Quantum simulation of the Hubbard model: pseudogap, nematicity, and stripes (part 2)

Building on recent advancements in cooling, cold atom-based quantum simulators can explore correlated electron physics in regimes that challenge classical numerical techniques, and can provide access to observables and controls that are fundamentally inaccessible in real materials. Navigating this wealth of information raises new questions: Which observables provide the most insight into a given physical behavior? Do there exist hidden order parameters that explain the emergence of complex phases of matter?

Here, we consider these questions in the context of the origin of the Hubbard pseudogap. Two possible scenarios are incipient stripe order, and a tendency towards phase separation controlled by a (possibly obscured) critical point at lower temperatures. We explore these possibilities through a series of spectroscopic measurements that can be compared to experimental studies of real materials, and image the resulting excitations and fluctuations to understand their microscopic origins. The latter measurements have no direct experimental analog, and demonstrate how quantum simulators can provide new insights into frontier problems in condensed matter physics.