Simulating compact quantum electrodynamics with ultracold atoms: Probing confinement and nonperturbative effects

Erez Zohar, J. Ignacio Cirac, Benni Reznik

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Recently, there has been much interest in simulating quantum field theory effects of matter and gauge fields. In a recent work, a method for simulating compact quantum electrodynamics (CQED) using Bose-Einstein condensates has been suggested. We suggest an alternative approach, which relies on single atoms in an optical lattice, carrying 2l+1 internal levels, which converges rapidly to CQED as l increases. That enables the simulation of CQED in 2+1 dimensions in both the weak and the strong coupling regimes, hence, allowing us to probe confinement as well as other nonperturbative effects of the theory. We provide an explicit construction for the case l=1 which is sufficient for simulating the effect of confinement between two external static charges.

Original languageEnglish
Article number125302
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume109
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 19 Sep 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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