Emergent interaction-induced topology in Bose-Hubbard ladders

authored by

David Wellnitz, Gustavo A. Domínguez-Castro, Thomas Bilitewski, Monika Aidelsburger, Ana Maria Rey, Luis Santos

Abstract

We investigate the quantum many-body dynamics of bosonic atoms hopping in a two-leg ladder with strong on-site contact interactions. We observe that when the atoms are prepared in a staggered pattern with pairs of atoms on every other rung, singlon defects, i.e., rungs with only one atom, can localize due to an emergent topological model, even though the underlying model in the absence of interactions admits only topologically trivial states. This emergent topological localization results from the formation of a zero-energy edge mode in an effective lattice formed by two adjacent chains with alternating strong and weak hoping links (Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chains) and opposite staggering which interface at the defect position. Our findings open the opportunity to dynamically generate nontrivial topological behaviors without the need for complex Hamiltonian engineering.

Organisation(s)

Faculty of Mathematics and Physics

External Organisation(s)

JILA
University of Colorado Boulder
Oklahoma State University
Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ)
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU)
Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST)

Type

Article

Journal

Physical Review Research

Volume

7

ISSN

2643-1564

Publication date

17.01.2025

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Physics and Astronomy

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2409.05109 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.L012012 (Access: Open)