Physics

Quantum dot

Quantum dynamics

Thermalisation

Baryon

Bound state

Domain wall (magnetism)

Magnetization

Particle physics

Magnetic field

Quasiparticle

Quantum simulator

Spin (aerodynamics)

Superconductivity

Quantum computer

Quantum mechanics

Color confinement

Quark

Quantum

Thermodynamics

Nature Physics

Particles subject to confinement experience an attractive potential that increases without bound as they separate. A prominent example is colour confinement in particle physics, in which baryons and mesons are produced by quark confinement. Confinement can also occur in low-energy quantum many-body systems when elementary excitations are confined into bound quasiparticles. Here we report the observation of magnetic domain-wall confinement in interacting spin chains with a trapped-ion quantum simulator. By measuring how correlations spread, we show that confinement can suppress information propagation and thermalization in such many-body systems. We quantitatively determine the excitation energy of domain-wall bound states from the non-equilibrium quench dynamics. We also study the number of domain-wall excitations created for different quench parameters, in a regime that is difficult to model with classical computers. This work demonstrates the capability of quantum simulators for investigating high-energy physics phenomena, such as quark collision and string breaking. Long-range Ising interactions present in one-dimensional spin chains can induce a confining potential between pairs of domain walls, slowing down the thermalization of the system. This has now been observed in a trapped-ion quantum simulator.

Domain-wall confinement and dynamics in a quantum simulator