Submission Date

7-17-2025

Document Type

Paper

Department

Physics & Astronomy

Faculty Mentor

Thomas Carroll

Student Contributor

Jack Keim

Second Student Contributor

Aidan Kirk

Comments

Presented during the 27th Annual Summer Fellows Symposium, July 18, 2025 at Ursinus College.

This research was done in collaboration with Michael W. Noel, Sarah E. Speilman, Jordyn Strunk, and Tina Zhao of the Physics Department at Bryn Mawr College.

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. 2011583 and No. 2011610, and NSF GRFP Grant No. 2334429.

Project Description

Isolated quantum systems are almost always observed to achieve thermal equilibrium in experiments. Understanding cases where they do not thermalize, and therefore retain memory about the initial state, could lead to the development of a quantum memory. We excite atoms in a magneto-optical trap, where they are cold enough to treat as stationary. In our experiment, our atoms exchange energy via dipole-dipole interactions and fail to thermalize. We present a theoretical and computational analysis that suggests that our system starts in an exceptional initial state.

Download

Open Access

Available to all.

Share

COinS