Quantum Simulation of Cooperative Jahn-Teller Systems with Linear Ion   Crystals
  The Jahn-Teller effect explains distortions and non-degenerate energy levels in molecular and solid-state physics via a coupling of effective spins to collective bosons. Here we propose and theoretically analyze the quantum simulation of a many-body Jahn-Teller model with linear ion crystals subjected to magnetic field gradients. We show that the system undergoes a quantum magnetic structural phase transition which leads to a reordering of particle positions and the formation of a spin-phonon quasi-condensate in mesoscopic ion chains. 
Diego Porras, Peter A. Ivanov, and Ferdinand Schmidt-Kaler
quant-ph cond-mat.quant-gas cond-mat.str-el