Many-Body Correlations in Phase-Space Microscopes
Abstract
The recently proposed "phase-space microscope" (PSM) extends quantum gas microscopes by allowing joint, single-shot measurements of position and momentum. We show that the n-body correlation functions constructed from such phase-space snapshots determine, in principle, all n-body observables of a many-body quantum state. This establishes phase-space imaging as a complete probe of strongly correlated matter, beyond what snapshots of position and momentum can provide---a limitation that goes back to a famous question posed by Pauli. Even without the full reconstruction of the density matrices, the PSM provides valuable insight into the quantum states. We demonstrate this power through several applications: witnessing entanglement hidden from both position and momentum, including between spatially separated collective degrees of freedom; resolving pairing structure across the BEC-BCS crossover, including the phase of the pair wavefunction and the reconstruction of its two-body Wigner function; probing inhomogeneous systems and preformed pairs without long-range order, relevant to the pseudogap phase; extracting the interaction energy in a magnetic field; and measurements of the local Chern marker. Furthermore, we discuss phase imprinting in the matter-wave Fourier plane as an alternative method for probing time-reversal-symmetry-broken phases such as chiral p-wave superconductors. Together, these results establish the PSM as a versatile new tool for exploring fundamental features of quantum many-body phases in strongly correlated quantum matter.
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BibTeX
@misc{yang2026manybody,
title = {{Many-Body Correlations in Phase-Space Microscopes}},
author = {Y. Yang and C. Weitenberg and N. R. Cooper},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.03112},
eprint = {2611.03112},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.03112},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Many-Body Correlations in Phase-Space Microscopes
AU - Y. Yang
AU - C. Weitenberg
AU - N. R. Cooper
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/02
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.03112
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.03112
AB - The recently proposed "phase-space microscope" (PSM) extends quantum gas microscopes by allowing joint, single-shot measurements of position and momentum. We show that the n-body correlation functions constructed from such phase-space snapshots determine, in principle, all n-body observables of a many-body quantum state. This establishes phase-space imaging as a complete probe of strongly correlated matter, beyond what snapshots of position and momentum can provide---a limitation that goes back to a famous question posed by Pauli. Even without the full reconstruction of the density matrices, the PSM provides valuable insight into the quantum states. We demonstrate this power through several applications: witnessing entanglement hidden from both position and momentum, including between spatially separated collective degrees of freedom; resolving pairing structure across the BEC-BCS crossover, including the phase of the pair wavefunction and the reconstruction of its two-body Wigner function; probing inhomogeneous systems and preformed pairs without long-range order, relevant to the pseudogap phase; extracting the interaction energy in a magnetic field; and measurements of the local Chern marker. Furthermore, we discuss phase imprinting in the matter-wave Fourier plane as an alternative method for probing time-reversal-symmetry-broken phases such as chiral p-wave superconductors. Together, these results establish the PSM as a versatile new tool for exploring fundamental features of quantum many-body phases in strongly correlated quantum matter.
ER -