Jashwanth Shaju, Elina Pavlovska, Ralfs Suba, Junliang Wang, Seddik Ouacel, Thomas Vasselon, Matteo Aluffi, Lucas Mazzella, Clément Geffroy, Arne Ludwig, Andreas D. Wieck, Matias Urdampilleta, Christopher Bäuerle, Vyacheslavs Kashcheyevs, Hermann Sellier
{"title":"Evidence of Coulomb liquid phase in few-electron droplets","authors":"Jashwanth Shaju, Elina Pavlovska, Ralfs Suba, Junliang Wang, Seddik Ouacel, Thomas Vasselon, Matteo Aluffi, Lucas Mazzella, Clément Geffroy, Arne Ludwig, Andreas D. Wieck, Matias Urdampilleta, Christopher Bäuerle, Vyacheslavs Kashcheyevs, Hermann Sellier","doi":"10.1038/s41586-025-09139-z","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Emergence of universal collective behaviour from interactions within a sufficiently large group of elementary constituents is a fundamental scientific concept1. In physics, correlations in fluctuating microscopic observables can provide key information about collective states of matter, such as deconfined quark–gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions2 or expanding quantum degenerate gases3,4. Mesoscopic colliders, through shot-noise measurements, have provided smoking-gun evidence on the nature of exotic electronic excitations such as fractional charges5,6, levitons7 and anyon statistics8. Yet, bridging the gap between two-particle collisions and the emergence of collectivity9 as the number of interacting particles increases10 remains a challenging task at the microscopic level. Here we demonstrate all-body correlations in the partitioning of electron droplets containing up to N = 5 electrons, driven by a moving potential well through a Y-junction in a semiconductor device. Analysing the partitioning data using high-order multivariate cumulants and finite-size scaling towards the thermodynamic limit reveals distinctive fingerprints of a strongly correlated Coulomb liquid. These fingerprints agree well with a universal limit at which the partitioning of a droplet is predicted by a single collective variable. Our electron-droplet scattering experiments illustrate how coordinated behaviour emerges through interactions of only a few elementary constituents. Studying similar signatures in other physical platforms such as cold-atom simulators4,11 or collections of anyonic excitations8,12 may help identify emergence of exotic phases and, more broadly, advance understanding of matter engineering. The emergence of universal collective behaviour is demonstrated through collisions of electron droplets containing up to five particles, which exhibit strong all-body correlations characteristic of a Coulomb liquid.","PeriodicalId":18787,"journal":{"name":"Nature","volume":"642 8069","pages":"1-6"},"PeriodicalIF":48.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09139-z.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature","FirstCategoryId":"103","ListUrlMain":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09139-z","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Emergence of universal collective behaviour from interactions within a sufficiently large group of elementary constituents is a fundamental scientific concept1. In physics, correlations in fluctuating microscopic observables can provide key information about collective states of matter, such as deconfined quark–gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions2 or expanding quantum degenerate gases3,4. Mesoscopic colliders, through shot-noise measurements, have provided smoking-gun evidence on the nature of exotic electronic excitations such as fractional charges5,6, levitons7 and anyon statistics8. Yet, bridging the gap between two-particle collisions and the emergence of collectivity9 as the number of interacting particles increases10 remains a challenging task at the microscopic level. Here we demonstrate all-body correlations in the partitioning of electron droplets containing up to N = 5 electrons, driven by a moving potential well through a Y-junction in a semiconductor device. Analysing the partitioning data using high-order multivariate cumulants and finite-size scaling towards the thermodynamic limit reveals distinctive fingerprints of a strongly correlated Coulomb liquid. These fingerprints agree well with a universal limit at which the partitioning of a droplet is predicted by a single collective variable. Our electron-droplet scattering experiments illustrate how coordinated behaviour emerges through interactions of only a few elementary constituents. Studying similar signatures in other physical platforms such as cold-atom simulators4,11 or collections of anyonic excitations8,12 may help identify emergence of exotic phases and, more broadly, advance understanding of matter engineering. The emergence of universal collective behaviour is demonstrated through collisions of electron droplets containing up to five particles, which exhibit strong all-body correlations characteristic of a Coulomb liquid.
期刊介绍:
Nature is a prestigious international journal that publishes peer-reviewed research in various scientific and technological fields. The selection of articles is based on criteria such as originality, importance, interdisciplinary relevance, timeliness, accessibility, elegance, and surprising conclusions. In addition to showcasing significant scientific advances, Nature delivers rapid, authoritative, insightful news, and interpretation of current and upcoming trends impacting science, scientists, and the broader public. The journal serves a dual purpose: firstly, to promptly share noteworthy scientific advances and foster discussions among scientists, and secondly, to ensure the swift dissemination of scientific results globally, emphasizing their significance for knowledge, culture, and daily life.