Ergodicity breaking in rapidly rotating C60 fullerenes

Lee R Liu; Dina Rosenberg; P Bryan Changala; Philip J D Crowley; David J Nesbitt; Norman Y Yao; Timur V Tscherbul; Jun Ye

doi:10.1126/science.adi6354

Ergodicity breaking in rapidly rotating C₆₀ fullerenes

Science. 2023 Aug 18;381(6659):778-783. doi: 10.1126/science.adi6354. Epub 2023 Aug 17.

Authors

Lee R Liu^{1

2}, Dina Rosenberg^{1

2}, P Bryan Changala^{1

2}, Philip J D Crowley³, David J Nesbitt^{1

2

4}, Norman Y Yao³, Timur V Tscherbul⁵, Jun Ye^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
² Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
³ Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02135, USA.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
⁵ Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA.

PMID: 37590361
DOI: 10.1126/science.adi6354

Abstract

Ergodicity, the central tenet of statistical mechanics, requires an isolated system to explore all available phase space constrained by energy and symmetry. Mechanisms for violating ergodicity are of interest for probing nonequilibrium matter and protecting quantum coherence in complex systems. Polyatomic molecules have long served as a platform for probing ergodicity breaking in vibrational energy transport. Here, we report the observation of rotational ergodicity breaking in an unprecedentedly large molecule, ¹²C₆₀, determined from its icosahedral rovibrational fine structure. The ergodicity breaking occurs well below the vibrational ergodicity threshold and exhibits multiple transitions between ergodic and nonergodic regimes with increasing angular momentum. These peculiar dynamics result from the molecule's distinctive combination of symmetry, size, and rigidity, highlighting its relevance to emergent phenomena in mesoscopic quantum systems.