Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: The liquid-vapor transition is a classic example of a discontinuous (first-order) phase transition. Such transitions underlie many phenomena in cosmology, nuclear and particle physics, and condensed-matter physics. They give rise to long-lived metastable states, whose decay can be driven by either thermal or quantum fluctuations. Yet, direct experimental observations of how these states collapse into a stable phase remain elusive in the quantum regime. Here, we use a trapped-ion quantum simulator to observe the real-time dynamics of ``bubble nucleation'' induced by quantum fluctuations. Bubbles are localized domains of the stable phase which spontaneously form, or nucleate, and expand as the system is driven across a discontinuous quantum phase transition. Implementing a mixed-field Ising spin model with tunable and time-dependent interactions, we track the microscopic evolution of the metastable state as the Hamiltonian parameters are varied in time with various speeds, bringing the system out of equilibrium. Site-resolved measurements reveal the emergence and evolution of finite-size quantum bubbles, providing direct insight into the mechanism by which the metastable phase decays. We also identify nonequilibrium scaling behavior near the transition, consistent with a generalized Kibble-Zurek mechanism. Our results demonstrate the power of quantum simulators to probe out-of-equilibrium many-body physics, including quantum bubble nucleation, a key feature of discontinuous quantum phase transitions, with application to studies of matter formation in the early universe.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Luo, De, Surace, Federica Maria, De, Arinjoy, Lerose, Alessio, Bennewitz, Elizabeth R., Ware, Brayden, Schuckert, Alexander, Davoudi, Zohreh, Gorshkov, Alexey V., Katz, Or, Monroe, Christopher
Language: English
Topic: Quantum many-body systems
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, University of Maryland, Amazon Web Services, Leverhulme Trust, University of Oxford, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Technische Universität München, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Office of Science, Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Fermilab
Awards: ANALOG AND DIGITAL QUANTUM SIMULATIONS OF STRONGLY INTERACTING THEORIES FOR APPLICATIONS IN NUCLEAR PHYSICS, G1543527024, G1897041155, G1938338418, ANALOG AND DIGITAL QUANTUM SIMULATIONS OF STRONGLY INTERACTING THEORIES FOR APPLICATIONS IN NUCLEAR PHYSICS, G1965873410, G2127201742, G2545343486, QLCI-CI: NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation, G3094313881, G4066435496, EXC 2094: ORIGINS: Vom Ursprung des Universums bis zu den ersten Bausteinen des Lebens, EFFICIENT AND RELIABLE MAPPING OF QUANTUM COMPUTATIONS ONTO REALISTIC ARCHITECTURES, G7436220671, G7681673836, G7788518008, EFFICIENT AND RELIABLE MAPPING OF QUANTUM COMPUTATIONS ONTO REALISTIC ARCHITECTURES, G8729776176
OpenAlex ID: W6948015467
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