## Journals

### Does Science need Intersubjectivity? The Problem of Confirmation in Orthodox Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics. (arXiv:2203.16278v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

Any successful interpretation of quantum mechanics must explain how our empirical evidence allows us to come to know about quantum mechanics. In this article, we argue that this vital criterion is not met by the class of 'orthodox interpretations,' which includes QBism, neo-Copenhagen interpretations, and some versions of relational quantum mechanics. We demonstrate that intersubjectivity fails in radical ways in these approaches, and we explain why intersubjectivity matters for empirical confirmation. We take a detailed look at the way in which belief-updating might work in the kind of universe postulated by an orthodox interpretation, and argue that observers in such a universe are unable to escape their own perspective in order to learn about the structure of the set of perspectives that is supposed to make up reality according to these interpretations. We also argue that in some versions of these interpretations it is not even possible to use one's own relative frequencies for empirical confirmation. Ultimately we conclude that it cannot be rational to believe these sorts of interpretations unless they are supplemented with some observer-independent structure which underwrites intersubjective agreement in at least certain sorts of cases.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Strongly-interacting bosons at 2D-1D Dimensional Crossover. (arXiv:2204.02240v3 [cond-mat.quant-gas] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

We study a two dimensional (2D) system of interacting quantum bosons, subjected to a continuous periodic potential in one direction. The correlation of such system exhibits a dimensional crossover between a canonical 2D behavior with Berezinski-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) properties and a one-dimensional (1D) behavior when the potential is large and splits the system in essentially independent tubes. The later is in the universality class of Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids (TLL). Using a continuous quantum Monte Carlo method, we investigate this dimensional crossover by computing longitudinal and transverse superfluid fraction as well as the superfluid correlation as a function of temperature, interactions and potential. Especially, we find the correlation function evolves from BKT to TLL type, with special intermediate behaviors appearing at the dimensional crossover. We discuss how the consequences of the dimensional crossover can be investigated in cold atomic gases experiments.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Adaptive measurement filter: efficient strategy for optimal estimation of quantum Markov chains. (arXiv:2204.08964v3 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

Continuous-time measurements are instrumental for a multitude of tasks in quantum engineering and quantum control, including the estimation of dynamical parameters of open quantum systems monitored through the environment. However, such measurements do not extract the maximum amount of information available in the output state, so finding alternative optimal measurement strategies is a major open problem.

In this paper we solve this problem in the setting of discrete-time input-output quantum Markov chains. We present an efficient algorithm for optimal estimation of one-dimensional dynamical parameters which consists of an iterative procedure for updating a `measurement filter' operator and determining successive measurement bases for the output units. A key ingredient of the scheme is the use of a coherent quantum absorber as a way to post-process the output after the interaction with the system. This is designed adaptively such that the joint system and absorber stationary state is pure at a reference parameter value. The scheme offers an exciting prospect for optimal continuous-time adaptive measurements, but more work is needed to find realistic practical implementations.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Modulating quantum evolution of moving-qubit by using classical driving. (arXiv:2204.10515v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

In this work, we study quantum evolution of an open moving-qubit modulated by a classical driving field. We obtain the density operator of qubit at zero temperature and analyze its quantum evolution dynamics by using quantum speed limit time (QSLT) and a non-Markovianity measure introduced recently. The results show that both the non-Markovian environment and the classical driving can speed up the evolution process, this quantum speedup process is induced by the non-Markovianity and the critical points only depend on the qubit velocity. Moreover, the qubit motion will delay the evolution process, but this negative effect of the qubit velocity on the quantum speedup can be suppressed by the classical driving. Finally, we give the corresponding physical explanation by using the decoherence rates.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Simulating key properties of lithium-ion batteries with a fault-tolerant quantum computer. (arXiv:2204.11890v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

There is a pressing need to develop new rechargeable battery technologies that can offer higher energy storage, faster charging, and lower costs. Despite the success of existing methods for the simulation of battery materials, they can sometimes fall short of delivering accurate and reliable results. Quantum computing has been discussed as an avenue to overcome these issues, but only limited work has been done to outline how they may impact battery simulations. In this work, we provide a detailed answer to the following question: how can a quantum computer be used to simulate key properties of a lithium-ion battery? Based on recently-introduced first-quantization techniques, we lay out an end-to-end quantum algorithm for calculating equilibrium cell voltages, ionic mobility, and thermal stability. These can be obtained from ground-state energies of materials, which is the core calculation executed by the quantum computer using qubitization-based quantum phase estimation. The algorithm includes explicit methods for preparing approximate ground states of periodic materials in first quantization. We bring these insights together to perform the first estimation of the resources required to implement a quantum algorithm for simulating a realistic cathode material, dilithium iron silicate.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Consistent circuits for indefinite causal order. (arXiv:2206.10042v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

Over the past decade, a number of quantum processes have been proposed which are logically consistent, yet feature a cyclic causal structure. However, there is no general formal method to construct a process with an exotic causal structure in a way that ensures, and makes clear why, it is consistent. Here we provide such a method, given by an extended circuit formalism. This only requires directed graphs endowed with Boolean matrices, which encode basic constraints on operations. Our framework (a) defines a set of elementary rules for checking the validity of any such graph, (b) provides a way of constructing consistent processes as a circuit from valid graphs, and (c) yields an intuitive interpretation of the causal relations within a process and an explanation of why they do not lead to inconsistencies. We display how several standard examples of exotic processes, including ones that violate causal inequalities, are among the class of processes that can be generated in this way; we conjecture that this class in fact includes all unitarily extendible processes.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Emergent s-wave interactions between identical fermions in quasi-one-dimensional geometries. (arXiv:2206.10415v2 [cond-mat.quant-gas] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

Orbital degrees of freedom play an essential role in metals, semiconductors, and strongly confined electronic systems. Experiments with ultracold atoms have used highly anisotropic confinement to explore low-dimensional physics, but typically eliminate orbital degrees of freedom by preparing motional ground states in strongly confined directions. Here we prepare multi-band systems of spin-polarized fermionic potassium ($^{40}$K) in the quasi-one-dimensional (q1D) regime and quantify the strength of atom-atom correlations using radio-frequency spectroscopy. The activation of orbital degrees of freedom leads to a new phenomenon: a low-energy scattering channel that has even particle-exchange parity along the q1D axis, as if the underlying interactions were s-wave. This emergent exchange symmetry is enabled by orbital singlet wave functions in the strongly confined directions, which also confer high-momentum components to low-energy q1D collisions. We measure both the q1D odd-wave and even-wave "contact" parameters for the first time, and compare them to theoretical predictions of one-dimensional many-body models. The strength and spatial symmetry of interactions are tuned by a p-wave Feshbach resonance and by transverse confinement strength. Near resonance, the even-wave contact approaches its theoretical unitary value, whereas the maximum observed odd-wave contact remains several orders of magnitude below its unitary limit. Low-energy scattering channels of multi-orbital systems, such as those found here, may provide new routes for the exploration of universal many-body phenomena.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### A Complete Equational Theory for Quantum Circuits. (arXiv:2206.10577v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

We introduce the first complete equational theory for quantum circuits. More precisely, we introduce a set of circuit equations that we prove to be sound and complete: two circuits represent the same unitary map if and only if they can be transformed one into the other using the equations. The proof is based on the properties of multi-controlled gates -- that are defined using elementary gates -- together with an encoding of quantum circuits into linear optical circuits, which have been proved to have a complete axiomatisation.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Experimental Realization of Two Qutrits Gate with Tunable Coupling in Superconducting Circuits. (arXiv:2206.11199v3 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

Gate-based quantum computation has been extensively investigated using quantum circuits based on qubits. In many cases, such qubits are actually made out of multilevel systems but with only two states being used for computational purpose. While such a strategy has the advantage of being in line with the common binary logic, it in some sense wastes the ready-for-use resources in the large Hilbert space of these intrinsic multi-dimensional systems. Quantum computation beyond qubits (e.g., using qutrits or qudits) has thus been discussed and argued to be more efficient than its qubit counterpart in certain scenarios. However, one of the essential elements for qutrit-based quantum computation, two-qutrit quantum gate, remains a major challenge. In this work, we propose and demonstrate a highly efficient and scalable two-qutrit quantum gate in superconducting quantum circuits. Using a tunable coupler to control the cross-Kerr coupling between two qutrits, our scheme realizes a two-qutrit conditional phase gate with fidelity 89.3% by combining simple pulses applied to the coupler with single-qutrit operations. We further use such a two-qutrit gate to prepare an EPR state of two qutrits with a fidelity of 95.5%. Our scheme takes advantage of a tunable qutrit-qutrit coupling with a large on:off ratio. It therefore offers both high efficiency and low cross talk between qutrits, thus being friendly for scaling up. Our work constitutes an important step towards scalable qutrit-based quantum computation.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Geometry of Degeneracy in Potential and Density Space. (arXiv:2206.12366v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

In a previous work [J. Chem. Phys. 155, 244111 (2021)], we found counterexamples to the fundamental Hohenberg-Kohn theorem from density-functional theory in finite-lattice systems represented by graphs. Here, we demonstrate that this only occurs at very peculiar and rare densities, those where density sets arising from degenerate ground states, called degeneracy regions, touch each other or the boundary of the whole density domain. Degeneracy regions are shown to generally be in the shape of the convex hull of an algebraic variety, even in the continuum setting. The geometry arising between density regions and the potentials that create them is analyzed and explained with examples that, among other shapes, feature the Roman surface.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Measurement driven quantum clock implemented with a superconducting qubit. (arXiv:2207.11043v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

We demonstrate a quantum clock, near zero temperature, driven in part by entropy reduction through measurement, and necessarily subject to quantum noise. The experimental setup is a superconducting transmon qubit dispersively coupled to an open co-planar resonator. The cavity and qubit are driven by coherent fields and the cavity output is monitored with a quantum noise-limited amplifier. When the continuous measurement is weak, it induces sustained coherent oscillations (with fluctuating period) in the conditional moments. Strong continuous measurement leads to an incoherent cycle of quantum jumps. Both regimes constitute a clock with a signal extracted from the observed measurement current. This signal is analysed to demonstrate the relation between clock period noise and dissipated power for measurement driven quantum clocks. We show that a good clock requires high rates of energy dissipation and entropy generation.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Electron subband degeneracy heat pump for cryogenic cooling. (arXiv:2207.14237v2 [cond-mat.mes-hall] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

An unconventional method of continuous solid-state cryogenic cooling utilizing the electron subband degeneracy of semiconductor heterostructures is proposed in this Letter. An electrostatic heat pump is modeled, which employs subband "expansion" and "compression" to reach sub-dilution refrigeration temperatures with the fundamental limit set by electron-phonon interaction. Using an ultra-wide GaAs quantum well as an example, the cooling power per unit volume is estimated to reach $4.5\ \rm mW/cm^3$ with a hot-side temperature of $300\ \rm mK$, suitable for applications such as quantum computers or infrared detectors.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Unsupervised Interpretable Learning of Phases From Many-Qubit Systems. (arXiv:2208.08850v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

Experimental progress in qubit manufacturing calls for the development of new theoretical tools to analyze quantum data. We show how an unsupervised machine-learning technique can be used to understand short-range entangled many-qubit systems using data of local measurements. The method successfully constructs the phase diagram of a cluster-state model and detects the respective order parameters of its phases, including string order parameters. For the toric code subject to external magnetic fields, the machine identifies the explicit forms of its two stabilizers. Prior information of the underlying Hamiltonian or the quantum states is not needed; instead, the machine outputs their characteristic observables. Our work opens the door for a first-principles application of hybrid algorithms that aim at strong interpretability without supervision.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Unitarity of Symplectic Fermion in $\alpha$-vacua with Negative Central Charge. (arXiv:2208.12169v2 [hep-th] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

We study the two-dimensional free symplectic fermion with anti-periodic boundary condition. This model has negative norm states with naive inner product. This negative norm problem can be cured by introducing a new inner product. We demonstrate that this new inner product follows from the connection between the path integral formalism and the operator formalism. This model has negative central charge, $c=-2$, and we clarify how CFT$_2$ with negative central charge can have the non-negative norm. We introduce $\alpha$-vacua in which the Hamiltonian is seemingly non-Hermitian. In spite of non-Hermiticity we find that the energy spectrum is real. We also compare a correlation function with respect to the $\alpha$-vacua with that of the de Sitter space.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Entanglement-enhanced magnetic induction tomography. (arXiv:2209.01920v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

Magnetic induction tomography (MIT) is a sensing protocol, exploring conductive objects via their response to radio-frequency magnetic fields. MIT is used in nondestructive testing ranging from geophysics to medical applications. Atomic magnetometers, employed as MIT sensors, allow for significant improvement of the MIT sensitivity and for exploring its quantum limits. Here we report entanglement-enhanced MIT with an atomic magnetometer used as the sensing element. We generate an entangled and spin squeezed state of atoms of the sensor by stroboscopic quantum non-demolition measurement. We then utilize this spin state to demonstrate the improvement of one-dimensional MIT sensitivity beyond the standard quantum limit.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### 100 Gbps Integrated Quantum Random Number Generator Based on Vacuum Fluctuations. (arXiv:2209.04339v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

Emerging communication and cryptography applications call for reliable, fast, unpredictable random number generators. Quantum random number generation (QRNG) allows for the creation of truly unpredictable numbers thanks to the inherent randomness available in quantum mechanics. A popular approach is using the quantum vacuum state to generate random numbers. While convenient, this approach was generally limited in speed compared to other schemes. Here, through custom co-design of opto-electronic integrated circuits and side-information reduction by digital filtering, we experimentally demonstrated an ultrafast generation rate of 100 Gbps, setting a new record for vacuum-based quantum random number generation by one order of magnitude. Furthermore, our experimental demonstrations are well supported by an upgraded device-dependent framework that is secure against both classical and quantum side-information and that also properly considers the non-linearity in the digitization process. This ultrafast secure random number generator in the chip-scale platform holds promise for next generation communication and cryptography applications.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Testing of quantum nonlocal correlations under constrained free will and imperfect detectors. (arXiv:2209.05444v3 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

In this work, we deal with the relaxation of two central assumptions in standard locally realistic hidden variable (LRHV) inequalities: free will in choosing measurement settings, and the presence of perfect detectors at the measurement devices. Quantum correlations violating LRHV inequalities are called quantum nonlocal correlations. In principle, in an adversarial situation, there could be a hidden variable introducing bias in the selection of measurement settings, but observers with no access to that hidden variable could be unaware of the bias. In practice, however, detectors do not have perfect efficiency. A main focus of this paper is the introduction of the framework in which given a quantum state with nonlocal behavior under constrained free will, we can determine the threshold values of detector parameters (detector inefficiency and dark counts) such that the detectors are robust enough to certify nonlocality. We also introduce a class of LRHV inequalities with constrained free will, and we discuss their implications in the testing of quantum nonlocal correlations.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Parallel window decoding enables scalable fault tolerant quantum computation. (arXiv:2209.08552v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

Large-scale quantum computers have the potential to hold computational capabilities beyond conventional computers for certain problems. However, the physical qubits within a quantum computer are prone to noise and decoherence, which must be corrected in order to perform reliable, fault-tolerant quantum computations. Quantum Error Correction (QEC) provides the path for realizing such computations. QEC continuously generates a continuous stream of data that decoders must process at the rate it is received, which can be as fast as 1 MHz in superconducting quantum computers. A little known fact of QEC is that if the decoder infrastructure cannot keep up, a data backlog problem is encountered and the quantum computer runs exponentially slower. Today's leading approaches to quantum error correction are not scalable as existing decoders typically run slower as the problem size is increased, inevitably hitting the backlog problem. That is: the current leading proposal for fault-tolerant quantum computation is not scalable. Here, we show how to parallelize decoding to achieve almost arbitrary speed, removing this roadblock to scalability. Our parallelization requires some classical feed forward decisions to be delayed, leading to a slow-down of the logical clock speed. However, the slow-down is now only polynomial in code size, averting the exponential slowdown. We numerically demonstrate our parallel decoder for the surface code, showing no noticeable reduction in logical fidelity compared to previous decoders and demonstrating the parallelization speedup.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Mixedness timescale in non-Hermitian quantum systems. (arXiv:2209.11667v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

We discuss the short-time perturbative expansion of the linear entropy for finite-dimensional quantum systems whose dynamics can be effectively described by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. We derive a timescale for the degree of mixedness for an input state undergoing non-Hermitian dynamics and specialize these results in the case of a driven-dissipative two-level system. Next, we derive a timescale for the growth of mixedness for bipartite quantum systems that depends on the effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. In the Hermitian limit, this result recovers the perturbative expansion for coherence loss in Hermitian systems, while it provides an entanglement timescale for initial pure and uncorrelated states. To illustrate these findings, we consider the many-body transverse-field $XY$ Hamiltonian coupled to an imaginary all-to-all Ising model. We find that the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian enhances the short-time dynamics of the linear entropy for the considered input states. Overall, each timescale depends on minimal ingredients such as the probe state and the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian of the system, and its evaluation requires low computational cost. Our results find applications to non-Hermitian quantum sensing, quantum thermodynamics of non-Hermitian systems, and $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric quantum field theory.

Categories: Journals, Physics

### Dynamical many-body delocalization transition of a Tonks gas in a quasi-periodic driving potential. (arXiv:2209.12510v2 [cond-mat.quant-gas] UPDATED)

arXiv.org: Quantum Physics - Tue, 2023-02-07 11:45

The quantum kicked rotor is well-known for displaying dynamical (Anderson) localization. It has recently been shown that a periodically kicked Tonks gas will always localize and converge to a finite energy steady-state. This steady-state has been described as being effectively thermal with an effective temperature that depends on the parameters of the kick. Here we study a generalization to a quasi-periodic driving with three frequencies which, without interactions, has a metal-insulator Anderson transition. We show that a quasi-periodically kicked Tonks gas goes through a dynamical many-body delocalization transition when the kick strength is increased. The localized phase is still described by a low effective temperature, while the delocalized phase corresponds to an infinite-temperature phase, with the temperature increasing linearly in time. At the critical point, the momentum distribution of the Tonks gas displays different scaling at small and large momenta (contrary to the non-interacting case), signaling a breakdown of the one-parameter scaling theory of localization.

Categories: Journals, Physics