Quantum simulation of the Jackiw-Rebbi model with photons
Year: 2013
Type: preprint
Abstract: We propose the quantum simulation of the Jackiw-Rebbi (J-R) model, a relativistic model used to describe the physics of a wide range of phenomena ranging from charge fractionalization, to quark confinement and Peierls instability. The model describes a one-dimensional Dirac particle coupled to a soliton field and can be equivalently thought of as the model describing a massless Dirac particle under a Lorentz scalar potential. We first give a brief pedagogical description of the fundamentals of the model and then analyze in more detail a possible photonic implementation involving a slow light setup. More specifically, we show how to adiabatically engineer the system's Hamiltonian towards the J-R one where photons trapped in an optical medium can mimic the relevant relativistic spinor dynamics. We then discuss how to observe one of its characteristic predictions, the existence of a zero mode in its spectrum for the case of a kink shaped soliton profile. The relevant soliton profile exhibiting a kink in space can be generated by appropriately addressing the atoms in the medium and tuning the effective mass of the excitations. The experimental progress in slow light setups and the linearity of the model should make our proposal realizable with current technology.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Dimitris G. Angelakis, Changsuk Noh
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1563024755