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

Gutierrez, Ricardo, Garrahan, Juan P. and Lesanovsky, Igor (2015) Self-similar non-equilibrium dynamics of a many-body system with power-law interactions. Physical Review E, 92 (6). e062144. ISSN 1539-3755

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Abstract

The influence of power-law interactions on the dynamics of many-body systems far from equilibrium is much less explored than their effect on static and thermodynamic properties. To gain insight into this problem we introduce and analyze here an out-of-equilibrium deposition process in which the deposition rate of a given particle depends as a power-law on the distance to previously deposited particles. This model draws its relevance from recent experimental progress in the domain of cold atomic gases which are studied in a setting where atoms that are excited to high-lying Rydberg states interact through power-law potentials that translate into power-law excitation rates. The out-of-equilibrium dynamics of this system turns out to be surprisingly rich. It features a self-similar evolution which leads to a characteristic power-law time dependence of observables such as the particle concentration, and results in a scale invariance of the structure factor. Our findings show that in dissipative Rydberg gases out of equilibrium the characteristic distance among excitations --- often referred to as the blockade radius --- is not a static but rather a dynamic quantity.

Item Type: Article
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Science > School of Physics and Astronomy
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.92.062144
Depositing User: Gutierrez, Ricardo
Date Deposited: 07 Jan 2016 09:15
Last Modified: 12 Oct 2017 20:00
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/31203

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