Observation of universal dissipative dynamics in strongly correlated quantum gas

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that controlled dissipation can be used as a tool to probe intrinsic correlations in strongly correlated quantum gases, revealing universal dynamics and critical exponents through particle number decay.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach using dissipation to measure quantum correlations and critical exponents in strongly correlated quantum systems.

Findings

Universal stretched-exponential decay of particle number

Stretched exponent measures spectral function's anomalous dimension

Method applicable to detecting quantum material features

Abstract

Dissipation is unavoidable in quantum systems. It usually induces decoherences and changes quantum correlations. To access the information of strongly correlated quantum matters, one has to overcome or suppress dissipation to extract out the underlying quantum phenomena. However, here we find an opposite effect that dissipation can be utilized as a powerful tool to probe the intrinsic correlations of quantum many-body systems. Applying highly-controllable dissipation in ultracold atomic systems, we observe a universal dissipative dynamics in strongly correlated one-dimensional quantum gases. The total particle number of this system follows a universal stretched-exponential decay, and the stretched exponent measures the anomalous dimension of the spectral function, a critical exponent characterizing strong quantum fluctuations of this system. This method could have broad applications in detecting strongly correlated features, including spin-charge separations and Fermi arcs in quantum materials.