Professor Andrew Daley

Abstract:

We show how experimentally available bilayer lattice systems can be used to prepare quantum many-body states with exceptionally low entropy in one layer, by dynamically disentangling the two layers. This disentangling operation moves one layer-subsystem A-into a regime where excitations in A develop a single-particle gap. As a result, this operation maps directly to cooling for subsystem A, with entropy being shuttled to the other layer. For both bosonic and fermionic atoms, we study the corresponding dynamics showing that disentangling can be realized cleanly in ongoing experiments. The corresponding entanglement entropies are directly measurable with quantum gas microscopes, and, as a tool for producing lower-entropy states, this technique opens a range of applications beginning with simplifying production of magnetically ordered states of bosons and fermions.

Abstract:

In these lectures, we discuss theoretical aspects of analogue quantum simulation, focussing on ultracold atoms in optical lattices as a specific example. We touch on the motivation for quantum simulation, before going into detail on the first-principles microscopic understanding of the system that allows us to use ultra-cold atoms as quantum simulators. This level of understanding and control crucially also exists for the dominant dissipative processes in experiments. We conclude by discussing the verification of quantum simulators, comparison with classical simulations, and the current role of many-body entanglement in this discussion.