Emergence of Artificial Photons in an Optical Lattice

TL;DR

This paper proposes a theoretical framework for simulating artificial photons in optical lattices using dipolar bosons, predicting observable signatures of emergent light in such systems.

Contribution

It introduces a method to simulate U(1) lattice gauge theories in optical lattices and predicts observable signatures of an emergent Coulomb phase.

Findings

Feasibility of simulating gauge theories in optical lattices.

Predicted signatures of the topological Coulomb phase in noise correlations.

Potential realization of artificial light in optical lattice experiments.

Abstract

We establish the theoretical feasibility of direct analog simulation of the compact U(1) lattice gauge theories in optical lattices with dipolar bosons. We discuss the realizability of the topological Coulomb phase in extended Bose-Hubbard models in several optical lattice geometries. We predict the testable signatures of this emergent phase in noise correlation measurements, thus suggesting the possible emergence of artificial light in optical lattices.