Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Electric conductivity in non-Hermitian holography

  Zhuo-Yu Xian, David Rodríguez Fernández, Zhaohui Chen, Yang Liu, René Meyer

  SciPost Phys. 16, 004 (2024) · published 5 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the phase structure and charge transport at finite temperature and chemical potential in the non-Hermitian $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric holographic model of [SciPost Phys. 9, 032 (2020)]. The non-Hermitian $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric deformation is realized by promoting the parameter of a global U(1) symmetry to a complex number. Depending on the strength of the deformation, we find three phases: stable $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric phase, unstable $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric phase, and an unstable $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry broken phase. In the three phases, the square of the condensate and also the spectral weight of the AC conductivity at zero frequency are, respectively, positive, negative, and complex. We check that the Ferrell-Glover-Tinkham sum rule for the AC conductivity holds in all the three phases. We also investigate a complexified U(1) rotor model with $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric deformation, derive its phase structure and condensation pattern, and find a zero frequency spectral weight analogous to the holographic model.

• Seven-dimensional super Yang-Mills at negative coupling

  Joseph A. Minahan, Usman Naseer, Charles Thull

  SciPost Phys. 14, 028 (2023) · published 6 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider the partition function for Euclidean $SU(N)$ super Yang-Mills on a squashed seven-sphere. We show that the localization locus of the partition function has instanton membrane solutions wrapping the six ``fixed" three-spheres on the $\mathbb{S}^7$. The ADHM variables of these instantons are fields living on the membrane world volume. We compute their contribution by localizing the resulting three-dimensional supersymmetric field theory. In the round-sphere limit the individual instanton contributions are singular, but the singularities cancel when adding the contributions of all six three-spheres. The full partition function on the ${\mathbb S}^7$ is well-defined even when the square of the effective Yang-Mills coupling is negative. We show for an $SU(2)$ gauge theory in this regime that the bare negative tension of the instanton membranes is canceled off by contributions from the instanton partition function, indicating the existence of tensionless membranes. We provide evidence that this phase is distinct from the usual weakly coupled super Yang-Mills and, in fact, is gravitational.

• Sustaining a temperature difference

  Matteo Polettini, Alberto Garilli

  SciPost Phys. 9, 030 (2020) · published 2 September 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We derive an expression for the minimal rate of entropy that sustains two reservoirs at different temperatures $T_0$ and $T_\ell$. The law displays an intuitive $\ell^{-1}$ dependency on the relative distance and a characterisic $\log^2 (T_\ell/T_0)$ dependency on the boundary temperatures. First we give a back-of-envelope argument based on the Fourier Law (FL) of conduction, showing that the least-dissipation profile is exponential. Then we revisit a model of a chain of oscillators, each coupled to a heat reservoir. In the limit of large damping we reobtain the exponential and squared-log behaviors, providing a self-consistent derivation of the FL. For small damping "equipartition frustration" leads to a well-known balistic behaviour, whose incompatibility with the FL posed a long-time challenge.

• Optimal control of a quantum sensor: A fast algorithm based on an analytic solution

  Santiago Hernández-Gómez, Federico Balducci, Giovanni Fasiolo, Paola Cappellaro, Nicole Fabbri, Antonello Scardicchio

  SciPost Phys. 17, 004 (2024) · published 4 July 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Quantum sensors can show unprecedented sensitivities, provided they are controlled in a very specific, optimal way. Here, we consider a spin sensor of time-varying fields in the presence of dephasing noise, and we show that the problem of finding the pulsed control field that optimizes the sensitivity (i.e., the smallest detectable signal) can be mapped to the determination of the ground state of a spin chain. We find an approximate but analytic solution of this problem, which provides a lower bound for the sensitivity and a pulsed control very close to optimal, which we further use as initial guess for realizing a fast simulated annealing algorithm. We experimentally demonstrate the sensitivity improvement for a spin-qubit magnetometer based on a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond.

• Design of a Majorana trijunction

  Juan Daniel Torres Luna, Sathish R. Kuppuswamy, Anton R. Akhmerov

  SciPost Phys. 16, 044 (2024) · published 9 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Braiding of Majorana states demonstrates their non-Abelian exchange statistics. One implementation of braiding requires control of the pairwise couplings between all Majorana states in a trijunction device. To have adiabaticity, a trijunction device requires the desired pair coupling to be sufficiently large and the undesired couplings to vanish. In this work, we design and simulate a trijunction device in a two-dimensional electron gas with a focus on the normal region that connects three Majorana states. We use an optimisation approach to find the operational regime of the device in a multi-dimensional voltage space. Using the optimization results, we simulate a braiding experiment by adiabatically coupling different pairs of Majorana states without closing the topological gap. We then evaluate the feasibility of braiding in a trijunction device for different shapes and disorder strengths.

• Electron addition spectral functions of low-density polaron liquids

  Alberto Nocera, Mona Berciu

  SciPost Phys. 15, 110 (2023) · published 22 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Spectral functions are important quantities that contain a wealth of information about the quasiparticles of a system, and that can also be measured experimentally. For systems with electron-phonon coupling, good approximations for the spectral function are available only in the Migdal limit (at Fermi energies much larger than the typical phonon frequency, $E_F\gg \Omega$, requiring a large carrier concentration $x$) and in the single polaron limit (at $x=0$). Here we show that the region with $x\ll 1$ ($E_F <\Omega$) can also be reliably investigated with the Momentum Average (MA) variational approximation, which essentially describes the formation of a polaron above an inert Fermi sea. Specifically, we show that for the one-dimensional spinless Holstein model, the MA spectral functions compare favorably with those calculated using variationally exact density matrix renormalization group simulations (DMRG) evaluated directly in frequency-space, so long as $x<0.1$ and the adiabaticity ratio $\Omega/t>0.5$. Unlike in the Migdal limit, here 'polaronic physics' emerges already at moderate couplings. The relevance of these results for a spinful low-$x$ metal is also discussed.

• Position operators and interband matrix elements of scalar and vector potentials in the 8-band Kane model

  I. A. Ado, M. Titov, Rembert A. Duine, Arne Brataas

  SciPost Phys. 17, 009 (2024) · published 10 July 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We diagonalize the 8-band Kane Hamiltonian with a proper inclusion of the interband matrix elements of the scalar and vector potentials. This leads, among other results, to a modification of the conventional expression for the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) strength in narrow-gap semiconductors with the zinc blende symmetry. We find that in GaAs, at low temperatures, the correct expression for the SOC strength is actually twice as large as usually considered. In InSb it is $1.76$ times larger. We also provide a proper treatment of the interband matrix elements of the position operator. We show that the velocity operator in a crystal should be defined as a time-derivative of a fictitious position operator rather than the physical one. We compute the expressions for both these position operators projected to the conduction band of the 8-band Kane model. We also derive an expression for the projected velocity operator and demonstrate that the SOC strength in it differs from the SOC strength in the Hamiltonian. The ratio between them is not equal to $1$, as it is often assumed for the Rashba model. It does not equal $2$ either. The correct result for this ratio is given by a rational function of the parameters of the model. This function takes values between $4(23+3\sqrt{2})/73≈ 1.49$ and $2$. Our findings modify a vast number of research results obtained using the Rashba model and provide a path for consistent treatment of the latter in future applications.

• A quantum register using collective excitations in a Bose-Einstein condensate

  Elisha Haber, Zekai Chen, Nicholas P. Bigelow

  SciPost Phys. 15, 188 (2023) · published 8 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A qubit made up of an ensemble of atoms is attractive due to its resistance to atom losses. In this work, we consider an experimentally feasible protocol to coherently load a spin-dependent optical lattice from a spatially overlapping Bose-Einstein condensate. Identifying each lattice site as a qubit, with an empty or filled site as the qubit basis, we discuss how high-fidelity single-qubit operations, two-qubit gates between arbitrary pairs of qubits, and nondestructive measurements could be performed. In this setup, the effect of atom losses has been mitigated, the atoms never need to be removed from the ground state manifold, and separate storage and computational bases for the qubits are not required, all of which can be significant sources of decoherence in many other types of atomic qubits.

• Quasi-particle functional renormalisation group calculations in the two-dimensional t-t'-Hubbard model

  Daniel Rohe

  SciPost Phys. 15, 192 (2023) · published 13 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We extend and apply a recently introduced quasi-particle functional renormalisation group scheme to the two-dimensional Hubbard model with next-nearest-neighbour hopping and away from half filling. We confirm the generation of superconducting correlations in some regions of the phase diagram, but also find that the inclusion of self-energy feedback by means of a decreasing quasi-particle weight can suppress superconducting tendencies more than anti-ferromagnetic correlations by which they are generated. As a supplement, we provide sample results for the self-energy in second-order perturbation theory and address some conceptual matters.

• Quantifying non-stabilizerness via information scrambling

  Arash Ahmadi, Eliska Greplova

  SciPost Phys. 16, 043 (2024) · published 8 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The advent of quantum technologies brought forward much attention to the theoretical characterization of the computational resources they provide. A method to quantify quantum resources is to use a class of functions called magic monotones and stabilizer entropies, which are, however, notoriously hard and impractical to evaluate for large system sizes. In recent studies, a fundamental connection between information scrambling, the magic monotone mana and 2-Renyi stabilizer entropy was established. This connection simplified magic monotone calculation, but this class of methods still suffers from exponential scaling with respect to the number of qubits. In this work, we establish a way to sample an out-of-time-order correlator that approximates magic monotones and 2-Renyi stabilizer entropy. We numerically show the relation of these sampled correlators to different non-stabilizerness measures for both qubit and qutrit systems and provide an analytical relation to 2-Renyi stabilizer entropy. Furthermore, we put forward and simulate a protocol to measure the monotonic behaviour of magic for the time evolution of local Hamiltonians.