The Influence of the Symmetry of Identical Particles on Flight Times

In this work, our purpose is to show how the symmetry of identical particles can influence the time evolution of free particles in the nonrelativistic and relativistic domains as well as in the scattering by a potential δ-barrier. For this goal, we consider a system of either two distinguishable or indistinguishable (bosons and fermions) particles. Two sets of initial conditions have been studied: different initial locations with the same momenta, and the same locations with different momenta. The flight time distribution of particles arriving at a ‘screen’ is calculated in each case from the density and flux. Fermions display broader distributions as compared with either distinguishable particles or bosons, leading to earlier and later arrivals for all the cases analyzed here. The symmetry of the wave function seems to speed up or slow down the propagation of particles. Due to the cross terms, certain initial conditions lead to bimodality in the fermionic case. Within the nonrelativistic domain, and when the short-time survival probability is analyzed, if the cross term becomes important, one finds that the decay of the overlap of fermions is faster than for distinguishable particles which in turn is faster than for bosons. These results are of interest in the short time limit since they imply that the well-known quantum Zeno effect would be stronger for bosons than for fermions. Fermions also arrive earlier and later than bosons when they are scattered by a δ-barrier. Although the particle symmetry does affect the mean tunneling flight time, in the limit of narrow in momentum initial Gaussian wave functions, the mean times are not affected by symmetry but tend to the phase time for distinguishable particles.     

Quantum Correlations in Systems of Indistinguishable Particles

We discuss quantum correlations in systems of indistinguishable particles in relation to entanglement in composite quantum systems consisting of well separated subsystems. Our studies are motivated by recent experiments and theoretical investigations on quantum dots and neutral atoms in microtraps as tools for quantum information processing. We present analogies between distinguishable particles, bosons, and fermions in low-dimensional Hilbert spaces. We introduce the notion of Slater rank for pure states of pairs of fermions and bosons in analogy to the Schmidt rank for pairs of distinguishable particles. This concept is generalized to mixed states and provides a correlation measure for indistinguishable particles. Then we generalize these notions to pure fermionic and bosonic states in higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces and also to the multi-particle case. We review the results on quantum correlations in mixed fermionic states and discuss the concept of fermionic Slater witnesses. Then the theory of quantum correlations in mixed bosonic states and of bosonic Slater witnesses is formulated. In both cases we provide methods of constructing optimal Slater witnesses that detect the degree of quantum correlations in mixed fermionic and bosonic states.     

Role of quantum statistics in multi-particle decay dynamics

The role of quantum statistics in the decay dynamics of a multi-particle state, which is suddenly released from a confining potential, is investigated. For an initially confined double particle state, the exact dynamics is presented for both bosons and fermions. The time-evolution of the probability to measure two-particle is evaluated and some counterintuitive features are discussed. For instance, it is shown that although there is a higher chance of finding the two bosons (as oppose to fermions, and even distinguishable particles) at the initial trap region, there is a higher chance (higher than fermions) of finding them on two opposite sides of the trap as if the repulsion between bosons is higher than the repulsion between fermions. The results are demonstrated by numerical simulations and are calculated analytically in the short-time approximation. Furthermore, experimental validation is suggested.     

Exact solution of strongly interacting quasi-one-dimensional spinor Bose gases

We present an exact analytical solution of the fundamental system of quasi-one-dimensional spin-1 bosons with infinite delta repulsion. The eigenfunctions are constructed from the wave functions of noninteracting spinless fermions, based on Girardeau's Fermi-Bose mapping. We show that the spinor bosons behave like a compound of noninteracting spinless fermions and noninteracting distinguishable spins. This duality is especially reflected in the spin densities and the energy spectrum. We find that the momentum distribution of the eigenstates depends on the symmetry of the spin function. Furthermore, we discuss the splitting of the ground state multiplet in the regime of large but finite repulsion.     

Exact solutions of a one-dimensional mixture of spinor bosons and spinor fermions

The exact solutions of a one-dimensional mixture of spinor bosons and spinor fermions with δ-function interactions are studied. Some new sets of Bethe ansatz equations are obtained by using the graded nest quantum inverse scattering method. Many interesting features appear in the system. For example, the wave function has the SU(2|2) supersymmetry. It is also found that the ground state of the system is partial polarized, where the fermions form a spin singlet state and the bosons are totally polarized. From the solution of Bethe ansatz equations, it is shown that all the momentum, spin and isospin rapidities at the ground state are real if the interactions between the particles are repulsive; while the fermions form two-particle bounded states and the bosons form one large bound state, which means the bosons condensed at the zero momentum point, if the interactions are attractive. The charge, spin and isospin excitations are discussed in detail. The thermodynamic Bethe ansatz equations are also derived and their solutions at some special cases are obtained analytically.     

Two-Dimensional Quantum Gas

Identical impenetrable particles in a 2-dimensional configuration space obey braid statistics, intermediate between bosons and fermions. This statistics, based on braid groups, is introduced as a generalization of the usual statistics founded on the symmetric groups. The main properties of an ideal gas of such particles are presented. They do interpolate the properties of bosons and fermions but include classical particles as a special case. Restriction to 2 dimensions precludes lambda points but originates a peculiar symmetry, responsible in particular for the identity of boson and fermion specific heats.     

Dynamics of Ultracold Bosons in Artificial Gauge Fields—Angular Momentum,Fragmentation, and the Variance of Entropy

We consider the dynamics of two-dimensional interacting ultracold bosons triggered by suddenly switching on an artificial gauge field. The system is initialized in the ground state of a harmonic trapping potential. As a function of the strength of the applied artificial gauge field, we analyze the emergent dynamics by monitoring the angular momentum, the fragmentation as well as the entropy and variance of the entropy of absorption or single-shot images. We solve the underlying time-dependent many-boson Schrödinger equation using the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method for indistinguishable particles (MCTDH-X). We find that the artificial gauge field implants angular momentum in the system. Fragmentation—multiple macroscopic eigenvalues of the reduced one-body density matrix—emerges in sync with the dynamics of angular momentum: the bosons in the many-body state develop non-trivial correlations. Fragmentation and angular momentum are experimentally difficult to assess; here, we demonstrate that they can be probed by statistically analyzing the variance of the image entropy of single-shot images that are the standard projective measurement of the state of ultracold atomic systems.     

Complete particle-pair annihilation as a dynamical signature of the spectral singularity

Motivated by the physical relevance of a spectral singularity of interacting many-particle system, we explore the dynamics of two bosons as well as fermions in one-dimensional system with imaginary delta interaction strength. Based on the exact solution, it shows that the two-particle collision leads to amplitude-reduction of the wave function. For fermion pair, the amplitude-reduction depends on the spin configuration of two particles. In both cases, the residual amplitude can vanish when the relative group velocity of two single-particle Gaussian wave packets with equal width reaches the magnitude of the interaction strength, exhibiting complete particle-pair annihilation at the spectral singularity.     

Attosecond light pulses for probing two-electron dynamics of helium in the time domain

Using attosecond light pulses to doubly ionize a two-electron wave packet of helium, we showed that the time-resolved correlated motion of the two electrons can be probed by measuring their six-dimensional momentum distributions. For simple wave packets, we showed that the measured momenta, when analyzed in appropriate coordinates, can reveal the stretching, the rotational, and the bending vibrational modes of their joint motion in momentum space, in spite of the Coulomb distortion in the final states.     

Exponentially decaying correlations in a gas of strongly interacting spin-polarized 1D fermions with zero-range interactions

We consider the single-particle correlations and momentum distributions in a gas of strongly interacting, spinless 1D fermions with zero-range interactions. This system represents a fermionic version of the Tonks-Girardeau gas of impenetrable bosons as it can be mapped to a system of noninteracting 1D bosons. We use this duality to show that the T = 0, single-particle correlations exhibit an exponential decay with distance. This strongly interacting system is experimentally accessible using ultracold atoms and has a Lorentzian momentum distribution at large momenta whose width is given by the linear density.     

On the general structure of nonlinear equations integrable by the general linear spectral problem

Two beams of indistinguishable fermions from independent sources cannot produce an interference pattern that changes when the wavefunction of each single-fermion state for one beam is multiplied by — 1; they cannot produce interference the way photons from independent sources can. This means the changes in neutron interference caused by a magnetic field applied to one of the beams cannot be interpreted as equivalent to changes that could be made by rotating the source of one beam by 2π radians. If it is assumed that rotation by 2π radians cannot be observed, the argument made here becomes a simple proof that particles with half-integral spin cannot be bosons.     

Anyons and the quantum Hall effect—A pedagogical review

The dichotomy between fermions and bosons is at the root of many physical phenomena, from metallic conduction of electricity to super-fluidity, and from the periodic table to coherent propagation of light. The dichotomy originates from the symmetry of the quantum mechanical wave function to the interchange of two identical particles. In systems that are confined to two spatial dimensions particles that are neither fermions nor bosons, coined “anyons”, may exist. The fractional quantum Hall effect offers an experimental system where this possibility is realized. In this paper we present the concept of anyons, we explain why the observation of the fractional quantum Hall effect almost forces the notion of anyons upon us, and we review several possible ways for a direct observation of the physics of anyons. Furthermore, we devote a large part of the paper to non-abelian anyons, motivating their existence from the point of view of trial wave functions, giving a simple exposition of their relation to conformal field theories, and reviewing several proposals for their direct observation.     

Superconductivity and Temperature Effects on Davydov Model of α-Helix Protein

We study the thermodynamic properties of α-helix protein on the basis of Davydov theory. The Hamiltonian of Davydov theory can be represented as a form of pairing Hamiltonian in the momentum space. We prove that the quasi-classical Davydov theory is essentially a theory with Bose condensation no matter whether the molecular excitations are treated as fermions or bosons. The transition temperature of superconductivity theory gives the existence condition of the Davydov soliton.     

INDISTINGUISHABLE PARTICLES AND HIDDEN VARIABLES: PART II

In a previous work it was shown that it is possible to deal with collections of indistinguishable elementary particles in a set-theoretical framework, by using hidden variables. We propose in the present paper a set-theoretical axiomatics for collections of indiscernibles with no explicit mention to hidden variables. We also show, in this context, the fundamental role of the (micro) state in the process of individuation of classical and quantum particles. Finally, we discuss the importance of the axiom of choice in Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory in the context of quantum distributions of bosons and fermions.     

Kinetic description of vacuum particle production in collisions of ultrarelativistic nuclei

The dynamics of partons that emerge as the result of quantum tunneling in a spatially uniform time-dependent field is studied under conditions prevalent in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. A self-consistent set of coupled equations that consists of the renormalized Maxwell equation and the Vlasov kinetic equation that involves a source and which is derived on a dynamical basis is solved numerically. The time dependence of the distributions of internal fields and currents for bosons and fermions is investigated within this back-reaction mechanism, and their momentum spectra are constructed. Clear evidence that oscillations in the time dependence of parton distributions in phase-space cells are of a stochastic character is obtained, and a significant irregularity in the momentum distribution on large time scales is found. If the influence of the back reaction is disregarded, these effects disappear completely, the oscillations becoming regular. A possible thermalization scenario for such a quasiparticle plasma is considered in the relaxation-time approximation. A locally equilibrium state is described within the two-component thermodynamics of particles and antiparticles. The possibility of introducing temperature under conditions of a strong vacuum polarization is discussed.     

Simulating the fourth-order interference phenomenon of anyons with photon pairs

The generalized Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer with anyons is studied. Novel interference results different from bosons or fermions are found. An experimental scheme based on linear optics is proposed and realized to simulate the fourth-order interference phenomenon of anyons.     

Irregular dynamics in a one-dimensional Bose system

We study many-body quantum dynamics of delta-interacting bosons confined in a one-dimensional ring. Main attention is paid to the transition from the mean-field to the Tonks-Girardeau regime using an approach developed in the theory of interacting particles. We analyze, both analytically and numerically, how the Shannon entropy of the wave function and the momentum distribution depend on time for weak and strong interactions. We show that the transition from regular (quasiperiodic) to irregular ("chaotic") dynamics coincides with the onset of the Tonks-Girardeau regime. In the latter regime, the momentum distribution of the system reveals a statistical relaxation to a steady state distribution. The transition can be observed experimentally by studying the interference fringes obtained after releasing the trap and letting the boson system expand ballistically.     

Coherence properties of two trapped particles

We analyse the coherence properties of two particles trapped in a one-dimensional harmonic potential. This simple model allows us to derive analytic expressions for the first and second order coherence functions. We investigate their properties depending on the particle nature and the temperature of the quantum gas. We find that at zero temperature non-interacting bosons and fermions show very different correlations, while they coincide for higher temperatures. We observe atom bunching for bosons and atom anti-bunching for fermions. When the effect of s-wave scattering between bosons is taken into account, we find that the range of coherence is enhanced or reduced for repulsive or attractive potentials, respectively. Strongly repelling bosons become in some way more “fermion-like" and show anti-bunching. Their first order coherence function, however, differs from that for fermions. Received 19 September 2002 Published online 4 February 2003     

Generalized relativistic Fock space

We consider a generalized Fock space obtained by eliminating the restriction to symmetric components for bosons or antisymmetric ones for fermions. In this space we can extend the many times formalism of relativistic quantum mechanics to quantum field theory, in which each particle has a time parameter that has to be included in any exchange of variables. Physical states in which all particle times, or all antiparticle times, are equal, still have the right symmetry. We define creation and annihilation operators for numbered particles in this space, and relate them to the usual operators.