CAREER: Dynamics and Statistical Mechanics of Multicomponent Quantum Fluids

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。技术总结这个职业奖项支持一个综合的研究和教育计划，该计划强调对超冷原子气体的磁性和自旋性质的理论研究。尽管可能是碱性玻色凝聚体最新的方面，但近年来，旋量凝聚体领域一直受到有序参数和对称性破缺的凝聚态物理语言与原子物理实验工具之间的差距的阻碍。这里提出的方法将通过发展与实验相协调的理论来弥合这一差距，同时促进我们对这些迷人系统的理解，同时为未来的发展提供关键的见解。玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚现象有效地将单粒子量子效应放大到热力学水平。空间分离的宏观凝聚体的自发相干性就是这种行为的一个例子，当两个云重叠时，这会导致干涉条纹。如果我们考虑处于不同自旋态的原子，而不是空间上分离的气体，那么类似的效应可以被视为自发磁序。气体的最终状态是通过与自旋相关的粒子间相互作用的细节来选择的，从而产生了随着自旋的增加而变得复杂的新的磁序的相图。最近的实验证明了超冷气体磁性有序中的自发对称性破缺，以及磁偶极相互作用对结果态的影响。这个奖项的教育部分将使本科生物理专业的学生接触到超冷气体这一当今物理学最令人兴奋的领域之一。这一物理学分支的教育潜力是巨大的，这既是因为围绕超冷原子领域的兴奋，也是因为它提供了一种理解现代物理学中许多高级概念的可接近的方式。将编写一本关于超冷系统中集体现象的新教科书，弗吉尼亚大学将开发一门关于这一主题的新课程，为研究超冷系统中的集体现象提供亟需的介绍。该课程将以S在原子物理方面的强项为基础，振兴多体物理教学。非技术总结这个职业奖支持一个综合的理论研究和教育项目，研究玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚和原子中磁性的相互作用，这些原子被激光束困住，并在绝对温度范围内冷却到百万分之一度的温度。玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体中的超冷原子协调行动，表现得就像它们已经融化成一个超级原子一样。这种超原子状态使实验者能够探索通常在最微小的长度尺度上发生的量子力学效应，例如，在容易获得的长度尺度上的单个原子的量子力学效应。S的研究重点是原子的磁性以及在超原子态下可能出现的磁性种类。对这些效应的研究可能会影响我们对材料中磁性的理解。它可能会导致物质的新现象和新状态的发现，其中一些也可能出现在材料中。这些表现出量子力学行为的新物质状态可能有助于开发一种新的计算范例，并可能导致基于操纵量子力学状态的新设备技术。该奖项的教育部分将使物理专业的本科生接触到超冷气体这一当今物理学最令人兴奋的领域之一。这一物理学分支的教育潜力是巨大的，这既是因为围绕超冷原子领域的兴奋，也是因为它提供了一种理解现代物理学中许多高级概念的可接近的方式。将编写一本关于超冷系统中集体现象的新教科书，弗吉尼亚大学将开发一门关于这一主题的新课程，为研究超冷系统中的集体现象提供亟需的介绍。这门课程将以该大学在原子物理学方面的优势为基础，并重振许多相互作用的粒子系统的物理学，如材料中的原子和电子。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis CAREER award supports an integrated research and education program that emphasizes the theoretical study of the magnetic and spin properties of ultracold atomic gases. Despite being perhaps the most novel aspect of the alkali Bose condensates, the field of spinor condensates has been stymied in recent years by the gap between the condensed matter physics language of order parameters and symmetry breaking, and the experimental tools of atomic physics. The approach proposed here will bridge that gap by developing the theory in harmony with experiment, simultaneously advancing our understanding of these fascinating systems while providing crucial insight into future developmentsThe phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation effectively amplifies one-particle quantum effects to the thermodynamic level. The spontaneous coherence of spatially separated macroscopic condensates, which leads to interference fringes when the two clouds overlap, is one example of this type behavior. If instead of spatially separate gases, we consider atoms in different spin states then the analogous effect can be viewed as spontaneous magnetic order. The final state of the gas is selected by the details of the spin-dependent interparticle interactions, resulting in a phase diagram of novel magnetic orders that grows in complexity with increasing spin. Recent experiments have demonstrated this spontaneous symmetry breaking in the magnetic ordering of ultracold gases, as well as the effect of the magnetic dipole interactions on the resulting states. .The educational component of this award will expose undergraduate physics majors to the subject of ultracold gases, one of the most exciting areas of physics today. The educational potential of this branch of physics is enormous, both because of the excitement surrounding the field of ultracold atoms and because it offers an accessible way of understanding many advanced concepts in modern physics. A new textbook will be written on collective phenomena in ultracold systems, and a new course will be developed on this topic at the University of Virginia., providing a much needed introduction to the study of collective phenomena in ultracold systems. The course will build on the university?s strengths in atomic physics, and revitalize the teaching of many-body physics. NONTECHNICAL SUMMARY This CAREER award supports an integrated theoretical research and education program to study the interplay of Bose-Einstein condensation and magnetism in atoms trapped by beams of laser light and cooled down to temperatures of millionths of a degree on the absolute scale of temperature. Ultracold atoms in a Bose-einstein condensate act in concert and behave like they have melded into a superatom. This superatom state enables experimentalists to explore quantum mechanical effects that ordinarily occur on the tiniest length scales, e.g. those of a single atom, on easily accessible length scales. The PI?s research focuses on the magnetic properties of atoms and the kinds of magnetism that can appear in the superatom state. The study of these effects may have impact on our understanding of magnetism in materials. It will likely lead to the discovery of new phenomena and new states of matter, some of which may occur in materials as well. These new states of matter exhibiting quantum mechanical behavior may be useful in developing a new paradigm for computing and may lead to new device technologies based on manipulating quantum mechanical states. The educational component of this award will expose undergraduate physics majors to the subject of ultracold gases, one of the most exciting areas of physics today. The educational potential of this branch of physics is enormous, both because of the excitement surrounding the field of ultracold atoms and because it offers an accessible way of understanding many advanced concepts in modern physics. A new textbook will be written on collective phenomena in ultracold systems, and a new course will be developed on this topic at the University of Virginia., providing a much needed introduction to the study of collective phenomena in ultracold systems. The course will build on the university's strengths in atomic physics, and revitalize how the physics of systems of many interacting particles, like atoms and electrons in materials, are taught.