Kaspar Sakmann

Exact Quantum Dynamics of a Bosonic Josephson Junction

The quantum dynamics of a one-dimensional bosonic Josephson junction is studied by solving the time-dependent many-boson Schrödinger equation numerically exactly. Already for weak interparticle interactions and on short time scales, the commonly employed mean-field and many-body methods are found to deviate substantially from the exact dynamics. The system exhibits rich many-body dynamics such as enhanced tunneling and a novel equilibration phenomenon of the junction depending on the interaction, which is attributed to a quick loss of coherence.

Exact quantum dynamics of bosons with finite-range time-dependent interactions of harmonic type

The exactly solvable quantum many-particle model with harmonic one- and two-particle in- teraction terms is extended to include time-dependency. We show that when the external trap potential and finite-range interparticle interaction have a time-dependency the exact solutions of the corresponding time-dependent many-boson Schrodinger equation are still available. We use these exact solutions to benchmark the recently developed multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method for bosons (MCTDHB) (Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 030402 (2007), Phys. Rev. A 77, 033613 (2008)). In particular, we benchmark the MCTDHB method for: (i) the ground state; (ii) the breathing many-body dynamics activated by a quench scenario where the interparticle interaction strength is suddenly turned on to a finite value; (iii) the non-equilibrium dynamic for driven scenarios where both the trap- and interparticle-interaction potentials are time-dependent. Excellent convergence of the ground state and dynamics is demonstrated. The great relevance of the self-consistency and time-adaptivity, which are the intrinsic features of the MCTDHB method, is demonstrated by contrasting the MCTDHB predictions and those obtained within the standard full configuration interaction method spanning the Fock space of the same size, but utilizing as one-particle basis set the fixed-shape eigenstates of the one-particle potential. Connections of the models results to ultra-cold Bose-Einstein condensed systems are addressed.

How an interacting many-body system tunnels through a potential barrier to open space.

The tunneling process in a many-body system is a phenomenon which lies at the very heart of quantum mechanics. It appears in nature in the form of α-decay, fusion and fission in nuclear physics, and photoassociation and photodissociation in biology and chemistry. A detailed theoretical description of the decay process in these systems is a very cumbersome problem, either because of very complicated or even unknown interparticle interactions or due to a large number of constituent particles. In this work, we theoretically study the phenomenon of quantum many-body tunneling in a transparent and controllable physical system, an ultracold atomic gas. We analyze a full, numerically exact many-body solution of the Schrödinger equation of a one-dimensional system with repulsive interactions tunneling to open space. We show how the emitted particles dissociate or fragment from the trapped and coherent source of bosons: The overall many-particle decay process is a quantum interference of single-particle tunneling processes emerging from sources with different particle numbers taking place simultaneously. The close relation to atom lasers and ionization processes allows us to unveil the great relevance of many-body correlations between the emitted and trapped fractions of the wave function in the respective processes.

Recursive formulation of the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method for fermions, bosons and mixtures thereof in terms of one-body density operators

Abstract The multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method (MCTDH) [H.-D. Meyer, U. Manthe, L.S. Cederbaum, Chem. Phys. Lett. 165, 73 (1990); U. Manthe, H.-D. Meyer, L.S. Cederbaum, J. Chem. Phys. 97, 3199 (1992)] is celebrating nowadays entering its third decade of tackling numerically-exactly a broad range of correlated multi-dimensional non-equilibrium quantum dynamical systems. Taking in recent years particles’ statistics explicitly into account, within the MCTDH for fermions (MCTDHF) and for bosons (MCTDHB), has opened up further opportunities to treat larger systems of interacting identical particles, primarily in laser-atom and cold-atom physics. With the increase of experimental capabilities to simultaneously trap mixtures of two, three, and possibly even multiple kinds of interacting composite identical particles together, we set up the stage in the present work and specify the MCTDH method for such cases. Explicitly, the MCTDH method for systems with three kinds of identical particles interacting via all combinations of two- and three-body forces is presented, and the resulting equations-of-motion are briefly discussed. All four possible mixtures (Fermi–Fermi–Fermi, Bose–Fermi–Fermi, Bose–Bose–Fermi and Bose–Bose–Bose) are presented in a unified manner. Particular attention is paid to represent the coefficients’ part of the equations-of-motion in a compact recursive form in terms of one-body density operators only. The recursion utilizes the recently proposed Combinadic-based mapping for fermionic and bosonic operators in Fock space [A.I. Streltsov, O.E. Alon, L.S. Cederbaum, Phys. Rev. A 81, 022124 (2010)], successfully applied and implemented within MCTDHB. Our work sheds new light on the representation of the coefficients’ part in MCTDHF and MCTDHB without resorting to the matrix elements of the many-body Hamiltonian with respect to the time-dependent configurations. It suggests a recipe for efficient implementation of the schemes derived here for mixtures which is suitable for parallelization.

Single-shot simulations of dynamic quantum many-body systems

A simulation method connects single-shot measurements in ultracold atom experiments to the probability distribution of the many-body wavefunction, elucidating the role of the fluctuations in different experimental situations.

Excitation spectra of many-body systems by linear response: General theory and applications to trapped condensates

We derive a general linear-response many-body theory capable of computing excitation spectra of trapped interacting bosonic systems, e.g., depleted and fragmented Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). To obtain the linear-response equations we linearize the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree for bosons (MCTDHB) method, which provides a self-consistent description of many-boson systems in terms of orbitals and a state vector (configurations), and is in principle numerically-exact. The derived linear-response many-body theory, which we term LR-MCTDHB, is applicable to systems with interaction potentials of general form. From the numerical implementation of the LR-MCTDHB equations and solution of the underlying eigenvalue problem, we obtain excitations beyond available theories of excitation spectra, such as the Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) equations. The derived theory is first applied to study BECs in a one-dimensional harmonic potential. The LR-MCTDHB method contains the BdG excitations and, also, predicts a plethora of additional many-body excitations which are out of the realm of standard linear response. In particular, our theory describes the exact energy of the higher harmonic of the first (dipole) excitation not contained in the BdG theory. We next study a BEC in a very shallow one-dimensional double-well potential. We find with LR-MCTDHB low-lying excitations which are not accounted for by BdG, even though the BEC has only little fragmentation and, hence, the BdG theory is expected to be valid. The convergence of the LR-MCTDHB theory is assessed by systematically comparing the excitation spectra computed at several different levels of theory.

Optimal time-dependent lattice models for nonequilibrium dynamics

Lattice models are central to the physics of ultracold atoms and condensed matter. Generally, lattice models contain time-independent hopping and interaction parameters that are derived from the Wannier functions of the noninteracting problem. Here, we present a new concept based on time- dependent Wannier functions and the variational principle that leads to optimal time-dependent lattice models. As an application, we use the Bose-Hubbard model with time-dependent Wannier functions to study an interaction quench scenario involving higher bands. We find a separation of time-scales in the dynamics. The results are compared with numerically exact results of the time- dependent many-body Schrodinger equation. We thereby show that—under some circumstances—the multi-band nonequilibrium dynamics of a quantum system can be obtained essentially at the cost of a single-band model.

Dynamics and symmetries of a repulsively bound atom pair in an infinite optical lattice

We investigate the dynamics of two bosons trapped in an infinite one-dimensional optical lattice potential within the framework of the Bose-Hubbard model and derive an exact expression for the wavefunction at finite time. As initial condition we chose localized atoms that are separated by a distance of

Continuous configuration-interaction for condensates in a ring

d

MCTDHB Physics and Technologies: Excitations and Vorticity, Single-Shot Detection, Measurement of Fragmentation, and Optimal Control in Correlated Ultra-Cold Bosonic Many-Body Systems

lattice sites and carry a center of mass quasi-momentum. An initially localized pair (