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Main Authors: Nguyen, Huy, Wang, Yu-Xin, Taylor, Jacob M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.05924
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author Nguyen, Huy
Wang, Yu-Xin
Taylor, Jacob M.
author_facet Nguyen, Huy
Wang, Yu-Xin
Taylor, Jacob M.
contents Measurement plays a crucial role in a quantum system beyond just learning about the system state: it changes the post-measurement state and hence influences the subsequent time evolution; further, measurement can even create entanglement in the post-measurement conditional state. In this work, we study how careful choice of parameters for a typical measurement process on cold atoms systems -- phase contrast imaging -- has a strong impact on both what the experimentalist observes but also on the backaction the measurement has on the system, including the creation and diffusion of quasiparticles emerging from the quantum many-body dynamics. We focus on the case of a Bose-Einstein-condensate array, in the low-temperature and low-momentum limit. Our theoretical investigation reveals regimes where the imaging light probes either the bare particle or quasiparticle dynamics. Moreover, we find a path to selectively measuring quasiparticle modes directly, as well as controlling over the measurement-induced creation and diffusion of quasiparticles into different momentum states. This lays a foundation for understanding the effects of both experimental approaches for probing many-body systems, but also more speculative directions such as observable consequences of `spontaneous collapse' predictions from novel models of quantum gravity on aspects of the Standard Model.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_05924
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An Approach to Probing Particles and Quasi-particles in the Condensed Bose-Hubbard Model
Nguyen, Huy
Wang, Yu-Xin
Taylor, Jacob M.
Quantum Gases
Quantum Physics
Measurement plays a crucial role in a quantum system beyond just learning about the system state: it changes the post-measurement state and hence influences the subsequent time evolution; further, measurement can even create entanglement in the post-measurement conditional state. In this work, we study how careful choice of parameters for a typical measurement process on cold atoms systems -- phase contrast imaging -- has a strong impact on both what the experimentalist observes but also on the backaction the measurement has on the system, including the creation and diffusion of quasiparticles emerging from the quantum many-body dynamics. We focus on the case of a Bose-Einstein-condensate array, in the low-temperature and low-momentum limit. Our theoretical investigation reveals regimes where the imaging light probes either the bare particle or quasiparticle dynamics. Moreover, we find a path to selectively measuring quasiparticle modes directly, as well as controlling over the measurement-induced creation and diffusion of quasiparticles into different momentum states. This lays a foundation for understanding the effects of both experimental approaches for probing many-body systems, but also more speculative directions such as observable consequences of `spontaneous collapse' predictions from novel models of quantum gravity on aspects of the Standard Model.
title An Approach to Probing Particles and Quasi-particles in the Condensed Bose-Hubbard Model
topic Quantum Gases
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.05924