Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Exploring the vortex phase diagram of Bogoliubov-de Gennes disordered superconductors

  Bo Fan (范波), Antonio Miguel García García

  SciPost Phys. 15, 196 (2023) · published 15 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study the interplay of vortices and disorder in a two-dimensional disordered superconductor at zero temperature described by the Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) self-consistent formalism for lattices of sizes up to 100×100 where the magnetic flux is introduced by the Peierls substitution. We model substantially larger lattice size than in previous approaches (≤36×36) which has allowed us to identify a rich phase diagram as a function of the magnetic flux and the disorder strength. For sufficiently weak disorder, and not too strong magnetic flux, we observe a slightly distorted Abrikosov triangular vortex lattice. An increase in the magnetic flux leads to an unexpected rectangular vortex lattice. A further increase in disorder, or flux, gradually destroys the lattice symmetry though strong vortex repulsion persists. An even stronger disorder leads to deformed single vortices with an inhomogeneous core. As the number of vortices increases, vortex overlap becomes more frequent. Finally, we show that global phase coherence is a feature of all these phases and that disorder enhances substantially the critical magnetic flux with respect to the clean limit with a maximum on the metallic side of the insulating transition.

  2 citations

• Variational quantum gate optimization at the pulse level

  Sean Greenaway, Francesco Petiziol, Hongzheng Zhao, Florian Mintert

  SciPost Phys. 16, 082 (2024) · published 22 March 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We experimentally investigate the viability of a variational quantum gate optimization protocol informed by the underlying physical Hamiltonian of fixed-frequency transmon qubits. Through the successful experimental optimization of two and three qubit quantum gates the utility of the scheme for obtaining gates based on static effective Hamiltonians is demonstrated. The limits of such a strategy are investigated through the optimization of a time-dependent, Floquet-engineered gate, however parameter drift is identified as a key limiting factor preventing the implementation of such a scheme which the variational optimization protocol is unable to overcome.

  2 citations

• Pressure-induced transitions in FePS$_3$: Structural, magnetic and electronic properties

  Shiyu Deng, Siyu Chen, Bartomeu Monserrat, Emilio Artacho, Siddharth S. Saxena

  SciPost Phys. 15, 020 (2023) · published 20 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  FePS$_3$ is a prototype van der Waals layered antiferromagnet and a Mott insulator under ambient conditions, which has been recently reported to go through a pressure-induced dimensionality crossover and an insulator-to-metal transition. These transitions also lead to the appearance of a novel magnetic metallic state. To further understand these emergent structural and physical properties, we have performed a first-principles study using van der Waals and Hubbard $U$ corrected density functional theory including a random structure search. Our computational study attempts to interpret the experimental coexistence of the low- and intermediate-pressure phases and we predict a novel high-pressure phase with distinctive dimensionality and different possible origins of metallicity.

  2 citations

• Quantum information and the C-theorem in de Sitter

  Nicolás Abate, Gonzalo Torroba

  SciPost Phys. 18, 029 (2025) · published 22 January 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Information-theoretic methods have led to significant advances in nonperturbative quantum field theory in flat space. In this work, we show that these ideas can be generalized to field theories in a fixed de Sitter space. Focusing on 1+1-dimensional field theories, we derive a boosted strong subadditivity inequality in de Sitter, and show that it implies a C-theorem for renormalization group flows. Additionally, using the relative entropy, we establish a Lorentzian bound on the entanglement and thermal entropies for a field theory inside the static patch. Finally, we discuss possible connections with recent developments using unitarity methods.

  2 citations

• Direct production of fermionic superfluids in a cavity-enhanced optical dipole trap

  Tabea N. C. Bühler, Timo Zwettler, Gaia S. Bolognini, Aurélien H. Fabre, Victor Y. Helson, Giulia Del Pace, Jean-Philippe Brantut

  SciPost Phys. 18, 133 (2025) · published 23 April 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present the production of quantum degenerate, superfluid gases of $^6$Li through direct evaporative cooling in a cavity-enhanced optical dipole trap. The entire evaporative cooling process is performed in a trap created by the TEM$_{00}$ mode of a Fabry-Pérot cavity, simultaneously driven on several successive longitudinal modes. This leads to near-complete cancellation of the inherent lattice structure along the axial direction of the cavity, as evidenced by the observation of long-lived dipole oscillations of the atomic cloud. We demonstrate the production of molecular Bose-Einstein condensates upon adiabatic conversion of a unitary Fermi gas evaporatively cooled in this trap. The lifetime and heating in the cavity trap are similar to those in a running wave dipole trap. Our system enables the optical production of ultracold samples using a total trap-laser power below $1W$, leveraging the benefits of optical resonators as dipole traps in quantum gas research while maintaining a simple resonator design and minimizing additional experimental complexity.

  2 citations

• Constructing non-Abelian quantum spin liquids using combinatorial gauge symmetry

  Dmitry Green, Claudio Chamon

  SciPost Phys. 15, 067 (2023) · published 22 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We construct Hamiltonians with only 1- and 2-body interactions that exhibit an exact non-Abelian gauge symmetry (specifically, combinatiorial gauge symmetry). Our spin Hamiltonian realizes the quantum double associated to the group of quaternions. It contains only ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic $ZZ$ interactions, plus longitudinal and transverse fields, and therefore is an explicit example of a spin Hamiltonian with no sign problem that realizes a non-Abelian topological phase. In addition to the spin model, we propose a superconducting quantum circuit version with the same symmetry.

  2 citations

• The Parisi-Sourlas uplift and infinitely many solvable 4d CFTs

  Emilio Trevisani

  SciPost Phys. 18, 056 (2025) · published 17 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Parisi-Sourlas (PS) supersymmetry is known to emerge in some models with random field type of disorder. When PS SUSY is present the $d$-dimensional theory allows for a $d-2$-dimensional description. In this paper we investigate the reversed question and we provide new indications that any given CFT$_{d-2}$ can be uplifted to a PS SUSY CFT$_{d}$. We show that any scalar four-point function of a CFT$_{d-2}$ is mapped to a set of 43 four-point functions of the uplifted CFT$_{d}$ which are related to each other by SUSY and satisfy all necessary bootstrap axioms. As a byproduct we find 43 non trivial relations between conformal blocks across dimensions. We test the uplift in generalized free field theory (GFF) and find that PS SUSY is a powerful tool to bootstrap an infinite class of previously unknown GFF observables. Some of this power is shown to persist in perturbation theory around GFF. We explain why all diagonal minimal models admit an uplift and we show exact results for correlators and CFT data of the $4d$ uplift of the Ising model. Despite being strongly coupled $4d$ CFTs, the uplifted minimal models contain infinitely many conserved currents and are expected to be integrable.

  2 citations

• Estimation of the geometric measure of entanglement with Wehrl moments through artificial neural networks

  Jérôme Denis, François Damanet, John Martin

  SciPost Phys. 15, 208 (2023) · published 27 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In recent years, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have become an increasingly popular tool for studying problems in quantum theory, and in particular entanglement theory. In this work, we analyse to what extent ANNs can accurately predict the geometric measure of entanglement of symmetric multiqubit states using only a limited number of Wehrl moments (moments of the Husimi function of the state) as input, which represents partial information about the state. We consider both pure and mixed quantum states. We compare the results we obtain by training ANNs with the informed use of convergence acceleration methods. We find that even some of the most powerful convergence acceleration algorithms do not compete with ANNs when given the same input data, provided that enough data is available to train these ANNs. We also provide an experimental protocol for measuring Wehrl moments, which is state-independent. More generally, this work opens up perspectives for the estimation of entanglement measures and other SU(2)-invariant quantities, such as the Wehrl entropy, in a way that is more accessible in experiments than by means of full state tomography.

  2 citations

• First-order transition in a model of prestige bias

  Brian Skinner

  SciPost Phys. 8, 030 (2020) · published 19 February 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  One of the major benefits of belonging to a prestigious group is that it affects the way you are viewed by others. Here I use a simple mathematical model to explore the implications of this "prestige bias" when candidates undergo repeated rounds of evaluation. In the model, candidates who are evaluated most highly are admitted to a "prestige class", and their membership biases future rounds of evaluation in their favor. I use the language of Bayesian inference to describe this bias, and show that it can lead to a runaway effect in which the weight given to the prior expectation associated with a candidate's class becomes stronger with each round. Most dramatically, the strength of the prestige bias after many rounds undergoes a first-order transition as a function of the precision of the examination on which the evaluation is based.

  2 citations

• Attenuating dynamics of strongly interacting fermionic superfluids in SYK solvable models

  Tian-Gang Zhou, Pengfei Zhang

  SciPost Phys. 15, 108 (2023) · published 21 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Quench dynamics of fermionic superfluids are an active topic both experimentally and theoretically. Using the BCS theory, such non-equilibrium problems can be reduced to nearly independent spin dynamics, only with a time-dependent mean-field pairing term. This results in persisting oscillations of the pairing strength in certain parameter regimes. However, experiments have observed that the oscillations decay rapidly when the interaction becomes strong, such as in the unitary Fermi gas [Phys. Rev. Res. 3, 023205 (2021)]. Theoretical analysis on this matter is still absent. In this work, we construct an SYK-like model to analyze the effect of strong interactions in a one-dimensional BCS system. We employ the large-$N$ approximation and a Green's function-based technique to solve the equilibrium problem and quench dynamics. Our findings reveal that a strong SYK interaction suppresses the pairing order. Additionally, we verify that the system quickly thermalizes with SYK interactions, whether it involves intrinsic pairing order or proximity effect, resulting in a rapid decay of the oscillation strength. The decay rates exhibit different scaling laws against SYK interaction, which can be understood in terms of the Boltzmann equation. This work represents a first step towards understanding the attenuating dynamics of strongly interacting fermionic superfluids.

  2 citations