Localization and Fractionalization in a Chain of Rotating Atomic Gases

TL;DR

This paper explores the phase diagram and thermodynamic properties of a chain of rotating atomic gases, revealing new superfluid phases and a connection between 2D braiding dynamics and 1D chain responses.

Contribution

It introduces a feasible experimental setup for realizing fractional quantum Hall states in a chain of rotating atomic gases and characterizes novel superfluid phases and their properties.

Findings

Identification of a Mott-insulator of composite bosons

Discovery of new superfluid phases with complex behavior

Mapping between 2D braiding dynamics and 1D gas response

Abstract

We describe the phase diagram and thermodynamic properties of a chain of axially-tunnel-coupled fractional quantum Hall systems realized by rotating a series of optical dipole traps about their center. We demonstrate not only a experimentally feasible pathway to a state describable as a Mott-insulator of composite bosons, but also describe the nature of the coherent states at higher tunnel coupling strength, and identify a series of new superfluid phases with rich behavior. The phase diagram directly reveals not only characteristic features of the few-body systems, including the effective mass of composite particle- and hole-like excitations and their interactions, but emergent properties of the chain also reveal a fundamental mapping between the adiabatic dynamics of two dimensional systems governed by particle braiding and the hydrostatic response of the gas in the conducting phases.