Dynamical Fractal in Quantum Gases with Discrete Scaling Symmetry

Phys Rev Lett. 2019 Jun 14;122(23):230402. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.230402.

Abstract

Inspired by the similarity between the fractal Weierstrass function and quantum systems with discrete scaling symmetry, we establish general conditions under which the dynamics of a quantum system will exhibit fractal structure in the time domain. As an example, we discuss the dynamics of the Loschmidt amplitude and the zero-momentum occupation of a single particle moving in a scale invariant 1/r^{2} potential. In order to show these conditions can be realized in ultracold atomic gases, we perform numerical simulations with practical experimental parameters, which shows that the dynamical fractal can be observed in realistic timescales. The predication can be directly verified in current cold atom experiments.