Entangled Dynamics in Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling of Bose-Einstein Condensates

TL;DR

This paper investigates how interactions influence macroscopic quantum tunneling in Bose-Einstein condensates, revealing that interactions cause burst-like tunneling and entanglement dynamics that depend on interaction strength.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of repulsive and attractive interactions on tunneling speed and entanglement entropy in many-body quantum systems using advanced simulation techniques.

Findings

Repulsive interactions accelerate tunneling; attractive interactions slow it down.

Tunneling occurs in bursts rather than smoothly.

Entanglement entropy peaks when about half the atoms have escaped.

Abstract

Tunneling of a quasibound state is a non-smooth process in the entangled many-body case. Using time-evolving block decimation, we show that repulsive (attractive) interactions speed up (slow down) tunneling, which occurs in bursts. While the escape time scales exponentially with small interactions, the maximization time of the von Neumann entanglement entropy between the remaining quasibound and escaped atoms scales quadratically. Stronger interactions require higher order corrections. Entanglement entropy is maximized when about half the atoms have escaped.