## Physics

### Quantum fidelity measures for mixed states. (arXiv:1810.08034v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

Applications of quantum technology often require fidelities to quantify performance. These provide a fundamental yardstick for the comparison of two quantum states. While this is straightforward in the case of pure states, it is much more subtle for the more general case of mixed quantum states often found in practice. A large number of different proposals exist. In this review, we summarize the required properties of a quantum fidelity measure, and compare them, to determine which properties each of the different measures has. We show that there are large classes of measures that satisfy all the required properties of a fidelity measure, just as there are many norms of Hilbert space operators, and many measures of entropy. We compare these fidelities, with detailed proofs of their properties. We also summarize briefly the applications of these measures in teleportation, quantum memories, quantum computers, quantum communications, and quantum phase-space simulations.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### New Potential for Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction: A Superpotential Approach. (arXiv:1810.08053v1 [nucl-th])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

The one pion exchange potential works very well at long ranges of nucleon-nucleon interaction and at shorter ranges other processes become important. However, if it is a part of the symmetry of the interaction, like one piece of a puzzle, it can reflect the other aspects of the fact. By the one pion exchange potential approach, the deuteron, as the simplest nucleons bound state, is studied by introducing a simple superpotential. Despite the simplicity of the calculations, the proposed superpotential not only describes well the long ranges of the interaction but also gives desired results for intermediate and short ranges. The static properties of the two-nucleon system, such as wave functions, probabilities, potential, electric quadrupole moment, charge radius as well as binding energy are concluded from the deuteron superpotential. Furthermore, a new potential named "Taha1" and its partner is introduced for nucleon-nucleon interaction that is also applicable for diatomic molecules.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Phase diagram of the dissipative quantum Ising model on a square lattice. (arXiv:1810.08112v1 [cond-mat.stat-mech])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

The competition between interactions and dissipative processes in a quantum many-body system can drive phase transitions of different order. Exploiting a combination of cluster methods and quantum trajectories, we show how the systematic inclusion of (classical and quantum) nonlocal correlations at increasing distances is crucial to determine the structure of the phase diagram, as well as the nature of the transitions in strongly interacting spin systems. In practice, we focus on the paradigmatic dissipative quantum Ising model: in contrast to the non-dissipative case, its phase diagram is still a matter of debate in the literature. When dissipation acts along the interaction direction, we predict important quantitative modifications of the position of the first-order transition boundary. In the case of incoherent relaxation in the field direction, our approach confirms the presence of a second-order transition, while rules out the possible existence of multicritical points. Potentially, these results can be tested in up-to-date quantum simulators of Rydberg atoms.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Overcoming inefficient detection in sub-shot-noise absorption measurement and imaging. (arXiv:1810.08115v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

Photon-number squeezing and correlations enable measurement of absorption with an accuracy exceeding that of the shot-noise limit. However, sub-shot noise imaging and sensing based on these methods require high detection efficiency, which can be a serious obstacle if measurements are carried out in "difficult" spectral ranges. We show that this problem can be overcome through the phase-sensitive amplification before detection. Here we propose an experimental scheme of sub-shot-noise imaging with tolerance to detection losses.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Generalized Nonequilibrium Quantum Transport Equations of Spin and Pseudospins: Entanglements and Topological Phases. (arXiv:1810.08121v1 [cond-mat.mes-hall])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

General nonequilibrium quantum transport equations are derived for a coupled system of charge carriers, Dirac spin, isospin (or valley spin), and pseudospin, such as either one of the band, layer, impurity, and boundary pseudospins. Limiting cases are obtained for one, two or three different kinds of spin ocurring in a system. We show that a characteristic integer number N_{s} determines the formal form of spin quantum transport equations, irrespective of the type of spins or pseudospins, as well as the maximal entanglement entropy. The results may shed a new perspective on the mechanism leading to zero modes and chiral/helical edge states in topological insulators, integer quantum Hall effect topological insulator (QHE-TI), and quantum spin Hall effect topological insulator (QSHE-TI). It also shed new light in the observed competing weak localization and antilocalization in spin-dependent quantum transport measurements. In particular, a novel mechanism of localization and delocalization, as well as the new mechanism leading to the onset of superconductivity in bilayer systems seems to emerge naturally from torque entanglements in nonequilibrium quantum transport equations of spin and pseudospins. Moreover, the general results may serve as a foundation for engineering approximations of the quantum transport simulations of spintronic devices based on graphene and other 2-D materials such as the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), as well as based on topological materials exhibiting quantum spin Hall effects. The extension of the formalism to spincaloritronics and pseudo-spincaloritronics is straightforward.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Anisotropic quantum emitter interactions in two-dimensional photonic-crystal baths. (arXiv:1810.08155v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

Quantum emitters interacting with two-dimensional photonic-crystal baths experience strong and anisotropic collective dissipation when they are spectrally tuned to 2D Van-Hove singularities. In this work, we show how to turn this dissipation into coherent dipole-dipole interactions with tuneable range by breaking the lattice degeneracy at the Van-Hove point with a superlattice geometry. Using a coupled-mode description, we show that the origin of these interactions stems from the emergence of a qubit-photon bound state which inherits the anisotropic properties of the original dissipation, and whose spatial decay can be tuned via the superlattice parameters or the detuning of the optical transition respect to the band-edges. Within that picture, we also calculate the emitter induced dynamics in an exact manner, bounding the parameter regimes where the dynamics lies within a Markovian description. As an application, we develop a four-qubit entanglement protocol exploiting the shape of the interactions. Finally, we provide a proof-of-principle example of a photonic crystal where such interactions can be obtained.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### From single-particle excitations to sound waves in a box-trapped atomic BEC. (arXiv:1810.08195v1 [cond-mat.quant-gas])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

We experimentally and theoretically investigate the lowest-lying axial excitation of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in a cylindrical box trap. By tuning the atomic density, we observe how the nature of the mode changes from a single-particle excitation (in the low-density limit) to a sound wave (in the high-density limit). We elucidate the physics of the crossover between the two limiting regimes using Bogoliubov theory, and find excellent agreement with the measurements. Finally, for large excitation amplitudes we observe a non-exponential decay of the mode, suggesting a nonlinear many-body decay mechanism.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### On thermalization of two-level quantum systems. (arXiv:1604.04998v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

Providing the microscopic behavior of a thermalization process has always been an intriguing issue. There are several models of thermalization, which often requires interaction of the system under consideration with the microscopic constituents of the macroscopic heat bath. With an aim to simulate such a thermalization process, here we look at the thermalization of a two-level quantum system under the action of a Markovian master equation corresponding to memory-less action of a heat bath, kept at a certain temperature, using a single-qubit ancilla. A two-qubit interaction Hamiltonian ($H_{th}$, say) is then designed -- with a single-qubit thermal state as the initial state of the ancilla -- which gives rise to thermalization of the system qubit in the infinite time limit. Further, we study the general form of Hamiltonian, of which ours is a special case, and look for the conditions for thermalization to occur. We also derive a Lindblad type non-Markovian master equation for the system dynamics under the general form of system-ancilla Hamiltonian.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Langevin Equation for a Dissipative Macroscopic Quantum System: Bohmian Theory versus Quantum Mechanics. (arXiv:1606.04453v3 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

In this study, we solve analytically the Schrodinger equation for a macroscopic quantum oscillator as a central system coupled to a large number of environmental micro-oscillating particles. Then, the Langevin equation is obtained for the system using two approaches: Quantum Mechanics and Bohmian Theory. Our results show that the predictions of the two theories are inherently different in real conditions. Nevertheless, the Langevin equation obtained by Bohmian approach could be reduced to the quantum one, when the vibrational frequency of the central system is high enough compared to the maximum frequency of the environmental particles.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Matrix product states and the quantum max-flow/min-cut conjectures. (arXiv:1801.09106v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

In this note we discuss the geometry of matrix product states with periodic boundary conditions and provide three infinite sequences of examples where the quantum max-flow is strictly less than the quantum min-cut. In the first we fix the underlying graph to be a 4-cycle and verify a prediction of Hastings that inequality occurs for infinitely many bond dimensions. In the second we generalize this result to a 2d-cycle. In the third we show that the 2d-cycle with periodic boundary conditions gives inequality for all d when all bond dimensions equal two, namely a gap of at least 2^{d-2} between the quantum max-flow and the quantum min-cut.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Microwave device characterisation using a widefield diamond microscope. (arXiv:1802.07402v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

Devices relying on microwave circuitry form a cornerstone of many classical and emerging quantum technologies. A capability to provide in-situ, noninvasive and direct imaging of the microwave fields above such devices would be a powerful tool for their function and failure analysis. In this work, we build on recent achievements in magnetometry using ensembles of nitrogen vacancy centres in diamond, to present a widefield microwave microscope with few-micron resolution over a millimeter-scale field of view, 130nT/sqrt-Hz microwave amplitude sensitivity, a dynamic range of 48 dB, and sub-ms temporal resolution. We use our microscope to image the microwave field a few microns above a range of microwave circuitry components, and to characterise a novel atom chip design. Our results open the way to high-throughput characterisation and debugging of complex, multi-component microwave devices, including real-time exploration of device operation.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Joint Quantum-State and Measurement Tomography with Incomplete Measurements. (arXiv:1803.08245v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

Estimation of quantum states and measurements is crucial for the implementation of quantum information protocols. The standard method for each is quantum tomography. However, quantum tomography suffers from systematic errors caused by imperfect knowledge of the system. We present a procedure to simultaneously characterize quantum states and measurements that mitigates systematic errors by use of a single high-fidelity state preparation and a limited set of high-fidelity unitary operations. Such states and operations are typical of many state-of-the-art systems. For this situation we design a set of experiments and an optimization algorithm that alternates between maximizing the likelihood with respect to the states and measurements to produce estimates of each. In some cases, the procedure does not enable unique estimation of the states. For these cases, we show how one may identify a set of density matrices compatible with the measurements and use a semi-definite program to place bounds on the state's expectation values. We demonstrate the procedure on data from a simulated experiment with two trapped ions.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Neural network decoder for topological color codes with circuit level noise. (arXiv:1804.02926v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

A quantum computer needs the assistance of a classical algorithm to detect and identify errors that affect encoded quantum information. At this interface of classical and quantum computing the technique of machine learning has appeared as a way to tailor such an algorithm to the specific error processes of an experiment --- without the need for a priori knowledge of the error model. Here, we apply this technique to topological color codes. We demonstrate that a recurrent neural network with long short-term memory cells can be trained to reduce the error rate $\epsilon_{\rm L}$ of the encoded logical qubit to values much below the error rate $\epsilon_{\rm phys}$ of the physical qubits --- fitting the expected power law scaling $\epsilon_{\rm L} \propto \epsilon_{\rm phys}^{(d+1)/2}$, with $d$ the code distance. The neural network incorporates the information from "flag qubits" to avoid reduction in the effective code distance caused by the circuit. As a test, we apply the neural network decoder to a density-matrix based simulation of a superconducting quantum computer, demonstrating that the logical qubit has a longer life-time than the constituting physical qubits with near-term experimental parameters.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Epistemic Horizons and the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. (arXiv:1805.10668v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

In-principle restrictions on the amount of information that can be gathered about a system have been proposed as a foundational principle in several recent reconstructions of the formalism of quantum mechanics. However, it seems unclear precisely why one should be thus restricted. We investigate the notion of paradoxical self-reference as a possible origin of such epistemic horizons by means of a fixed-point theorem in Cartesian closed categories due to F. W. Lawvere that illuminates and unifies the different perspectives on self-reference.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Phase Unwrapping and One-Dimensional Sign Problems. (arXiv:1806.01832v2 [hep-lat] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

Sign problems in path integrals arise when different field configurations contribute with different signs or phases. Phase unwrapping describes a family of signal processing techniques in which phase differences between elements of a time series are integrated to construct non-compact unwrapped phase differences. By combining phase unwrapping with a cumulant expansion, path integrals with sign problems arising from phase fluctuations can be systematically approximated as linear combinations of path integrals without sign problems. This work explores phase unwrapping in zero-plus-one-dimensional complex scalar field theory. Results with improved signal-to-noise ratios for the spectrum of scalar field theory can be obtained from unwrapped phases, but the size of cumulant expansion truncation errors is found to be undesirably sensitive to the parameters of the phase unwrapping algorithm employed. It is argued that this numerical sensitivity arises from discretization artifacts that become large when phases fluctuate close to singularities of a complex logarithm in the definition of the unwrapped phase.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### A Non-Perturbative Definition of the Standard Models. (arXiv:1809.11171v2 [hep-th] CROSS LISTED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

The standard models contain chiral fermions coupled to gauge theory. It has been a long-standing problem to give such gauged chiral fermion theories a non-perturbative definition. Based on the classification of quantum anomalies and symmetric invertible topological orders via a mathematical cobordism theorem, and the existence of non-perturbative interactions gapping the mirror world's chiral fermions for any all-anomaly-free theory, here we show rigorously that the standard models from the SO(10) and SO(18) grand unifications (more precisely, Spin(10) and Spin(18) chiral gauge theories) can be defined non-perturbatively via a 3+1D local lattice model of bosons or qubits, while the standard models from the SU(5) grand unification can be realized by a 3+1D local lattice model of fermions. This represents a unification of Matters and Forces by Quantum Information.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Optimal probabilistic work extraction beyond the free energy difference with a single-electron device. (arXiv:1810.06274v1 [cond-mat.stat-mech] CROSS LISTED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

We experimentally realize protocols that allow to extract work beyond the free energy difference from a single electron transistor at the single thermodynamic trajectory level. With two carefully designed out-of-equilibrium driving cycles featuring kicks of the control parameter, we demonstrate work extraction up to large fractions of $k_BT$ or with probabilities substantially greater than $1/2$, despite zero free energy difference over the cycle. Our results are explained in the framework of nonequilibrium fluctuation relations. We thus show that irreversibility can be used as a resource for optimal work extraction even in the absence of feedback, as opposed to a traditional Maxwell's Demon.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Edge states in trimer lattices. (arXiv:1810.05566v2 [cond-mat.mes-hall] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

Topological phases of matter have attracted much attention over the years. Motivated by analogy with photonic lattices, here we examine the edge states of a one-dimensional trimer lattice in the phases with and without inversion symmetry protection. In contrast to the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, we show that the edge states in the inversion-symmetry broken phase of the trimer model turn out to be chiral, i.e., instead of appearing in pairs localized at opposite edges they can appear at a $\textit{single}$ edge. Interestingly, these chiral edge states remain robust to large amounts of disorder. In addition, we use the Zak phase to characterize the emergence of degenerate edge states in the inversion-symmetric phase of the trimer model. Furthermore, we capture the essentials of the whole family of trimers through a mapping onto the commensurate off-diagonal Aubry-Andr\'e-Harper model, which allow us to establish a direct connection between chiral edge modes in the two models, including the calculation of Chern numbers. We thus suggest that the chiral edge modes of the trimer lattice have a topological origin inherited from this effective mapping. Also, we find a nontrivial connection between the topological phase transition point in the trimer lattice and the one in its associated two-dimensional parent system, in agreement with results in the context of Thouless pumping in photonic lattices.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Does a large quantum Fisher information imply Bell correlations?. (arXiv:1810.01330v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

The quantum Fisher information (QFI) of certain multipartite entangled quantum states is larger than what is reachable by separable states, providing a metrological advantage. Are these nonclassical correlations strong enough to potentially violate a Bell inequality? Here, we present evidence from two examples. First, we discuss a Bell inequality designed for spin-squeezed states which is violated only by quantum states with a large QFI. Second, we relax a well-known lower bound on the QFI to find the Mermin Bell inequality as a special case. However, a fully general link between QFI and Bell correlations is still open.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### An inertial upper bound for the quantum independence number of a graph. (arXiv:1808.10820v2 [math.CO] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Sat, 2018-10-20 12:34

A well known upper bound for the independence number $\alpha(G)$ of a graph $G$, is that $\alpha(G) \le n^0 + \min\{n^+ , n^-\},$ where $(n^+, n^0, n^-)$ is the inertia of $G$. We prove that this bound is also an upper bound for the quantum independence number $\alpha_q$(G), where $\alpha_q(G) \ge \alpha(G)$. We identify numerous graphs for which $\alpha(G) = \alpha_q(G)$ and demonstrate that there are graphs for which the above bound is not exact with any Hermitian weight matrix, for $\alpha(G)$ and $\alpha_q(G)$. This result complements results by the authors that many spectral lower bounds for the chromatic number are also lower bounds for the quantum chromatic number.

Categories: Journals, Physics