Schwinger pair production with ultracold atoms

TL;DR

This paper proposes using ultracold atoms in optical lattices as quantum simulators for electron-positron pair production in QED, exploring nonequilibrium dynamics and plasma oscillations with potential experimental realization.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to simulate QED pair production using Bose-Einstein condensates, bridging high-energy physics and cold atom experiments with functional integral techniques.

Findings

Quantum link models can approximate QED in cold atom setups.

Boundaries for experimental parameters to observe pair production.

Demonstrates a shift towards many-body states for quantum simulations.

Abstract

We consider a system of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice as a quantum simulator for electron-positron pair production in quantum electrodynamics (QED). For a setup in one spatial dimension, we investigate the nonequilibrium phenomenon of pair production including the backreaction leading to plasma oscillations. Unlike previous investigations on quantum link models, we focus on the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space of QED and show that it may be well approximated by experiments employing Bose-Einstein condensates interacting with fermionic atoms. The calculations based on functional integral techniques give a unique access to the physical parameters required to realize the QED phenomena in a cold atom experiment. In particular, we use our approach to consider quantum link models in a yet unexplored parameter regime and give bounds for their ability to capture essential features of the physics. The results suggest a paradigmatic change towards realizations using coherent many-body states rather than single atoms for quantum simulations of high-energy particle physics phenomena.