Dr. Aaron W. Young - Quantum simulation of the Hubbard model: pseudogap, nematicity, and stripes

The Hubbard model is believed to capture many of the properties of strongly correlated electronic materials, including the cuprate superconductors. Despite the simplicity of the model, and more than four decades of concentrated study, many open questions remain. In particular, the nature of the "pseudogapped" metallic state, from which superconductivity emerges in the cuprates, is not well understood. Classical simulations in this regime are challenged by general difficulties associated with simulating quantum many body systems. Quantum simulations using ultracold atoms offer an alternative approach to answering these questions. 
Leveraging recent advancements which yield a several-fold reduction in temperature, we perform quantum simulations of the Hubbard model which, for the first time, are deep in the pseudogapped regime. We develop new spectroscopic and thermodynamic measurement techniques and, using these techniques, establish an experimental phase diagram of the Hubbard pseudogap. Additional measurements already hint at a complicated interplay between nematicity, stripe order, and criticality, and could ultimately provide a resolution to long-standing open questions regarding strongly correlated electronic materials.