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Physics Condensed Matter Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

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Thursday 17 September

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mes-hall

Disorder-induced modulation of the nonlinear Hall effect in Weyl semimetals

We study the effects of impurity scattering on the nonlinear Hall response of Weyl semimetals within the semiclassical Boltzmann approach. We derive the rectified and second-harmonic conductivity tensors for a general momentum-dependent transport relaxation time and evaluate this quantity microscopically for short-range, Gaussian, screened Coulomb, and magnetic impurities. For scalar disorder, the relaxation time is isotropic and chirality independent. The nonlinear Hall response is then determined by the anomalous velocity associated with the Berry curvature, and a finite net response requires energetically inequivalent Weyl nodes to avoid cancellation between opposite chiralities. Polarized magnetic impurities lead to a qualitatively different behavior. We find that interference between the first- and second-order Born amplitudes generates a helicity-dependent anisotropic correction to the relaxation time. This anisotropy changes the tensor structure of the nonlinear Hall conductivity and gives rise to a finite second-harmonic current for suitable orientations of the electric field relative to the impurity polarization. For representative parameters, however, the anisotropic contribution is several orders of magnitude smaller than the dominant isotropic response. These results establish how the microscopic form of impurity scattering enters the nonlinear Hall response of Weyl semimetals through the transport relaxation time.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from physics.soc-ph

When higher-order interactions matter: reducibility, parsimony, and microscopic organization

The current debate on higher-order interactions raises a fundamental question: when can systems organized through group interactions be faithfully represented within a graph-based formalism? Recent results show that graph descriptions can reproduce higher-order dynamics exactly or preserve selected macroscopic observables. Yet reducibility does not necessarily imply simplification, as information removed from the interaction structure may reappear as complexity in the effective dynamics, while structural features such as nestedness, heterogeneity, and cross-order correlations may be obscured by the reduction. We argue that formal representability alone is insufficient as a criterion for model choice. Both "simpler" and "equivalent" are question-dependent notions: parsimony must be assessed for the complete structure-dynamics model, and adequacy must be defined relative to the observables, scales, and regimes required by the scientific question. A reduced model may therefore be fully adequate for locating a phase transition or identifying a universality class while being inadequate for reproducing microscopic trajectories, transient dynamics, or structure-function relations. When group structure carries relevant microscopic information, higher-order representations may remain the most direct, interpretable, and parsimonious description, as well as the natural framework for understanding how microscopic organization gives rise to macroscopic behavior and functionality.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cond-mat.quant-gas

Statistical delocalization in the Anyonic Aubry-André model

Many-body localization is remarkable in that localization persists despite the presence of dynamical interactions. Here we demonstrate the converse phenomenon: enhanced many-body delocalization induced solely by exchange statistics. We study a Aubry-André quasiperiodic system of anyons in one dimension in the absence of density-density interactions. In terms of anyon operators, the system is described by a quadratic Hamiltonian. By analyzing the finite-size scaling of its spectral properties and the inverse participation ratio of many-body eigenstates, we find that increasing the anyonic statistical phase systematically shifts the many-body localization crossover toward larger quasiperdiodic potentials. We further confirm these findings using a dynamical probe, namely the persistence of an initial density imbalance following quenches. Our results establish exchange statistics as an independent mechanism capable of altering many-body localization, revealing a fundamentally distinct route to delocalization in one-dimensional quantum systems.
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Wednesday 16 September

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Gradient-estimator design overcomes trainability barriers in neural-network-based variational optimization

Neural networks provide expressive representations for scientific computing. However, even sufficiently expressive networks can suffer training failure in weak-gradient regimes, limiting their practical use in quantum many-body physics and ab initio quantum chemistry. Here we derive an unbiased direct gradient estimator and introduce the adaptive minimum-variance phase (AMVP) estimator for neural-network variational optimization. By improving the signal-to-noise ratio of weak gradients, these methods enable reliable scientific calculations where training previously failed, while substantially reducing computational cost. The framework enables compact networks to outperform larger and fine-tuned default standard-estimator models with over an order of magnitude less GPU time on correlated flux models, and ultimately exceed the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) accuracy. It further achieves chemical accuracy in N$_2$ bond breaking and, for the first time, in heavy-element I$_2$ with explicit spin-orbit coupling. These results demonstrate that gradient-estimator design expands the capabilities of neural-network variational methods for accurate scientific computing.
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All authors Yi-Ran Xue, Rui Wang, Baigeng Wang, Chenan Wei

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

A rank-two spherical transform for eigenvector and singular-vector overlaps

We define a rank-two extension $\mathcal{H}^{(2)}$ of the spherical $\mathcal{H}$-transform, together with its associated transform $\mathcal{R}^{(2)}$. For sums, both transforms are additive. The transform $\mathcal{R}^{(2)}$ yields a $4\times4$ formula for the average product of two hermitized resolvents, and hence for off-diagonal eigenvector overlaps, recovering the Ginibre, elliptic, and bi-invariant formulas. We also treat correlated pairs of matrices, and obtain overlaps between their eigenvectors or singular vectors.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cs.LG

Learning-Induced Dynamical Transition in Recurrent Neural Networks

Learning in recurrent neural networks can fundamentally reshape their underlying dynamics, transforming initially chaotic activity into stable task-dependent behavior. We develop a non-equilibrium dynamical mean-field theory(DMFT) to describe this transition during learning. We show that a slow feedback-driven learning process generates an evolving effective feedback strength that drives the network through a transition from chaotic to stable dynamics defined by a bifurcation of the DMFT solution. By deriving the two-time correlation function throughout learning, we identify a critical feedback strength and a corresponding learning rate dependent critical time separating these regimes. The transition arises from the progressive deformation of an effective dynamical landscape by the growing learned feedback structure. Starting from the untrained state, the theory predicts the time evolution of the network output during training and shows quantitative agreement with numerical simulations.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cs.AI

Flag Game: A Toy Model for Mechanistic Swarm Interpretability

Emergent coordinated behaviors of AI agents are starting to present critical safety risks. A key phenomenon driving these behaviors is the rapid formation and spread of beliefs about the world, and mechanistic understanding is crucial for collective alignment. To this end, we introduce the Flag Game, a toy model for studying the mechanisms of collective belief formation. Concretely, a hidden country flag defines the ground truth, and each bounded agent directly observes only a private crop but can exchange beliefs and weigh social evidence from peers. Despite its simplicity, the Flag Game reproduces rich collective phenomenology: non-monotonic scaling of performance with population size, accuracy gains from social-awareness prompting and team diversity, and strong effects of organizational structure. In particular, we identify that collective belief collapse at small population sizes turns into collective belief polarization as the population grows. This polarization causes the performance decline at large population sizes, but creates diversity in collective beliefs. Finally, we dissect the mechanisms underlying collective belief collapse and polarization with two complementary approaches. We first introduce social circuit attribution, a technique to predict which agent, and what view, matters most to collective dynamics, and verify its predictions by causal interventions on agents, tracing how agent patching changes collective outcomes. However, the efficacy of causal interventions on agents decreases as the population grows. We therefore develop a statistical mechanical theory for larger populations and verify that it matches the empirical phase diagram. Together, these results take a first step toward mechanistic swarm interpretability, a science of how the properties of individual agents and their communication give rise to emergent collective behavior.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cond-mat.stat-mech

Macroscopic Response Diagnoses the Noise Sensitivity of Terminal Outcomes

Can the terminal macroscopic outcome of a many-body system be inferred from its microscopic initial data without simulating the full trajectory? Rather than construct such a shortcut, we address a more fundamental question for Gaussian microscopic inputs: can any fixed Wiener-Hermite degree retain a nonvanishing fraction of the variance of the terminal outcome as the system grows? We consider homogeneous systems with independent Gaussian disorder in which all microscopic coordinates are symmetry-equivalent, the terminal event is monotone in each disorder variable, and a uniform disorder shift is exactly equivalent to a control-field shift with a size-independent conversion factor. Using forward and inverse Gaussian influence bounds together with a Gaussian Russo formula, we derive a directly measurable criterion that is both necessary and sufficient for noise sensitivity. Specifically, the correlation between the original and coordinate-perturbed terminal outcomes vanishes asymptotically for every fixed nonzero level of coordinatewise noise if and only if the slope of the outcome probability with respect to the control field at the balanced threshold grows more slowly than the square root of the system volume. Event-driven simulations of the three-dimensional driven random-field Ising model up to linear size 192 find that both the normalized response and the correlations between perturbed samples decrease overall, consistent with the noise-sensitive regime at finite size. For spatial Stag-Hunt dynamics with prescribed seeds, the criterion generalizes through an effective number of influential coordinates. Separately, simulations of a path-dependent best-response game show, over the sizes studied, that the terminal equilibrium can depend on the update schedule while still carrying substantial finite-order predictive information.
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Tuesday 15 September

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cond-mat.stat-mech

Structure of Measurement-Induced Entanglement in Infinite-Randomness Critical States

The impact of projective measurements on a many-body quantum state is tightly linked to its underlying entanglement structure. Critical states are particularly sensitive, as long-range entanglement allows local measurements to have global consequences. This has been extensively studied in the context of critical states described by a conformal field theory (CFT), where measurements can alter critical properties in post-measurement quantities ('measurement-altered criticality') and induce long-range entanglement with universal features ('measurement-induced entanglement'). By contrast, little is known about the role of measurements on critical states with quenched disorder, which admit no CFT description. Here, we develop a theory of measurements on one-dimensional critical states governed by infinite-randomness fixed points (IRFPs), focusing on two closely related examples: the random XXZ chain and the random transverse-field Ising model. We show that the measurement-induced entanglement decays as a power-law with universal exponent $(3-\sqrt{5})/2$ in both models, and that the minimum number of measurements required to establish this entanglement obeys a universal scaling form. When only a finite density of measurements is made, we show that the critical properties of the state are remarkably robust: `measurement-altered criticality' is absent, with measurements either preserving the critical exponents, or destroying the criticality entirely. These results establish IRFPs as an analytically tractable arena for measurements on critical states, complementary to the CFT case. The outcome randomness that necessitates replica methods in clean systems becomes trivial at infinite randomness, with the universal response governed by the statistics induced by the quenched disorder.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Coupling spherical p-spin systems

Spherical p-spin models provide a mean-field framework for glassy dynamics. Coupling such systems opens a controlled way to probe how they evolve jointly, develop cross correlations, and possibly share common aging scales. We study spherical p-spin systems with site-independent inter-system couplings and generally correlated quenched disorders. We derive closed multi-subsystem two-time equations for correlations, responses, and spherical constraints. A marginal one-step replica-symmetry-breaking construction provides static benchmarks for overlap plateaux, aging crossover scales, and effective temperatures. We then specialize to two ferromagnetically coupled p=3 systems and compare dynamical data with marginal 1RSB predictions. Independent quenched disorders reduce the equal-time correlation between the systems below its disorder-free value, while correlated disorders enhance it. For sufficiently strong coupling, finite-time fluctuation-dissipation estimates within and between the systems are compatible with a common effective temperature even when one or both subsystems would equilibrate as a paramagnet in isolation. This common value lies above the effective temperatures that the constituent systems would have separately and increases with disorder correlation and coupling strength. The marginal 1RSB value T/m captures these trends but is slightly below the finite-time dynamical estimate. For weak coupling, the dynamical results instead suggest that two aging regimes develop for each system, with partial equilibration within each. We perform a marginal replica analysis with two-step breaking, whose predictions compare favorably with the numerical measurements. Our numerical accuracy is insufficient to determine whether the observed finite-time crossover will eventually become a sharp transition.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Bias-Induced Crossover in Absolute Capacity of Dense Associative Memory

The absolute capacity of dense associative memory has mainly been analyzed for unbiased patterns. Here we examine the effect of bias in centered binary patterns under the Krotov-Hopfield single-site criterion $P_{\mathrm{error}}=1/N$, where $P_{\mathrm{error}}$ is the probability that a single-site flip lowers the energy of a stored pattern and $N$ is the number of neurons. Each pattern component takes $1-q$ with probability $q$ and $-q$ otherwise, where $0<q\le1/2$. For polynomial interactions of order $n$, a signal-to-noise analysis gives an absolute capacity of order $N^{n-1}/\ln N$ at $q=1/2$. For fixed $q<1/2$, however, the capacity is $O(N^{n/2})$ for even $n\ge4$ and $O(N^{(n+1)/2})$ for odd $n\ge5$. For $n=3$, both the unbiased and fixed-bias capacities remain $O(N^2/\ln N)$. For $n\ge4$, these different asymptotic forms imply a nonuniform large-$N$ limit near $q=1/2$. Asymptotic matching predicts a bias-induced crossover in the region $1-2q=O(\ln N/N^{\lfloor n/2\rfloor-1})$. The crossover originates from a bias-dependent crosstalk mean that reduces the stability of sites carrying the more frequent value $-q$. Computer simulations are compared with the finite-size conditioned-Gaussian predictions. An activity-dependent control potential that cancels the conditional crosstalk mean restores the $N^{n-1}/\ln N$ capacity for fixed $0<q<1/2$ within the conditioned-Gaussian approximation.
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All authors Yuto Sakurai, Takeaki Shimokawa, Kazunori Iwata, Kazushi Mimura

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mes-hall

Exact solutions of nonreciprocal Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model with domain walls

We investigate domain-wall physics in a non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model featuring the non-Hermitian skin effect and its higher-dimensional extensions, focusing on analytical eigenstate solutions under open boundary conditions. By gluing two Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chains with inverted coupling ratios together, we identify two distinct interface geometries, and derive closed-form quantization conditions for the complex wave number and wave functions using symmetry-based ansatzes. Besides conventional skin modes and topological zero modes, the domain walls generate additional localized states at finite energy that detach from the bulk open-boundary-condition continuum. We validate the analytical results by exact diagonalization, and further generalize the interface construction to a two-dimensional Lieb lattice, where competing nonreciprocities produce tunable funneling regimes towards codimension-one and codimension-two interfaces.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Latent kinetic Ising models of neural spike trains

Inferring directed effective interactions from neuronal spike trains is a central inverse problem in statistical physics and computational neuroscience. Kinetic Ising models provide a tractable framework for this task, but their application to neural data typically requires binning spike trains into binary activity variables, discarding within-bin timing and conflating collective network dynamics with single-neuron history effects. We introduce SpiKIsing, a latent-variable model that separates these two levels of description. A discrete-time asymmetric kinetic Ising model describes collective network activity, while continuous-time, history-dependent point processes generate the observed spikes conditional on the latent states, accounting explicitly for refractoriness and post-spike recovery. We derive a variational mean-field expectation-maximization scheme in which the point-process likelihood enters as an effective observation field, enabling joint inference of latent activity, network couplings, and emission parameters. The framework extends naturally to maximum-a-posteriori inference with structured priors, including sparsity and a hierarchical extension favouring Dale-consistent outgoing interactions. We validate parameter recovery on matched synthetic data and test the method on spike trains generated by a recurrent conductance-based leaky integrate-and-fire network. In this setting, SpiKIsing recovers sparse connection structure and correctly classifies all excitatory and inhibitory neurons despite the substantial mismatch between the data-generating dynamics and the SpiKIsing model.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Nonlocal Magic across the Many-Body Localization Crossover

Nonlocal magic quantifies the minimum nonstabilizerness attainable under independent local unitary transformations on the two subsystems. Here, we use min-relative nonlocal magic (NLM) to characterize the crossover from ergodicity to many-body localization (MBL) in the random-field XXZ chain. Unlike entanglement entropy, NLM probes how entanglement is organized through the distance of the Schmidt spectrum from dyadic-flat stabilizer spectra. From weak to intermediate disorder, NLM evolves from an $O(1)$ Haar-like value into a size-enhanced dome, while entanglement remains volume-law, revealing a spectral reorganization not visible in the entropy. Deep in the MBL regime, a two-level cut-hybridization model captures the nearly binary Schmidt spectrum and explains why the mean and median NLM decay approximately as $W^{-1}$ and $W^{-2}$, respectively. Following a product-state quench, NLM overshoots and relaxes in the ergodic regime, whereas at strong disorder it grows slowly and approximately logarithmically. These results show that NLM resolves Schmidt-spectrum structure not visible in the entanglement entropy and provides a complementary probe of ergodicity breaking.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cs.CL

A Data-free Universal Prior over Syntactic Structures

The probabilities of syntactic structures in human languages are assumed to emerge fully from language-specific experience. Here, I show that a universal prior over syntactic structures emerges from a model of human language production, in which words are progressively integrated into syntactic structure. Without fitting any parameters to specific language data, the resulting prior assigns higher probabilities to attested than to random dependency trees in all 138 typologically diverse languages examined. These prior probabilities correlate positively with those estimated from corpora in 33 of 34 languages. The results indicate that part of the probability structure of syntax can arise independently of language-specific learning. This identifies human language production as a possible cognitive source of universal statistical structure in language, while providing a data-independent structural bias for probabilistic models, including large language models.
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Monday 14 September

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Towards the spin-glass transition in finite dimensions via blue percolation

We prove blue percolation in the Chayes-Machta-Redner representation of the zero-field Edwards-Anderson spin glass in finite dimensions. For fixed symmetric iid couplings with $0<m=\mathbb{E}|J|<\infty$, the first blue-percolation inverse temperature $\beta_{\mathrm{b}}(d)$ satisfies $2dm\,\beta_{\mathrm{b}}(d)\to1$ as $d\to\infty$, in periodic joint limits. For symmetric $\pm1$ couplings, both overlap signs percolate at explicit temperatures in every dimension from 7 to 12. That proof reveals the overlap field, shows that it dominates a weakly coupled Ising field, and bounds a weighted second moment of open paths; in dimensions 7 to 9 the paths make short lateral excursions, and an interaction-matrix criterion controls the second moment. These proofs are computer-assisted: finitely many inequalities between rigorously bounded quantities are decided in exact rational arithmetic. For exponential-moment disorder, we also establish a percolating regime with exactly equal infinite-blue-sector densities and finite spin-glass susceptibility. In these periodic limits, persistent density imbalance would imply distinct spin-flip-related Gibbs states and ordinary spin-glass order: positive spatial-overlap variance, infinite spin-glass susceptibility and a cusp of the replica-coupling pressure, without requiring finite-blue cancellation. Proving imbalance remains open.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

The Cross-Substrate Access Assay: What an Indicator Test Must Declare to Travel from Brain to Language Model

Testing an artificial system for a property linked to consciousness means applying a measurement developed on brains to a system that is not one. Such a transfer must re-examine five parts of the procedure: the competing statistical models, how they are fitted, the unit the inference generalizes over, the quantity the uncertainty interval is about, and the rule that turns a result into a verdict. The Cross-Substrate Access Assay declares all five. Because brain and model signals share no physical scale, every model is scored by the cross-entropy it assigns to held-out data, in nats per trial. The test case is the global neuronal workspace theory, which predicts that near threshold a stimulus either enters a capacity-limited workspace or does not, so that single-trial responses form a mixture of two states. A published test of this prediction on twenty people's electroencephalograms partly reproduces in a re-implementation: the first crossing and the broad ordering over time match, the window-by-window agreement does not. On 12,000 synthetic datasets generated with a single graded state, all of them members of the families the procedure fits and none within 0.0067 nat per trial of the decision boundary, the two models of that test carried over unchanged reported two states in 989 and the expanded families in none; on 600 datasets carrying a mixture the expanded procedure reported two states in 599. Its nominal 95% interval contained the procedure's mean result less often than the required 90% at six of twelve graded settings. No claim about experience is made.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cond-mat.stat-mech

Hidden kinetic correlations control collective phases of entropy-conditioned histories

Visible dynamics and mean dissipation need not determine the collective phases of rare histories. We construct local Markov models with identical ordinary visible path distributions, stationary states, mean entropy production, mean jump activity and driving affinities, yet different phases when histories are weighted by their full entropy production. Visible configurations modulate hidden driven cycles, whose exact elimination turns kinetic correlations into interactions. A positive spectral reduction separates hidden relaxation from collective modes. Periodic binary models retain opposite phases with entropy variances matched at every observation time. For conserved particles, a pair matches the first two joint cumulants of entropy and hidden activity at every observation time, yet selects segregation or a fluctuating state with suppressed long-wavelength density noise. Bound-state transport and fermionic evolution determine their contrasting dynamics. At a clean Ising critical midpoint, the entropy source couples quadratically to the thermal perturbation, making the fourth cumulant the first to detect the critical susceptibility. Its rate per site grows logarithmically, with an exact cutoff set by system size and observation time. For two quenched disorder ensembles, exact sample-response formulas and numerical evidence support a finite fourth-cumulant density despite very slow relaxation; a weak-disorder continuum response admits a controlled Borel sum. A common positive hidden eigenvector characterizes autonomous selected dynamics. When this condition fails, a finite network develops visible memory while preserving its ordinary visible process and mean diagnostics. These results identify kinetic information missed by aggregate thermodynamic observations.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Noise-induced classical phases in optimally-unraveled random quantum circuits

We study the classical simulability of open quantum dynamics using random Clifford circuits doped with non-Clifford phase rotations and subject to local noise. We unravel the dynamics into stochastic quantum trajectories simulated with Clifford-augmented matrix product states, and introduce a simulation cost that quantifies the classical resources required. Optimizing this cost over stochastic unravelings, we identify noise-induced classical phases: extended parameter regions in which the dynamics can be fully disentangled by Clifford operations at arbitrary circuit depth. Their existence depends on both the noise model and the unraveling. Using a geometric representation of quantum channels, we analytically determine optimal unravelings for a broad class of noise models, with numerical simulations confirming the predicted phase boundaries. We further relate the optimal cost to the unraveling-independent nonstabilizerness of the channel and show that, together with trajectory-resolved entanglement and nonstabilizerness, it classifies distinct dynamical regimes. Finally, we show that these classical phases disappear in the averaged density-matrix description, where no unraveling freedom remains. Our results show that the emergence of classicality in noisy random circuits depends on the measurement scheme adopted to probe it, and paves the way to further studies on the classical simulability of driven-dissipative dynamics.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Direct Observation of Dipolar-Driven Anisotropic Quantum Projection Noise in a Solid-State Spin Ensemble

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond is a prominent quantum-sensing platform. Combining readout at the quantum projection noise limit with strong dipolar interactions promises substantial gains in sensitivity. However, experimentally accessing this regime has remained a longstanding challenge. In this work, we demonstrate quantum-projection-noise-resolved readout of a strongly-interacting, two-dimensional ensemble of NV centers. Our approach leverages repetitive readout via the NV's intrinsic $^{15}$N nuclear memory at a moderate magnetic field ($\sim 0.3$ T), improving the readout fidelities by nearly an order of magnitude. This enables us to directly resolve the quantum projection noise of a coherent spin state and to watch the ensemble's intrinsic dipolar interactions shear this noise into an anisotropic profile. Our results open the door to direct measurements of spin squeezing and entanglement-enhanced sensing in the solid state.
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All authors Tasuku Ono, Weijie Wu, Haopu Yang, Lillian B. Hughes Wyatt, Benjamin Brenner, Che Liu, Collin Fan, Chris R. Laumann, Jonathan N. Hallén, Emily J. Davis, Ania C. Bleszynski Jayich, Norman Y. Yao

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cond-mat.stat-mech

Bridging Control, Inference, Transport, and Thermodynamics: From Theory to Applications in Learning

The last decade has seen the development of powerful methods for learning complex structure from high-dimensional data. These advances have brought to the foreground fundamental connections between subdisciplines of physics, applied mathematics, and machine learning. In this review, we bring together some of these ideas, often expressed in different languages, to highlight a conceptual thread that links five distinct fields: control theory, optimal transport, probabilistic inference, non-equilibrium thermodynamics, and machine learning. A common theme is the optimization of free-energy-like functionals under dynamical or statistical constraints. We offer a guided tour through this thread and present selected applications in reinforcement learning, variational inference, and generative modeling. The review does not assume prior familiarity with these topics, and begins with principles originating from physics.
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All authors Emmy Blumenthal, Nikolas Claussen, Benjamin Eysenbach, Catherine Ji, Gautam Reddy, Colin Scheibner, Benjamin Sorkin

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Statistical levels and spatial modes of Fock-space heterogeneity in many-body localization crossovers

Near many-body localization crossovers, local memory fluctuates strongly among eigenstates and ensemble realizations, but the observed heterogeneity combines contributions from different statistical levels. We develop a statistical framework based on configuration-space distance distributions that uses a variance decomposition to separate fluctuations within eigenstates, between eigenstates of one sample, and between samples. Applying this framework to random-cosine and quasiperiodic-cosine Ising ensembles with the same one-site field marginal, we find that, at the exact-diagonalization sizes studied, the clearest difference occurs among disorder realizations or quasiperiodic phase samples, whereas within-eigenstate and within-sample eigenstate-to- eigenstate contributions remain broadly comparable. Spatial covariances show that random outer fluctuations have a much stronger uniform component, whereas quasiperiodic phase fluctuations are organized more strongly at finite wave number and partly cancel in the spatial average controlling the distance center. We find that, near the crossover in the random ensemble, the ensemble-averaged distance center is particularly sensitive to changes in the nominal field strength. Combined with sample-to-sample differences in the realized field amplitude, this mean response accounts for much of the sample-to-sample variation in the distance center. Analysis of half-chain entanglement further shows that its sample-to-sample fluctuations likewise reflect the combined effects of amplitude variations and its own mean response. An application to a fixed-magnetization spin chain demonstrates the framework in a constrained configuration space. Resolving both statistical level and spatial mode therefore provides a more complete picture of sample- dependent many-body memory and its configuration-space probability geometry.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Disorder-Tailored Delocalization

We derive disorder fields tailored by the details of a choice of a delocalized wave function. We first investigate the unidirectional Hatano-Nelson chain and its localization properties under $M$-base diagonal disorder with variable weights. The spectrum forms loops in the complex plane and the loop parameter is a good quantum number similar to a momentum. All eigenstates are subexponentially `localized', i.e. the logarithm of the absolute value of the wave function performs a random walk in space, and are characterized by a corresponding length scale $\xi_{sel}$ as shown in 1998 by Silvestrov for the general Hatano-Nelson chain. For $M=2$ real-valued binary disorder with equal weights the model was solved in Zeitschrift für Naturforschung A 81 421, yielding Cassini oval spectral loops and a diverging subexponential localization length for two eigenstates and for disorder weaker than a critical value set by the hopping strength. When the disorder field for any $M$ and arbitrary weights is confined to circles in the complex plane with radius equal to the hopping strength, the circle center will belong to the spectrum and to one of the spectral loops, and host a plane-wave-like eigenstate with diverging $\xi_{sel}$. We generalize to tailoring on-site disorder for a given eigenstate at a given energy, for any lattice dimension, and any hopping field (both ordered and disordered), for Hermitian and non-Hermitian systems. We exemplify by constructing a one-dimensional chain with Anderson-localized eigenstates hosting a completely delocalized one with random phases. The localization length diverges as $1/|E|^{2/3}$ upon approaching the delocalized state. Our method can be used for the systematic construction of disorder fields which host predefined eigenstates with arbitrary properties.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Bias and Correlations in Quasiperiodicity: Impact on Localization in an Extended Aubry-André Model

Unlike in Anderson localization - where any amount of uncorrelated disorder localizes all eigenstates in one dimension - a one-dimensional system with quasiperiodic potential supports a richer range of localization behavior. This paper investigates the fundamental question of which potential characteristics govern localization properties. We characterize quasiperiodic potentials using two independent parameters, correlation and bias, and demonstrate that bias, in addition to correlation, critically influences localization. Through the study of an extended Aubry-André model, in which a tunable parameter allows systematic control over both the bias and correlation of the potential, we show that bias is key in determining the fraction of delocalized states. An increase in the potential strength generally enhances the tendency toward localization, while simultaneously strengthening the correlations in the quasiperiodic potential. This apparent counterintuitive behavior can be understood in terms of the bias parameter: increasing the potential strength reduces the bias, which in turn favors localization. For the family of Hamiltonians considered, we identify two critical bias thresholds: below the lower threshold, the entire spectrum is localized, whereas below the higher threshold, at most a fraction of the states can be delocalized, precluding delocalization of the entire spectrum. To further test our framework, we examine a quasiperiodic model with zero bias and find that, despite its correlated nature, all states become localized even at very weak potential strengths - recovering the Anderson-like scenario.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from nlin.SI

Multivariable Painleve'-II equation: connection formulas for arbitrary system size

Connection formulas for the asymptotic solutions of a system of n> 1 coupled Painleve'-II equations with symmetry-breaking parameters are written explicitly. An asymptotically exact WKB approach to these formulas relies on the quantum-mechanical independent crossing approximation for an explicitly time-dependent Schroedinger equation.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Universal Defect Statistics in Reverse Quenches

We derive an extension of the generalized Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM), which provides a stochastic approach to defect formation, to reverse quench protocols. While the universal scaling behavior of defects in reverse quenches has been observed previously in certain 1D chains, we argument from a probability-theoretical perspective that this scaling persists in general, and is given by the double of the defect density variance in forward quenches. We validate these results analytically for the one-dimensional transverse field Ising model and numerically for its bond-disordered variant governed by an infinite randomness fixed point. Starting from the paramagnetic phase, this protocol relies solely on global control of the system's magnetic field and global magnetization measurements, enabling the extraction of critical exponents without microscopic access to individual defects. This approach offers a robust and experimentally feasible method for probing quantum critical behavior through entirely global operations.
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All authors Eduard J. Braun, Daniel Rubin, Margaux Cartier, Gerhard Zürn, Matthias Weidemüller

Sunday 13 September

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Why 2D Models Fail to Capture Flow Properties in 3D Heterogeneous Media: A Connectivity Perspective

We analyze how the equivalent hydraulic conductivity, $K_{eq}$, varies with the coarsening scale $\lambda/I$ in 2D and 3D heterogeneous media. Their local hydraulic conductivity, $k({\bf r})$, follows a lognormal distribution in all cases, while spatial connectivity of $k({\bf r})$ ranges from high (HCS), through intermediate or multi-Gaussian (ICS) and low (LCS), to unstructured (NS). Using a stochastic approach, we characterize the full distribution $P[\log(K_{eq})]$, and its moments: mean $\langle K_{eq}\rangle$, log-variance $\sigma_{\log(K_{eq})}^{2}$, and log-skewness $\gamma_{\log(K_{eq})}$, as a function of $\lambda/I$. Significant contrasts appear between 2D and 3D, which we interpret in terms of two key factors associated with spatial dimensionality. We observe that, compared with ICS, LCS and HCS exhibit two distinct features: existing analytical expressions for coarse-graining of $k({\bf r})$ in multi-Gaussian media do not apply, while $P[\log(K_{eq})]$ deviates from Gaussian at all scales $\lambda/I$. Critical path analysis is then used to quantify the connectivity of our samples, and show that $K_{eq}$ exhibits a power-law dependence on it. Our results reveal that connectivity can lead to substantial differences between 2D and 3D macroscopic flow properties, even for the same geostatistical parameters, highlighting the severe limitations of using 2D models to represent 3D flows.
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All authors Cristian Picighelli, Ivan Colecchio, Marcelo Piva, Alejandro D. Otero, Alejandro Boschan

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cond-mat.soft

Glassiness and dynamic arrest in magnetic and non-magnetic colloids

We investigate and compare a range of indicators for glassiness in monodisperse magnetic and non-magnetic soft-sphere fluids at low temperatures with a view to exploring the effect of the magnetic moment. We perform extensive molecular dynamics simulations using the Stockmayer model for magnetic fluids and a pure Lennard-Jones interaction for the non-magnetic case. Our investigations involve quenching experiments, in which both systems are rapidly cooled deep below their freezing temperatures. Although the Lennard-Jones fluid forms compact aggregates, the inclusion of dipolar interactions promotes the development of branched and open morphologies. After characterizing the static properties of the frozen structures, we focus on their dynamics. A key observable is the self-part of the van Hove function, which measures the probability that a particle is displaced by a distance $\Delta$ over time $t$. In both fluids, this function exhibits non-Gaussian behavior — thereby providing a signature of dynamic heterogeneity and glassiness. This behavior stems from a separation of time scales between two distinct processes: mobile particles that escape their environments and immobile particles that vibrate within cages. In particular, we find a heavier tail in the van Hove function for the Stockmayer fluid, which is a consequence of the strongly correlated motion in chain-like structures found there. These findings shed light on core relaxation mechanisms in magnetic fluids, advancing our understanding of magnetically responsive colloidal systems.
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All authors Anuj Kumar Singh, Lambert Münster, Martin Weigel, Varsha Banerjee

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Statistical Landscape Exploration and Weak-Field Defects in Selective Oscillator Ising Machines

Oscillator Ising machines (OIMs) provide an analog dynamical approach to combinatorial optimization, but comparatively little is known about the statistical structure of the ensembles they generate. Using the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick (SK) spin-glass model, we introduce a selective oscillator scheme, OIM+, in which successive annealing epochs are combined with energy-based elimination and repopulation of replicas. We characterize the resulting states through overlap distributions, Hamming distances, hierarchical clustering, and local-field statistics. OIM+ explores structured low-energy regions while retaining a nontrivial ensemble of configurations despite repeated selection. We identify sparse weak-local-field residual defects as a characteristic limitation of the dynamics. A short Metropolis-Hastings refinement preferentially corrects these defects, indicating that the oscillator dynamics performs the dominant collective exploration while the remaining corrections are predominantly local. The weak fields arise mainly from cancellation among competing interaction terms rather than uniformly weak couplings. The same behavior persists for an antiferromagnetically biased SK ensemble, where the hybrid method reaches a pooled mean energy comparable to a substantially longer pure Metropolis anneal. The complete protocol also achieves competitive performance on standard G-set Max-Cut benchmarks. These results suggest a natural division of labor between collective analog search and targeted local refinement.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Anderson localization in periodic elastic systems with random perturbations

This paper investigates Anderson localization in subwavelength elastic periodic systems with random perturbations. For the unperturbed system, we use layer potential techniques to reformulate the eigenvalue problem as boundary integral equations, and derive asymptotic formulas for the subwavelength eigenvalues. For perturbed systems, we apply the Floquet transform to obtain a periodic formulation and derive equations determining the resonant frequencies under general perturbations. Numerical experiments for perturbed periodic monomers and dimers agree with the theoretical predictions. We further demonstrate Anderson localization by increasing the strength and number of random perturbations. These results provide a mathematical foundation for understanding subwavelength localization in elastic metamaterials.
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