Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Information dynamics in a model with Hilbert space fragmentation

  Dominik Hahn, Paul A. McClarty, David J. Luitz

  SciPost Phys. 11, 074 (2021) · published 6 October 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The fully frustrated ladder - a quasi-1D geometrically frustrated spin one half Heisenberg model - is non-integrable with local conserved quantities on rungs of the ladder, inducing the fragmentation of the Hilbert space into sectors composed of singlets and triplets on rungs. We explore the far-from-equilibrium dynamics of this model through the entanglement entropy and out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOC). The post-quench dynamics of the entanglement entropy is highly anomalous as it shows clear non-damped revivals that emerge from short connected chunks of triplets and whose persistence is therefore a consequence of fragmentation. We find that the maximum value of the entropy follows from a picture where coherences between different fragments co-exist with perfect thermalization within each fragment. This means that the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis holds within all sufficiently large Hilbert space fragments. The OTOC shows short distance oscillations arising from short coupled fragments, which become decoherent at longer distances, and a sub-ballistic spreading and long distance exponential decay stemming from an emergent length scale tied to fragmentation.

  24 citations

• Lattice Bisognano-Wichmann modular Hamiltonian in critical quantum spin chains

  Jiaju Zhang, Pasquale Calabrese, Marcello Dalmonte, M. A. Rajabpour

  SciPost Phys. Core 2, 007 (2020) · published 7 May 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We carry out a comprehensive comparison between the exact modular Hamiltonian and the lattice version of the Bisognano-Wichmann (BW) one in one-dimensional critical quantum spin chains. As a warm-up, we first illustrate how the trace distance provides a more informative mean of comparison between reduced density matrices when compared to any other Schatten $n$-distance, normalized or not. In particular, as noticed in earlier works, it provides a way to bound other correlation functions in a precise manner, i.e., providing both lower and upper bounds. Additionally, we show that two close reduced density matrices, i.e. with zero trace distance for large sizes, can have very different modular Hamiltonians. This means that, in terms of describing how two states are close to each other, it is more informative to compare their reduced density matrices rather than the corresponding modular Hamiltonians. After setting this framework, we consider the ground states for infinite and periodic XX spin chain and critical Ising chain. We provide robust numerical evidence that the trace distance between the lattice BW reduced density matrix and the exact one goes to zero as $\ell^{-2}$ for large length of the interval $\ell$. This provides strong constraints on the difference between the corresponding entanglement entropies and correlation functions. Our results indicate that discretized BW reduced density matrices reproduce exact entanglement entropies and correlation functions of local operators in the limit of large subsystem sizes. Finally, we show that the BW reduced density matrices fall short of reproducing the exact behavior of the logarithmic emptiness formation probability in the ground state of the XX spin chain.

  23 citations

• Scars from protected zero modes and beyond in $U(1)$ quantum link and quantum dimer models

  Saptarshi Biswas, Debasish Banerjee, Arnab Sen

  SciPost Phys. 12, 148 (2022) · published 6 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We demonstrate the presence of anomalous high-energy eigenstates, or many-body scars, in $U(1)$ quantum link and quantum dimer models on square and rectangular lattices. In particular, we consider the paradigmatic Rokhsar-Kivelson Hamiltonian $H=\mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{kin}} + \lambda \mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{pot}}$ where $\mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{pot}}$ ($\mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{kin}}$) is defined as a sum of terms on elementary plaquettes that are diagonal (off-diagonal) in the computational basis. Both these interacting models possess an exponentially large number of mid-spectrum zero modes in system size at $\lambda=0$ that are protected by an index theorem preventing any mixing with the nonzero modes at this coupling. We classify different types of scars for $|\lambda| \lesssim \mathcal{O}(1)$ both at zero and finite winding number sectors complementing and significantly generalizing our previous work [Banerjee and Sen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 220601 (2021)]. The scars at finite $\lambda$ show a rich variety with those that are composed solely from the zero modes of $\mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{kin}}$, those that contain an admixture of both the zero and the nonzero modes of $\mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{kin}}$, and finally those composed solely from the nonzero modes of $\mathcal{O}_{\mathrm{kin}}$. We give analytic expressions for certain "lego scars" for the quantum dimer model on rectangular lattices where one of the linear dimensions can be made arbitrarily large, with the building blocks (legos) being composed of emergent singlets and other more complicated entangled structures.

  23 citations

• Bosonic and fermionic Gaussian states from Kähler structures

  Lucas Hackl, Eugenio Bianchi

  SciPost Phys. Core 4, 025 (2021) · published 22 September 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We show that bosonic and fermionic Gaussian states (also known as "squeezed coherent states") can be uniquely characterized by their linear complex structure $J$ which is a linear map on the classical phase space. This extends conventional Gaussian methods based on covariance matrices and provides a unified framework to treat bosons and fermions simultaneously. Pure Gaussian states can be identified with the triple $(G,\Omega,J)$ of compatible K\"ahler structures, consisting of a positive definite metric $G$, a symplectic form $\Omega$ and a linear complex structure $J$ with $J^2=-1\!\!1$. Mixed Gaussian states can also be identified with such a triple, but with $J^2\neq -1\!\!1$. We apply these methods to show how computations involving Gaussian states can be reduced to algebraic operations of these objects, leading to many known and some unknown identities. We apply these methods to the study of (A) entanglement and complexity, (B) dynamics of stable systems, (C) dynamics of driven systems. From this, we compile a comprehensive list of mathematical structures and formulas to compare bosonic and fermionic Gaussian states side-by-side.

  23 citations

• Relating the topology of Dirac Hamiltonians to quantum geometry: When the quantum metric dictates Chern numbers and winding numbers

  Bruno Mera, Anwei Zhang, Nathan Goldman

  SciPost Phys. 12, 018 (2022) · published 12 January 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Quantum geometry has emerged as a central and ubiquitous concept in quantum sciences, with direct consequences on quantum metrology and many-body quantum physics. In this context, two fundamental geometric quantities are known to play complementary roles: the Fubini-Study metric, which introduces a notion of distance between quantum states defined over a parameter space, and the Berry curvature associated with Berry-phase effects and topological band structures. In fact, recent studies have revealed direct relations between these two important quantities, suggesting that topological properties can, in special cases, be deduced from the quantum metric. In this work, we establish general and exact relations between the quantum metric and the topological invariants of generic Dirac Hamiltonians. In particular, we demonstrate that topological indices (Chern numbers or winding numbers) are bounded by the quantum volume determined by the quantum metric. Our theoretical framework, which builds on the Clifford algebra of Dirac matrices, is applicable to topological insulators and semimetals of arbitrary spatial dimensions, with or without chiral symmetry. This work clarifies the role of the Fubini-Study metric in topological states of matter, suggesting unexplored topological responses and metrological applications in a broad class of quantum-engineered systems.

  23 citations

• Unruh effect for interacting particles with ultracold atoms

  Arkadiusz Kosior, Maciej Lewenstein, Alessio Celi

  SciPost Phys. 5, 061 (2018) · published 11 December 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The Unruh effect is a quantum relativistic effect where the accelerated observer perceives the vacuum as a thermal state. Here we propose the experimental realization of the Unruh effect for interacting ultracold fermions in optical lattices by a sudden quench resulting in vacuum acceleration with varying interactions strengths in the real temperature background. We observe the inversion of statistics for the low lying excitations in the Wightman function as a result of competition between the spacetime and BCS Bogoliubov transformations. This paper opens up new perspectives for simulators of quantum gravity.

  23 citations

• Induced density correlations in a sonic black hole condensate

  Yi-Hsieh Wang, Ted Jacobson, Mark Edwards, Charles W. Clark

  SciPost Phys. 3, 022 (2017) · published 26 September 2017 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Analog black/white hole pairs, consisting of a region of supersonic flow, have been achieved in a recent experiment by J. Steinhauer using an elongated Bose-Einstein condensate. A growing standing density wave, and a checkerboard feature in the density-density correlation function, were observed in the supersonic region. We model the density-density correlation function, taking into account both quantum fluctuations and the shot-to-shot variation of atom number normally present in ultracold-atom experiments. We find that quantum fluctuations alone produce some, but not all, of the features of the correlation function, whereas atom-number fluctuation alone can produce all the observed features, and agreement is best when both are included. In both cases, the density-density correlation is not intrinsic to the fluctuations, but rather is induced by modulation of the standing wave caused by the fluctuations.

  22 citations

• Floquet conformal field theories with generally deformed Hamiltonians

  Ruihua Fan, Yingfei Gu, Ashvin Vishwanath, Xueda Wen

  SciPost Phys. 10, 049 (2021) · published 25 February 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this work, we study non-equilibrium dynamics in Floquet conformal field theories (CFTs) in 1+1D, in which the driving Hamiltonian involves the energy-momentum density spatially modulated by an arbitrary smooth function. This generalizes earlier work which was restricted to the sine-square deformed type of Floquet Hamiltonians, operating within a $\mathfrak{sl}_2$ sub-algebra. Here we show remarkably that the problem remains soluble in this generalized case which involves the full Virasoro algebra, based on a geometrical approach. It is found that the phase diagram is determined by the stroboscopic trajectories of operator evolution. The presence/absence of spatial fixed points in the operator evolution indicates that the driven CFT is in a heating/non-heating phase, in which the entanglement entropy grows/oscillates in time. Additionally, the heating regime is further subdivided into a multitude of phases, with different entanglement patterns and spatial distribution of energy-momentum density, which are characterized by the number of spatial fixed points. Phase transitions between these different heating phases can be achieved simply by changing the duration of application of the driving Hamiltonian. We demonstrate the general features with concrete CFT examples and compare the results to lattice calculations and find remarkable agreement.

  22 citations

• QuCumber: wavefunction reconstruction with neural networks

  Matthew J. S. Beach, Isaac De Vlugt, Anna Golubeva, Patrick Huembeli, Bohdan Kulchytskyy, Xiuzhe Luo, Roger G. Melko, Ejaaz Merali, Giacomo Torlai

  SciPost Phys. 7, 009 (2019) · published 16 July 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  As we enter a new era of quantum technology, it is increasingly important to develop methods to aid in the accurate preparation of quantum states for a variety of materials, matter, and devices. Computational techniques can be used to reconstruct a state from data, however the growing number of qubits demands ongoing algorithmic advances in order to keep pace with experiments. In this paper, we present an open-source software package called QuCumber that uses machine learning to reconstruct a quantum state consistent with a set of projective measurements. QuCumber uses a restricted Boltzmann machine to efficiently represent the quantum wavefunction for a large number of qubits. New measurements can be generated from the machine to obtain physical observables not easily accessible from the original data.

  22 citations

• Correlations and commuting transfer matrices in integrable unitary circuits

  Pieter W. Claeys, Jonah Herzog-Arbeitman, Austen Lamacraft

  SciPost Phys. 12, 007 (2022) · published 6 January 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider a unitary circuit where the underlying gates are chosen to be R-matrices satisfying the Yang-Baxter equation and correlation functions can be expressed through a transfer matrix formalism. These transfer matrices are no longer Hermitian and differ from the ones guaranteeing local conservation laws, but remain mutually commuting at different values of the spectral parameter defining the circuit. Exact eigenstates can still be constructed as a Bethe ansatz, but while these transfer matrices are diagonalizable in the inhomogeneous case, the homogeneous limit corresponds to an exceptional point where multiple eigenstates coalesce and Jordan blocks appear. Remarkably, the complete set of (generalized) eigenstates is only obtained when taking into account a combinatorial number of nontrivial vacuum states. In all cases, the Bethe equations reduce to those of the integrable spin-1 chain and exhibit a global SU(2) symmetry, significantly reducing the total number of eigenstates required in the calculation of correlation functions. A similar construction is shown to hold for the calculation of out-of-time-order correlations.

  22 citations