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SciPost Physics Core

SciPost Physics Core Vol. 7 issue 2 (April - June 2024)

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Speed of sound in dense strong-interaction matter

Jens Braun, Andreas Geißel, Benedikt Schallmo

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 015 (2024) · published 5 April 2024 | · pdf

We study the speed of sound in strong-interaction matter at zero temperature and in density regimes which are expected to be governed by the presence of a color-superconducting gap. At (very) high densities, our analysis indicates that the speed of sound approaches its asymptotic value associated with the non-interacting quark gas from below, in agreement with first-principles studies which do not take the presence of a color-superconducting gap into account. Towards lower densities, however, the presence of a gap induces an increase of the speed of sound above its asymptotic value. Importantly, even if gap-induced corrections to the pressure may appear small, we find that derivatives of the gap with respect to the chemical potential can still be sizeable and lead to a qualitative change of the density dependence of the speed of sound. Taking into account constraints on the density dependence of the speed of sound at low densities, our general considerations suggest the existence of a maximum in the speed of sound. Interestingly, we also observe that specific properties of the gap can be related to characteristic properties of the speed of sound which are indirectly constrained by observations.
Stochastic series expansion quantum Monte Carlo for Rydberg arrays

Ejaaz Merali, Isaac J. S. De Vlugt, Roger G. Melko

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 016 (2024) · published 5 April 2024 | · pdf

Arrays of Rydberg atoms are a powerful platform to realize strongly-interacting quantum many-body systems. A common Rydberg Hamiltonian is free of the sign problem, meaning that its equilibrium properties are amenable to efficient simulation by quantum Monte Carlo (QMC). In this paper, we develop a Stochastic Series Expansion QMC algorithm for Rydberg atoms interacting on arbitrary lattices. We describe a cluster update that allows for the efficient sampling and calculation of physical observables for typical experimental parameters, and show that the algorithm can reproduce experimental results on large Rydberg arrays in one and two dimensions.
Thermalization of long range Ising model in different dynamical regimes: A full counting statistics approach

Nishan Ranabhat, Mario Collura

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 017 (2024) · published 5 April 2024 | · pdf

We study the thermalization of the transverse field Ising chain with a power law decaying interaction $\sim 1/r^{\alpha}$ following a global quantum quench of the transverse field in two different dynamical regimes. The thermalization behavior is quantified by comparing the full probability distribution function (PDF) of the evolving states with the corresponding thermal state given by the canonical Gibbs ensemble (CGE). To this end, we used the matrix product state (MPS)-based Time Dependent Variational Principle (TDVP) algorithm to simulate both real time evolution following a global quantum quench and the finite temperature density operator. We observe that thermalization is strongly suppressed in the region with strong confinement for all interaction strengths $\alpha$, whereas thermalization occurs in the region with weak confinement.
Hidden symmetry of Bogoliubov de Gennes quasi-particle eigenstates and universal relations in flat band superconducting bipartite lattices

Georges Bouzerar, Maxime Thumin

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 018 (2024) · published 9 April 2024 | · pdf

Unconventional flat band (FB) superconductivity, as observed in van der Waals heterostructures, could open promising avenues towards high-T$_c$ materials. In FBs, pairings and superfluid weight scale linearly with the interaction parameter, such an unusual behaviour justifies and encourages strategies to promote FB engineering. Bipartite lattices (BLs) which naturally host FBs could be particularly interesting candidates. Within Bogoliubov de Gennes theory and in the framework of the attractive Hubbard model in BLs, a hidden symmetry of the quasi-particle eigenstates is revealed. As a consequence, we demonstrate universal relations for the pairings and the superfluid weight that are independent of the characteristics of the hopping term. Remarkably, it is shown that these general properties are insensitive to disorder as long as the bipartite character is protected.
Design constraints for Unruh-DeWitt quantum computers

Eric W. Aspling, John A. Marohn, Michael J. Lawler

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 019 (2024) · published 10 April 2024 | · pdf

The Unruh-DeWitt particle detector model has found success in demonstrating quantum information channels with non-zero channel capacity between qubits and quantum fields. These detector models provide the necessary framework for experimentally realizable Unruh-DeWitt quantum computers with near-perfect channel capacity. We propose spin-qubits with gate-controlled coupling to Luttinger liquids as a laboratory setting for Unruh-DeWitt detectors and explore general design constraints that underpin their feasibility in this and other settings. We present several experimental scenarios including graphene ribbons, edges states in the quantum spin Hall phase of HgTe quantum wells, and the recently discovered quantum anomalous Hall phase in transition metal dichalcogenides. Theoretically, through bosonization, we show that Unruh-DeWitt detectors can carry out quantum computations and identify when they can make perfect quantum communication channels between qubits via the Luttinger liquid. Our results point the way toward an all-to-all connected solid state quantum computer and the experimental study of quantum information in quantum fields via condensed matter physics.
Crossed product algebras and generalized entropy for subregions

Shadi Ali Ahmad, Ro Jefferson

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 020 (2024) · published 10 April 2024 | · pdf

An early result of algebraic quantum field theory is that the algebra of any subregion in a QFT is a von Neumann factor of type III$_{1}$, in which entropy cannot be well-defined because such algebras do not admit a trace or density states. However, associated to the algebra is a modular group of automorphisms characterizing the local dynamics of degrees of freedom in the region, and the crossed product of the algebra with its modular group yields a type II$_∞$ factor, in which traces and hence von Neumann entropy can be well-defined. In this work, we generalize recent constructions of the crossed product algebra for the TFD to, in principle, arbitrary spacetime regions in arbitrary QFTs, formally paving the way to the study of entanglement entropy without UV divergences. In contrast to previous works, we emphasize that this construction is independent of gravity. In this sense, the crossed product construction represents a refinement of Haag's assignment of nets of observable algebras to spacetime regions by providing a natural construction of a type II factor. We present several concrete examples: a QFT in Rindler space, a CFT in an open ball of Minkowski space, and arbitrary boundary subregions in AdS/CFT. In the holographic setting, we provide a novel argument for why the bulk dual must be the entanglement wedge, and discuss the distinction arising from boundary modular flow between causal and entanglement wedges for excited states and disjoint regions.
CFT and lattice correlators near an RG domain wall between minimal models

Cameron V. Cogburn, Andrew Liam Fitzpatrick, Hao Geng

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 021 (2024) · published 19 April 2024 | · pdf

Conformal interfaces separating two conformal field theories (CFTs) provide maps between different CFTs, and naturally exist in nature as domain walls between different phases. One particularly interesting construction of a conformal interface is the renormalization group (RG) domain wall between CFTs. For a given Virasoro minimal model $\mathcal{M}_{k+3,k+2}$, an RG domain wall can be generated by a specific deformation which triggers an RG flow towards its adjacent Virasoro minimal model $\mathcal{M}_{k+2,k+1}$ with the deformation turned on over part of the space. An algebraic construction of this domain wall was proposed by Gaiotto in [J. High Energy Phys. 12, 103 (2012)]. In this paper, we will provide a study of this RG domain wall for the minimal case $k=2$, which can be thought of as a nonperturbative check of the construction. In this case the wall is separating the Tricritical Ising Model (TIM) CFT and the Ising Model (IM) CFT. We will check the analytical results of correlation functions from the RG brane construction with the numerical density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculation using a lattice model proposed in [arXiv.1206.1332, Science 344, 280 (2014)], and find a perfect agreement. We comment on possible experimental realizations of this RG domain wall.
Polynomial computational complexity of matrix elements of finite-rank-generated single-particle operators in products of finite bosonic states

Dmitri A. Ivanov

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 022 (2024) · published 22 April 2024 | · pdf

It is known that computing the permanent of the matrix 1+A, where A is a finite-rank matrix, requires a number of operations polynomial in the matrix size. Motivated by the boson-sampling proposal of restricted quantum computation, I extend this result to a generalization of the matrix permanent: An expectation value in a product of a large number of identical bosonic states with a bounded number of bosons. This result complements earlier studies on the computational complexity in boson sampling and related setups. The proposed technique based on the Gaussian averaging is equally applicable to bosonic and fermionic systems. This also allows us to improve an earlier polynomial complexity estimate for the fermionic version of the same problem.
Noise-induced transport in the Aubry-André-Harper model

Devendra Singh Bhakuni, Talía L. M. Lezama, Yevgeny Bar Lev

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 023 (2024) · published 26 April 2024 | · pdf

We study quantum transport in a quasiperiodic Aubry-André-Harper (AAH) model induced by the coupling of the system to a Markovian heat bath. We find that coupling the heat bath locally does not affect transport in the delocalized and critical phases, while it induces logarithmic transport in the localized phase. Increasing the number of coupled sites at the central region introduces a transient diffusive regime, which crosses over to logarithmic transport in the localized phase and in the delocalized regime to ballistic transport. On the other hand, when the heat bath is coupled to equally spaced sites of the system, we observe a crossover from ballistic and logarithmic transport to diffusion in the delocalized and localized regimes, respectively. We propose a classical master equation, which in the localized phase, captures our numerical observations for both coupling configurations on a qualitative level and for some parameters, even on a quantitative level. Using the classical picture, we show that the crossover to diffusion occurs at a time that increases exponentially with the spacing between the coupled sites, and the resulting diffusion constant decreases exponentially with the spacing.
Floquet engineering of axion and high-Chern number phases in a topological insulator under illumination

Mohammad Shafiei, Farhad Fazileh, François M. Peeters, Milorad V. Milošević

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 024 (2024) · published 1 May 2024 | · pdf

Quantum anomalous Hall, high-Chern number, and axion phases in topological insulators are characterized by its Chern invariant C (respectively, C=1, integer C>1, and C=0 with half-quantized Hall conductance of opposite signs on top and bottom surfaces). They are of recent interest because of novel fundamental physics and prospective applications, but identifying and controlling these phases has been challenging in practice. Here we show that these states can be created and switched between in thin films of Bi$_2$Se$_3$ by Floquet engineering, using irradiation by circularly polarized light. We present the calculated phase diagrams of encountered topological phases in Bi$_2$Se$_3$, as a function of wavelength and amplitude of light, as well as sample thickness, after properly taking into account the penetration depth of light and the variation of the gap in the surface states. These findings open pathways towards energy-efficient optoelectronics, advanced sensing, quantum information processing and metrology.
Identifying diffusive length scales in one-dimensional Bose gases

Frederik Møller, Federica Cataldini, Jörg Schmiedmayer

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 025 (2024) · published 7 May 2024 | · pdf

In the hydrodynamics of integrable models, diffusion is a subleading correction to ballistic propagation. Here we quantify the diffusive contribution for one-dimensional Bose gases and find it most influential in the crossover between the main thermodynamic regimes of the gas. Analysing the experimentally measured dynamics of a single density mode, we find diffusion to be relevant only for high wavelength excitations. Instead, the observed relaxation is solely caused by a ballistically driven dephasing process, whose time scale is related to the phonon lifetime of the system and is thus useful to evaluate the applicability of the phonon bases typically used in quantum field simulators.
The quantum cartpole: A benchmark environment for non-linear reinforcement learning

Kai Meinerz, Simon Trebst, Mark Rudner, Evert van Nieuwenburg

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 026 (2024) · published 7 May 2024 | · pdf

Feedback-based control is the de-facto standard when it comes to controlling classical stochastic systems and processes. However, standard feedback-based control methods are challenged by quantum systems due to measurement induced backaction and partial observability. Here we remedy this by using weak quantum measurements and model-free reinforcement learning agents to perform quantum control. By comparing control algorithms with and without state estimators to stabilize a quantum particle in an unstable state near a local potential energy maximum, we show how a trade-off between state estimation and controllability arises. For the scenario where the classical analogue is highly nonlinear, the reinforcement learned controller has an advantage over the standard controller. Additionally, we demonstrate the feasibility of using transfer learning to develop a quantum control agent trained via reinforcement learning on a classical surrogate of the quantum control problem. Finally, we present results showing how the reinforcement learning control strategy differs from the classical controller in the non-linear scenarios.
Entanglement negativity and defect extremal surface

Yilu Shao, Ma-Ke Yuan, Yang Zhou

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 027 (2024) · published 8 May 2024 | · pdf

We study entanglement negativity for evaporating black hole based on the holographic model with defect brane. We introduce a defect extremal surface formula for entanglement negativity. Based on partial reduction, we show the equivalence between defect extremal surface formula and island formula for entanglement negativity in AdS$_3$/BCFT$_2$. Extending the study to the model of eternal black hole plus CFT bath, we find that black hole-black hole negativity decreases until vanishing, left black hole-left radiation negativity is always a constant, radiation-radiation negativity increases and then saturates at a time later than Page time. In all the time dependent cases, defect extremal surface formula agrees with island formula.
Quantum Monte Carlo simulation of the 3D Ising transition on the fuzzy sphere

Johannes Stephan Hofmann, Florian Goth, Wei Zhu, Yin-Chen He, Emilie Huffman

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 028 (2024) · published 9 May 2024 | · pdf

We present a numerical quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method for simulating the 3D phase transition on the recently proposed fuzzy sphere [Phys. Rev. X 13, 021009 (2023)]. By introducing an additional SU(2) layer degree of freedom, we reformulate the model into a form suitable for sign-problem-free QMC simulation. From the finite-size-scaling, we show that this QMC-friendly model undergoes a quantum phase transition belonging to the 3D Ising universality class, and at the critical point we compute the scaling dimensions from the state-operator correspondence, which largely agrees with the prediction from the conformal field theory. These results pave the way to construct sign-problem-free models for QMC simulations on the fuzzy sphere, which could advance the future study on more sophisticated criticalities.