Observation of Temperature Effects on False Vacuum Decay in Atomic Quantum Gases

Year: 2025

Authors: Cominotti R., Baroni C., Rogora C., Andreoni D., Guarda G., Lamporesi G., Ferrari G., Zenesini A.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Trento, Pitaevskii BEC Ctr, CNR, INO, I-38123 Trento, Italy; Univ Trento, Dipartimento Fis, I-38123 Trento, Italy; INFN, Trento Inst Fundamental Phys & Applicat, I-38123 Trento, Italy; Univ Innsbruck, Inst Quantum Opt & Quantum Informat IQOQI, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria; Univ Innsbruck, Inst Expt Phys, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.

Abstract: Temperature plays a crucial role in metastable phenomena, not only by contributing to determine the state (phase) of a system, but also ruling the decay probability to more stable states. Such a situation is encountered in many different physical systems, ranging from chemical reactions to magnetic structures. The characteristic decay timescale is not always straightforward to estimate since it depends on the microscopic details of the system. A paradigmatic example in quantum field theories is the decay of the false vacuum, manifested via the nucleation of bubbles. In this Letter, we measure the temperature dependence of the timescale for the false vacuum decay mechanism in an ultracold atomic quantum spin mixture which exhibits ferromagnetic properties. Our results show that the false vacuum decay rate scales with temperature as predicted by the finite-temperature extension of the instanton theory, and confirm atomic systems as an ideal platform where to study out-of-equilibrium field theories.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Volume: 135 (18)      Pages from: 183401-1  to: 183401-6

More Information: We thank Anna Berti, Iacopo Carusotto, Alessio Recati, and Ian Moss for fruitful discussions. We ackno wledge funding from Provincia Autonoma di Trento, from INFN through the RELAQS project, from the European Union ’ s Horizon 2020 research and innovation Programme through the STAQS project of QuantERA II (Grant Agreement No. 101017733) , and from the European Union – Next Generation EU through PNRR MUR Project No. PE0000023-NQSTI. We also acknowledge the project DYNAMITE QUANTERA2-00056 funded by the Ministry of University and Research through the ERANET COFUND QuantERA II – 2021 call and cofunded by the European Union (H2020, Grant Agreement No. 101017733) . This work was supported by Q@TN, the joint lab between the University of Trento, FBK – Fondazione Bruno Kessler, INFN – National Institute for Nuclear Physics and CNR – National Research Council.
KeyWords: Fate
DOI: 10.1103/l396-yysb