Manipulating Spinor Quantum Gases --- Spin, Charge and Their Interplay

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Understanding quantum materials is essential for developing emerging quantum technology. Many of the quantum materials belong to the class of quantum many-body systems, which consist of quantum particles interacting with each other. The challenge here lies in the fact that the study of quantum many-body systems is in general extremely difficult. The proposed research tackles this challenging problem using the platform of cold atoms --- atoms isolated in vacuum chambers in the gaseous phase and cooled down to extremely low temperature such that their behavior is governed by the rules of quantum mechanics. These cold atomic systems are amenable to exquisite experimental control and their microscopic interactions are often well understood. As such, the study of cold atoms can often provide new fundamental insights into general quantum many-body systems. Therefore, the proposed research will promote the progress of science. Through student involvement in the research, this proposal will also support education and technical training in a spectrum of STEM fields. More specifically, the proposed research builds upon the group's past success and involves the study of spinor quantum gases, focusing on the interplay between the spin and the charge degrees of freedom. The research is organized around three themes: study of spin-charge separation in one-dimensional spinor quantum gases; quantum simulation of lattice gauge theory and Dirac string using spinor condensates; study of multicriticality in generalized Dicke models beyond the two-level atom paradigm. To tackle these problems, a wide spectrum of analytical and numerical tools will be employed and developed. The projects addresses both long-standing challenges (for example, the detection and characterization of exotic quantum phenomena in one dimension such as spin-charge separation and spin-incoherent Luttinger liquid), and new developments (for example, developing new methods to study 1D lattice models in strong interaction limit, building a theoretical platform to systematically study multicritical phenomena).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.