Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Screw dislocations in the X-cube fracton model

  Nandagopal Manoj, Kevin Slagle, Wilbur Shirley, Xie Chen

  SciPost Phys. 10, 094 (2021) · published 29 April 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The X-cube model, a prototypical gapped fracton model, has been shown to have a foliation structure. That is, inside the 3+1D model, there are hidden layers of 2+1D gapped topological states. A screw dislocation in a 3+1D lattice can often reveal nontrivial features associated with a layered structure. In this paper, we study the X-cube model on lattices with screw dislocations. In particular, we find that a screw dislocation results in a finite change in the logarithm of the ground state degeneracy of the model. Part of the change can be traced back to the effect of screw dislocations in a simple stack of 2+1D topological states, hence corroborating the foliation structure in the model. The other part of the change comes from the induced motion of fractons or sub-dimensional excitations along the dislocation, a feature absent in the stack of 2+1D layers.

  9 citations

• Dimer description of the SU(4) antiferromagnet on the triangular lattice

  Anna Keselman, Lucile Savary, Leon Balents

  SciPost Phys. 8, 076 (2020) · published 13 May 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In systems with many local degrees of freedom, high-symmetry points in the phase diagram can provide an important starting point for the investigation of their properties throughout the phase diagram. In systems with both spin and orbital (or valley) degrees of freedom such a starting point gives rise to SU(4)-symmetric models. Here we consider SU(4)-symmetric "spin" models, corresponding to Mott phases at half-filling, i.e. the six-dimensional representation of SU(4). This may be relevant to twisted multilayer graphene. In particular, we study the SU(4) antiferromagnetic "Heisenberg" model on the triangular lattice, both in the classical limit and in the quantum regime. Carrying out a numerical study using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG), we argue that the ground state is non-magnetic. We then derive a dimer expansion of the SU(4) spin model. An exact diagonalization (ED) study of the effective dimer model suggests that the ground state breaks translation invariance, forming a valence bond solid (VBS) with a 12-site unit cell. Finally, we consider the effect of SU(4)-symmetry breaking interactions due to Hund's coupling, and argue for a possible phase transition between a VBS and a magnetically ordered state.

  9 citations

• Critical energy landscape of linear soft spheres

  Silvio Franz, Antonio Sclocchi, Pierfrancesco Urbani

  SciPost Phys. 9, 012 (2020) · published 23 July 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We show that soft spheres interacting with a linear ramp potential when overcompressed beyond the jamming point fall in an amorphous solid phase which is critical, mechanically marginally stable and share many features with the jamming point itself. In the whole phase, the relevant local minima of the potential energy landscape display an isostatic contact network of perfectly touching spheres whose statistics is controlled by an infinite lengthscale. Excitations around such energy minima are non-linear, system spanning, and characterized by a set of non-trivial critical exponents. We perform numerical simulations to measure their values and show that, while they coincide, within numerical precision, with the critical exponents appearing at jamming, the nature of the corresponding excitations is richer. Therefore, linear soft spheres appear as a novel class of finite dimensional systems that self-organize into new, critical, marginally stable, states.

  9 citations

• Ab initio electron-lattice downfolding: Potential energy landscapes, anharmonicity, and molecular dynamics in charge density wave materials

  Arne Schobert, Jan Berges, Erik G. C. P. van Loon, Michael A. Sentef, Sergey Brener, Mariana Rossi, Tim O. Wehling

  SciPost Phys. 16, 046 (2024) · published 9 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The interplay of electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom presents an outstanding problem in condensed matter physics and chemistry. Computational challenges arise especially for large systems, long time scales, in nonequilibrium, or in systems with strong correlations. In this work, we show how downfolding approaches facilitate complexity reduction on the electronic side and thereby boost the simulation of electronic properties and nuclear motion-in particular molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Three different downfolding strategies based on constraining, unscreening, and combinations thereof are benchmarked against full density functional calculations for selected charge density wave (CDW) systems, namely 1H-TaS$_2$, 1T-TiSe$_2$, 1H-NbS$_2$, and a one-dimensional carbon chain. We find that the downfolded models can reproduce potential energy surfaces on supercells accurately and facilitate computational speedup in MD simulations by about five orders of magnitude in comparison to purely ab initio calculations. For monolayer 1H-TaS$_2$ we report classical and path integral replica exchange MD simulations, revealing the impact of thermal and quantum fluctuations on the CDW transition.

  9 citations

• Majorana bound states in encapsulated bilayer graphene

  Fernando Peñaranda, Ramón Aguado, Elsa Prada, Pablo San-Jose

  SciPost Phys. 14, 075 (2023) · published 18 April 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The search for robust topological superconductivity and Majorana bound states continues, exploring both one-dimensional (1D) systems such as semiconducting nanowires and two-dimensional (2D) platforms. In this work we study a 2D approach based on graphene bilayers encapsulated in transition metal dichalcogenides that, unlike previous proposals involving the Quantum Hall regime in graphene, requires weaker magnetic fields and does not rely on interactions. The encapsulation induces strong spin-orbit coupling on the graphene bilayer, which opens a sizeable gap and stabilizes fragile pairs of helical edge states. We show that, when subject to an in-plane Zeeman field, armchair edges can be transformed into p-wave one-dimensional topological superconductors by contacting them laterally with conventional superconductors. We demonstrate the emergence of Majorana bound states (MBSs) at the sample corners of crystallographically perfect flakes, belonging either to the D or the BDI symmetry classes depending on parameters. We compute the phase diagram, the resilience of MBSs against imperfections, and their manifestation as a 4$\pi$-periodic effect in Josephson junction geometries, all suggesting the existence of a topological phase within experimental reach.

  9 citations

• Many-body Bell inequalities for bosonic qubits

  Jan Chwedenczuk

  SciPost Phys. Core 5, 025 (2022) · published 29 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Since John Bell formulated his paramount inequality for a pair of spin-$1/2$ particles, quantum mechanics has been confronted with the postulates of local realism with various equivalent configurations. Current technology, with its advanced manipulation and detection methods, allows to extend the Bell tests to more complex structures. The aim of this work is to analyze a set of Bell inequalities suitable for a possibly broad family of many-body systems with the focus on bosonic qubits. We develop a method that allows for a step-by-step study of the many-body Bell correlations, for instance among atoms forming a two-mode Bose-Einstein condensate or between photons obtained from the parametric-down conversion. The presented approach is valid both for cases of fixed and non-fixed number of particles, hence it allows for a thorough analysis of quantum correlations in a variety of many-body systems.

  9 citations

• Shallow trimers of two identical fermions and one particle in resonant regimes

  Pascal Naidon, Ludovic Pricoupenko, Christiane Schmickler

  SciPost Phys. 12, 185 (2022) · published 7 June 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider two identical fermions interacting in the p-wave channel. Each fermion also interacts with another particle in the vicinity of an s-wave resonance. We find that in addition to the Kartavtsev-Malykh universal trimer states resulting from the s-wave particle-fermion interaction, the fermion-fermion p-wave interaction induces one or two shallow trimers in a large domain of the control parameters, including a borromean regime where the ground-state trimer exists in the absence of dimers at any mass ratio between the fermions and the particle. A generic picture of the trimer spectrum emerges from this work in terms of the low-energy parameters of the interactions.

  9 citations

• Classical Casimir free energy for two Drude spheres of arbitrary radii: A plane-wave approach

  Tanja Schoger, Gert-Ludwig Ingold

  SciPost Phys. Core 4, 011 (2021) · published 4 May 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We derive an exact analytic expression for the high-temperature limit of the Casimir interaction between two Drude spheres of arbitrary radii. Specifically, we determine the Casimir free energy by using the scattering approach in the plane-wave basis. Within a round-trip expansion, we are led to consider the combinatorics of certain partitions of the round trips. The relation between the Casimir free energy and the capacitance matrix of two spheres is discussed. Previously known results for the special cases of a sphere-plane geometry as well as two spheres of equal radii are recovered. An asymptotic expansion for small distances between the two spheres is determined and analytical expressions for the coefficients are given.

  9 citations

• Optically detected magnetic resonance with an open source platform

  Hossein Babashah, Hoda Shirzad, Elena Losero, Valentin Goblot, Christophe Galland, Mayeul Chipaux

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 065 (2023) · published 9 October 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Localized electronic spins in solid-state environments form versatile and robust platforms for quantum sensing, metrology and quantum information processing. With optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR), it is possible to prepare and readout highly coherent spin systems, up to room temperature, with orders of magnitude enhanced sensitivities and spatial resolutions compared to induction-based techniques, allowing for single spin manipulations. While ODMR was first observed in organic molecules, many other systems have since then been identified. Among them is the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, which is used both as a nanoscale quantum sensor for external fields and as a spin qubit. Other systems permitting ODMR are rare earth ions used as quantum memories and many other color centers trapped in bulk or 2-dimensional host materials. In order to allow the broadest possible community of researchers and engineers to investigate and develop novel ODMR-based materials and applications, we review here the setting up of ODMR experiments using commercially available hardware. We also present in detail the dedicated collaborative open-source interface named Qudi and describe the features we added to speed-up data acquisition, relax instrument requirements and extend its applicability to ensemble measurements. Covering both hardware and software development, this article aims to overview the setting of ODMR experiments and provide an efficient, portable and collaborative interface to implement innovative experiments to optimize the development time of ODMR experiments for scientists of any backgrounds.

  9 citations

• Holographic S-fold theories at one loop

  Connor Behan

  SciPost Phys. 12, 149 (2022) · published 6 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A common feature of tree-level holography is that a correlator in one theory can serve as a generating function for correlators in another theory with less continuous symmetry. This is the case for a family of 4d CFTs with eight supercharges which have protected operators dual to gluons in the bulk. The most recent additions to this family were defined using S-folds which combine a spatial identification with an action of the S-duality group in type IIB string theory. Differences between these CFTs which have a dynamical origin first become manifest at one loop. To explore this phenomenon at the level of anomalous dimensions, we use the AdS unitarity method to bootstrap a one-loop double discontinuity. Compared to previous studies, the subsequent analysis is performed without any assumption about which special functions are allowed. Instead, the Casimir singular and Casimir regular terms are extracted iteratively in order to move from one Regge trajectory to the next. Our results show that anomalous dimensions in the presence of an S-fold are no longer rational functions of the spin.

  9 citations