(3+1) Massive Dirac Fermions with Ultracold Atoms in Optical Lattices

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to realize (3+1) relativistic Dirac fermions with ultracold atoms in optical lattices, enabling control over mass and dimensional crossover, advancing quantum simulation of relativistic particles.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental setup for simulating (3+1) Dirac fermions with ultracold atoms, including mass coupling and dimensional crossover capabilities.

Findings

Feasible experimental schemes for (3+1) Dirac fermions.

Mechanisms to induce mass via Bragg pulses.

Conditions for relativistically invariant interactions.

Abstract

We propose the experimental realization of (3+1) relativistic Dirac fermions using ultracold atoms in a rotating optical lattice or, alternatively, in a synthetic magnetic field. This approach has the advantage to give mass to the Dirac fermions by coupling the ultracold atoms to a Bragg pulse. A dimensional crossover from (3+1) to (2+1) Dirac fermions can be obtained by varying the anisotropy of the lattice. We also discuss under which conditions the interatomic potentials give rise to relativistically invariant interactions among the Dirac fermions.