Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Optimizing Clifford gate generation for measurement-only topological quantum computation with Majorana zero modes

  Alan Tran, Alex Bocharov, Bela Bauer, Parsa Bonderson

  SciPost Phys. 8, 091 (2020) · published 24 June 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  One of the main challenges for quantum computation is that while the number of gates required to perform a non-trivial quantum computation may be very large, decoherence and errors in realistic quantum architectures limit the number of physical gate operations that can be performed coherently. Therefore, an optimal mapping of the quantum algorithm into the physically available set of operations is of crucial importance. We examine this problem for a measurement-only topological quantum computer based on Majorana zero modes, where gates are performed through sequences of measurements. Such a scheme has been proposed as a practical, scalable approach to process quantum information in an array of topological qubits built using Majorana zero modes. Building on previous work that has shown that multi-qubit Clifford gates can be enacted in a topologically protected fashion in such qubit networks, we discuss methods to obtain the optimal measurement sequence for a given Clifford gate under the constraints imposed by the physical architecture, such as layout and the relative difficulty of implementing different types of measurements. Our methods also provide tools for comparative analysis of different architectures and strategies, given experimental characterizations of particular aspects of the systems under consideration. As a further non-trivial demonstration, we discuss an implementation of the surface code in Majorana-based topological qubits. We use the techniques developed here to obtain an optimized measurement sequence that implements the stabilizer measurements using only fermionic parity measurements on nearest-neighbor topological qubit islands.

  9 citations

• A guide for deploying Deep Learning in LHC searches: How to achieve optimality and account for uncertainty

  Benjamin Nachman

  SciPost Phys. 8, 090 (2020) · published 23 June 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Deep learning tools can incorporate all of the available information into a search for new particles, thus making the best use of the available data. This paper reviews how to optimally integrate information with deep learning and explicitly describes the corresponding sources of uncertainty. Simple illustrative examples show how these concepts can be applied in practice.

  33 citations

• Breaking away from the near horizon of extreme Kerr

  Alejandra Castro, Victor Godet

  SciPost Phys. 8, 089 (2020) · published 17 June 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study gravitational perturbations around the near horizon geometry of the (near) extreme Kerr black hole. By considering a consistent truncation for the metric fluctuations, we obtain a solution to the linearized Einstein equations. The dynamics is governed by two master fields which, in the context of the nAdS$_2$/nCFT$_1$ correspondence, are both irrelevant operators of conformal dimension $\Delta=2$. These fields control the departure from extremality by breaking the conformal symmetry of the near horizon region. One of the master fields is tied to large diffeomorphisms of the near horizon, with its equations of motion compatible with a Schwarzian effective action. The other field is essential for a consistent description of the geometry away from the horizon.

  23 citations

• Beurling-Selberg extremization and modular bootstrap at high energies

  Baur Mukhametzhanov, Sridip Pal

  SciPost Phys. 8, 088 (2020) · published 17 June 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider previously derived upper and lower bounds on the number of operators in a window of scaling dimensions $[\Delta - \delta,\Delta + \delta]$ at asymptotically large $\Delta$ in 2d unitary modular invariant CFTs. These bounds depend on a choice of functions that majorize and minorize the characteristic function of the interval $[\Delta - \delta,\Delta + \delta]$ and have Fourier transforms of finite support. The optimization of the bounds over this choice turns out to be exactly the Beurling-Selberg extremization problem, widely known in analytic number theory. We review solutions of this problem and present the corresponding bounds on the number of operators for any $\delta \geq 0$. When $2\delta \in \mathbb Z_{\geq 0}$ the bounds are saturated by known partition functions with integer-spaced spectra. Similar results apply to operators of fixed spin and Virasoro primaries in $c>1$ theories.

  25 citations

• Detecting nematic order in STM/STS data with artificial intelligence

  Jeremy B. Goetz, Yi Zhang, Michael J. Lawler

  SciPost Phys. 8, 087 (2020) · published 15 June 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Detecting the subtle yet phase defining features in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy data remains an important challenge in quantum materials. We meet the challenge of detecting nematic order from local density of states data with supervised machine learning and artificial neural networks for the difficult scenario without sharp features such as visible lattice Bragg peaks or Friedel oscillation signatures in the Fourier transform spectrum. We train the artificial neural networks to classify simulated data of isotropic and anisotropic two-dimensional metals in the presence of disorder. The supervised machine learning succeeds only with at least one hidden layer in the ANN architecture, demonstrating it is a higher level of complexity than nematic order detected from Bragg peaks which requires just two neurons. We apply the finalized ANN to experimental STM data on CaFe2As2, and it predicts nematic symmetry breaking with 99% confidence (probability 0.99), in agreement with previous analysis. Our results suggest ANNs could be a useful tool for the detection of nematic order in STM data and a variety of other forms of symmetry breaking.

  5 citations

• Traveling skyrmions in chiral antiferromagnets

  Stavros Komineas, Nikos Papanicolaou

  SciPost Phys. 8, 086 (2020) · published 9 June 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Skyrmions in antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials with the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction are expected to exist for essentially the same reasons as in DM ferromagnets (FM). It is shown that skyrmions in antiferromagnets with the DM interaction can be traveling as solitary waves with velocities up to a maximum value that depends on the DM parameter. Their configuration is found numerically. The energy and the linear momentum of an AFM skyrmion lead to a proper definition of its mass. We give the details of the energy-momentum dispersion of traveling skyrmions and explore their particle-like character based on exact relations. The skyrmion number, known to be linked to the dynamics of topological solitons in FM, is, here, unrelated to the dynamical behavior. As a result, the solitonic behavior of skyrmions in AFM is in stark contrast to the dynamical behavior of their FM counterparts

  16 citations

• Bootstrapping mixed correlators in three-dimensional cubic theories II

  Stefanos R. Kousvos, Andreas Stergiou

  SciPost Phys. 8, 085 (2020) · published 9 June 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Conformal field theories (CFTs) with cubic global symmetry in 3D are relevant in a variety of condensed matter systems and have been studied extensively with the use of perturbative methods like the $\varepsilon$ expansion. In an earlier work, we used the nonperturbative numerical conformal bootstrap to provide evidence for the existence of a previously unknown 3D CFT with cubic symmetry, dubbed "Platonic CFT". In this work, we make further use of the numerical conformal bootstrap to perform a three-dimensional scan in the space of scaling dimensions of three low-lying operators. We find a three-dimensional isolated allowed region in parameter space, which includes both the 3D (decoupled) Ising model and the Platonic CFT. The essential assumptions on the spectrum of operators used to provide the isolated allowed region include the existence of a stress-energy tensor and the irrelevance of certain operators (in the renormalization group sense).

  17 citations

• $\mathcal{N}=2$ minimal models: A holographic needle in a symmetric orbifold haystack

  Alexandre Belin, Nathan Benjamin, Alejandra Castro, Sarah M. Harrison, Christoph A. Keller

  SciPost Phys. 8, 084 (2020) · published 3 June 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We explore large-$N$ symmetric orbifolds of the $\mathcal N=2$ minimal models, and find evidence that their moduli spaces each contain a supergravity point. We identify single-trace exactly marginal operators that deform them away from the symmetric orbifold locus. We also show that their elliptic genera exhibit slow growth consistent with supergravity spectra in AdS$_3$. We thus propose an infinite family of new holographic CFTs.

  18 citations

• Bounds on the entanglement entropy by the number entropy in non-interacting fermionic systems

  Maximilian Kiefer-Emmanouilidis, Razmik Unanyan, Jesko Sirker, Michael Fleischhauer

  SciPost Phys. 8, 083 (2020) · published 3 June 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Entanglement in a pure state of a many-body system can be characterized by the R\'enyi entropies $S^{(\alpha)}=\ln\textrm{tr}(\rho^\alpha)/(1-\alpha)$ of the reduced density matrix $\rho$ of a subsystem. These entropies are, however, difficult to access experimentally and can typically be determined for small systems only. Here we show that for free fermionic systems in a Gaussian state and with particle number conservation, $\ln S^{(2)}$ can be tightly bound---from above and below---by the much easier accessible R\'enyi number entropy $S^{(2)}_N=-\ln \sum_n p^2(n)$ which is a function of the probability distribution $p(n)$ of the total particle number in the considered subsystem only. A dynamical growth in entanglement, in particular, is therefore always accompanied by a growth---albeit logarithmically slower---of the number entropy. We illustrate this relation by presenting numerical results for quenches in non-interacting one-dimensional lattice models including disorder-free, Anderson-localized, and critical systems with off-diagonal disorder.

  45 citations

• Ferromagnetism of LaCoO$_3$ films

  Andrii Sotnikov, Kyo-Hoon Ahn, Jan Kuneš

  SciPost Phys. 8, 082 (2020) · published 2 June 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We study ferromagnetic ordering and microscopic inhomogeneity in tensile strained LaCoO$_3$ using numerical simulations. We argue that both phenomena originate from effective superexchange interactions between atoms in the high-spin (HS) state mediated by the intermediate-spin excitations. We derive a model of the HS excitation as a bare atomic state dressed by electron and electron-hole fluctuations on the neighbor atoms. We construct a series of approximations to account for electron correlation effects responsible for HS fluctuations and magnetic exchange. The obtained amplitudes and directional dependence of magnetic couplings between the "dressed" HS states show a qualitative agreement with experimental observations and provide a new physical picture of LaCoO$_3$ films.

  4 citations