Quantum scale anomaly and spatial coherence in a 2D Fermi superfluid

Year: 2019

Authors: Murthy P.A., Defenu N., Bayha L., Holten M., Preiss P.M., Enss T., Jochim S.

Autors Affiliation: Heidelberg Univ, Phys Inst, Heidelberg, Germany; Heidelberg Univ, Inst Theoret Phys, Heidelberg, Germany; Swiss Fed Inst Technol, Inst Quantum Elect, Zurich, Switzerland.

Abstract: Quantum anomalies are violations of classical scaling symmetries caused by divergences that appear in the quantization of certain classical theories. Although they play a prominent role in the quantum field theoretical description of many-body systems, their influence on experimental observables is difficult to discern. In this study, we discovered a distinctive manifestation of a quantum anomaly in the momentum-space dynamics of a two-dimensional (2D) Fermi superfluid of ultracold atoms. The measured pair momentum distributions of the superfluid during a breathing mode cycle exhibit a scaling violation in the strongly interacting regime. We found that the power-law exponents that characterize long-range phase correlations in the system are modified by the quantum anomaly, emphasizing the influence of this effect on the critical properties of 2D superfluids.

Journal/Review: SCIENCE

Volume: 365 (6450)      Pages from: 268  to: +

More Information: This work has been supported by the ERC consolidator grant 725636, the Heidelberg Center for Quantum Dynamics, and is part of the DFG Collaborative Research Center SFB 1225 (ISOQUANT). P.M.P. acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program under Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement 706487.
KeyWords: Bose-einstein Condensation
DOI: 10.1126/science.aau4402

Citations: 37
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