Quantum Simulator Discovers Plasma Memory ⚡ экспресс
Simulating high-energy processes in gauge theories (such as quark-gluon plasma formation) by classical methods is challenging. Quantum simulation promises a breakthrough, but previous experiments were limited to low energies; here, a high-precision quantum simulator was used to study the high-energy dynamics of the (1+1)-dimensional lattice Schwinger model. An initial state fully filled with particle-antiparticle pairs, instead of rapid thermalization, exhibits ballistic propagation of correlations and long-term memory of charge clusters. The effects are not explained by many-body scars, but are described by a new mechanism of plasma oscillations between electric field and current operators, existing up to the continuum limit. Adapting quantum optics methods allowed representing these oscillations as rotations of Wigner distributions and making new predictions, confirmed experimentally and numerically. The results highlight the potential of high-precision quantum simulations for unexpected discoveries in fundamental physics.
Physicists used a quantum simulator — a device that mimics the behavior of charged particles, to study their collisions at enormous energies. According to the Standard Model, the laws of the micro-world, the system should quickly transition to chaos, where disorder is maximal. But that's not what happened.
Particles flew apart like fragments of an explosion, retaining memory of the initial charge clumps. This plasma expanded in ordered streams, like people who, after an alarm, run not in panic but in groups, staying close to friends. Scientists called this ballistic plasma with long-term memory.
The clue came from the ideas of Schwinger and Wigner: the plasma oscillated — the electric field and particle current exchanged energy, like a pendulum. Using laser physics methods developed by Glauber, physicists saw these oscillations in the blurred picture of particle velocities and positions. It turned out that mysterious quantum scars are also such ordered plasma states. This experiment shows how precise simulations overturn notions of matter under extreme conditions.
🎯 Quark-gluon plasma is a state in which particles normally locked inside protons move freely; such plasma existed just after the Big Bang.