Artificial electromagnetism for neutral atoms: Escher staircase and Laughlin liquids

We show how lasers may create fields which couple to neutral atoms in the same way that the electromagnetic fields couple to charged particles. These fields are needed for using neutral atoms as an analog quantum computer for simulating the properties of many-body systems of charged particles. They allow for seemingly paradoxical geometries, such as a ring where atoms continuously reduce their potential energy while moving in a closed path. We propose neutral atom experiments which probe quantum Hall effects and the interplay between magnetic fields and periodic potentials.Comment: 4 pages, 1 color figure, RevTeX 4; v2 Revised introduction, additional reference