The self-organisation of many-body quantum systems has been of great fundamental interest in different areas of science, from cosmology to life sciences. The temporal evolution of quantum systems is choreographed by symmetry, topology, causality and spatio-temporal fluctuations. Thus, non-equilibrium many-body quantum systems can end up in diverse emergent states that are textured on different time- and length-scales, the eventual outcome being determined by “quantum Darwinism”. I will present time-resolved experiments on metastable states on timescales ranging from femtoseconds to hours, revealing symmetry breaking rules and topological choreography, which conspire to guide non-equilibrium system trajectories into different emergent states. The experiments reveal new physics and, in particular, topological charge entanglement, fractionally charged states and emergent two-level system behaviour. We also managed, for the first time, to record movies of the motion of individual electrons in real time. I will conclude by highlighting some applications of metastable states in quantum technology and x-ray optics.
The quantum way of doing computations, simulations and measurements
Prof. Dr. Rainer Blatt, University of Innsbruck, Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, and Alpine Quantum Technologies (AQT) GmbH, Innsbruck, Austria
