title: Observation of Scaling in the Dynamics of a Strongly Quenched Quantum Gas.
abstract: We report on the experimental observation of scaling in the time evolution following a sudden quench into the vicinity of a quantum critical point. The experimental system, a two-component Bose gas with coherent exchange between the constituents, allows for the necessary high level of control of parameters as well as the access to time-resolved spatial correlation functions. The theoretical analysis reveals that when quenching the system close to the critical point, the energy introduced by the quench leads to a short-time evolution exhibiting crossover reminiscent of the finite-temperature critical properties in the system's universality class. Observing the time evolution after a quench represents a paradigm shift in accessing and probing experimentally universal properties close to a quantum critical point and allows in a new way benchmarking of quantum many-body theory with experiments.
authors.affiliation: Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 227, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nicklas
authors.affiliation: Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 227, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karl
authors.affiliation: Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 227, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Höfer
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Charles-Fabry, Institut d'Optique Avenue Augustin Fresnel, 91 127 Palaiseau Cedex, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 227, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Muessel
authors.affiliation: Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 227, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Strobel
authors.affiliation: Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 227, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tomkovič
authors.affiliation: Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 227, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gasenzer
authors.affiliation: Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 227, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Oberthaler
mesh_terms: D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011789:Quantum Theory; D012413:Rubidium / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D012413:Rubidium