Quantum magnetism in one-dimensional spinor gases

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Ultracold atomic gases provide an extraordinarily controllable scenario for the study of strongly-correlated systems in general, and of one-dimensional gases in particular. One-dimensional physics presents intriguing, and at many instances counter-intuitive properties that have attracted a major interest of condensed-matter physics since many years. The control of interactions and dimensionality in cold gases has allowed for the realization of one-dimensional gases in the strongly-interacting regime, including the milestone realization of the Tonks-Girardeau gas. Very recent experiments at Heidelberg on strongly-interacting one-dimensional spin-1/2 Fermi gases have attracted a large deal of attention due to the exquisite control of the number of particles, spin imbalance and interparticle interactions. These experiments have started to unveil the rich physics of one-dimensional multi-component (spinor) gases. We recently showed that under proper conditions this spin-1/2 gas may be considered a realization of a spin chain, hence opening the possibility of studying one-dimensional quantum magnetism without the need of an optical lattice. In this project we will study the physics of trapped one-dimensional strongly-interacting spinor gases. On one side, we will focus on the detection of spin order in one-dimensional spin-1/2 systems. This analysis will significantly impact on ongoing experiments at Heidelberg, with whom we will closely collaborate. On the other side, we will study novel scenarios for one-dimensional spinor gases, including the possible implementation of quantum computing ideas, the analysis of Bose-Bose and Bose-Fermi mixtures, the study of higher-spin systems (both SU(N) systems, and systems with spin-changing collisions), the creation and analysis of spin models with position- and/or time-dependent couplings, and the formation and properties of bound states.