How to study correlation functions in fluctuating Bose liquids using interference experiments

Abstract

Interference experiments with independent condensates provide a powerful tool for analyzing correlation functions. Scaling of the average fringe contrast with the system size is determined by the two-point correlation function and can be used to study the Luttinger liquid liquid behavior in one-dimensional systems and to observe the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in two-dimensional quasicondensates. Additionally, higher moments of the fringe contrast can be used to determine the higher order correlation functions. In this article we focus on interference experiments with one-dimensional Bose liquids and show that methods of conformal field theory can be applied to calculate the full quantum distribution function of the fringe contrast.