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We study the behavior of the excitation spectrum across the quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a supersolid phase of a dipolar Bose gas confined to a one-dimensional geometry. Including the leading beyond-mean-field effects within an effective Hamiltonian, the analysis is based on Bogoliubov theory with several order parameters accounting for the superfluid as well as solid structure. We find fast convergence of the ground-state energy in the supersolid with the number of order parameters and demonstrate a stable excitation spectrum with two Goldstone modes and an amplitude mode in the low-energy regime. Our results suggest that there exists an experimentally achievable parameter regime for dysprosium atoms, where the supersolid phase exhibits a stable excitation spectrum in the thermodynamic limit and the transition into the supersolid phase is of second order driven by the roton instability.

We study the implementation of a high fidelity controlled-phase gate in a Rydberg quantum computer. The protocol is based on a symmetric gate with respect to the two qubits as experimentally realized by Levine et al [Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 170503 (2019)], but allows for arbitrary pulse shapes with time-dependent detuning. Optimizing the pulse shapes, we introduce laser pulses which shorten the time spent in the Rydberg state by 10% and reduce the leading contribution to the gate infidelity, i.e., the decay from the Rydberg state. Remarkably, this reduction can be achieved for smooth pulses in detuning and smooth turning on of the Rabi frequency as required in any experimental realization. We carefully analyze the influence of fundamental error sources such as the photon recoil, the microscopic interaction potential, as well as the harmonic trapping of the atoms for an experimentally realistic setup based on strontium-88 atoms. We find that an average gate fidelity above 99.9% is possible for a very conservative estimation of experimental parameters., 11 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables

We theoretically investigate the ground states and the spectrum of elementary excitations across the superfluid to droplet crystallization transition of an oblate dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate. We systematically identify regimes where spontaneous rotational symmetry breaking leads to the emergence of a supersolid phase with characteristic collective excitations, such as the Higgs amplitude mode. Furthermore, we study the dynamics across the transition and show how these supersolids can be realized with standard protocols in state-of-the-art experiments., 10 pages, 2+1 figures

Phase transitions share the universal feature of enhanced fluctuations near the transition point. Here we show that density fluctuations reveal how a Bose-Einstein condensate of dipolar atoms spontaneously breaks its translation symmetry and enters the supersolid state of matter -- a phase that combines superfluidity with crystalline order. We report on the first direct in situ measurement of density fluctuations across the superfluid-supersolid phase transition. This allows us to introduce a general and straightforward way to extract the static structure factor, estimate the spectrum of elementary excitations and image the dominant fluctuation patterns. We observe a strong response in the static structure factor and infer a distinct roton minimum in the dispersion relation. Furthermore, we show that the characteristic fluctuations correspond to elementary excitations such as the roton modes, which have been theoretically predicted to be dominant at the quantum critical point, and that the supersolid state supports both superfluid as well as crystal phonons., 11 pages, 5 + 3 figures

We study a system of atoms that are laser driven to nD_{3/2} Rydberg states and assess how accurately they can be mapped onto spin-1/2 particles for the quantum simulation of anisotropic Ising magnets. Using nonperturbative calculations of the pair potentials between two atoms in the presence of electric and magnetic fields, we emphasize the importance of a careful selection of experimental parameters in order to maintain the Rydberg blockade and avoid excitation of unwanted Rydberg states. We benchmark these theoretical observations against experiments using two atoms. Finally, we show that in these conditions, the experimental dynamics observed after a quench is in good agreement with numerical simulations of spin-1/2 Ising models in systems with up to 49 spins, for which numerical simulations become intractable.

We present a method for computing the full probability distribution function of quadratic observables for the Fermi-Hubbard model within the framework of determinantal quantum Monte Carlo. Especially, in cold atoms experiments with single site resolution, such full counting statistics can be obtained from repeated projective measurements. We demonstrate, that the full counting statistics can provide important information on the size of preformed pairs. Furthermore, we compute the full counting statistics of the staggered magnetization in the repulsive Hubbard model at half filling and find excellent agreement with recent experimental results. We show that current experiments are capable of probing the difference between the Hubbard model and the limiting Heisenberg model., 5+7 pages; 3+4 figures

We study a system of three photons in an atomic medium coupled to Rydberg states near the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. Based on the analytical analysis of the microscopic set of equations in the far-detuned regime, the effective three-body interaction for these Rydberg polaritons is derived. For slow light polaritons, we find a strong three-body repulsion with the remarkable property that three polaritons can become essentially non-interacting at short distances. This analysis allows us to derive the influence of the three-body repulsion on bound states and correlation functions of photons propagating through a one-dimensional atomic cloud., Comment: 5+4 pages

Ever since the insight spreaded that tailored dissipation can be employed to control quantum systems and drive them towards pure states, the field of non-equilibrium quantum mechanics gained remarkable momentum. So far research focussed on emergent phenomena caused by the interplay and competition of unitary Hamiltonian and dissipative Markovian dynamics. In this manuscript we zero in on a so far rather understudied aspect of open quantum systems and non-equilibrium physics, namely the utilization of purely dissipative couplings to explore pure quantum phases and non-equilibrium phase transitions. To illustrate this concept, we introduce and scrutinize purely dissipative counterparts of (1) the paradigmatic transverse field Ising model and (2) the considerably more complex $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theory with coupled matter field. We show that, in mean field approximation, the non-equilibrium phase diagrams parallel the (thermal) phase diagrams of the Hamiltonian "blue print" theories qualitatively., 13 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables

We present a microscopic model of interacting fermions where the ground state degeneracy is topologically protected. The model is based on a double-wire setup with local interactions in a particle number conserving setting. A compelling property of this model is the exact solvability for its ground states and low energy excitations. We demonstrate the appearance of topologically protected edge states and derive their braiding properties on a microscopic level. We find the non-abelian statistics of Ising anyons, which can be interpreted as Majorana-like edge states., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures; supplement: 10 pages, 4 figures

We provide a theoretical framework describing slow-light polaritons interacting via atomic Rydberg states. We use a diagrammatic method to analytically derive the scattering properties of two polaritons. We identify parameter regimes where polariton-polariton interactions are repulsive. Furthermore, in the regime of attractive interactions, we identify multiple two-polariton bound states, calculate their dispersion, and study the resulting scattering resonances. Finally, the two-particle scattering properties allow us to derive the effective low-energy many-body Hamiltonian. This theoretical platform is applicable to ongoing experiments., Comment: 6 pages, 2 Figures

A decade ago Kitaev's toric code model established the new paradigm of topological quantum computation. Due to remarkable theoretical and experimental progress, the quantum simulation of such complex many-body systems is now within the realms of possibility. Here we consider the question, to which extent the ground states of small toric code systems differ from LU-equivalent graph states. We argue that simplistic (though experimentally attractive) setups obliterate the differences between the toric code and equivalent graph states; hence we search for the smallest setups on the square- and triangular lattice, such that the quasi-locality of the toric code hamiltonian becomes a distinctive feature. To this end, a purely geometric procedure to transform a given toric code setup into an LC-equivalent graph state is derived. In combination with an algorithmic computation of LC-equivalent graph states, we find the smallest non-trivial setup on the square lattice to contain 5 plaquettes and 16 qubits; on the triangular lattice the number of plaquettes and qubits is reduced to 4 and 9, respectively., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures

We present a method to control the shape and character of the interaction potential between cold atomic gases by weakly dressing the atomic ground state with a Rydberg level. For increasing particle densities, a crossover takes place from a two-particle interaction into a collective many-body interaction, where the dipole-dipole/van der Waals Blockade phenomenon between the Rydberg levels plays a dominant role. We study the influence of these collective interaction potential on a Bose-Einstein condensate, and present the optimal parameters for its experimental detection., 4 pages, 3 figures Accepted for publication as a Letter in Physical Review Letters

We determine the phase diagram of a one-dimensional system of hard-core lattice bosons interacting via repulsive three-body interactions by analytic methods and extensive quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Such three-body interactions can be derived from a microscopic theory for polar molecules trapped in an optical lattice. Depending on the strength of the interactions and the particle density, we find superfluid and solid phases, the latter appearing at an unconventional filling of the lattice and displaying a coexistence of charge-density wave and bond orders.

We propose and analyze a technique that allows one to suppress inelastic collisions and simultaneously enhance elastic interactions between cold polar molecules. The main idea is to cancel the leading dipole-dipole interaction with a suitable combination of static electric and microwave fields in such a way that the remaining van der Waals-type potential forms a three-dimensional repulsive shield. We analyze the elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections relevant for evaporative cooling of polar molecules and discuss the prospect for the creation of stable crystalline structures.

We discuss techniques to engineer effective long-range interactions between polar molecules using external static electric and microwave fields. We consider a setup where molecules are trapped in a two-dimensional pancake geometry by a far-off-resonance optical trap, which ensures the stability of the dipolar collisions. We detail how to modify the shape and the strength of the long-range part of interaction potentials, which can be utilized to realize interesting quantum phases in the context of cold molecular gases.

We describe the properties of a mixture of fermionic and bosonic atoms, as they are tuned across a Feshbach resonance associated with a fermionic molecular state. Provided the number of fermionic atoms exceeds the number of bosonic atoms, we argue that there is a critical detuning at which the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is completely depleted. The phases on either side of this quantum phase transition can also be distinguished by the distinct Luttinger constraints on their Fermi surfaces. In both phases, the total volume enclosed by all Fermi surfaces is constrained by the total number of fermions. However, in the phase without the BEC, which has two Fermi surfaces, there is a _second_ Luttinger constraint: the volume enclosed by one of the Fermi surfaces is constrained by the total number of_bosons_, so that the volumes enclosed by the two Fermi surfaces are separately conserved. The phase with the BEC may have one or two Fermi surfaces, but only their total volume is conserved. We obtain the phase diagram as a function of atomic parameters and temperature, and describe critical fluctuations in the vicinity of all transitions. We make quantitative predictions valid for the case of a narrow Feshbach resonance, but we expect the qualitative features we describe to be more generally applicable. As an aside, we point out intriguing connections between the BEC depletion transition and the transition to the fractionalized Fermi liquid in Kondo lattice models., 18 pages, 9 figures, REVTeX 4, submitted to Phys. Rev. B Minor changes throughout

We study a two-dimensional atomic mixture of bosons and fermions cooled into their quantum degenerate states and subject to an optical lattice. The optical lattice provides van Hove singularities in the fermionic density of states. We find that these van Hove singularities produce new and interesting features for the transition towards phase separation: an arbitrary weak interaction between the bosons and the fermions is sufficient to drive the phase separation at low temperatures. The phase separated state turns stable for attractive and repulsive interaction between the bosons and fermions and can be cast into the standard form of a `liquid--gas' transition., 7 pages, 2 figures

In one dimensional wires, fluctuations destroy superconducting long-range order and stiffness at finite temperatures; in an infinite wire, quasi-long range order and stiffness survive at zero temperature if the wire's dimensionless admittance $\mu$ is large, $\mu > 2$. We analyze the disappearance of this superconductor-insulator quantum phase transition in a finite wire and its resurrection due to the wire's coupling to its environment characterized through the dimensionless conductance $K$. Integrating over phase slips, we determine the flow of couplings and establish the $\mu$--$K$ phase diagram., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

We show that a two-dimensional atomic mixture of Bosons and Fermions cooled into their quantum degenerate states and subject to an optical lattice develops a supersolid phase characterized by the simultaneous presence of a non-trivial crystalline order and phase order. This transition is in competition with a phase separated ground state. We determine the phase diagram of the system and propose an experiment allowing for the observation of the supersolid phase., 4 pages, 3 figures