Exploring local quantum many-body relaxation by atoms in optical superlattices.
We establish a setting-atoms in optical superlattices with period 2-in which one can experimentally probe signatures of the process of local relaxation and apparent thermalization in nonequilibrium dynamics without the need of addressing single sites. This opens up a way to explore the convergence of subsystems to maximum entropy states in quenched quantum many-body systems with present technology. Remarkably, the emergence of thermal states does not follow from a coupling to an environment but is a result of the complex nonequilibrium dynamics in closed systems. We explore ways of measuring the relevant signatures of thermalization in this analogue quantum simulation of a relaxation process, exploiting the possibilities offered by optical superlattices.
Cramer
M
M
Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BW, United Kingdom.
Flesch
A
A
McCulloch
I P
IP
Schollwöck
U
U
Eisert
J
J