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Quenching our thirst for universality

Understanding the dynamics of quantum systems far from equilibrium is one of the most pressing issues in physics. Three experiments based on ultracold atomic systems provide a major step forward.
  1. Michael Kolodrubetz

    1. Michael Kolodrubetz is in the Department of Physics, University of Texas at Dallas, Texas 75080, USA.

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Although we live in a world of constant motion, physicists have focused largely on systems in or near equilibrium. In the past few decades, interest in non-equilibrium systems has increased, spurred by developments that are taking quantum mechanics from fundamental science to practical technology. Physicists are therefore tasked with an important question: what organizing principles do non-equilibrium quantum systems obey? Writing in Nature, Prüfer et al.1, Eigen et al.2 and Erne et al.3 report experiments that provide a partial answer to this question. The studies show, for the first time, that ultracold atomic systems far from equilibrium exhibit universality, in which measurable experimental properties become independent of microscopic details.

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Nature 563, 191-192 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07272-6

References

  1. Prüfer, M. et al. Nature 563, 217–220 (2018).

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  2. Eigen, C. et al. Nature 563, 221–224 (2018).

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  3. Erne, S., Bücker, R., Gasenzer, T., Berges, J. & Schmiedmayer, J. Nature 563, 225–229 (2018).

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  4. Chin, C., Grimm, R., Julienne, P. & Tiesinga, E. Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 1225–1286 (2010).

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  5. Orioli, A. P., Boguslavski, K. & Berges, J. Phys. Rev. D 92, 025041 (2015).

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