Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Chaos in the vicinity of a singularity in the three-body problem: The equilateral triangle experiment in the zero angular momentum limit

  Hugo D. Parischewsky, Alessandro A. Trani, Nathan W. C. Leigh

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 016 (2023) · published 21 March 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present numerical simulations of the gravitational three-body problem, in which three particles lie at rest close to the vertices of an equilateral triangle. In the unperturbed problem, the three particles fall towards the center of mass of the system to form a three-body collision, or singularity, where the particles overlap in space and time. By perturbing the initial positions of the particles, we are able to study chaos in the vicinity of the singularity. Here we cover both the singular region close to the unperturbed configuration and the binary-single scattering regime where one side of the triangle is very short compared to the other two. We make phase space plots to study the regular and ergodic subsets of our simulations and compare them with the outcomes expected from the statistical escape theory of the three-body problem. We further provide fits to the ergodic subset to characterize the properties of the left-over binaries. We identify the discrepancy between the statistical theory and the simulations in the regular subset of interactions, which only exhibits weak chaos. As we decrease the scale of the perturbations in the initial positions, the phase space becomes entirely dominated by regular interactions, according to our metric for chaos. Finally, we show the effect of general relativity corrections by simulating the same scenario with the inclusion of post-Newtonian corrections to the equations of motion.

  2 citations

• A coupling prescription for post-Newtonian corrections in quantum mechanics

  Jelle Hartong, Emil Have, Niels A. Obers, Igor Pikovski

  SciPost Phys. 16, 088 (2024) · published 27 March 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The interplay between quantum theory and general relativity remains one of the main challenges of modern physics. A renewed interest in the low-energy limit is driven by the prospect of new experiments that could probe this interface. Here we develop a covariant framework for expressing post-Newtonian corrections to Schrödinger's equation on arbitrary gravitational backgrounds based on a $1/c^2$ expansion of Lorentzian geometry, where $c$ is the speed of light. Our framework provides a generic coupling prescription of quantum systems to gravity that is valid in the intermediate regime between Newtonian gravity and General Relativity, and that retains the focus on geometry. At each order in $1/c^2$ this produces a nonrelativistic geometry to which quantum systems at that order couple. By considering the gauge symmetries of both the nonrelativistic geometries and the $1/c^2$ expansion of the complex Klein-Gordon field, we devise a prescription that allows us to derive the Schrödinger equation and its post-Newtonian corrections on a gravitational background order-by-order in $1/c^2$. We also demonstrate that these results can be obtained from a $1/c^2$ expansion of the complex Klein-Gordon Lagrangian. We illustrate our methods by performing the $1/c^2$ expansion of the Kerr metric up to $\mathcal{O}(c^{-2})$, which leads to a special case of the Hartle-Thorne metric. The associated Schrödinger equation captures novel and potentially measurable effects.

  2 citations

• Theory of Andreev blockade in a double quantum dot with a superconducting lead

  David Pekker, Po Zhang, Sergey M. Frolov

  SciPost Phys. 11, 081 (2021) · published 22 October 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  A normal metal source reservoir can load two electrons onto a double quantum dot in the spin-triplet configuration. We show that if the drain lead of the dot is a spin-singlet superconductor, these electrons cannot form a Cooper pair and are blockaded on the double dot. We call this phenomenon Andreev blockade because it arises due to suppressed Andreev reflections. We identify transport characteristics unique to Andreev blockade. Most significantly, it occurs for any occupation of the dot adjacent to the superconductor, in contrast with the well-studied Pauli blockade which requires odd occupations. Andreev blockade is lifted if quasiparticles are allowed to enter the superconducting lead, but it should be observable in the hard gap superconductor-semiconductor devices. A recent experiment tests this model and finds support for several predictions made here [P. Zhang, H. Wu, J. Chen, S. A. Khan, P. Krogstrup, D. Pekker, and S. M. Frolov, arXiv:2102.03283 (2021)]. Andreev blockade should be considered in the design of topological quantum circuits, hybrid quantum bits and quantum emulators.

  2 citations

• Coupled Fredkin and Motzkin chains from quantum six- and nineteen-vertex models

  Zhao Zhang, Israel Klich

  SciPost Phys. 15, 044 (2023) · published 2 August 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We generalize the area-law violating models of Fredkin and Motzkin spin chains into two dimensions by building quantum six- and nineteen-vertex models with correlated interactions. The Hamiltonian is frustration free, and its projectors generate ergodic dynamics within the subspace of height configuration that are non negative. The ground state is a volume- and color-weighted superposition of classical bi-color vertex configurations with non-negative heights in the bulk and zero height on the boundary. The entanglement entropy between subsystems has a phase transition as the $q$-deformation parameter is tuned, which is shown to be robust in the presence of an external field acting on the color degree of freedom. The ground state undergoes a quantum phase transition between area- and volume-law entanglement phases with a critical point where entanglement entropy scales as a function $L\log L$ of the linear system size $L$. Intermediate power law scalings between $L\log L$ and $L^2$ can be achieved with an inhomogeneous deformation parameter that approaches 1 at different rates in the thermodynamic limit. For the $q>1$ phase, we construct a variational wave function that establishes an upper bound on the spectral gap that scales as $q^{-L^3/8}$.

  2 citations

• Multi species asymmetric simple exclusion process with impurity activated flips

  Amit Kumar Chatterjee, Hisao Hayakawa

  SciPost Phys. 14, 016 (2023) · published 8 February 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We obtain an exact matrix product steady state for a class of multi species asymmetric simple exclusion process with impurities, under periodic boundary condition. Alongside the usual hopping dynamics, an additional flip dynamics is activated only in the presence of impurities. Although the microscopic dynamics renders the system to be non-ergodic, exact analytical results for observables are obtained in steady states for a specific class of initial configurations. Interesting physical features including negative differential mobility and transition of correlations from negative to positive with changing vacancy density, have been observed. We discuss plausible connections of this exactly solvable model with multi lane asymmetric simple exclusion processes as well as enzymatic chemical reactions.

  2 citations

• Integrability and complexity in quantum spin chains

  Ben Craps, Marine De Clerck, Oleg Evnin, Philip Hacker

  SciPost Phys. 16, 041 (2024) · published 7 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  There is a widespread perception that dynamical evolution of integrable systems should be simpler in a quantifiable sense than the evolution of generic systems, though demonstrating this relation between integrability and reduced complexity in practice has remained elusive. We provide a connection of this sort by constructing a specific matrix in terms of the eigenvectors of a given quantum Hamiltonian. The null eigenvalues of this matrix are in one-to-one correspondence with conserved quantities that have simple locality properties (a hallmark of integrability). The typical magnitude of the eigenvalues, on the other hand, controls an explicit bound on Nielsen's complexity of the quantum evolution operator, defined in terms of the same locality specifications. We demonstrate how this connection works in a few concrete examples of quantum spin chains that possess diverse arrays of highly structured conservation laws mandated by integrability.

  2 citations

• Gauging tensor networks with belief propagation

  Joseph Tindall, Matt Fishman

  SciPost Phys. 15, 222 (2023) · published 1 December 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Effectively compressing and optimizing tensor networks requires reliable methods for fixing the latent degrees of freedom of the tensors, known as the gauge. Here we introduce a new algorithm for gauging tensor networks using belief propagation, a method that was originally formulated for performing statistical inference on graphical models and has recently found applications in tensor network algorithms. We show that this method is closely related to known tensor network gauging methods. It has the practical advantage, however, that existing belief propagation implementations can be repurposed for tensor network gauging, and that belief propagation is a very simple algorithm based on just tensor contractions so it can be easier to implement, optimize, and generalize. We present numerical evidence and scaling arguments that this algorithm is faster than existing gauging algorithms, demonstrating its usage on structured, unstructured, and infinite tensor networks. Additionally, we apply this method to improve the accuracy of the widely used simple update gate evolution algorithm.

  2 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.

  2 citations

• Back to the formula - LHC edition

  Anja Butter, Tilman Plehn, Nathalie Soybelman, Johann Brehmer

  SciPost Phys. 16, 037 (2024) · published 29 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  While neural networks offer an attractive way to numerically encode functions, actual formulas remain the language of theoretical particle physics. We use symbolic regression trained on matrix-element information to extract, for instance, optimal LHC observables. This way we invert the usual simulation paradigm and extract easily interpretable formulas from complex simulated data. We introduce the method using the effect of a dimension-6 coefficient on associated ZH production. We then validate it for the known case of CP-violation in weak-boson-fusion Higgs production, including detector effects.

  2 citations

• Crystalline Weyl semimetal phase in Quantum Spin Hall systems under magnetic fields

  Fernando Dominguez, Benedikt Scharf, Ewelina M. Hankiewicz

  SciPost Phys. Core 5, 024 (2022) · published 28 April 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We investigate an unconventional topological phase transition that occurs in quantum spin Hall (QSH) systems when applying an external in-plane magnetic field. We show that this transition between QSH and trivial insulator phases is separated by a stable topological gapless phase, which is protected by the combination of particle-hole and reflection symmetries, and thus, we dub it as crystalline Weyl semimetal. We explore the stability of this new phase when particle-hole symmetry breaking terms are present. Especially, we predict a robust unconventional topological phase transition to be visible for materials described by Kane and Mele model even if particle-hole symmetry is significantly broken.

  2 citations