Work

Many-body theory of false vacuum decay in quantum spin chains

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: In this work, we theoretically investigate the false vacuum decay process in a ferromagnetic quantum spin-1/2 chain. We develop a many-body theory describing the nucleation and the coherent dynamics of true-vacuum bubbles that is analytically tractable and agrees with numerical matrix product state calculations in all parameter regimes up to intermediate times. This theory allows us to identify different regimes in the parameter space and unravel the underlying physical mechanisms, thus offering conceptual insight into the microscopic quantum dynamics of metastable states. In particular, analogies and differences with the cosmological false vacuum decay picture are highlighted and characterized in terms of experimentally observable quantities.

Source: Physical review. B./Physical review. B

DOI: 10.1103/kskv-9mhr

Authors: Christian Johansen, Alessio Recati, Iacopo Carusotto, Alberto Biella

Institutions: University of Trento, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics And Applications

Language: English

Topic: Quantum many-body systems

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca

OpenAlex ID: W7203624028

FWCI:

Cites: 43

Cited by:

Related to: 10