The illustration shows the dynamics of the ultracold cloud with the spontaneous creation of vortex pairs (in red and blue). The time evolution of the system is shown schematically as a flow.
The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a leading global scientific research center and the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), has identified a new universality in dynamic phase transitions, which could potentially catalyze the development of sensitive quantum sensors. Phase transitions are ubiquitous across multiple branches of physics and constitute a focal point in the realm of many-body physics. From the elementary transition of ice to water to the intricate Bose-Einstein condensation observed in ultracold atomic gases, these transitions can be divided into a small number of so-called universality classes that are characterized by critical behavior of these systems
Dr.Vijay Singh, Postdoctoral Researcher, Quantum Physics Group at TII’s Quantum Research Center (QRC), and his fellow researchers from the University of Hamburg and the University of Oxford investigated a so-called "quench" scenario, in which a system parameter is altered rapidly, and the subsequent dynamics are detected.
Specifically, the researchers considered an atomic cloud in two dimensions undergoing a Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition and identified the universal behavior. They discovered that vortex pairs form from the fluctuations of the atomic cloud during this dynamic phase transition. By leveraging a real-time renormalization method, they succeeded in describing the process and its time scale.
The results are a crucial step towards better understanding many-body dynamics, notably phase transitions.
Their insightful research paper, titled “Universal scaling of the dynamic BKT transition in quenched 2D Bose gases”, was featured in Science, one of the world’s top, peer-reviewed academic journals of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). AAAS publishes original scientific research, research reviews, science-related news, opinions on science policy, and other matters of interest to scientists.
