Vortex formation and dynamics in two-dimensional driven-dissipative condensates

We investigate the real-time evolution of lattice bosons in two spatial dimensions whose dynamics is governed by a Markovian quantum master equation. We employ the Wigner-Weyl phase space quantization and derive the functional integral for open quantum many-body systems that governs the time evolution of the Wigner function. Using the truncated Wigner approximation, in which quantum fluctuations are only taken into account in the initial state whereas the dynamics is governed by classical evolution equations, we study the buildup of long-range correlations due to the action of non-Hermitean quantum jump operators that constitute a mechanism for dissipative cooling. Starting from an initially disordered state corresponding to a vortex condensate, the dissipative process results in the annihilation of vortex-antivortex pairs and the establishment of quasi long-range order at late times. We observe that a finite vortex density survives the cooling process which disagrees with the analytically constructed vortex-free Bose-Einstein condensate at asymptotic times. This indicates that quantum fluctuations beyond the truncated Wigner approximation need to be included to fully capture the physics of dissipative Bose-Einstein condensation.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Revised version: Derivation and discussion extended, accepted for publication in PR

Schwinger effect in inhomogeneous electric fields

The vacuum of quantum electrodynamics is unstable against the formation of many-body states in the presence of an external electric field, manifesting itself as the creation of electron-positron pairs (Schwinger effect). This effect has been a long-standing but still unobserved prediction as the generation of the required field strengths has not been feasible so far. However, due to the advent of a new generation of high-intensity laser systems such as the European XFEL or the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI), this effect might eventually become observable within the next decades. Based on the equal-time Wigner formalism, various aspects of the Schwinger effect in electric fields showing both temporal and spatial variations are investigated. Regarding the Schwinger effect in time-dependent electric fields, analytic expressions for the equal-time Wigner function in the presence of a static as well as a pulsed electric field are derived. Moreover, the pair creation process in the presence of a pulsed electric field with sub-cycle structure, which acts as a model for a realistic laser pulse, is examined. Finally, an ab initio simulation of the Schwinger effect in a simple space- and time-dependent electric field is performed for the first time, allowing for the calculation of the time evolution of various observables like the charge density, the particle number density or the number of created particles.Comment: PhD thesis, 121 page

Anomaly-induced dynamical refringence in strong-field QED

We investigate the impact of the Adler-Bell-Jackiw anomaly on the nonequilibrium evolution of strong-field quantum electrodynamics (QED) using real-time lattice gauge theory techniques. For field strengths exceeding the Schwinger limit for pair production, we encounter a highly absorptive medium with anomaly-induced dynamical refractive properties. In contrast to earlier expectations based on equilibrium properties, where net anomalous effects vanish because of the trivial vacuum structure, we find that out-of-equilibrium conditions can have dramatic consequences for the presence of quantum currents with distinctive macroscopic signatures. We observe an intriguing tracking behavior, where the system spends longest times near collinear field configurations with maximum anomalous current. Apart from the potential relevance of our findings for future laser experiments, similar phenomena related to the chiral magnetic effect are expected to play an important role for strong QED fields during initial stages of heavy-ion collision experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, references adde

Pulse shape optimization for electron-positron production in rotating fields

We optimize the pulse shape and polarization of time-dependent electric fields to maximize the production of electron-positron pairs via strong field quantum electrodynamics processes. The pulse is parametrized in Fourier space by a B-spline polynomial basis, which results in a relatively low-dimensional parameter space while still allowing for a large number of electric field modes. The optimization is performed by using a parallel implementation of the differential evolution, one of the most efficient metaheuristic algorithms. The computational performance of the numerical method and the results on pair production are compared with a local multistart optimization algorithm. These techniques allow us to determine the pulse shape and field polarization that maximize the number of produced pairs in computationally accessible regimes.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

Dissipative Bose-Einstein condensation in contact with a thermal reservoir

We investigate the real-time dynamics of open quantum spin-$1/2$ or hardcore boson systems on a spatial lattice, which are governed by a Markovian quantum master equation. We derive general conditions under which the hierarchy of correlation functions closes such that their time evolution can be computed semi-analytically. Expanding our previous work [Phys. Rev. A 93, 021602 (2016)] we demonstrate the universality of a purely dissipative quantum Markov process that drives the system of spin-$1/2$ particles into a totally symmetric superposition state, corresponding to a Bose-Einstein condensate of hardcore bosons. In particular, we show that the finite-size scaling behavior of the dissipative gap is independent of the chosen boundary conditions and the underlying lattice structure. In addition, we consider the effect of a uniform magnetic field as well as a coupling to a thermal bath to investigate the susceptibility of the engineered dissipative process to unitary and nonunitary perturbations. We establish the nonequilibrium steady-state phase diagram as a function of temperature and dissipative coupling strength. For a small number of particles $N$, we identify a parameter region in which the engineered symmetrizing dissipative process performs robustly, while in the thermodynamic limit $N\rightarrow \infty$, the coupling to the thermal bath destroys any long-range order.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures; Revised version: Minor changes and references adde

Real-time simulation of non-equilibrium transport of magnetization in large open quantum spin systems driven by dissipation

Using quantum Monte Carlo, we study the non-equilibrium transport of magnetization in large open strongly correlated quantum spin $\frac{1}{2}$ systems driven by purely dissipative processes that conserve the uniform or staggered magnetization. We prepare both a low-temperature Heisenberg ferromagnet and an antiferromagnet in two parts of the system that are initially isolated from each other. We then bring the two subsystems in contact and study their real-time dissipative dynamics for different geometries. The flow of the uniform or staggered magnetization from one part of the system to the other is described by a diffusion equation that can be derived analytically.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Revised version: Discussion extended and references adde

Real-time simulation of the Schwinger effect with Matrix Product States

Matrix Product States (MPS) are used for the simulation of the real-time dynamics induced by an electric quench on the vacuum state of the massive Schwinger model. For small quenches it is found that the obtained oscillatory behavior of local observables can be explained from the single-particle excitations of the quenched Hamiltonian. For large quenches damped oscillations are found and comparison of the late time behavior with the appropriate Gibbs states seems to give some evidence for the onset of thermalization. Finally, the MPS real-time simulations are explicitly compared with the semi-classical approach and, as expected, agreement is found in the limit of large quenches.Comment: Small changes, matching its published versio