Quantum walk of two anyons across a statistical boundary

Authors
Lau, Liam LH 
Dutta, Shovan 

Change log
Abstract

We model a quantum walk of identical particles that can change their exchange statistics by hopping across a domain wall in a 1D lattice. Such a "statistical boundary" is transparent to single particles and affects the dynamics only by swapping multiple particles arriving together. We find that the two-particle interference is dramatically altered by reflections of these bunched waves at the interface, producing strong measurable asymmetries. Depending on the phases on the two sides, a bunched wavepacket can get completely reflected or split into a superposition of a reflected wave and an antibunched wave. This leads to striking dynamics with two domain walls, where bunched waves can get trapped in between or fragment into multiple correlated single-particle wavepackets. These findings can be realized with density-dependent hopping in present-day atomic setups and open up a new paradigm of intrinsically many-body phenomena at statistical boundaries.

Publication Date
Online Publication Date
2022-01-31
Acceptance Date
2021-12-09
Keywords
Journal Title
Physical Review Research
Journal ISSN
2643-1564
Volume Title
Publisher
American Physical Society
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/P009565/1)