Accurate numerical verification of the instanton method for macroscopic quantum tunneling: dynamics of phase slips

Abstract

Instanton methods, in which imaginary-time evolution gives the tunneling rate, have been widely used for studying quantum tunneling in various contexts. Nevertheless, how accurate instanton methods are for the problems of macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) still remains unclear because of lack of their direct comparison with exact time evolution of the many-body Schroedinger equation. Here, we verify instanton methods applied to coherent MQT. Specifically applying the quasi-exact numerical method of time-evolving block decimation to the system of bosons in a ring lattice, we directly simulate the real-time quantum dynamics of supercurrents, where a coherent oscillation between two macroscopically distinct current states occurs due to MQT. The tunneling rate extracted from the coherent oscillation is compared with that given by the instanton method. We show that the error is within 10% when the effective Planck's constant is sufficiently small. We also discuss phase slip dynamics associated with the coherent oscillations.