## Physics

### Complex coherent quantum many-body dynamics through dissipation. (arXiv:1804.06744v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

The assumption that physical systems relax to a stationary state in the long-time limit underpins statistical physics and much of our intuitive understanding of scientific phenomena. For isolated systems this follows from the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. When an environment is present the expectation is that all of phase space is explored, eventually leading to stationarity. Notable exceptions are decoherence-free subspaces that have important implications for quantum technologies. These have been studied for systems with a few degrees of freedom only. Here we identify simple and generic conditions for dissipation to prevent a quantum many-body system from ever reaching a stationary state. We go beyond dissipative quantum state engineering approaches towards controllable long-time non-stationary dynamics typically associated with macroscopic complex systems. This coherent and oscillatory evolution constitutes a dissipative version of a quantum time-crystal. We discuss the possibility of engineering such complex dynamics with fermionic ultracold atoms in optical lattices.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### The minimally anisotropic metric operator in quasi-Hermitian quantum mechanics. (arXiv:1804.06766v1 [math-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

We propose a unique way how to choose a new inner product in a Hilbert space with respect to which an originally non-self-adjoint operator similar to a self-adjoint operator becomes self-adjoint. Our construction is based on minimising a 'Hilbert-Schmidt distance' to the original inner product among the entire class of admissible inner products. We prove that either the minimiser exists and is unique, or it does not exist at all. In the former case we derive a system of Euler-Lagrange equations by which the optimal inner product is determined. A sufficient condition for the existence of the unique minimally anisotropic metric is obtained. The abstract results are supplied by examples in which the optimal inner product does not coincide with the most popular choice fixed through a charge-like symmetry.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Robust spin squeezing via photon-mediated interactions on an optical clock transition. (arXiv:1804.06784v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

Cavity-QED is a promising avenue for the deterministic generation of entangled and spin-squeezed states for quantum metrology. One archetypal scheme generates squeezing via collective one-axis twisting interactions. However, we show that in implementations using optical transitions in long-lived atoms the achievable squeezing is fundamentally limited by collectively enhanced emission into the cavity mode which is generated in parallel with the cavity-mediated spin-spin interactions. We propose an alternative scheme which generates a squeezed state that is protected from collective emission, and investigate its sensitivity to realistic sources of experimental noise and imperfections.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### State-independent preparation uncertainty relations. (arXiv:1804.06794v1 [quant-ph])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

Preparation uncertainty relations establish a trade-off in the statistical spread of incompatible observables. However, the Heisenberg-Robertson (or Schroedinger's) uncertainty relations are expressed in terms of the product of variances, which is null whenever the system is in an eigenstate of one of the observables. So, in this case the relation becomes trivial and in the other cases it must be expressed in terms of a state-dependent bound. Uncertainty relations based on the sum of variances do not suffer from this drawback, as the sum cannot be null if the observables are incompatible, and hence they can capture fully the concept of quantum incompatibility. General procedures to construct generic sum-uncertainty relations are not known. Here we present one such procedure, based on Lie algebraic properties of observables that produces state-independent bounds. We illustrate our result for the cases of the Weyl-Heisenberg algebra, special unitary algebras up to rank 4, and any semisimple compact algebra.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Demonstrating sub-3 ps temporal resolution in a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector. (arXiv:1804.06839v1 [physics.ins-det])

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

Improving the temporal resolution of single photon detectors has an impact on many applications, such as increased data rates and transmission distances for both classical and quantum optical communication systems, higher spatial resolution in laser ranging and observation of shorter-lived fluorophores in biomedical imaging. In recent years, superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have emerged as the highest efficiency time-resolving single-photon counting detectors available in the near infrared. As the detection mechanism in SNSPDs occurs on picosecond time scales, SNSPDs have been demonstrated with exquisite temporal resolution below 15 ps. We reduce this value to 2.7$\pm$0.2 ps at 400 nm and 4.6$\pm$0.2 ps at 1550 nm, using a specialized niobium nitride (NbN) SNSPD. The observed photon-energy dependence of the temporal resolution and detection latency suggests that intrinsic effects make a significant contribution.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Measuring processes and the Heisenberg picture. (arXiv:1511.09228v3 [math-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

In this paper, we attempt to establish quantum measurement theory in the Heisenberg picture. First, we review foundations of quantum measurement theory, that is usually based on the Schr\"{o}dinger picture. The concept of instrument is introduced there. Next, we define the concept of system of measurement correlations and that of measuring process. The former is the exact counterpart of instrument in the (generalized) Heisenberg picture. In quantum mechanical systems, we then show a one-to-one correspondence between systems of measurement correlations and measuring processes up to complete equivalence. This is nothing but a unitary dilation theorem of systems of measurement correlations. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of the statistical approach to quantum measurement theory, we focus on the extendability of instruments to systems of measurement correlations. It is shown that all completely positive (CP) instruments are extended into systems of measurement correlations. Lastly, we study the approximate realizability of CP instruments by measuring processes within arbitrarily given error limits.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Stochastic Granular Space-time and Quantum Mechanics. (arXiv:1601.07171v3 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

Much of quantum mechanics may be derived if one adopts a very strong form of Mach's Principle, requiring that in the absence of mass, space-time becomes not flat but stochastic. This is manifested in the metric tensor which is considered to be a collection of stochastic variables. The stochastic metric assumption is sufficient to generate the spread of the wave packet in empty space. If one further notes that all observations of dynamical variables in the laboratory frame are contravariant components of tensors, and if one assumes that a Lagrangian can be constructed, then one can derive the uncertainty principle. In addition, the superposition of stochastic metrics and the identification of the space-time volume element (the square root of minus the determinant of the metric tensor) as the indicator of relative probability yields the phenomenon of interference. When space-time granularity is added to the theory and the stochasticity is modeled as a (modified) Wiener process, additional results are obtained, including a derivation of the Schwarzschild metric (without employing the general relativity field equations), the major role of the Planck mass in quantum mechanics, the explanation of why the Schwarzschild radius of the Planck mass is the Planck length, and finally, a model for the nature of time.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Ent: A Multipartite Entanglement Measure, and Parameterization of Entangled States. (arXiv:1611.03882v3 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

A multipartite entanglement measure called the ent is presented and shown to be an entanglement monotone, with the special property of automatic normalization. Necessary and sufficient conditions are developed for constructing maximally entangled states in every multipartite system such that they are true-generalized X states (TGX) states, a generalization of the Bell states, and are extended to general nonTGX states as well. These results are then used to prove the existence of maximally entangled basis (MEB) sets in all systems. A parameterization of general pure states of all ent values is given, and proposed as a multipartite Schmidt decomposition. Finally, we develop an ent vector and ent array to handle more general definitions of multipartite entanglement, and the ent is extended to general mixed states, providing a general multipartite entanglement measure.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Restrictions for the Causal Inferences in an Interferometric System. (arXiv:1701.06763v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

Causal discovery algorithms allow for the inference of causal structures from probabilistic relations of random variables. A natural field for the application of this tool is quantum mechanics, where a long-standing debate about the role of causality in the theory has flourished since its early days. In this paper, a causal discovery algorithm is applied in the search for causal models to describe a quantum version of Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment. The outputs explicitly show the restrictions for the introduction of classical concepts in this system. The exclusion of models with two hidden variables is one of them. A consequence of such a constraint is the impossibility to construct a causal model that avoids superluminal causation and assumes an objective view of the wave and particle properties simultaneously.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### An Exponential Quantum Projection Filter for Open Quantum Systems. (arXiv:1705.09114v2 [math-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

An approximate exponential quantum projection filtering scheme is developed for a class of open quantum systems described by Hudson- Parthasarathy quantum stochastic differential equations, aiming to reduce the computational burden associated with online calculation of the quantum filter. By using a differential geometric approach, the quantum trajectory is constrained in a finite-dimensional differentiable manifold consisting of an unnormalized exponential family of quantum density operators, and an exponential quantum projection filter is then formulated as a number of stochastic differential equations satisfied by the finite-dimensional coordinate system of this manifold. A convenient design of the differentiable manifold is also presented through reduction of the local approximation errors, which yields a simplification of the quantum projection filter equations. It is shown that the computational cost can be significantly reduced by using the quantum projection filter instead of the quantum filter. It is also shown that when the quantum projection filtering approach is applied to a class of open quantum systems that asymptotically converge to a pure state, the input-to-state stability of the corresponding exponential quantum projection filter can be established. Simulation results from an atomic ensemble system example are provided to illustrate the performance of the projection filtering scheme. It is expected that the proposed approach can be used in developing more efficient quantum control methods.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Many-body strategies for multi-qubit gates - quantum control through Krawtchouk chain dynamics. (arXiv:1707.05144v3 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

We propose a strategy for engineering multi-qubit quantum gates. As a first step, it employs an eigengate to map states in the computational basis to eigenstates of a suitable many-body Hamiltonian. The second step employs resonant driving to enforce a transition between a single pair of eigenstates, leaving all others unchanged. The procedure is completed by mapping back to the computational basis. We demonstrate the strategy for the case of a linear array with an even number N of qubits, with specific XX+YY couplings between nearest neighbors. For this so-called Krawtchouk chain, a 2-body driving term leads to the iSWAP$_N$ gate, which we numerically test for N = 4 and 6.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Precision and Work Fluctuations in Gaussian Battery Charging. (arXiv:1708.00749v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

One of the most fundamental tasks in quantum thermodynamics is extracting energy from one system and subsequently storing this energy in an appropriate battery. Both of these steps, work extraction and charging, can be viewed as cyclic Hamiltonian processes acting on individual quantum systems. Interestingly, so-called passive states exist, whose energy cannot be lowered by unitary operations, but it is safe to assume that the energy of any not fully charged battery may be increased unitarily. However, unitaries raising the average energy by the same amount may differ in qualities such as their precision, fluctuations, and charging power. Moreover, some unitaries may be extremely difficult to realize in practice. It is hence of crucial importance to understand the qualities that can be expected from practically implementable transformations. Here, we consider the limitations on charging batteries when restricting to the feasibly realizable family of Gaussian unitaries. We derive optimal protocols for general unitary operations as well as for the restriction to easier implementable Gaussian unitaries. We find that practical Gaussian battery charging, while performing significantly less well than is possible in principle, still offers asymptotically vanishing relative charge variances and fluctuations.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### A quantum Otto engine with finite heat baths: energy, correlations, and degradation. (arXiv:1708.06363v4 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

We study a driven harmonic oscillator operating an Otto cycle between two thermal baths of finite size. By making extensive use of the tools of Gaussian quantum mechanics, we directly simulate the dynamics of the engine as a whole, without the need to make any approximations. This allows us to understand the non-equilibrium thermodynamics of the engine not only from the perspective of the working medium, but also as it is seen from the thermal baths' standpoint. For sufficiently large baths, our engine is capable of running a number of ideal cycles, delivering finite power while operating very close to maximal efficiency. Thereafter, having traversed the baths, the perturbations created by the interaction abruptly deteriorate the engine's performance. We additionally study the correlations generated in the system, and relate the buildup of working medium-baths and bath-bath correlations to the degradation of the engine's performance over the course of many cycles.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Recovery and the Data Processing Inequality for quasi-entropies. (arXiv:1710.08080v2 [math-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

We prove number of quantitative stability bounds for the cases of equality in Petz's monotonicity theorem for quasi-relative entropies defined in terms of an operator monotone decreasing functions. Included in our results is a bound in terms of the Petz recovery map, but we obtain more general results. The present treatment is entirely elementary and developed in the context of finite dimensional von Neumann algebras where the results are already non-trivial and of interest in quantum information theory.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Deterministic realization of collective measurements via photonic quantum walks. (arXiv:1710.10045v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

Collective measurements on identically prepared quantum systems can extract more information than local measurements, thereby enhancing information-processing efficiency. Although this nonclassical phenomenon has been known for two decades, it has remained a challenging task to demonstrate the advantage of collective measurements in experiments. Here we introduce a general recipe for performing deterministic collective measurements on two identically prepared qubits based on quantum walks. Using photonic quantum walks, we realize experimentally an optimized collective measurement with fidelity 0.9946 without post selection. As an application, we achieve the highest tomographic efficiency in qubit state tomography to date. Our work offers an effective recipe for beating the precision limit of local measurements in quantum state tomography and metrology. In addition, our study opens an avenue for harvesting the power of collective measurements in quantum information processing and for exploring the intriguing physics behind this power.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Tomography of a displacement photon counter for discrimination of single-rail optical qubits. (arXiv:1711.07704v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

We investigate the performance of a Kennedy receiver, which is known as a beneficial tool in optical coherent communications, to the quantum state discrimination of the two superpositions of vacuum and single photon states corresponding to the $\hat\sigma_x$ eigenstates in the single-rail encoding of photonic qubits. We experimentally characterize the Kennedy receiver in vacuum-single photon two-dimensional space using quantum detector tomography and evaluate the achievable discrimination error probability from the reconstructed measurement operators. We furthermore derive the minimum error rate obtainable with Gaussian transformations and homodyne detection. Our proof of principle experiment shows that the Kennedy receiver can achieve a discrimination error surpassing homodyne detection.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Hyperbolic metamaterial resonator for broadband enhancement and photon collection of silicon carbide quantum emitters. (arXiv:1801.03277v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

We model the broadband enhancement of single-photon emission from color centres in silicon carbide (SiC) nanocrystals coupled to a planar hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) resonator. The design is based on positioning the single photon emitters within the HMM resonator, made of a dielectric index-matched with SiC material, and using a gold (Au) cylindrical antenna for improved collection efficiency. We show that employing this HMM resonator can result in a significant enhancement of the spontaneous emission of a single photon source and its collection efficiency, compared to previous designs.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Emerging disciplines based on superatoms: a perspective point of view. (arXiv:1804.06280v2 [physics.atm-clus] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

In this work, our statements are based on the progress of current research on superatomic clusters. Combining the new trend of materials and device manufacture at the atomic level, we analyzed the opportunities for the development based on the use of superatomic clusters as units of functional materials, and presented a foresight of this new branch of science with relevant studies on superatoms.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Exact description of the boundary theory of the Kitaev Toric Code with open boundary conditions. (arXiv:1803.10217v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

In this work we consider the Kitaev Toric Code with specific open boundary conditions. Such a physical system has a highly degenerate ground state determined by the degrees of freedom localised at the boundaries. We can write down an explicit expression for the ground state of this model. Based on this, the entanglement properties of the model are studied for two types of bipartition: one, where the subsystem A is completely contained in B; and the second, where the boundary of the system is shared between A and B. In the former configuration, the entanglement entropy is the same as for the periodic boundary condition case, which means that the bulk is completely decoupled from the boundary on distances larger than the correlation length. In the latter, deviations from the torus configuration appear due to the edge states and lead to an increase of the entropy. We then determine an effective theory for the boundary of the system. In the case where we apply a small magnetic field as a perturbation the degrees of freedom on the boundary acquire a dispersion relation. The system can there be described by a Hamiltonian of the Ising type with a generic spin-exchange term.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Multipartite entanglement, quantum coherence and quantum criticality in triangular and Sierpi\'nski fractal lattices. (arXiv:1802.03177v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Thu, 2018-04-19 06:33

We investigate the quantum phase transitions of the transverse-field quantum Ising model on the triangular lattice and Sierpi\'nski fractal lattices by employing multipartite entanglement and quantum coherence along with the quantum renormalization group method. It is shown that the quantum criticalities of these high-dimensional models closely relate to the behaviors of the multipartite entanglement and quantum coherence. As the thermodynamic limit is approached, the first derivatives of multipartite entanglement and quantum coherence exhibit singular behaviors and the consistent finite-size scaling behaviors for each lattice are also obtained from the first derivatives. The multipartite entanglement and quantum coherence are demonstrated to be good indicators for detecting the quantum phase transitions in the triangular lattice and Sierpi\'nski fractal lattices. Furthermore, the factors that determine the relations between the critical exponents and the correlation length exponents for these models are diverse. For the triangular lattice, the decisive factor is the spatial dimension, while for the Sierpi\'nski fractal lattices, it is the Hausdorff dimension.

Categories: Journals, Physics