title: Quantum simulation of the cooperative Jahn-Teller transition in 1D ion crystals.
abstract: The Jahn-Teller effect explains distortions and nondegenerate energy levels in molecular and solid-state physics via a coupling of effective spins to collective bosons. Here we propose and theoretically analyze the quantum simulation of a many-body Jahn-Teller model with linear ion crystals subjected to magnetic field gradients. We show that the system undergoes a quantum magnetic structural phase transition which leads to a reordering of particle positions and the formation of a spin-phonon quasicondensate in mesoscopic ion chains.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Teórica I, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Porras
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Ivanov
authors.forename: Ferdinand
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schmidt-Kaler