Self-similar nonequilibrium dynamics of a many-body system with power-law interactions

Gutiérrez, Ricardo; Garrahan, Juan P.; Lesanovsky, Igor

doi:10.1103/physreve.92.062144

Cited by 12 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…3(a), together with the results of the numerical simulation described above, that exhibit excellent qualitative and good quantitative agreement (to within overall factors between 0.5 and 2, indicated in the captions to Figs. 3 and 4, that allow for experimental [26]. Figure 3(b) shows the fraction of excited atoms obtained by normalizing the data of Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

Experimental observation of controllable kinetic constraints in a cold atomic gas

et al. 2016

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Many-body systems relaxing to equilibrium can exhibit complex dynamics even if their steady state is trivial. In situations where relaxation requires highly constrained local particle rearrangements, such as in glassy systems, this dynamics can be difficult to analyze from first principles. The essential physical ingredients, however, can be captured by idealized lattice models with so-called kinetic constraints. While so far constrained dynamics has been considered mostly as an effective and idealized theoretical description of complex relaxation, here we experimentally realize a many-body system exhibiting manifest kinetic constraints and measure its dynamical properties. In the cold Rydberg gas used in our experiments, the nature of the kinetic constraints can be tailored through the detuning of the excitation lasers from resonance. The system undergoes a dynamics which is characterized by pronounced spatial correlations or anticorrelations, depending on the detuning. Our results confirm recent theoretical predictions, and highlight the analogy between the dynamics of interacting Rydberg gases and that of certain soft-matter systems. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.93.040701 Complex collective relaxation in many-body systems is often accompanied by a dramatic slowdown of diffusion processes and the emergence of nonergodic and glassy phases [1][2][3][4]. At low temperatures or high densities their evolution is often dominated by steric hindrances affecting particle motion. Local rearrangements are highly constrained, giving rise to collective-and often slow-relaxation. These features can be seen to be the consequence of effective kinetic constraints in the dynamics [5]. A kinetic constraint is a condition on the rate for a local transition dependent on the local environment: The transition and its reverse-irrespective of whether they are energetically favorable or unfavorable-can only occur if the constraint is satisfied. Kinetic constraints [6] can severely restrict relaxation in situations where local particle arrangements make satisfying them unlikely, which is typical of fluid systems with excluded volume interactions such as dense colloids or supercooled liquids [1][2][3][4]. When a constraint is satisfied, however, the transition is allowed and a local rearrangement is "facilitated" [5,6]. Kinetic constraints naturally give rise [7] to collective and spatially heterogeneous relaxation, and are used to describe situations where the correlation properties of the dynamics go beyond those of the static stationary state, a salient feature of glassy systems [4].Steric hindrances and dynamic facilitation are argued to play a central role in the behavior of glass formers [5]. However, it can be difficult [8] to establish unambiguously the relation between microscopic processes and emerging kinetic constraints, or between idealized models with explicit kinetic constraints and actual physical systems. In this Rapid Communication we establish such a direct connection by reporting the experimental observation of correlated...

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Experimental observation of controllable kinetic constraints in a cold atomic gas

et al. 2016

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“…with the interaction parameter R = (2C α /γ) 1/α giving the length of the blockade radius [6,15]. The validity of this approach has been confirmed in recent experiments [3,4,43].…”

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Glassy dynamics due to a trajectory phase transition in dissipative Rydberg gases

et al. 2018

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The physics of highly excited Rydberg atoms is governed by blockade or exclusion interactions that hinder the excitation of atoms in the proximity of a previously excited one. This leads to cooperative effects and a relaxation dynamics displaying space-time heterogeneity similar to what is observed in the relaxation of glass-forming systems. Here we establish theoretically the existence of a glassy dynamical regime in an open Rydberg gas, associated with phase coexistence at a first-order transition in dynamical large deviation functions. This transition occurs between an active phase of low density in which dynamical processes take place on short timescales, and an inactive phase in which excited atoms are dense and the dynamics is highly arrested. We perform a numerically exact study and develop a mean-field approach that allows us to understand the mechanics of this phase transition. We show that radiative decay -which becomes experimentally relevant for long times -moves the system away from dynamical phase coexistence. Nevertheless, the dynamical phase transition persists and causes strong fluctuations in the observed dynamics. arXiv:1804.03070v2 [cond-mat.stat-mech]

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“…In the domain of cold atomic gases Rydberg atoms have emerged as a platform [14][15][16] for studying collective dynamical behaviors [17][18][19][20][21][22] which are closely linked to that of glasses [23][24][25]. The physics of interacting Rydberg atoms is governed by blockade effects [26,27] analogous to the excluded volume interactions underlying the dynamics of glass-forming liquids and jammed systems of hard objects [1,2,28].…”

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confidence: 99%

Physical swap dynamics, shortcuts to relaxation, and entropy production in dissipative Rydberg gases

2019

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Dense Rydberg gases are out-of-equilibrium systems where strong density-density interactions give rise to effective kinetic constraints. They cause dynamic arrest associated with highly-constrained many-body configurations, leading to slow relaxation and glassy behavior. Multi-component Rydberg gases feature additional long-range interactions such as excitation-exchange. These are analogous to particle swaps used to artificially accelerate relaxation in simulations of atomistic models of classical glass formers. In Rydberg gases, however, swaps are real physical processes, which provide dynamical shortcuts to relaxation. They permit the accelerated approach to stationarity in experiment and at the same time have an impact on the non-equilibrium stationary state. In particular their interplay with radiative decay processes amplifies irreversibility of the dynamics, an effect which we quantify via the entropy production at stationarity. Our work highlights an intriguing analogy between real dynamical processes in Rydberg gases and artificial dynamics underlying advanced Monte Carlo methods. Moreover, it delivers a quantitative characterization of the dramatic effect swaps have on the structure and dynamics of their stationary state.

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Self-similar nonequilibrium dynamics of a many-body system with power-law interactions

Cited by 12 publications

References 40 publications

Experimental observation of controllable kinetic constraints in a cold atomic gas

Experimental observation of controllable kinetic constraints in a cold atomic gas

Glassy dynamics due to a trajectory phase transition in dissipative Rydberg gases

Physical swap dynamics, shortcuts to relaxation, and entropy production in dissipative Rydberg gases

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