This category explores the fascinating world of quantum gases, where scientists cool atoms to temperatures near absolute zero to create exotic states of matter. In these extreme conditions, individual atoms begin to behave like a single giant wave, revealing strange quantum effects that are usually hidden in our everyday warm world. These experiments help researchers understand the fundamental rules governing matter and could one day lead to revolutionary new technologies like ultra-precise sensors or quantum computers.

On Gist.Science, we process every new preprint in this field directly from arXiv to make these complex discoveries accessible to everyone. Our team provides both plain-language overviews for the curious mind and detailed technical summaries for experts, ensuring you get the full picture without getting lost in the jargon. Below are the latest papers from arXiv in Cond-Mat — Quant-Gas, freshly summarized and ready for you to explore.

Two-photon-assisted collisions in ultracold gases of polar molecules II : Optical shielding of ultracold polar molecular collisions

This paper theoretically demonstrates that two-photon optical shielding using Raman-resonant lasers can generate a repulsive long-range interaction between ultracold polar molecules, thereby enhancing elastic collisions over inelastic and reactive ones by a factor of approximately two.

Gohar Hovhannesyan, Charbel Karam, Romain Vexiau, Leon Karpa, Maxence Lepers, Nadia Bouloufa-Maafa, Olivier Dulieu2026-02-16🔬 cond-mat

Observing dissipationless flow of an impurity in a strongly repulsive quantum fluid

Using ultracold atoms, this study demonstrates that a microscopic impurity can propagate through a strongly repulsive one-dimensional Bose gas without friction, challenging Landau's conventional expectation that superfluidity is impossible in 1D systems.

Milena Horvath, Sudipta Dhar, Elisabeth Wybo, Dimitrios Trypogeorgos, Yanliang Guo, Mikhail Zvonarev, Michael Knap, Manuele Landini, Hanns-Christoph Nägerl2026-02-16⚛️ quant-ph

Shift of the Bose-Einstein condensation transition in the presence of a second atomic species

This paper derives analytical expressions for the shift in the Bose-Einstein condensation critical temperature of a bosonic species caused by interactions with a second atomic species, distinguishing between cases where the second species is above or below its own critical temperature and applying these results to a 23^{23}Na-39^{39}K mixture.

Pedro M. Gaspar, Vanderlei S. Bagnato, Patricia C. M. Castilho2026-02-16🔬 physics.atom-ph

Matter-induced plaquette terms in a Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 lattice gauge theory

This study demonstrates that dynamical hard-core bosonic matter in a (2+1)(2+1)D Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 lattice gauge theory naturally induces significant plaquette interactions, enabling the realization of topological quantum spin liquids and confinement-deconfinement transitions without requiring explicit multi-body terms in the Hamiltonian.

Matjaž Kebrič, Fabian Döschl, Umberto Borla, Jad C. Halimeh, Ulrich Schollwöck, Annabelle Bohrdt, Fabian Grusdt2026-02-16⚛️ hep-lat