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Updated: Oct 29, 2026

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving
Published on: March 30, 2017
Quantum Simulation of Motzkin Spin Chains with Rydberg Atoms
Kaustav Mukherjee1,2, Hatem Barghathi3,4, Adrian Del Maestro3,4,5
1University of Tennessee, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37403, USA.
Abstract:
The Motzkin spin chain is a well-known mathematical model with connections to symmetry-protected topological phases, such as the Haldane phase, as well as to concepts in the AdS/CFT correspondence. They exhibit highly entangled ground states that violate the area law and are exceptionally difficult to simulate with conventional numerical methods. Numerical simulations of the Motzkin ground state become further challenging at large system sizes due to their high-dimensional spin structure, rendering it a natural test bed for quantum simulation with ultracold systems. Here, we propose a Rydberg-atom based quantum simulation scheme that effectively realizes Motzkin spins using an experimentally accessible set of parameters. We show that the resulting effective Motzkin ground state reproduces the characteristic entanglement scaling and the block-structure properties of the reduced density matrix associated with the ideal Motzkin state. Our results establish a pathway toward a concrete experimental realization of Motzkin spins beyond purely mathematical constructions, opening avenues for exploring other similar exotic non-area-law entangled phases in programmable Rydberg simulators.
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