can be converted to the bosonic modes within the low-excitation limit,where the structure of two-dimension(2D)square plaquette enables the polaritons to move like a charged particle subjected to an external magnetic field.We find that the energy spectrum of this hybrid system exhibits a shape of Hofstadter buttery.Our work provides a different perspective to the quantum simulation of condensed matter and many-body physics in the context of cavity quantum electrodynamics.The experimental feasibility are justified using the existing techniques.     

Fermi-Bose hypersymmetry

A new algebra, combining supersymmetry and internal symmetry, is presented. A massless vector hypermultiplet contains a vector, an isodoublet of left-handed Dirac spinors, and a complex scalar. These can be used as generalized gauge fields. Abelian as well as non-Abelian gauge theories are studied, and the Higgs mechanism is extended in a hypersymmetric way. We present, also, a (mom-realistic) SU(2)× U(1) model; gauge invariance and hypersymmetry are spontaneously broken; two Goldstone spinors appear. Hypersymmetry allows one to define “electronic” and “muonic” numbers, and suggests that a weakly interacting scalar particle ωγ is associated with the photon and the two neutrinos.     

Selected topics of quantum computing for nuclear physics

Nuclear physics,whose underling theory is described by quantum gauge field coupled with matter,is fundamentally important and yet is formidably challenge for simulation with classical computers.Quantum computing provides a perhaps transformative approach for studying and understanding nuclear physics.With rapid scaling-up of quantum processors as well as advances on quantum algorithms,the digital quantum simulation approach for simulating quantum gauge fields and nuclear physics has gained lots of attention.In this review,we aim to summarize recent efforts on solving nuclear physics with quantum computers.We first discuss a formulation of nuclear physics in the language of quantum computing.In particular,we review how quantum gauge fields(both Abelian and non-Abelian)and their coupling to matter field can be mapped and studied on a quantum computer.We then introduce related quantum algorithms for solving static properties and real-time evolution for quantum systems,and show their applications for a broad range of problems in nuclear physics,including simulation of lattice gauge field,solving nucleon and nuclear structures,quantum advantage for simulating scattering in quantum field theory,non-equilibrium dynamics,and so on.Finally,a short outlook on future work is given.     

Gauge fields, geometric phases, and quantum adiabatic pumps

Quantum adiabatic pumping of charge and spin between two reservoirs (leads) has recently been demonstrated in nanoscale electronic devices. Pumping occurs when system parameters are varied in a cyclic manner and sufficiently slowly that the quantum system always remains in its ground state. We show that quantum pumping has a natural geometric representation in terms of gauge fields (both Abelian and non-Abelian) defined on the space of system parameters. Tunneling from a scanning tunneling microscope tip through a magnetic atom could be used to demonstrate the non-Abelian character of the gauge field.     

Vacuum-Induced Abelian and Non-Abelian Gauge Potentials in CavityQuantum Electrodynamics

Gauge potential plays an important role in exploring exotic phenomena in the single- and many-body quantum systems. In this paper, we propose a scheme to create both new Abelian and non-Abelian gauge potentials by adiabatically controlling the degenerate Dicke model in cavity quantum electrodynamics. It is shown that a non-Abelian gauge potential is achieved only for a single atom, whereas an Abelianizen diagonal gauge potential is realized for the atomic ensemble. More importantly, two interesting quantum phenomena such as the geometric phase and the magnetic monopole induced by our created gauge potentials are also predicted. The possible physical realization is presented in the macroscopic circuit quantum electrodynamics with the Cooper pair boxes, which act as the artificial two-level atoms controlled by the gate voltage and the external magnetic flux.     

Control of tripod-scheme cold-atom wavepackets by manipulating a non-Abelian vector potential

Tripod-scheme cold atoms interacting with laser beams have attracted considerable interest for their role in synthesizing effective non-Abelian vector potentials. Such effective vector potentials can be exploited to realize an all-optical imprinting of geometric phases onto matter waves. By working on carefully designed extensions of our previous work, we show that coherent lattice structure of cold-atom sub-wavepackets can be formed and that the non-Abelian Aharonov-Bohm effect can be easily manifested via the translational motion of cold atoms. We also show that by changing the frame of reference, effects due to a non-Abelian vector potential may be connected with a simple dynamical phase effect, and that under certain conditions it can be understood as an Abelian geometric phase in a different frame of reference. Results should help design better schemes for the control of cold-atom matter waves.     

Vector WIMP miracle

Weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) is well known to be a good candidate for dark matter, and it is also predicted by many new physics models beyond the standard model at the TeV scale. We found that, if the WIMP is a vector particle (spin-one particle) which is associated with some gauge symmetry broken at the TeV scale, the Higgs mass is often predicted to be 120–125 GeV, which is very consistent with the result of Higgs searches recently reported by ATLAS and CMS Collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider experiment. In this Letter, we consider the vector WIMP using a non-linear sigma model in order to confirm this result as general as possible in a bottom-up approach. Near-future prospects to detect the vector WIMP at both direct and indirect detection experiments of dark matter are also discussed.     

A covariant approach to gauged 2D self-dual fields

We obtain a non-Abelian version of a theory involving vector and tensor gauge fields interacting via a massive topological coupling, besides the nonminimun one. The new fact is that the non-Abelian theory is not reducible and Stuckelberg fields are introduced in order to make compatible gauge invariance, nontrivial physical degrees of freedom and the limit of the Abelian case.     

Dual Superconductivity in Abelian Higgs Model of QCD

The study of generalized field associated with Abelian dyons has been undertaken and it has been demonstrated that topologically, a non-Abelian gauge theory is equivalent to a set of Abelian gauge theories supplemented by dyons which undergo condensation leading to confinement and consequently to superconducting model of QCD vacuum, where the Higgs field plays the role of a regulator only. Constructing the effective action for dyonic field in Abelian projection of QCD, it has been demonstrated that any charge (electrical or magnetic) of dyon screens its own direct potential to which it minimally couples and anti-screens the dual potential leading to dual superconductivity in accordance with generalized Meissner effect. In this Abelian projection of QCD an Abelian Higgs model (AHM) has been successfully constructed and it has been shown to incorporate dual superconductivity and confinement as the consequence of dyonic condensation. It has been demonstrated that in AHM t’ Hooft loop creates the string (AHM-string) around which the monopole current under London limit leads to vanishing coherence length in the chromo-magnetic superconductor. It has also been shown that in London limit the squared density of monopole current around AHM-string has a maximum at the distance of the order of penetration length.     

Topological gapless matters in three-dimensional ultracold atomic gases

Three-dimensional topological gapless matters with gapless degeneracies protected by a topological invariant defined over a closed manifold in momentum space have attracted considerable interest in various fields ranging from condensed matter materials to ultracold atomic gases. As a highly controllable and disorder free system, ultracold atomic gases provide a versatile platform to simulate topological gapless matters. Here, the current progress in studies of topological gapless phenomena in three-dimensional cold atom systems is summarized in the review. It is mainly focused on Weyl points, structured (type-II) Weyl points, Dirac points, nodal rings and Weyl exceptional rings in cold atoms. Since interactions in cold atoms can be controlled via Feshbach resonances, the progress in both superfluids for attractive interactions and non-interacting cold atom gases is reviewed.     

Abelian and non-Abelian anomalies in monopole-fermion interactions

Taking an example of the standard SU(5) theory, the monopole-fermion system is reduced to an effective 2-dimensional model. This is a generalized Schwinger model containing four Abelian gauge fields interacting with N generations of massless fermions through vector and axialvector couplings. We quantize such a system exactly in the canonical operator formalism. Then, analyzing the cluster property of operators carrying various chiral charges, the roles of the Abelian and non-Abelian anomalies are studied in monopole-induced baryon decay. We demonstrate that the Abelian anomaly and the charge-mixing boundary condition are the driving forces for monopole-induced baryon decay, though the conservation law suggests the importance of the non-Abelian anomaly.     

Topological Lifshitz transition and novel edge states induced by non-Abelian SU(2) gauge field on bilayer honeycomb lattice

We investigate the SU(2) gauge effects on bilayer honeycomb lattice thoroughly. We discover a topological Lifshitz transition induced by the non-Abelian gauge potential. Topological Lifshitz transitions are determined by topologies of Fermi surfaces in the momentum space. Fermi surface consists of N = 8 Dirac points at π-flux point instead of N = 4 in the trivial Abelian regimes. A local winding number is defined to classify the universality class of the gapless excitations. We also obtain the phase diagram of gauge fluxes by solving the secular equation. Furthermore, the novel edge states of biased bilayer nanoribbon with gauge fluxes are also investigated.     

Field theoretic description of the Abelian and non-Abelian Josephson effect

We formulate the Josephson effect in a field theoretic language which affords a straightforward generalization to the non-Abelian case. Our formalism interprets Josephson tunneling as the excitation of pseudo Goldstone bosons. We demonstrate the formalism through the consideration of a single junction separating two regions with a purely non-Abelian order parameter and a sandwich of three regions where the central region is in a distinct phase. Applications to various non-Abelian symmetry breaking systems in particle and condensed matter physics are given.     

Topologically massive gauge theories

Gauge vector and gravity models are studied in three-dimensional space-time, where novel, gauge invariant, P and T odd terms of topological origin give rise to masses for the gauge fields. In the vector case, the massless Maxwell excitation, which is spinless, becomes massive with spin 1. When interacting with fermions, the quantum theory is infrared and ultraviolet finite in perturbation theory. For non-Abelian models, topological considerations lead to a quantization condition on the dimensionless coupling constant-mass ratio. Ordinary Einstein gravity is trivial, but when augmented by our mass term, it acquires a propagating, massive, spin 2 mode. This theory is ghost-free and causal, although of third-derivative order. Quantum calculations are presented in both the Abelian and non-Abelian vector models, to exhibit some of the delicate aspects of infrared behavior, and regularization dependence.     

Non-Abelian hydrodynamics and the flow of spin in spin-orbit coupled substances

Motivated by the heavy ion collision experiments there is much activity in studying the hydrodynamical properties of non-Abelian (quark-gluon) plasmas. A major question is how to deal with color currents. Although not widely appreciated, quite similar issues arise in condensed matter physics in the context of the transport of spins in the presence of spin-orbit coupling. The key insight is that the Pauli Hamiltonian governing the leading relativistic corrections in condensed matter systems can be rewritten in a language of SU(2) covariant derivatives where the role of the non-Abelian gauge fields is taken by the physical electromagnetic fields: the Pauli system can be viewed as Yang-Mills quantum-mechanics in a ‘fixed frame’, and it can be viewed as an ‘analogous system’ for non-Abelian transport in the same spirit as Volovik’s identification of the He superfluids as analogies for quantum fields in curved space time. We take a similar perspective as Jackiw and coworkers in their recent study of non-Abelian hydrodynamics, twisting the interpretation into the ‘fixed frame’ context, to find out what this means for spin transport in condensed matter systems. We present an extension of Jackiw’s scheme: non-Abelian hydrodynamical currents can be factored in a ‘non-coherent’ classical part, and a coherent part requiring macroscopic non-Abelian quantum entanglement. Hereby it becomes particularly manifest that non-Abelian fluid flow is a much richer affair than familiar hydrodynamics, and this permits us to classify the various spin transport phenomena in condensed matter physics in an unifying framework. The “particle based hydrodynamics” of Jackiw et al. is recognized as the high temperature spin transport associated with semiconductor spintronics. In this context the absence of faithful hydrodynamics is well known, but in our formulation it is directly associated with the fact that the covariant conservation of non-Abelian currents turns into a disastrous non-conservation of the incoherent spin currents of the high temperature limit. We analyze the quantum-mechanical single particle currents of relevance to mesoscopic transport with as highlight the Ahronov-Casher effect, where we demonstrate that the intricacies of the non-Abelian transport render this effect to be much more fragile than its abelian analog, the Ahronov-Bohm effect. We subsequently focus on spin flows protected by order parameters. At present there is much interest in multiferroics where non-collinear magnetic order triggers macroscopic electric polarization via the spin-orbit coupling. We identify this to be a peculiarity of coherent non-Abelian hydrodynamics: although there is no net particle transport, the spin entanglement is transported in these magnets and the coherent spin ‘super’ current in turn translates into electric fields with the bonus that due to the requirement of single valuedness of the magnetic order parameter a true hydrodynamics is restored. Finally, ‘fixed-frame’ coherent non-Abelian transport comes to its full glory in spin-orbit coupled ‘spin superfluids’, and we demonstrate a new effect: the trapping of electrical line charge being a fixed frame, non-Abelian analog of the familiar magnetic flux trapping by normal superconductors. The only known physical examples of such spin superfluids are the ³He A- and B-phase where unfortunately the spin-orbit coupling is so weak that it appears impossible to observe these effects.     

Renormalization group and infrared behaviour in theories with coupled massless fields

The renormalization-group method is applied to investigate the infrared singularities in gauge theories with Abelian or non-Abelian symmetry, involving both massive and massless fermions. In the Abelian gauge model the infrared structures of massive and massless fermion propagators and of a massive fermion form factor are found. In the non-Abelian gauge model (quantum chromodynamics) the infrared behaviour of a massless gluon propagator and a massive quark form factor is considered in the logarithmic approximation.     

Lattices for laymen: A non-specialist's introduction to lattice gauge theory part II

This review is based upon a series of lectures given to the Materials Science and Technology Division of Argonne National Laboratory. The lectures were intended to provide an introduction to lattice gauge theory for scientists who had little or no background in elementary particle physics. Lattice gauge theory incorporates many of the ideas of high energy and condensed matter physics, and is therefore particularly well-suited to a multidisciplinary approach. Perhaps this review may help in closing the perceived gap between these fields.     

Anatomy of a confining string

We review recent papers on the anatomy of the confining string in the Abelian Higgs model with condensed Higgs field. The basic observation is that apart from the well known Abrikosov–Nielsen–Olesen strings of finite transverse size there exist infinitely thin topological strings. These mathematically thin strings are responsible, in particular, for a stringy correction to the potential between confined charges at short distances. Possible implications for QCD are briefly discussed.     

Action Principle and Algebraic Approach to Gauge Transformations in Gauge Theories

The action principle is used to derive, by an entirely algebraic approach, gauge transformations of the full vacuum-to-vacuum transition amplitude (generating functional) from the Coulomb gauge to arbitrary covariant gauges and in turn to the celebrated Fock–Schwinger (FS) gauge for the Abelian (QED) gauge theory without recourse to path integrals or to commutation rules and without making use of delta functionals. The interest in the FS gauge, in particular, is that it leads to Faddeev–Popov ghosts-free non-Abelian gauge theories. This method is expected to be applicable to non-Abelian gauge theories including supersymmetric ones.     

Non-Abelian gauge potentials driven localization transition in quasiperiodic optical lattices

Derived from quantum waves immersed in an Abelian gauge potential, the quasiperiodic Aubry-André-Harper (AAH) model is a simple yet powerful Hamiltonian to study the Anderson localization of ultracold atoms. Here, we investigate the localization properties of ultracold atoms in quasiperiodic optical lattices subject to a non-Abelian gauge potential, which are depicted by non-Abelian AAH models. We identify that the non-Abelian AAH models can bear the self-duality. We analyze the localization of such non-Abelian self-dual optical lattices, revealing a rich phase diagram driven by the non-Abelian gauge potential involved: a transition from a pure delocalization phase, then to coexistence phases, and finally to a pure localization phase. This is in stark contrast to the Abelian counterpart that does not support the coexistence phases. Our results establish the connection between localization and gauge symmetry, and thus comprise a new insight on the fundamental aspects of localization in quasiperiodic systems, from the perspective of non-Abelian gauge potential.