No abstract

The truncated Wigner approximation is an established approach that describes the dynamics of weakly interacting Bose gases beyond the mean-field level. Although it allows a quantum field to be expressed by a stochastic c-number field, the simulation of the time evolution is still very demanding for most applications. Here, we develop a numerically inexpensive scheme by approximating the c-number field with a variational ansatz. The dynamics of the ansatz function is described by a tractable set of coupled ordinary stochastic differential equations for the respective variational parameters. We investigate the non-equilibrium dynamics of a three-dimensional Bose gas in a one-dimensional optical lattice with a transverse isotropic harmonic confinement. The accuracy and computational inexpensiveness of our method are demonstrated by comparing its predictions to experimental data.

In a recent paper [Bardyn et al. Phys. Rev. X 8, 011035 (2018)], it was shown that the generalization of the many-body polarization to mixed states can be used to construct a topological invariant which is also applicable to finite-temperature and non-equilibrium Gaussian states of lattice fermions. The many-body polarization defines an ensemble geometric phase (EGP) which is identical to the Zak phase of a fictitious Hamiltonian, whose symmetries determine the topological classification. Here we show that in the case of Gaussian states of bosons the corresponding topological invariant is always trivial. This also applies to finite-temperature states of bosons in lattices with a topologically non-trivial band-structure. As a consequence there is no quantized topological charge pumping for translational invariant bulk states of non-interacting bosons.

Interfaces of light and matter serve as a platform for exciting many-body physics and photonic quantum technologies. Due to the recent experimental realization of atomic arrays at subwavelength spacings, collective interaction effects such as superradiance have regained substantial interest. Their analytical and numerical treatment is however quite challenging. Here we develop a semiclassical approach to this problem that allows to describe the coherent and dissipative many-body dynamics of interacting spins while taking into account lowest-order quantum fluctuations. For this purpose we extend the discrete truncated Wigner approximation, originally developed for unitarily coupled spins, to include collective, dissipative spin processes by means of truncated correspondence rules. This maps the dynamics of the atomic ensemble onto a set of semiclassical, numerically inexpensive stochastic differential equations. We benchmark our method with exact results for the case of Dicke decay, which shows excellent agreement. We then study superradiance in a spatially extended three-dimensional, coherently driven gas and study the dynamics of atomic arrays coupled to the quantized radiation field. For small arrays we compare to exact simulations, again showing good agreement at early times and at moderate to strong driving.