Ultracold quantum gases: Shedding new light on many-body dynamics and entanglement

Over the last two decades, experiments with ultracold atoms and molecules have developed to a level where we have strongly interacting quantum gases that are controllable and measurable on a single-particle level. This now allows us to engineer a range of fundamental models from solid state physics in experiments, and explore their properties cleanly on a microscopic level.

Beyond textbook demonstrations of equilibrium and single-particle properties (e.g., insulating phases, magnetic superexchange, and Bloch oscillations), this now enables us to explore fundamental aspects of non-equilibrium dynamics in quantum many-particle systems. These range from from the approach of systems to equilibrium and thermalisation in statistical mechanics, to the influence of the environment and decoherence in open many-body quantum systems.

I will give an overview of recent developments in these areas, especially illustrating the new possibilities by discussing the recent measurement of many-body entanglement in itinerant particles with ultracold atoms in optical lattices.