Insider Brief
Caltech researchers used a neutral-atom quantum simulator to directly measure energy spectra predicted by two conformal field theories for the first time, experimentally confirming decades-old theoretical predictions.
The team trapped chains of up to 35 strontium atoms with optical tweezers and used many-body modulation spectroscopy to measure energy levels associated with the Ising and tricritical Ising models.
Researchers plan to extend the technique to larger, two-dimensional quantum systems, including regimes where theoretical predictions are incomplete and classical computers may be unable to calculate the results.
PRESS RELEASE — When different materials transition from one phase to another, such a water coming to a boil or a magnet losing its ability to attract metals, something remarkable can happen: They begin to behave identically, following the same mathematical rules. “Physicists call this trait universality—the messy, microscopic details wash out and only a few essential features survive,” explains Jason Alicea, William K. Davis Professor of Theoretical Physics. The math underlying these universal traits is commonly described by a theoretical framework called conformal field theory.
