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In this paper we study transitions of atoms between energy levels of several number-theory-inspired atom potentials, under the effect of time-dependent perturbations. First, we simulate in detail the case of a trap whose one-particle spectrum is given by prime numbers. We investigate one-body Rabi oscillations and the excitation lineshape for two resonantly coupled energy levels. We also show that techniques from quantum control are effective in reducing the transition time, compared to the case of a periodic perturbation. Next, we investigate cascades of such transitions. To this end, we pose the following question: can one construct a quantum system where the existence of a continuous resonant cascade is predicted on the validity of a particular statement in number theory? We find that a one-body trap with a log-natural spectrum, parametrically driven with a perturbation of a log-natural frequency, provides such a quantum system. Here, powers of a given natural number will form a ladder of equidistant energy levels; absence of gaps in this ladder is an indication of the validity of the number theory statement in question. Ideas for two more resonance cascade experiments are presented as well: they are designed to illustrate the validity of the Diophantus-Brahmagupta-Fibonacci identity (the set of sums of two squares of integers is closed under multiplication) and the validity of the Goldbach conjecture (every even number is a sum of two primes)., Comment: 22 pages, 14 figure

We study the effects of Rashba spin-orbit coupling on two-dimensional Rydberg exciton systems. Using analytical and numerical arguments we demonstrate that this coupling considerably modifies the wave functions and leads to a level repulsion that results in a deviation from the Poissonian statistics of the adjacent level distance distribution. This signifies the crossover to non-integrability of the system and hints on the possibility of quantum chaos emerging. Such a behavior strongly differs from the classical realization, where spin-orbit coupling produces highly entangled, chaotic electron trajectories in an exciton. We also calculate the oscillator strengths and show that randomization appears in the transitions between states with different total momenta., Comment: Phys. Rev. B, accepted

We propose and analyze a scheme for conditional state transfer in a Heisenberg $XXZ$ spin chain which realizes a quantum spin transistor. In our scheme, the absence or presence of a control spin excitation in the central gate part of the spin chain results in either perfect transfer of an arbitrary state of a target spin between the weakly coupled input and output ports, or its complete blockade at the input port. We also present a possible realization of the corresponding spin chain with a one-dimensional ensemble of cold atoms with strong contact interactions., Comment: 36 pages, 3 figures, including supplements. See journal reference below for refereed and revised version

We have developed an efficient computational method to treat long, one-dimensional systems of strongly-interacting atoms forming self-assembled spin chains. Such systems can be used to realize many spin chain model Hamiltonians tunable by the external confining potential. As a concrete demonstration, we consider quantum state transfer in a Heisenberg spin chain and we show how to determine the confining potential in order to obtain nearly-perfect state transfer., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, 1 appendix, final version

One-dimensional multi-component Fermi or Bose systems with strong zero-range interactions can be described in terms of local exchange coefficients and mapping the problem into a spin model is thus possible. For arbitrary external confining potentials the local exchanges are given by highly non-trivial geometric factors that depend solely on the geometry of the confinement through the single-particle eigenstates of the external potential. To obtain accurate effective Hamiltonians to describe such systems one needs to be able to compute these geometric factors with high precision which is difficult due to the computational complexity of the high-dimensional integrals involved. An approach using the local density approximation would therefore be a most welcome approximation due to its simplicity. Here we assess the accuracy of the local density approximation by going beyond the simple harmonic oscillator that has been the focus of previous studies and consider some double-wells of current experimental interest. We find that the local density approximation works quite well as long as the potentials resemble harmonic wells but break down for larger barriers. In order to explore the consequences of applying the local density approximation in a concrete setup we consider quantum state transfer in the effective spin models that one obtains. Here we find that even minute deviations in the local exchange coefficients between the exact and the local density approximation can induce large deviations in the fidelity of state transfer for four, five, and six particles., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, final version

We investigate a two-dimensional system of with two values of the internal (spin) degree of freedom. It is confined by a deformed harmonic trap and subject to a Zeeman field, Rashba or Dresselhaus one-body spin-orbit couplings and two-body short range repulsion. We obtain self-consistent mean-field $N$-body solutions as functions of the interaction parameters. Single-particle Spectra and total energies are computed and compared to the results without interaction. We perform a statistical analysis for the distributions of nearest neighbor energy level spacings and show that quantum signatures of chaos are seen in certain parameters regimes. Furthermore, the effects of two-body repulsion on the nearest neighbor distributions are investigated. This repulsion can either promote or destroy the signatures of potential chaotic behavior depending on relative strengths of parameters. Our findings support the suggestion that cold atoms may be used to study quantum chaos both in the presence and absence of interactions., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, revised version

We compute single-particle energy spectra for a one-body hamiltonian consisting of a two-dimensional deformed harmonic oscillator potential, the Rashba spin-orbit coupling and the Zeeman term. To investigate the statistical properties of the obtained spectra as functions of deformation, spin-orbit and Zeeman strengths we examine the distributions of the nearest neighbor spacings. We find that the shapes of these distributions depend strongly on the three potential parameters. We show that the obtained shapes in some cases can be well approximated with the standard Poisson, Brody and Wigner distributions. The Brody and Wigner distributions characterize irregular motion and help identify quantum chaotic systems. We present a special choices of deformation and spin-orbit strengths without the Zeeman term which provide a fair reproduction of the fourth-power repelling Wigner distribution. By adding the Zeeman field we can reproduce a Brody distribution, which is known to describe a transition between the Poisson and linear Wigner distributions., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, published version

We consider a spin-orbit coupled system of particles in an external trap that is represented by a deformed harmonic oscillator potential. The spin-orbit interaction is a Rashba interaction that does not commute with the trapping potential and requires a full numerical treatment in order to obtain the spectrum. The effect of a Zeeman term is also considered. Our results demonstrate that variable spectral gaps occur as a function of strength of the Rashba interaction and deformation of the harmonic trapping potential. The single-particle density of states and the critical strength for superfluidity vary tremendously with the interaction parameter. The strong variations with Rashba coupling and deformation implies that the few- and many-body physics of spin-orbit coupled systems can be manipulated by variation of these parameters., Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, published version