02060nas a2200217 4500008004100000245006500041210006400106260001400170520145900184100001501643700001201658700001501670700002001685700001301705700002001718700001501738700001201753700002501765700001501790856003701805 2021 eng d00aObservation of Stark many-body localization without disorder0 aObservation of Stark manybody localization without disorder c2/14/20213 a

Thermalization is a ubiquitous process of statistical physics, in which details of few-body observables are washed out in favor of a featureless steady state. Even in isolated quantum many-body systems, limited to reversible dynamics, thermalization typically prevails. However, in these systems, there is another possibility: many-body localization (MBL) can result in preservation of a non-thermal state. While disorder has long been considered an essential ingredient for this phenomenon, recent theoretical work has suggested that a quantum many-body system with a uniformly increasing field -- but no disorder -- can also exhibit MBL, resulting in `Stark MBL.' Here we realize Stark MBL in a trapped-ion quantum simulator and demonstrate its key properties: halting of thermalization and slow propagation of correlations. Tailoring the interactions between ionic spins in an effective field gradient, we directly observe their microscopic equilibration for a variety of initial states, and we apply single-site control to measure correlations between separate regions of the spin chain. Further, by engineering a varying gradient, we create a disorder-free system with coexisting long-lived thermalized and nonthermal regions. The results demonstrate the unexpected generality of MBL, with implications about the fundamental requirements for thermalization and with potential uses in engineering long-lived non-equilibrium quantum matter.

1 aMorong, W.1 aLiu, F.1 aBecker, P.1 aCollins, K., S.1 aFeng, L.1 aKyprianidis, A.1 aPagano, G.1 aYou, T.1 aGorshkov, Alexey, V.1 aMonroe, C. uhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2102.0725001912nas a2200265 4500008004100000245007900041210006900120260001500189520117500204100001601379700001501395700001201410700001501422700002001437700001101457700001301468700001901481700002001500700001701520700001501537700001701552700002501569700001501594856003701609 2019 eng d00aObservation of Domain Wall Confinement and Dynamics in a Quantum Simulator0 aObservation of Domain Wall Confinement and Dynamics in a Quantum c12/23/20193 a

Confinement is a ubiquitous mechanism in nature, whereby particles feel an attractive force that increases without bound as they separate. A prominent example is color confinement in particle physics, in which baryons and mesons are produced by quark confinement. Analogously, confinement can also occur in low-energy quantum many-body systems when elementary excitations are confined into bound quasiparticles. Here, we report the first observation of magnetic domain wall confinement in interacting spin chains with a trapped-ion quantum simulator. By measuring how correlations spread, we show that confinement can dramatically suppress information propagation and thermalization in such many-body systems. We are able to quantitatively determine the excitation energy of domain wall bound states from non-equilibrium quench dynamics. Furthermore, we study the number of domain wall excitations created for different quench parameters, in a regime that is difficult to model with classical computers. This work demonstrates the capability of quantum simulators for investigating exotic high-energy physics phenomena, such as quark collision and string breaking

1 aTan, W., L.1 aBecker, P.1 aLiu, F.1 aPagano, G.1 aCollins, K., S.1 aDe, A.1 aFeng, L.1 aKaplan, H., B.1 aKyprianidis, A.1 aLundgren, R.1 aMorong, W.1 aWhitsitt, S.1 aGorshkov, Alexey, V.1 aMonroe, C. uhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1912.1111701952nas a2200229 4500008004100000245009200041210006900133260001500202300001200217490000800229520128300237100001401520700001501534700001701549700002001566700001501586700001501601700002501616700001801641700001501659856004801674 2017 eng d00aObservation of a Many-Body Dynamical Phase Transition with a 53-Qubit Quantum Simulator0 aObservation of a ManyBody Dynamical Phase Transition with a 53Qu c2017/11/29 a601-6040 v5513 a

A quantum simulator is a restricted class of quantum computer that controls the interactions between quantum bits in a way that can be mapped to certain difficult quantum many-body problems. As more control is exerted over larger numbers of qubits, the simulator can tackle a wider range of problems, with the ultimate limit being a universal quantum computer that can solve general classes of hard problems. We use a quantum simulator composed of up to 53 qubits to study a non-equilibrium phase transition in the transverse field Ising model of magnetism, in a regime where conventional statistical mechanics does not apply. The qubits are represented by trapped ion spins that can be prepared in a variety of initial pure states. We apply a global long-range Ising interaction with controllable strength and range, and measure each individual qubit with near 99% efficiency. This allows the single-shot measurement of arbitrary many-body correlations for the direct probing of the dynamical phase transition and the uncovering of computationally intractable features that rely on the long-range interactions and high connectivity between the qubits.

1 aZhang, J.1 aPagano, G.1 aHess, P., W.1 aKyprianidis, A.1 aBecker, P.1 aKaplan, H.1 aGorshkov, Alexey, V.1 aGong, Z., -X.1 aMonroe, C. uhttps://www.nature.com/articles/nature2465402050nas a2200205 4500008004100000245008900041210006900130260001500199520143900214100001801653700001401671700001601685700001401701700001701715700001701732700001801749700002501767700001501792856003701807 2016 eng d00a{O}bservation of {P}rethermalization in {L}ong-{R}ange {I}nteracting {S}pin {C}hains0 aO bservation of P rethermalization in L ong R ange I nteracting  c2016/08/023 a

Statistical mechanics can predict thermal equilibrium states for most classical systems, but for an isolated quantum system there is no general understanding on how equilibrium states dynamically emerge from the microscopic Hamiltonian. For instance, quantum systems that are near-integrable usually fail to thermalize in an experimentally realistic time scale and, instead, relax to quasi-stationary prethermal states that can be described by statistical mechanics when approximately conserved quantities are appropriately included in a generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE). Here we experimentally study the relaxation dynamics of a chain of up to 22 spins evolving under a long-range transverse field Ising Hamiltonian following a sudden quench. For sufficiently long-ranged interactions the system relaxes to a new type of prethermal state that retains a strong memory of the initial conditions. In this case, the prethermal state cannot be described by a GGE, but rather arises from an emergent double-well potential felt by the spin excitations. This result shows that prethermalization occurs in a significantly broader context than previously thought, and reveals new challenges for a generic understanding of the thermalization of quantum systems, particularly in the presence of long-range interactions.

1 aNeyenhuis, B.1 aSmith, J.1 aLee, A., C.1 aZhang, J.1 aRicherme, P.1 aHess, P., W.1 aGong, Z., -X.1 aGorshkov, Alexey, V.1 aMonroe, C. uhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1608.00681