Formation of Complex Discrete Time Crystals with Ultracold Atoms

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Golletz, Weronika, Sacha, Krzysztof
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Golletz, Weronika
Sacha, Krzysztof
author_facet Golletz, Weronika
Sacha, Krzysztof
contents We study discrete time crystal formation in a system driven periodically by an oscillating atomic mirror, consisting of two distinct ultracold atomic clouds in the presence of a gravitational field. The intra-species interactions are weak and attractive, while the inter-species interactions are infinitely strong and repulsive. The clouds are arranged in a one-dimensional stack, where the bottom cloud bounces on an oscillating atomic mirror, which effectively acts as a driving force for the upper cloud due to the infinite inter-species repulsion. Using a Jastrow-like variational ansatz for the many-body wavefunction, we show that sufficiently strong attractive intra-species interactions drive each subsystem to spontaneously break discrete time translation symmetry, resulting in the formation of a complex discrete time crystal evolving with a period different than the driving period. Since the bottom cloud serves as the effective periodic driving for the upper cloud, this leads to a cascade of spontaneous symmetry breaking. With increasing intra-species interactions, we first observe a pronounced effect of spontaneous time translation symmetry breaking in the upper cloud, followed by a similar effect in the lower atomic cloud.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_18613
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Formation of Complex Discrete Time Crystals with Ultracold Atoms
Golletz, Weronika
Sacha, Krzysztof
Quantum Gases
Atomic Physics
Quantum Physics
We study discrete time crystal formation in a system driven periodically by an oscillating atomic mirror, consisting of two distinct ultracold atomic clouds in the presence of a gravitational field. The intra-species interactions are weak and attractive, while the inter-species interactions are infinitely strong and repulsive. The clouds are arranged in a one-dimensional stack, where the bottom cloud bounces on an oscillating atomic mirror, which effectively acts as a driving force for the upper cloud due to the infinite inter-species repulsion. Using a Jastrow-like variational ansatz for the many-body wavefunction, we show that sufficiently strong attractive intra-species interactions drive each subsystem to spontaneously break discrete time translation symmetry, resulting in the formation of a complex discrete time crystal evolving with a period different than the driving period. Since the bottom cloud serves as the effective periodic driving for the upper cloud, this leads to a cascade of spontaneous symmetry breaking. With increasing intra-species interactions, we first observe a pronounced effect of spontaneous time translation symmetry breaking in the upper cloud, followed by a similar effect in the lower atomic cloud.
title Formation of Complex Discrete Time Crystals with Ultracold Atoms
topic Quantum Gases
Atomic Physics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.18613