Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Cavity-induced bifurcation in classical rate theory

  Kalle Sulo Ukko Kansanen, Tero Tapio Heikkilä

  SciPost Phys. 16, 025 (2024) · published 23 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We show how coupling an ensemble of bistable systems to a common cavity field affects the collective stochastic behavior of this ensemble. In particular, the cavity provides an effective interaction between the systems, and parametrically modifies the transition rates between the metastable states. We predict that the cavity induces a phase transition at a critical temperature which depends linearly on the number of systems. It shows up as a spontaneous symmetry breaking where the stationary states of the bistable system bifurcate. We observe that the transition rates slow down independently of the phase transition, but the rate modification vanishes for alternating signs of the system-cavity couplings, corresponding to a disordered ensemble of dipoles. Our results are of particular relevance in polaritonic chemistry where the presence of a cavity has been suggested to affect chemical reactions.

• Polaron spectroscopy of interacting Fermi systems: Insights from exact diagonalization

  Ivan Amelio, Nathan Goldman

  SciPost Phys. 16, 056 (2024) · published 26 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Immersing a mobile impurity into a many-body quantum system represents a theoretically intriguing and experimentally effective way of probing its properties. In this work, we study the polaron spectral function in various environments, within the framework of Fermi-Hubbard models. Inspired by possible realizations in cold atoms and semiconductor heterostructures, we consider different configurations for the background Fermi gas, including charge density waves, multiple Fermi seas and pair superfluids. While our calculations are performed using an exact-diagonalization approach, hence limiting our analysis to systems of few interacting Fermi particles, we identify robust spectral features supported by theoretical results. Our work provides a benchmark for computations based on mean-field approaches and reveal surprising features of polaron spectra, inspiring new theoretical investigations.

• Hidden symmetry of Bogoliubov de Gennes quasi-particle eigenstates and universal relations in flat band superconducting bipartite lattices

  Georges Bouzerar, Maxime Thumin

  SciPost Phys. Core 7, 018 (2024) · published 9 April 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Unconventional flat band (FB) superconductivity, as observed in van der Waals heterostructures, could open promising avenues towards high-T$_c$ materials. In FBs, pairings and superfluid weight scale linearly with the interaction parameter, such an unusual behaviour justifies and encourages strategies to promote FB engineering. Bipartite lattices (BLs) which naturally host FBs could be particularly interesting candidates. Within Bogoliubov de Gennes theory and in the framework of the attractive Hubbard model in BLs, a hidden symmetry of the quasi-particle eigenstates is revealed. As a consequence, we demonstrate universal relations for the pairings and the superfluid weight that are independent of the characteristics of the hopping term. Remarkably, it is shown that these general properties are insensitive to disorder as long as the bipartite character is protected.

• Error-correcting codes for fermionic quantum simulation

  Yu-An Chen, Alexey V. Gorshkov, Yijia Xu

  SciPost Phys. 16, 033 (2024) · published 26 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Utilizing the framework of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theories in the context of Pauli stabilizer codes, we present methodologies for simulating fermions via qubit systems on a two-dimensional square lattice. We investigate the symplectic automorphisms of the Pauli module over the Laurent polynomial ring. This enables us to systematically increase the code distances of stabilizer codes while fixing the rate between encoded logical fermions and physical qubits. We identify a family of stabilizer codes suitable for fermion simulation, achieving code distances of d=2,3,4,5,6,7, allowing correction of any $\lfloor \frac{d-1}{2} \rfloor$-qubit error. In contrast to the traditional code concatenation approach, our method can increase the code distances without decreasing the (fermionic) code rate. In particular, we explicitly show all stabilizers and logical operators for codes with code distances of d=3,4,5. We provide syndromes for all Pauli errors and invent a syndrome-matching algorithm to compute code distances numerically.

• Triplet character of 2D-fermion dimers arising from $s$-wave attraction via spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting

  Ulrich Ebling, Ulrich Zülicke, Joachim Brand

  SciPost Phys. 12, 167 (2022) · published 19 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We theoretically study spin-$1/2$ fermions confined to two spatial dimensions and experiencing isotropic short-range attraction in the presence of both spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman spin splitting - a prototypical system for developing topological superfluidity in the many-body sector. Exact solutions for two-particle bound states are found to have a triplet contribution that dominates over the singlet part in an extended region of parameter space where the combined Zeeman- and center-of-mass-motion-induced spin-splitting energy is large. The triplet character of dimers is purest in the regime of weak $s$-wave interaction strength. Center-of-mass momentum is one of the parameters determining the existence of bound states, which we map out for both two- and one-dimensional types of spin-orbit coupling. Distinctive features emerging in the orbital part of the bound-state wave function, including but not limited to its $p$-wave character, provide observable signatures of unconventional pairing.

• Downfolding the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model

  Arne Schobert, Jan Berges, Tim Wehling, Erik van Loon

  SciPost Phys. 11, 079 (2021) · published 20 October 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Charge-density waves are responsible for symmetry-breaking displacements of atoms and concomitant changes in the electronic structure. Linear response theories, in particular density-functional perturbation theory, provide a way to study the effect of displacements on both the total energy and the electronic structure based on a single ab initio calculation. In downfolding approaches, the electronic system is reduced to a smaller number of bands, allowing for the incorporation of additional correlation and environmental effects on these bands. However, the physical contents of this downfolded model and its potential limitations are not always obvious. Here, we study the potential-energy landscape and electronic structure of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model, where all relevant quantities can be evaluated analytically. We compare the exact results at arbitrary displacement with diagrammatic perturbation theory both in the full model and in a downfolded effective single-band model, which gives an instructive insight into the properties of downfolding. An exact reconstruction of the potential-energy landscape is possible in a downfolded model, which requires a dynamical electron-biphonon interaction. The dispersion of the bands upon atomic displacement is also found correctly, where the downfolded model by construction only captures spectral weight in the target space. In the SSH model, the electron-phonon coupling mechanism involves exclusively hybridization between the low- and high-energy bands and this limits the computational efficiency gain of downfolded models.

• A linear algebra-based approach to understanding the relation between the winding number and zero-energy edge states

  Chen-Shen Lee

  SciPost Phys. Core 7, 003 (2024) · published 30 January 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The one-to-one relation between the winding number and the number of robust zero-energy edge states, known as bulk-boundary correspondence, is a celebrated feature of 1$d$ systems with chiral symmetry. Although this property can be explained by the K-theory, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate that, even without resorting to advanced mathematical techniques, one can prove this correspondence and clearly illustrate the mechanism using only Cauchy's integral and elementary algebra. Furthermore, our approach to proving bulk-boundary correspondence also provides clear insights into a kind of system that doesn't respect chiral symmetry but can have robust left or right zero-energy edge states. In such systems, one can still assign the winding number to characterize these zero-energy edge states.