Optical Lattice Quantum Simulator of Dynamics beyond Born-Oppenheimer

Area of Science:

• Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Quantum Simulation
• Computational Chemistry

Background:

• Nonadiabatic effects are crucial in molecular dynamics but challenging to simulate.
• Ultracold molecules offer a controllable platform for quantum simulations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and benchmark a quantum simulator for nonadiabatic effects using ultracold fermionic molecules.
• To explore the emulation of molecular dynamical problems with tunable parameters.

Main Methods:

• Trapping ultracold fermionic molecules in optical lattices.
• Utilizing dipolar interactions between selected rotational states to simulate electronic or nuclear degrees of freedom.
• Benchmarking the simulator by studying electron-proton scattering against a hydrogen atom.

Main Results:

• The simulator qualitatively emulates phenomena like electronic exchange and inelastic ionization.
• The mass ratio between simulated nuclei and electrons is a tunable experimental parameter.
• The simulation accurately captures dipolar scaling interactions in two dimensions.

Conclusions:

• The proposed platform provides a novel approach to simulating nonadiabatic effects in molecular dynamics.
• The simulator's capabilities extend to other atomic platforms, such as fermionic Rydberg atoms.
• This work opens new avenues for studying complex molecular interactions with quantum simulators.