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Physics Condensed Matter Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

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Wednesday 23 September

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

Local time-reversal-invariant topological markers in two dimensions

Local topological markers provide a real-space characterization of topological phases and are suited to noncrystalline models. We derive a local topological marker, the Chern-Simons descendant marker, for characterizing the topology of two-dimensional time-reversal-invariant near-Gaussian states from the one-particle density matrix \(\rho\). We construct an auxiliary three-dimensional state characterized by the local Chern-Simons marker, and use dimensional reduction to obtain the Chern-Simons descendant marker for the original two-dimensional state. This derivation introduces a local Hermitian involution \(S\) that is odd under time reversal. When \([S,\rho]=0\), the local Chern-Simons descendant marker reduces to half the difference of the local Chern markers in the \(S=\pm1\) sectors. Constructing an \(S\) that commutes exactly with \(\rho\) generally requires fine-tuning, but this is not needed—the local Chern-Simon marker remains well defined whenever \(\Gamma=\{\rho,S\}-S\) has a spectral gap around zero, even when \([S,\rho]\neq0\). This leaves the practical problem of identifying a suitable \(S\) for a given state, which, importantly, is straightforward even when spin is not a candidate. We show this by considering both strong Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling, for which knowledge of the physical origin of the state reduces the general problem of choosing $S$ to a one-parameter family \(S(\theta)\). We evaluate the optimal angle $\theta$ maximizing the spectral gap of $\Gamma$ analytically assuming translation invariance, and find that the gap of $\Gamma$ remains open for a broad range of angles around the optimum. The same value of \(\theta\) remains valid in disordered systems, providing an easy way to obtain choice of \(S\) for evaluating the local Chern-Simons descendant marker of the state.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Rank-One Signal Recovery in Sparse Wishart Noise

We study the high-dimensional recovery of a signal vector $\mathbf{x}$ in the presence of sparse Wishart-like noise. We define an $N \times N$ matrix $A = J+(\theta/N)\mathbf{xx}^{\top}$, where $\mathbf{xx}^{\top}$ is the rank-one deformation of the random noise matrix $J$. We consider a Wishart-like matrix $J={X}^{\top} X$, where $X$ is a sparse $M \times N$ random matrix with entries $X_{ij} = c_{ij}W_{ij}$, with $c_{ij}$ regulating the density of non-zero elements, and $W_{ij}$ the bond weights. Using the replica method, we compute analytically the top eigenpair statistics of $A$, and their dependence on the signal strength $\theta$, the rectangularity ratio $\alpha=\sqrt{M/N}$, and the average connectivity of the noise. The spectral observables are expressed in terms of a system of Recursive Distributional Equations, which are efficiently solved via a Population Dynamics algorithm. They allow us to compute the average largest eigenvalue $\langle\lambda_1\rangle_{A}$, the average top eigenvector component density, and the average overlap between the top eigenvector of $A$ and $\mathbf{x}$. We identify a critical threshold $\theta_{\mathrm{crit}}$–depending on the average connectivity of the noise–that marks a BBP-like phase transition: below this value, $\langle\lambda_1\rangle_{A}$ is unaffected by the signal, and the overlap vanishes. Thus, the signal is not recoverable from the top eigenvector of $A$. For $\theta>\theta_{\mathrm{crit}}$, the signal-related outlier eigenvalue becomes $\langle\lambda_1\rangle_{A}$ and the overlap is nonzero, allowing for recovery of the signal. The results are in excellent agreement with numerical diagonalisation. We show that in the dense limit, the recovery threshold and eigen-statistics converge to the results predicted by the classical BBP transition for additive rank-one deformations of dense Wishart matrices.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mes-hall

Correlated quasiperiodicity enables efficient thermoelectric energy conversion

We investigate a route to enhanced thermoelectric energy conversion in nanoscale systems by exploiting a correlated quasiperiodic energy landscape in a one-dimensional chain coupled to source and drain reservoirs. The considered modulation generates a highly non-uniform electronic transmission spectrum, providing favorable conditions for achieving a large thermoelectric figure of merit. By systematically tuning the incommensurability parameter, a variety of quasiperiodic configurations are explored, several of which yield high values of the figure of merit exceeding $2$. Electronic transport properties are evaluated within a tight-binding framework using the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism, while the thermoelectric coefficients, including electrical conductance, Seebeck coefficient, and electronic thermal conductance, are determined through the Landauer approach. The underlying quasiperiodic potential belongs to the Aubry-André-Harper (AAH) family and exhibits a weakly varying spatial profile, leading to transmission characteristics that are favorable for thermoelectric optimization. The influence of phonon thermal conductance on the overall energy-conversion efficiency is also analyzed in detail. For the sake of completeness, we also critically inspect the effect of conductor to electrode coupling and the coupling asymmetry on $ZT$. We also check the thermoelectric response of conventional AAH system and an elaborate comparison is made with our chosen quantum system. Our findings highlight the potential of correlated quasiperiodic nanostructures as promising candidates for efficient thermoelectric applications.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Optimal low-rank compression of quantum dynamics

Local quantum interactions generate dynamics in an exponentially large Hilbert space, yet locality and entanglement restrict the information that can spread and accumulate. Bounds on propagation and entanglement growth, together with tensor networks, exploit these restrictions to discard information unnecessary for describing the evolution. This leads to a sharper question: how much information must any low-rank representation retain? Here we determine these limits, up to logarithmic factors, for short-range interactions. For time-independent evolution, the optimal rank obeys $\log D=\widetilde O(t+\sqrt{\log(1/\epsilon)})$, with matching lower bounds fixing the accuracy exponent $1/2$; for arbitrary driving, matching fixed-time bounds instead give $2/3$. Correspondingly, the corresponding dynamical entanglement spectra exhibit distinct small-$\alpha$ Rényi laws, $\alpha^{-1}$ and $\alpha^{-2}$. In one dimension, the static limit is constructively attained by an explicit MPO algorithm, with an analogous extension to Liouvillian dynamics. Together, these results determine the irreducible information required to represent local quantum evolution and uncover distinct entanglement structures in static and driven dynamics.
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All authors Hugo Mackay, Donghoon Kim, Tan Van Vu, Tomotaka Kuwahara

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cs.LG

Discrete Diffusion Models via Evolving Variational Autoregressive Networks

Conventional score-based diffusion models learn scores without representing normalized densities, whereas tractable normalized models support both sampling and direct likelihood evaluation. A recent tensor-network approach provides such a representation but is largely restricted to low-dimensional lattices. Here we introduce a discrete diffusion model that parameterizes normalized probability distributions using variational autoregressive networks. Explicit Markov jump operators govern the forward noising and reverse denoising dynamics, extending discrete diffusion models with normalized distributions to spin systems on higher-dimensional lattices. We apply this framework to the two- and three-dimensional Ising models across ordered, critical, and disordered regimes, accurately computing thermodynamic quantities including free energy, energy, and magnetization. We further integrate the framework with Monte Carlo sampling, using adaptive diffusion steps to maintain high acceptance rates even at low temperatures while enhancing sample diversity. These results establish a neural-network framework for the discrete diffusion model with normalized probability distributions.
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Tuesday 22 September

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

R-transforms for non-Hermitian block random matrices: a spherical integral approach

We extend the spherical-integral approach to $\mathcal{R}$-transforms of non-Hermitian random matrices to random matrices with a fixed $K \times K$ block structure. We introduce a rank-$K$ spherical integral defining a scalar $H$-transform on $2K \times 2K$ overlap matrices and an associated matrix-valued $\mathcal{R}$-transform encoding the joint block structure. Using the replica method, we derive a conjectural subordination relation for sums of independent block matrices. This framework provides a method for determining the spectral boundaries of large non-Hermitian random matrices with a fixed block structure.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cond-mat.stat-mech

Unraveling the Emergence of Slow Dynamics in U(1) Lattice Gauge Theories

The dynamics of gauge theories is of fundamental interest, with low-dimensional systems displaying a rich phenomenology beyond the rapid thermalization typical of QCD and non-Abelian theories. In particular, recent quantum simulation experiments have reported robust and unexpected signatures of slow relaxation in generic regimes and at large volumes in one-dimensional U(1) lattice gauge theories (LGTs), whose origin remains poorly understood. Here, we present a framework that provides a unified perspective on such slow dynamics and establishes a new route for exploring subdiffusive fractonic hydrodynamics in Rydberg experiments. The backbone of our theory is an exact analytical mapping from U(1) LGTs with a topological $\theta$ angle to non-local kinetically constrained fermionic models with an emergent linear Stark potential. In the absence of the $\theta$ term, this framework interprets the non-thermal dynamics reported in recent experiments as prethermal behavior arising from proximity to an integrable free-fermion model. For non-zero $\theta$, the emergent Stark potential instead explains the freezing dynamics observed in other recent experiments. We argue that this correspondence could also lead to subdiffusive transport due to emergent conservation laws. We predict that these phenomena arise in a much broader class of models, and support this prediction with numerical simulations and proposals for future experiments.
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All authors Riccardo Andreoni, Zala Lenarčič, Zeno Bacciconi, Antonello Scardicchio, Marcello Dalmonte, Devendra Singh Bhakuni

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Topological phase transition driven by structural defects

Structural defects, such as disclinations and dislocations, destroy the long-range crystalline order as they proliferate. In this work, we continuously drive a system from a crystalline state on a decorated honeycomb lattice to a hyperuniform amorphous state, by consecutively introducing Stone-Wales (SW) defects, which can be viewed as dipoles of dislocations. Using a topological Weaire-Thorpe Hamiltonian model to describe electrons in this system, we demonstrate that SW defects can cause pseudo-band inversions and, correspondingly, a reversal of the Chern number. Using adiabatic arguments and a computationally efficient spillage indicator, we predict the topological phase diagram of the amorphous state from the crystalline one. We explain the nature of the pseudo-band inversion through the renormalization of the hopping in an effective Hamiltonian based on a single SW defect.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cs.LG

Double Descent and Malign Overfitting in Diffusion Models

Conventional wisdom in deep learning holds that overparameterization—having more parameters $p$ than training samples $n$—is benign: larger models generalize better and, even without regularization, interpolating models generalize well, the test error following a double-descent curve. One might expect the same benign overfitting for diffusion models, whose training reduces to regression, i.e. to minimizing a quadratic score-matching loss. Yet the opposite is observed: overfitting here is catastrophic, driving the model into a memorization regime. We resolve this paradox by combining experiments on U-Nets trained on CelebA with a random-features model for which we derive closed-form learning curves. We show that with a fixed number $m$ of noise realizations per training sample, an interpolation peak does occur, but at $p\sim nm$ rather than at $p\sim n$ as in standard regression. The rise of the test loss, however, sets in much earlier, at $p\sim n$, independently of $m$. This overfitting is malign because, although the implicit regularization of training is fully at work, it drives the model toward the empirical score, which memorizes the training set, rather than toward the true score. A bias-variance decomposition pinpoints the mechanism: the bias of the score estimator starts to grow at $p\sim n$; past the peak the variance decays, as in regression, whereas the bias keeps growing and both saturate at a large value. Since diffusion models are trained with $m\gg1$, the peak is pushed to very large model sizes, and therefore sit on the rising branch that precedes it, where malign overfitting is already in play. Nevertheless, overparameterization remains beneficial when paired with regularization: in the random-features theory and in U-Net experiments, optimally regularized large models—via a ridge penalty or early stopping, respectively—outperform any unregularized models.
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All authors Raphaël Urfin, Tony Bonnaire, Giulio Biroli, Marc Mézard

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Entanglement Embezzlement from Diffusive Hydrodynamics

Entanglement embezzlement asks how much entanglement can be borrowed from a many-body state by local operations and classical communication while returning that state with a small error. We uncover a conservation-law mechanism that redistributes the dominant probability mass of the Schmidt spectrum in the logarithmic Schmidt-rank coordinate and thereby controls this operational resource. For typical random pure states at fixed U(1) charge, we prove a finite-error conversion law: away from half filling, the charge bias converts $O(\sqrt L)$ charge fluctuations into $O(\sqrt L)$ borrowable entanglement, whereas particle–hole symmetry at half filling removes this contribution entirely. We then show how the resource develops dynamically in charge-conserving random circuits. Combining hydrodynamic analysis with large-scale replica tensor-network calculations, we find that diffusion broadens the operationally relevant distribution in the logarithmic Schmidt-rank coordinate on the scale $t^{1/4}$ and increases the amount of entanglement that can be borrowed. Charge transport therefore continues to reorganize the entanglement spectrum and activate embezzlement after the leading volume-law entropy has saturated.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Hyperbolic Restricted Boltzmann Machine Neural Quantum State

We construct the first type of non-Euclidean non-autoregressive neural quantum state (NQS) in the form of the hyperbolic Restricted Boltzmann Machine (HRBM), which is studied in the variational Monte-Carlo (VMC) setting of the Quantum Sherrington-Kirkpatrick (QSK) model whose ground state exhibits volume-law entanglement. Across a 512-fold increase in the Hilbert space dimension corresponding to a system size increase from $N=14$ to $N=24$, HRBM NQS robustly outperforms its Euclidean version, the RBM NQS, in terms of better ground state energy optimization as well as lower Renyi-2 $S_2$ and von Neumann $S_{vN}$ absolute entanglement entropy reconstruction errors. More importantly, for all tested QSK system sizes, HRBM NQS demonstrates a superior expressivity in faithfully reproducing the entire entanglement spectrum of the QSK model from the top eigenvalues down to the tail end across 15 orders of magnitude, while RBM NQS consistently overestimates the sub-dominant modes. This work furnishes a proof-of-concept demonstrating that hyperbolic non-autoregressive NQS ansatze, thanks to the exponential volume of the hyperbolic geometry underlying their constructions, might be more natural at representing volume-law quantum systems than conventional Euclidean NQS. Furthermore, an interesting byproduct of this work is the polynomial scaling result of RBM-type NQS ansatze in the QSK volume-law system as the Hilbert space dimension increases exponentially.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Measure-zero delocalization in the complex plane: exact mobility arcs in a non-Hermitian off-diagonal quasiperiodic lattice

We investigate Anderson localization in a one-dimensional lattice with non-Hermitian off-diagonal quasiperiodic disorder, extending a recently studied Hermitian mosaic model to the non-Hermitian regime. Using Avila's global theory, we derive the exact Lyapunov exponent and the complete phase diagram in the complex energy plane. This work contains two central findings. First, we discover mobility arcs—open curved segments in the complex plane—as a new class of mobility edges and the generic form of open mobility edges, which coexist with closed mobility rings in a complementary parameter regime. These arcs share the same localization physics as the previously reported mobility lines: eigenstates are delocalized if and only if their energies lie exactly on these sets; any deviation yields localized states. This constitutes a striking measure-zero delocalization phenomenon: delocalized states occupy only zero-measure sets (arcs or lines) in the complex plane, in sharp contrast to the mobility rings, which enclose a finite-area region of delocalized states. Second, we reveal that mobility rings, arcs, and lines all share a common mathematical origin in the generalized Joukowski transformation $P(E) = \frac{1}{2}(u - w^2/u)$, rooted in the algebraic structure of the underlying polynomial: the preimage of the boundary of an elliptical region under the polynomial map $P(E)$ gives the rings, while the branch cut inside this ellipse gives rise to the mobility arcs and lines in the complementary parameter regime.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cs.LG

An Exploratory Replica-Overlap Probe of the Grokking Transition

We trained 64 independently seeded networks in four configurations, continuing each to sustained convergence or a 40,000-epoch ceiling. We then asked whether an RSB-inspired distribution of pairwise weight overlaps changes across the grokking transition. It is the alignment step, not the overlap statistic, that determines what this registered probe can report. The registered implementation permutes hidden units without the corresponding bias and head-internal permutations and therefore does not preserve the network function. Every q_wt value computed through this alignment inherits the defect; q_fn does not, because it is computed from predictions of the unpermuted models. The numerical-precision requirement also failed, and an audit found protocol deviations. Consequently, the pre-registered rule gives no verdict: registered outcome UNDETERMINED (reason code C0_INSTRUMENT_INVALID). These data provide neither a confirmatory null nor a validated reading of the Parisi order parameter. Only frac40 cleared the 12/16 checkpoint-completeness requirement. For this configuration, a post-hoc criterion applied to the same data gave a Hartigan-dip interval containing zero (95% CI for Delta dip = [-0.017, 0.034]), whereas the overlap standard deviation increased by a factor of about 5.6. A post-hoc calibration assigns the dip test zero power at the simulated separations; the interval is therefore uninformative, not evidence of no change. The standard-deviation ratio is the only statistic here with power at the observed effect. Ensemble loss was near-flat only under the pre-specified 1% threshold. Finally, grokking rates of 0/16, 11/16 and 16/16 remain descriptive because train fraction is confounded with split identity.
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2609.25634 · 22 Sep · 13 pages, 5 figures. Pre-registered study; the registered decision rule returns UNDETERMINED (reason code C0_INSTRUMENT_INVALID) because the registered alignment implementation is not function-preserving. Reported as an honest negative/instrument-invalid result

Monday 21 September

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

Finite-state automata for exact matrix product operators of tight-binding Hamiltonians: fractals, quasicrystals, trees and hyperbolic lattices

Inspired by the recent progress in the simulation of tight-binding Hamiltonians on large lattices using tensor networks, we introduce a systematic matrix product operator (MPO) construction for single-particle Hamiltonians on recursively structured lattices. Taking advantage of this recursive structure, we encode the lattice geometry in a finite-state automaton and, adapting ideas from Abelian-symmetric tensor networks, obtain an exact and analytical MPO representation of the Hamiltonian, where the number of tensors grows logarithmically with the system size and the bond dimension is set by the number of automaton states. Several examples demonstrate the generality of the framework: regular lattices, fractals, Cayley trees, hyperbolic lattices, and one- and two-dimensional Fibonacci quasicrystals. Combined with the kernel polynomial method, these MPO representations enable large-scale calculations of spectral properties without explicitly constructing the full Hamiltonian. This provides a unified route to the exploration of electronic properties across a broad class of lattices at exponentially large system sizes.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Disorder-promoted stability

Previous studies of network dynamics have suggested that heterogeneity among nodes inhibits stability, at odds with the ubiquity of inherently heterogeneous natural and engineered systems. Here, we show that this conclusion arises from model reductions introduced for mathematical tractability and breaks down when nodal dynamics are higher-dimensional, yielding non-Hermitian Jacobians. In such systems, including neural, power-grid, and material networks, nodal heterogeneity can instead enhance stability, even when parameters are randomly disordered. Non-Hermiticity also underlies the stabilizing effects of network heterogeneity, which can arise even in one-dimensional nodal dynamics through nonreciprocal interactions, as shown for ecological networks. Our framework reveals disorder not as a liability but as a general resource for stabilizing complex systems.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from math-ph

Don't mind the gap: Absolutely Continuous Edge Spectrum in a Mobility Gap

We study the edge spectrum of two-dimensional lattice Hamiltonians and magnetic Schrödinger operators in a mobility gap, an energy interval in which the bulk spectrum is potentially localized rather than necessarily absent. Under suitable localization and boundary assumptions, we prove that a constant nonzero bulk topological index implies that the entire interval belongs to the absolutely continuous spectrum of the corresponding half-space operator. The absolutely continuous spectral multiplicity is bounded below by the absolute value of the index at almost every energy in the interval. The first version of the auxiliary-space cut construction in Section 2.3 was generated using ChatGPT 6.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cond-mat.stat-mech

Random-matrix and transport frequencies in eigenstate spectral functions

The fact that generic isolated many-body quantum systems thermalize is understood using the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH). In recent years, there has been much interest in the behavior of the ETH spectral functions, which characterize the smooth dependence of the variance of the off-diagonal matrix elements of observables on the associated energy and frequency, and whose low-frequency part contains information about the long-time dynamics. In finite systems described by the ETH, the spectral functions are expected to exhibit plateaus below a characteristic frequency $\omega^{}_{\mathrm{ETH}}$. In this regime, the statistics of the matrix elements of observables are expected to be described by random matrix theory. Related frequencies that have been studied in the literature are $\omega^{}_{\mathrm{SFF}}$, which controls the onset of random-matrix behavior in the spectral form factor, and the transport frequencies $\omega^{}_{\mathrm{tr}}$, which are derived from transport coefficients. However, a direct quantitative comparison of these frequencies is lacking. Using exact diagonalization, we conduct such a comparison for the spectral functions of current operators in clean and disordered quantum spin ladders with diffusive energy and spin transport. We find clear evidence for the expected low-frequency plateaus in the ETH spectral functions. For the accessible system sizes, $\omega^{}_{\mathrm{SFF}}$ is consistent with the extent of the plateaus, while the transport frequencies are systematically larger and lie in the nonuniversal regime of the spectral functions. Our findings highlight the need to better understand the origin of these quantitative differences.
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All authors Kadir Çeven, Rohit Patil, Marcos Rigol, Fabian Heidrich-Meisner

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

The disordered logistic map

The logistic map is a quintessential model in the study of low-dimensional chaos. High-dimensional chaos, on the other hand, presents itself in disordered systems with many interacting and heterogeneously coupled components. Here, we formulate a system of many logistic maps, interacting through disordered couplings. Using a combination of dynamic mean-field theory, random matrix theory and numerical simulations, we show that even the smallest amount of disorder can remove the period-doubling cascade in the conventional logistic map. Instead we find a transition to high-dimensional chaos, marked by an oscillatory instability not previously reported for disordered systems. We also show that with sufficiently strong homogeneous coupling between the maps one recovers elements of the conventional period-doubling cascade. Our findings indicate that well-known phenomena in dynamical systems can be fragile in the face of disorder. At the same time, new phenomena emerge that are neither found in simple low-dimensional dynamics nor in high-dimensional disordered systems.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from physics.optics

Non-Hermitian photonic time quasicrystal

Photonic time crystals amplify waves through temporal modulation. We study a temporal analogue of the non-Hermitian Aubry-André-Harper model. By continuing an incommensurate temporal modulation into the complex phase plane, we find that the bulk amplification rate as a function of the complexification coordinate is organized into distinct integer phases, with its slope locked to an integer within each phase. This integer is Avila's acceleration, connecting a global structure of quasiperiodic operator theory with a directly observable optical propagation response. The quantized response persists in the presence of defects in the time-dependent permittivity modulation that preserve the underlying analytic phase structure. As a wave-level consequence, two input frequencies belonging to different integer phases acquire exponentially separated amplification, producing spectral selection and reshaping the temporal beat pattern. Our results establish that a global integer of quasiperiodic operator theory can govern a tunable, quantized growth response in a non-Hermitian photonic time quasicrystal.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Amorphous insulating MoS$_x$ films deposited by magnetron sputtering as a low-index optical coating

While much effort are now concentrated on exploration of crystalline form of MoS$_2$ as a two-dimensional material, we show that room-temperature DC magnetron sputtering from pressurized MoS$_2$ powder target produces amorphous MoS$_x$ films with optical properties fundamentally different from those of crystalline MoS$_2$. The films were found to have a sulfur content of approximately $x=1.8$, indicating sulfur deficiency. They are optically isotropic and exhibit rather low optical losses, with a refractive index of about 2 over the visible and near-infrared spectral range. Their compatibility with lift-off lithography and dry etching makes amorphous MoS$_x$ a promising material for integrated photonic applications.
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All authors S.G. Martanov, E.V. Tarkaeva, A.V. Muratov, A.V. Lubenchenko, O.N. Pavlov, A.G. Vitukhnovsky, A.Yu. Kuntsevich

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

Polar vibrational excitations and glass-like response in relaxor PMN

Relaxor ferroelectrics retain crystalline order while exhibiting glass-like dielectric and thermal responses. Using atomistic models trained on first-principles data, we investigate these responses in the prototypical relaxor Pb(Mg_{1/3}Nb_{2/3})O_3 (PMN). Compositional disorder couples elastic motion to electric polarization, producing a continuum of polar vibrational excitations, unlike the discrete polar optical modes of conventional ferroelectric PbTiO_3. The simulations qualitatively reproduce the temperature dependence of the low-frequency susceptibility, while the calculated far-infrared spectra agree closely with experiments. At low frequencies, disorder in PMN generates a boson peak comprising excess phonon-like modes and quasi-localized excitations. The latter exhibit a quartic frequency dependence of their density of states and pronounced anharmonicity, as in structural glasses. These excess modes account for PMN's anomalous behavior in the specific heat for temperature higher than 5 K. These results connect the dielectric, optical, and thermal anomalies of a crystalline relaxor through its disorder-induced polar excitation spectrum.
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All authors Kehan Cai, Pinchen Xie, Yifan Li, Roberto Car

Saturday 19 September

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from physics.plasm-ph

Interaction renormalization and the plasma staircase

We resolve an existing question concerning dynamical and structural stability of the E {\times} B staircases in magnetically confined fusion plasma. The problem has stirred considerable interest in the literature due to a unique combination of its scientific and practical aspects. Here, we report a new approach to the problem by combining the paradigmatic Hasegawa-Wakatani model of electrostatic drift-wave turbulence with an idea of interaction renormalization, imported from quantum field theory. It is shown based on the Schrödinger-Newton equation with renormalized interaction constant that the plasma staircase is robust and stable as soon as the nonadiabaticity parameter, {\delta}, goes above a certain critical value, and is unstable otherwise. This critical value is an exact result of the interaction model and is found to be {\delta}c = {\pi}. For {\delta} < {\delta}c , the unstable system expands in the radial direction, resulting in a radial second moment that grows with time t as t^(2/3). The results obtained bear important implications with regard to the implementation of arrays of semipermeable transport barriers in tokamaks, suggesting a threshold condition for their generation.
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Friday 18 September

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks

Extreme-Scale Ising Machines with Cluster Mean-Field Theory

Scaling analog and digital Ising machines to larger problems requires overcoming finite device capacity and the cost of communication between devices. We present cluster mean-field theory (CMFT), a framework that partitions a large interaction graph into clusters sized to fit available hardware. Each cluster performs local updates independently, while interactions across cluster boundaries enter through periodically updated effective biases computed from boundary-spin averages. To reduce the error introduced by fixed cluster boundaries, we introduce dynamic partitioning, which cycles through multiple partitions so that interactions approximated by mean fields at one stage can act through instantaneous spins at another. On three-dimensional spin glasses and planted Pegasus instances, dynamic CMFT exhibits power-law decay of residual energy over sweep budgets. This shows that solution quality continues to improve with computational effort despite the mean-field approximation. An automated graph partitioner combined with a weighted recovery ratio provides a practical heuristic for selecting partition combinations on graphs without natural cut directions. We demonstrate CMFT on four GPUs with approximately four million p-bits, reaching comparable energy densities up to 15 times faster than a single-GPU implementation of the full graph. By coupling locally evolving clusters through programmable effective biases, CMFT provides a route to extreme-scale Ising machines on both analog and digital hardware.
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All authors Xiuqi Zhang, Shuvro Chowdhury, Shaila Niazi, Christian Z. Pratt, Navid Anjum Aadit, Kerem Y. Camsari

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from nlin.AO

Deviations from global coupling in adaptive oscillator networks: a mean-field theory for the variance of coupling weights

A wide range of physical and biological systems are adaptive networks, in which the dynamics of the nodes and of the edges connecting them co-evolve. Mean-field reductions of such systems typically track only the average coupling strength, and therefore cannot determine when the coupling stays effectively homogeneous and when structured connectivity emerges. Here, we present a second-order moment closure that allows us to derive mean-field equations for the coupling-weight variance in networks of heterogeneous phase oscillators with adaptive coupling, starting from uniform coupling weights. In agreement with network simulations, we find a nonlinear, non-monotonic dependence of the relative weight variance on the oscillator heterogeneity that is mediated by the phase coherence. Moreover, we find that deviations from global coupling strongly depend on an interaction between the oscillator heterogeneity and the adaptation rule. Whereas symmetric adaptation causes a strongly coupled core of coherent oscillators to emerge and creates a bistable regime that is absent without adaptation, antisymmetric adaptation leads to antisymmetric coupling within the same core, thereby destabilizing it. Our equations therefore delineate the regimes in which adaptive networks behave like globally coupled systems from those in which more complex coupling patterns form.
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All authors Richard Gast, Shotaro Takasu, Juergen Kurths, Ann Kennedy

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

Digital-analog concept for superconducting perceptron-like neural networks

A promising route to superconducting artificial neural networks is a hybrid digital-Analog architecture that combines digital single-flux-quantum (SFQ) communication with compact Analog nonlinear processing. The study focused on the dynamic conversion of a discrete signal passing through a digital-to-Analog-to-digital (DAD) converter, in which the role of the Analog cell was performed by a $\Sigma$-neuron with a nonlinear transfer function – the basic cell of perceptron-like neural networks. Furthermore, the DAD converter, the elementary functional block of the hybrid architecture, combines a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and an Analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and re-encodes the Analog $\Sigma$-neuron waveforms as an SFQ pulse sequence. Circuit-level simulations demonstrate how input values encoded by SFQ pulse trains are converted into analog signal levels, transformed by the $\Sigma$-neuron, and mapped back to pulse-based outputs. As a key experimental step, we fabricated and characterised a redesigned $\Sigma$-neuron and measured a sigmoid-like transfer characteristic suitable for activation-function implementation. The extracted response was incorporated into system-level simulations to assess the influence of realistic device parameters on the conversion process. We delineate the operating-range matching requirements for the DAC, neuron, and ADC blocks, supporting the feasibility of the proposed interface as a building block for perceptron-like superconducting neural networks with digital inputs and outputs. Finally, we developed two perceptron networks, one using a mathematical sigmoid activation and the other the measured $\Sigma$-neuron transfer characteristic, which reached classification accuracies of $97.0\%$ and $91.9\%$, respectively, on the MNIST handwritten digit dataset.
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All authors Andrey E. Schegolev, Vsevolod I. Ruzhickiy, Georgy I. Gubochkin, Alexander S. Ionin, Ivan A. Nazhestkin, Mikhail Y. Fominskii, Lyudmila V. Filippenko, Igor I. Soloviev, Maxim V. Tereshonok, Nikolay V. Klenov

Thursday 17 September

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

Bootstrapping Classical Systems with Quenched Disorder

We introduce a bootstrap method for deriving bounds on disorder-averaged observables in classical statistical systems with quenched disorder. The three main ingredients of the bootstrap are the positivity of ensembles of probability measures, disorder-averaged equations of motion, and explicit expectation values of random coupling variables. Together, these ingredients lead to a linear programming problem over the space of disorder averages. By further employing the positivity of the two-replica Gram matrix, we also formulate a semidefinite programming problem that produces bounds on two-replica correlators. We demonstrate the method using two examples: the two-dimensional random site-diluted Ising model and the one-dimensional disordered contact process. For the latter example, the bootstrap bounds exhibit a region of multiple kinks that we relate to the Griffiths region, whose finite-size scaling analysis yields a typical correlation length exponent in good numerical agreement with the known value.
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All authors Minjae Cho, Yaprak Önder, Eslam Khalaf, Michael G. Scheer

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

Bootstrapping Disordered Quantum Systems

We present a bootstrap framework that yields rigorous two-sided bounds on ground-state observables of quantum systems with quenched disorder. The key idea is to extend the operator algebra to include classical disorder variables and to encode the disorder distribution through a set of moments. The method directly bounds disorder-averaged expectation values for finite or infinite lattice systems and for arbitrary disorder distributions. In contrast to conventional approaches, we do not need to sample disorder realizations, which enables us to make thorough use of symmetries that hold only on average rather than for each disorder realization. Additionally, we show that multi-replica operators can be used to access disorder fluctuations such as the variance of an observable. We apply the method to the one-dimensional random transverse-field Ising model (RTFIM) with discrete, uniform, and Gaussian disorder, obtaining tight bounds on the disorder-averaged ground-state energy density and short-range spin-spin correlators, as well as bounds on the disorder variance of the energy density. Additionally, we show that the difference between the upper and lower bounds on the disorder-averaged ground-state energy density, which we term the bootstrap gap, can be used to map out the phase diagram of the RTFIM. The bootstrap gap is small and flat within the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases at weak disorder, grows upon entering the Griffiths regions, and peaks along the critical line.
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All authors Yaprak Önder, Michael G. Scheer, Minjae Cho, Eslam Khalaf

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from math-ph

Disorder on the hyperbolic square lattice I: Anderson delocalization and absolutely continuous spectrum

We study the Anderson model on hyperbolic lattices. The graph is the Cartesian product of the Euclidean lattice with the regular hyperbolic square lattice having five squares at each vertex. We prove the existence of absolutely continuous spectrum and the absence of singular spectrum on a deterministic set of positive measure at weak disorder, and for $0<\lambda\le2$ when the single-site density is bounded below on $[-1,1]$. Truncated Cauchy distributions and controlled perturbations give purely absolutely continuous spectrum on intervals.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from quant-ph

TetrisCNN for interpretable detection of phases of matter from experimental quantum simulator data

Detecting phases of matter in general relies on identifying the correct order parameter - a task that remains notoriously difficult for unknown transitions and traditionally is guided by physical intuition and educated guess. Neural networks have recently offered an alternative route by locating phase transitions in known models without any a priori physical knowledge. Yet these approaches remain black boxes and only identify phases without elucidating their properties. Moreover, they often struggle when confronted with realistic, noisy experimental data, which constitute the ultimate testbed for automated methods in physics. Here, we bridge these perspectives by introducing TetrisCNN, a convolutional architecture with parallel branches of differently shaped filters, reminiscent of Tetris blocks, that learns sparse, interpretable latent representations directly in terms of spin correlators. Applied to experimental snapshots of two-dimensional Ising and XY quantum simulators measured in multiple bases, the network not only detects phase transitions and crossovers but also expresses its latent representation and decision boundaries as symbolic formulas built from experimentally measurable spin correlators. This framework opens the way to integrating interpretable neural networks with quantum simulators to uncover and understand new phases of matter.
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All authors Kacper Cybiński, Björn van Zwol, James Enouen, Guillaume Bornet, Thierry Lahaye, Antoine Browaeys, Antoine Georges, Anna Dawid

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from math-ph

Phase transitions in non-Hermitian spherical integrals

We study the large-$N$ asymptotics of a constrained spherical integral for non-Hermitian random matrices, in which the norms and mutual scalar product of two vectors are fixed. In the delocalized regime, the asymptotics are governed by the non-Hermitian transforms $\mathcal R_1$ and $\mathcal R_2$. At saddle-point level, the constrained integral exhibits a transition to a localized regime controlled by the largest singular value of a shifted matrix and by the overlap of its associated left and right singular vectors. Motivated by the Hermitian spherical-integral mechanism and by the Coulomb-gas picture, we formulate conjectures for one-eigenvalue large deviations and boundary fluctuations. Throughout, our analysis is carried out in the spirit of mathematical physics.
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