Peer Revenue Equity in science

Papers

Fresh from arXiv, typeset properly. Highlighted words trade on the market.

Physics Condensed Matter

cond-mat Watch Condensed Matter (sign in to use)

Thursday 22 January

Other Condensed Matter · Cross-listed from gr-qc

Does Gravity Care About Electric Charge? A Minimalist Model and Experimental Test

Does gravity care about electric charge? Precision tests of the weak equivalence principle achieve remarkable sensitivity but deliberately minimize electric charge on test masses, leaving this fundamental question experimentally open. We present a minimalist framework coupling electromagnetism to linearized gravity through conservation of a complex charge-mass current, predicting charge-dependent violations $\Delta a/g = \kappa(q/m)$. Remarkably, this prediction occupies unexplored experimental territory precisely because precision gravity tests avoid charge variation. We identify this as a significant gap and propose a modified torsion balance experiment where $q/m$ is treated as a controlled variable. Such an experiment could test whether gravitational acceleration depends on electric charge, probing physics in genuinely new parameter space. This work exemplifies how theoretical minimalism can reveal overlooked opportunities in fundamental physics.
Read the full abstract

Quantum Gases

Controlled Switching of Bose-Einstein Condensation in a Mixture of Two Species of Polaritons

We report temperature-dependent switching between lower and upper polariton condensation in a GaAs/AlGaAs microcavity when both of these species have comparable populations in a mixture. Using angle-resolved photoluminescence, we observe that at low temperatures, condensation occurs in the lower polariton branch, while at elevated temperatures, the upper polariton branch can become favored. At an intermediate temperature, we observe instability in the condensate formation, characterized by metastable correlations of the fluctuations in intensity and linewidth of the lower and upper polariton branches.
Read the full abstract

All authors Hassan Alnatah, Shuang Liang, Qiaochu Wan, Jonathan Beaumariage, Kirk Baldwin, Adbhut Gupta, Loren N. Pfeiffer, David W. Snoke

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Optical probing of Wigner crystallization in monolayer WSe$_2$ via diffraction of longitudinal excitons

Monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are characterized by relatively large carrier effective masses and suppressed screening of the Coulomb interaction, which substantially enhances the correlation effects in these structures. The direct band gap allows to effectively optically probe these correlations. Here, we present an experimental observation of Wigner crystallization in monolayer $\mathrm{WSe}_2$ probed by the measurement of the exciton diffraction on the Wigner crystal (WC) periodic potential. We observe the formation of the WC phase in the absence of external magnetic fields at temperature range $T<26~\mathrm{K}$ and carrier concentrations $n$ $<2\times10^{11}~\mathrm{cm}^{-2}$. The direct observation of the exciton diffraction is enabled by the strong exciton longitudinal-transverse splitting induced by the long-range intervalley exchange interaction, leading to the large detuning between main exciton peak and first diffraction peak. Our findings highlight that the valley degree of freedom of charge carriers in TMDs facilitates optical probing of correlated electron phases in these structures.
Read the full abstract

All authors Artem N. Abramov, Emil Chiglintsev, Tatiana Oskolkova, Maria Titova, Mikhail Kashchenko, Alexander Chernov, Vasily Kravtsov, Ivan V. Iorsh

Materials Science

Thermally-Activated Epitaxy of NbO

We demonstrate a thermally-activated epitaxy window for the growth of NbO at temperatures exceeding 1000 $^o$C. NbO films grown in this mode display superior structural and transport properties, which are reproducible across a window of oxygen partial pressure. Through comprehensive analysis, we propose the prototypical electrical properties of NbO, for which a consensus has not yet been made. This study unequivocally demonstrates the utility of high temperatures in the thin film synthesis of refractory metal compounds.
Read the full abstract

Materials Science

Towards a single-junction non-concentrator metal halide perovskite hot carrier solar cell: review of current gaps and opportunities in understanding slow hot carrier cooling

The photovoltaic solar cell is a mature technology, with silicon-based technologies deployed at scale, yet current technologies are limited by the Shockley-Queisser thermodynamic limit, known since the early 1960s. The single-junction non-concentrator hot carrier solar cell operating at ambient temperature - with its theoretically predicted ultimate power conversion efficiency limit of nearly 70% that is twice the Shockley-Queisser limit and is higher than what can be achieved with even n=6 multijunction solar cells - has remained an elusive yet hot research target since the early 1980s. Metal halide perovskite semiconductors were discovered in the late 1970s and photovoltaic applications have been intensively researched and developed since the early 2010s. Current technology development of perovskite solar cells is heavily motivated by their expected cheap processing costs relative to other Shockley-Queisser limited technologies. History has shown that very few absorber materials develop into viable solar cell technologies, and it has been recognized that given the declining costs of silicon-based technologies, a new material must offer potential for both lower cost and higher efficiencies than the Shockley-Queisser limit. Slow cooling of photocarriers with energy in excess of the band edges (hot carriers), which is the first prerequisite of a solar absorbing material for building a hot carrier solar cell technology, has been reported in perovskites since the 2010s. The goal of this review is to illuminate the path towards a single-junction perovskite hot carrier solar cell technology by emphasizing uncertainties in understanding slow hot carrier cooling and recommending approaches to resolve them.
Read the full abstract

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

A modified Lindblad equation for a Rabi driven electron-spin qubit with tunneling to a Markovian lead

We derive a modified Lindblad equation for the state of quantum dot tunnel coupled to a Markovian lead when the spin state of the dot is driven by an oscillating magnetic field. We show that the equation is a completely positive, trace-preserving map and find the jump operators. This is a driven-dissipative regime in which coherent driving is relevant to the tunneling and cannot be treated as simply a rotation modifying the system with a bath derived under a static magnetic field. This work was motivated by an experimental desire to determine the Zeeman splitting of an electron spin on a quantum dot (a spin qubit), and in a related work we show that this splitting energy can be found by measuring the charge occupancy of the dot while sweeping the frequency of the driving field \ arXiv:2503.17481. Here we cover the full derivation of the equation and give the jump operators. These jump operators are potentially useful for describing the stochastic behavior of more complex systems with coherent driving of a spin capable of tunneling on or off of a device, such as in electron spin resonance scanning tunneling microscopy. The jump operators have the interesting feature of combining jumps of electrons onto and off of the device.
Read the full abstract

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Multistability of graphene nanobubbles

Using He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe atoms as a model system, it is demonstrated that graphene nanobubbles on flat substrates are multistable systems. A nanobubble can adopt multiple stable stationary states, each characterized by the number of layers $l$ within the cluster of encapsulated atoms. The layers are circular, concentrically stacked, and form an $l$-stepped pyramid with a flat top. Encapsulation of this pyramid by the graphene sheet is achieved through local stretching of the membrane: the valence bonds elongate only directly above the confined atoms. Outside this coverage zone, the sheet remains undeformed and lies flush against the substrate. The maximum number of possible layers, $l_m$, increases monotonically with the number of encapsulated atoms $N$, reaching $l_m=6$ for $N=4000$. The graphene membrane, through van der Waals interaction with the substrate, compresses the internal atomic cluster, generating pressures on the order of $P\sim 1$~GPa. Numerical simulations of thermal vibrations reveal that among all $l$-layer configurations, one ground state always exist. Upon heating, this state smoothly transitions into a layerless liquid configuration. All other stationary states transform into this ground state once a characteristic temperature $T_l$ is reached. For $N=4000$, the ground state corresponds to the four-layer packing ($l=4$). The coexistence of multiple stable states with distinct layer numbers at low temperatures leads to the absence of a universal shape for the nanobubbles. In this scenario, the height-to-radius ratio, $H/R$ is not constant and can vary from 0 to 0.28, depending on the number of layers.
Read the full abstract

Materials Science · Cross-listed from physics.optics

Active learning for photonic crystals

Active learning for photonic crystals explores the integration of analytic approximate Bayesian last layer neural networks (LL-BNNs) with uncertainty-driven sample selection to accelerate photonic band gap prediction. We employ an analytic LL-BNN formulation, corresponding to the infinite Monte Carlo sample limit, to obtain uncertainty estimates that are strongly correlated with the true predictive error on unlabeled candidate structures. These uncertainty scores drive an active learning strategy that prioritizes the most informative simulations during training. Applied to the task of predicting band gap sizes in two-dimensional, two-tone photonic crystals, our approach achieves up to a 2.7x reduction on average in required training data compared to a random sampling baseline while maintaining predictive accuracy. The efficiency gains arise from concentrating computational resources on high uncertainty regions of the design space rather than sampling uniformly. Given the substantial cost of full band structure simulations, especially in three dimensions, this data efficiency enables rapid and scalable surrogate modeling. Our results suggest that analytic LL-BNN based active learning can substantially accelerate topological optimization and inverse design workflows for photonic crystals, and more broadly, offers a general framework for data efficient regression across scientific machine learning domains.
Read the full abstract

All authors Ryan Lopez, Charlotte Loh, Rumen Dangovski, Marin Soljačić

Quantum Gases · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Experimental observation of conformal field theory spectra

Conformal field theories (CFTs) feature prominently in high-energy physics, statistical mechanics, and condensed matter. For example, CFTs govern emergent universal properties of systems tuned to quantum phase transitions, including their entanglement, correlations, and low-energy excitation spectra. Much of the rich structure predicted by CFTs nevertheless remains unobserved in experiment. Here we directly observe the energy excitation spectra of emergent CFTs at quantum phase transitions – recovering universal energy ratios characteristic of the underlying field theories. Specifically, we develop and implement a modulation technique to resolve a Rydberg chain's finite-size spectra, variably tuned to quantum phase transitions described by either Ising or tricritical Ising CFTs. We also employ local control to distinguish parities of excitations under reflection and, in the tricritical Ising chain, to induce transitions between distinct CFT spectra associated with changing boundary conditions. By utilizing a variant of the modulation technique, we furthermore study the dynamical structure factor of the critical system, which is closely related to the correlation of an underlying Ising conformal field. Our work not only probes the emergence of CFT features in a quantum simulator, but also provides a technique for diagnosing a priori unknown universality classes in future experiments.
Read the full abstract

All authors Xiangkai Sun, Yuan Le, Stephen Naus, Richard Bing-Shiun Tsai, Lewis R. B. Picard, Sara Murciano, Michael Knap, Jason Alicea, Manuel Endres

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from hep-th

Vacuum structure of gapped QCD$_2$ theories from the infinite Hamiltonian lattice

Gapped two-dimensional gauge theories with massless fermions generically have rich vacuum structures consisting of many degenerate vacua related by the action of topological line operators. The algebra of such operators has been used to calculate ratios of vacuum expectation values of local operators and to predict nontrivial particle-soliton degeneracies. In this paper, we use recently-developed tensor network methods to study several examples of such theories via their Hamiltonian lattice descriptions. Our lattice results agree with all previously-made predictions. Furthermore, we identify the lattice strong-coupling states that can be adiabatically continued to the degenerate vacua in the continuum limit. We conjecture a procedure, referred to as a lattice decay rule, for how this identification works in general. This rule allows us to compute the continuum vacuum degeneracy by studying the lattice Hamiltonian in the strong-coupling limit.
Read the full abstract

All authors Ross Dempsey, Anna-Maria E. Glück, Silviu S. Pufu, Benjamin T. Søgaard

Strongly Correlated Electrons · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Multi-invariants in stabilizer states

Multipartite entanglement is a natural generalization of bipartite entanglement, but is relatively poorly understood. In this paper, we develop tools to calculate a class of multipartite entanglement measures - known as multi-invariants - for stabilizer states. We give an efficient numerical algorithm that computes multi-invariants for stabilizer states. For tripartite stabilizer states, we also obtain an explicit formula for any multi-invariant using the GHZ-extraction theorem. We then present a counting argument that calculates any Coxeter multi-invariant of a q-partite stabilizer state. We conjecture a closed form expression for the same. We uncover hints of an interesting connection between multi-invariants, stabilizer states and topology. We show how our formulas are further simplified for a restricted class of stabilizer states that appear as ground states of interesting models like the toric code and the X-cube model.
Read the full abstract

Quantum Gases · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Quantum Cellular Automata on a Dual-Species Rydberg Processor

As quantum devices scale to larger and larger sizes, a significant challenge emerges in scaling their coherent controls accordingly. Quantum cellular automata (QCAs) constitute a promising framework that bypasses this control problem: universal dynamics can be achieved using only a static qubit array and global control operations. Despite an extensive history of theoretical explorations and proposals, QCAs have not been experimentally explored in the context of highly-scalable globally-controlled systems. Here we realize QCAs on a dual-species Rydberg array of rubidium and cesium atoms, leveraging independent global control of each species to perform multiple quantum protocols. Seeding an automaton with different initial states, we explore many-body dynamics of quasiparticles and grow GHZ states across both species, highlighting the flexibility of our approach. We further develop a second automaton using a novel mediated entangling gate, enabling generation of 96.7(1.7)%-fidelity Bell states, 17-qubit cluster states, and high-connectivity graph states. Our results demonstrate that simple global controls enable access to a rich variety of applications through the QCA framework. The versatility and scalability of QCAs present compelling opportunities for the development of quantum information systems, as well as new perspectives on quantum many-body dynamics.
Read the full abstract

All authors Ryan White, Vikram Ramesh, Alexander Impertro, Shraddha Anand, Francesco Cesa, Giuliano Giudici, Thomas Iadecola, Hannes Pichler, Hannes Bernien

Materials Science

High-resolution neutron diffraction determination of noncollinear antiferromagnetic order in the honeycomb magnetoelectric Fe$_{4}$Nb$_{2}$O$_{9}$

Magnetoelectric systems offer potential for device applications exploiting coupled states between electric and magnetic properties. Among magnetoelectric materials, \FNO has attracted special attention because of its pronounced dielectric signal at high magnetic transition temperatures. However, the magnetic ground state, which is essential information for understanding its unusual magnetoelectricity, remains unclarified. Here, we report a noncollinear magnetic ground state of Fe$_{4}$Nb$_{2}$O$_{9}$. To examine the magnetoelectric effect associated with sequential magnetic and structural transitions upon cooling, we conducted combined x-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, dielectric constant, and magnetodielectric experiments. Powder neutron diffraction experiments revealed a series of magnetic Bragg peaks and clear splitting of peaks via structural transition. Magnetic Rietveld refinements, combined with group theory analysis, determined a noncollinear antiferromagnetic structure including a significant $c$-axis moment component at 1.5 K. This study provides insights into the understanding of its magnetoelectric properties.
Read the full abstract

All authors Raktim Datta, Kapil Kumar, Dong Gun Oh, Dongwook Kim, Rahul Goel, Nara Lee, Ara Go, Young Jai Choi, Valery Kiryukhin, Sungkyun Choi

Quantum Gases

Universal non-Gaussian order parameter statistics in 2D superfluids

Fluctuations are an intrinsic feature of many-body systems, and their full statistical distributions reveal a wealth of information about the underlying physics. Of particular interest are non-Gaussian, extreme-value statistics that arise when nontrivial correlations and criticality dominate over the central limit theorem. Strikingly, in two-dimensional (2D) quantum fluids, such effects have been predicted to manifest in the order parameter distribution in the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) superfluid phase, which approaches a universal extreme-value form in the low-temperature limit. Here, we measure the order parameter statistics of 2D Bose gases across the BKT critical point using matter-wave interferometry. This allows us to confirm the predicted convergence of the observed statistics to a universal Gumbel distribution at low temperatures, to the 0.1% level of the probability density. Furthermore, the intrinsic precision of the atom interferometer allows the robust extraction of higher-moment observables such as skewness and kurtosis; in particular, we report direct measurements of the Binder cumulant which allows us to precisely identify the onset of the phase transition. Extending this approach to the investigation of non-equilibrium systems, we probe vortex unbinding dynamics following a quench across the BKT critical point and identify parameter-independent scaling behaviour of higher moments.
Read the full abstract

All authors Abel Beregi, En Chang, Erik Rydow, Christopher J. Foot, Shinichi Sunami

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Magnon equilibrium spin current in collinear antiferromagnets

We theoretically predict that the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction can induce a magnon equilibrium spin current in collinear antiferromagnets. Such a current, being a response to the effective magnon vector potential, can be considered the magnon analog of the supercurrent in superconductors. The large amplitude of the predicted effect may compensate for the smallness of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, making the equilibrium spin currents experimentally observable. We suggest that an external electric field can play the role of an effective flux that magnons interact with, and we propose an experiment based on the interference of magnons in a ring geometry to verify the concept.
Read the full abstract

Statistical Mechanics · Cross-listed from physics.soc-ph

Engineering polarization: How contradictory stimulation systematically undermines political moderation

Political moderation, a key attractor in democratic systems, proves highly fragile under realistic information conditions. We develop a stochastic model of opinion dynamics to analyze how noise and differential susceptibility reshape the political spectrum. Extending Marvel et al.'s deterministic framework, we incorporate stochastic media influence $\zeta(t)$ and neuropolitically-grounded sensitivity differences ($\sigma_y > \sigma_x$). Analysis reveals the moderate population – stable in deterministic models – undergoes catastrophic collapse under stochastic forcing. This occurs through an effective deradicalization asymmetry ($u_{B}^{\text{eff}} = u + \sigma_y^2/2 > u_{A}^{\text{eff}}$) that drives conservatives to extinction, eliminating cross-cutting interactions that sustain moderates. The system exhibits a phase transition from multi-stable coexistence to liberal dominance, demonstrating how information flow architecture – independent of content – systematically dismantles the political center. Our findings reveal moderation as an emergent property highly vulnerable to stochastic perturbations in complex social systems.
Read the full abstract

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

Studying energy-resolved transport with wavepacket dynamics on quantum computers

Probing energy-dependent transport in quantum simulators requires preparing states with tunable energy and small energy variance. Existing approaches often study quench dynamics of simple initial states, such as computational basis states, which are far from energy eigenstates and therefore limit the achievable energy resolution. In this work, we propose using wavepackets to probe transport properties with improved energy resolution. To demonstrate the utility of this approach, we prepare and evolve wavepackets on Quantinuum's H2-2 quantum computer and identify an energy-dependent localization transition in the Anderson model on an 8x7 lattice–a finite-size mobility edge. We observe that a wavepacket initialized at low energy remains spatially localized under time evolution, while a high-energy wavepacket delocalizes, consistent with the presence of a mobility edge. Crucial to our experiments is an error mitigation strategy that infers the noiseless output bit string distribution using maximum-likelihood estimation. Compared to post-selection, this method removes systematic errors and reduces statistical uncertainty by up to a factor of 5. We extend our methods to the many-particle regime by developing a quantum algorithm for preparing quasiparticle wavepackets in a one-dimensional model of interacting fermions. This technique has modest quantum resource requirements, making wavepacket-based studies of transport in many-body systems a promising application for near-term quantum computers.
Read the full abstract

Statistical Mechanics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Exact Thermal Stabilizer Eigenstates at Infinite Temperature

Understanding how microscopic few-body interactions give rise to thermal behavior in isolated quantum many-body systems remains a central challenge in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. While individual energy eigenstates are expected to reproduce thermal equilibrium values, analytic access to highly entangled thermal eigenstates of nonintegrable Hamiltonians remains scarce. In this Letter, we construct exact infinite-temperature eigenstates of generically nonintegrable two-body Hamiltonians using stabilizer states. These states can fully reproduce thermal expectation values for all spatially local observables, extending previously known Bell-pair-based constructions to a broader class. At the same time, we prove a sharp no-go theorem: stabilizer eigenstates of two-body Hamiltonians cannot satisfy microscopic thermal equilibrium for all four-body observables. This bound is tight, as we explicitly construct a translationally invariant Hamiltonian whose stabilizer eigenstate is thermal for all two-body and three-body observables as well as all spatially local observables. Our results suggest that reproducing higher-order thermal correlations requires nonstabilizer degrees of freedom, providing analytic insight into the interplay between interaction locality, microscopic thermal equilibrium, and quantum computational complexity.
Read the full abstract

Quantum Gases · Cross-listed from hep-lat

String Breaking and Glueball Dynamics in $2+1$D Quantum Link Electrodynamics

At the heart of quark confinement and hadronization, the physics of flux strings has recently become a focal point in the field of quantum simulation of high-energy physics (HEP). Despite considerable progress, a detailed understanding of the behavior of flux strings in quantum simulation-relevant lattice formulations of gauge theories has remained limited to the lowest truncations of the gauge field, which are severely limited in their ability to draw conclusions about the quantum field theory limit. Here, we employ tensor network simulations to investigate the behavior of flux strings in a quantum link formulation of $2+1$D quantum electrodynamics (QED) with a spin-$1$ representation of the gauge field. We first map out the ground-state phase diagram of this model in the presence of two spatially separated static charges, revealing distinct microscopic processes responsible for string breaking, including a two-stage breaking mechanism not possible in the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ formulation. Starting in different initial product state string configurations, we then explore far-from-equilibrium quench dynamics across various parameter regimes, demonstrating genuine $2+1$D real-time string breaking and glueball-like bound state formation, with the latter not possible in the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ formulation. In and out of equilibrium, we consider different values and placements of the static charges. Finally, we provide efficient qudit circuits for a quantum simulation experiment in which our results can be observed in state-of-the-art ion-trap setups. Our findings lay the groundwork for quantum simulations of flux strings towards the quantum field theory limit.
Read the full abstract

All authors Jiahao Cao, Rohan Joshi, Yizhuo Tian, N. S. Srivatsa, Jad C. Halimeh

Statistical Mechanics

Bounded cumulative observables from local linear relaxation

Cumulative observables often exhibit saturation in systems involving propagation or spreading with local dissipation. This work shows that bounded cumulative response follows directly from local linear relaxation. Linear cumulative observables accumulated over the lifetime of a relaxing signal are limited by a scale set by the relaxation time, independent of geometry, dimensionality, or microscopic transport dynamics. When relaxation is mapped to space through transport or spreading, this temporal bound yields a corresponding spatial saturation scale determined by the transport law. The result shows that cumulative saturation follows directly from exponential local relaxation and does not depend on the specific transport mechanism.
Read the full abstract

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Charge and spin orders in the t-U-V-J model: a slave-spin-1 approach

Strongly-correlated fermion systems on a lattice have been a subject of intense focus in the field of condensed-matter physics. These systems are notoriously difficult to solve, even with state-of-the-art numerical methods, especially in regimes of parameters where degrees of freedom compete or cooperate at similar energy and length scales. Here, we introduce a spin-1 slave-particle technique to approximately treat the t-U-V-J fermionic model at arbitrary electron dopings in an economical manner. This formalism respectively maps the original charge and spin degrees of freedom into effective pseudo-spin and pseudo-fermion sectors, which are treated using a self-consistent cluster mean-field method. We study the phase diagram of the model under various conditions and report the appearance of charge and spin stripes within this formalism. These stripes are a consequence of the cluster mean-field treatment of the pseudo-particle sectors and have not been detected in previous slave-particle studies. The results obtained agree qualitatively well with what more reliable numerical methods capture.
Read the full abstract

Statistical Mechanics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Fair sampling with temperature-targeted QAOA based on quantum-classical correspondence theory

In combinatorial optimization problems with degenerate ground states, fair sampling of degenerate solutions is essential. However, the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) with a standard transverse-field mixer induces biases among degenerate states as circuit depth increases. Based on quantum-classical correspondence theory, we propose SBO-QAOA, which employs a temperature-dependent Hamiltonian encoding a Gibbs distribution as its ground state. Numerical simulations show that, unlike standard QAOA, SBO-QAOA yields ground-state probabilities converging to finite-temperature values with uniform distribution among degenerate states. These fairness and temperature-targeting properties are preserved even with only four variational parameters under a linear schedule.
Read the full abstract

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

From many valleys to many topological phases - quantum anomalous Hall effect in IV-VI semiconductor quantum wells

Consistent with prior qualitative expectations for group IV-VI topological crystalline insulators, this work demonstrates, based on band structure and Chern number calculations, that Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_x$Se/(PbSe)$_{1-y}$(EuS)$_y$ quantum wells constitute a promising and viable platform for realizing a variety of quantum anomalous Hall phases. The proposed basis transformation procedure for the multiband $\mathit{k} \cdot \mathit{p}$ Hamiltonian enables the treatment of wells grown along arbitrary crystallographic directions while explicitly accounting for the anisotropy of the material's isoenergetic surfaces. Numerical studies of $\langle 111\rangle$-, $\langle 110\rangle$- and $\langle 001\rangle$-oriented quantum wells predict attainable Chern numbers with magnitudes ranging from $1$ to $4$, depending on the quantum well width, Sn content, and relative orientation of the four projected $\mathrm{L}$ valleys with respect to the growth direction. The results further indicate that appropriate strain compensation is required to achieve high-quality quantization of the Hall conductance.
Read the full abstract

Soft Condensed Matter

Supercoiling DNA with a free end

In this work, we combine coarse-grained Brownian dynamics simulations and mean-field theory to study supercoiling dynamics, as well as the steady-state profiles of twist and writhe, in an open DNA polymer where one of the free ends is subjected to a constant torque. Even though the other end is free, and hence can spin and release torsional stress, we observe that the entire chain transitions between a swollen and a plectonemic phase as the torque increases beyond a critical threshold. In the plectonemic phase, we observe a non-linear twist profile in the steady state, resulting from the mutual interconversion between the injected twist and geometrical writhe, which distributes inhomogeneously along the chain. We also show that the non-equilibrium dynamics of twist accumulation is diffusive, and that writhe diffusion is negligible in this geometry, as plectonemes remain localised near the end that is being rotated. We discuss the feasibility of testing our results with single-molecule experiments.
Read the full abstract

All authors Daniela Moretti, Giuseppe Gonnella, Antonio Suma, Giada Forte, Davide Marenduzzo, Cristian Micheletti

Statistical Mechanics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Quantum Dimension Reduction of Hidden Markov Models

Hidden Markov models (HMMs) are ubiquitous in time-series modelling, with applications ranging from chemical reaction modelling to speech recognition. These HMMs are often large, with high-dimensional memories. A recently-proposed application of quantum technologies is to execute quantum analogues of HMMs. Such quantum HMMs (QHMMs) are strictly more expressive than their classical counterparts, enabling the construction of more parsimonious models of stochastic processes. However, state-of-the-art techniques for QHMM compression, based on tensor networks, are only applicable for a restricted subset of HMMs, where the transitions are deterministic. In this work we introduce a pipeline by which any finite, ergodic HMM can be compressed in this manner, providing a route for effective quantum dimension reduction of general HMMs. We demonstrate the method on both a simple toy model, and on a speech-derived HMM trained from data, obtaining favourable memory–accuracy trade-offs in the examples studied, relative to a simple classical state-merging baseline.
Read the full abstract

Statistical Mechanics

Langevin equations with non-Gaussian thermal noise: Valid but superfluous

We discuss the statistics of additive thermal (internal) noise in systems governed by the generalized Langevin equation with linear dissipation. To assess the equation's validity, it is common to assume that the system is ergodic and to verify that solutions approach correct equilibrium values at asymptotically long times. In this paper, we instead consider the consistency of the generalized Langevin equation with the Jarzynski equality at finite times and do not assume the system's ergodicity. Specifically, we consider a classical Brownian oscillator whose initial stiffness, or frequency, is perturbed by a rectangular pulse of duration $\tau$. We find that the Jarzynski equality is satisfied unconditionally only up to the seventh order in $\tau$; in higher orders, the Jarzynski equality holds if and only if the noise is Gaussian. These results imply that, unless it is exact, the Langevin equation can only be used to evaluate properties that are linear or quadratic in noise and its derivatives. Such properties are insensitive to the noise statistics, so the Langevin equation with linear dissipation and non-Gaussian noise (though not inconsistent by itself) is superfluous.
Read the full abstract

Statistical Mechanics

Transition in Splitting Probabilities of Quantum Walks

We investigate the splitting probability of a monitored continuous-time quantum walk with two targets and show that, in stark contrast to a classical random walk, it exhibits a nonanalytic, phase-transition-like behavior controlled by the sampling time at the targets. For large systems and sampling times smaller than a critical value $\tau_c = 2\pi/\Delta E$, where $\Delta E$ is the energy bandwidth, the splitting probability is universal and equal to $1/2$, independent of the initial condition and the sampling time. Above the critical sampling time, a nonuniversal regime emerges in which the splitting probability deviates from $1/2$ and develops a fluctuating pattern of pronounced peaks and dips dependent on both the sampling time and the initial condition. These results follow from a nontrivial mapping of the splitting problem onto a pair of single-target detection problems enabled by the superposition principle.
Read the full abstract

Materials Science

Biexcitons in Ruddlesden-Popper Metal Halides Probed by Nonlinear Coherent Spectroscopy

Excitons and their correlated complexes underpin the rich photophysics of quantum-confined semiconductors. Among these, biexcitons – bound states of two electrons and two holes – provide a sensitive probe of Coulomb correlations, exciton-exciton interactions, and the role of the dielectric environment. In Ruddlesden-Popper metal halide materials (RPMHs), strong quantum and dielectric confinement stabilize excitons with binding energies of hundreds of meV, creating an ideal platform for multi-exciton phenomena. Conventional linear spectroscopies, such as photoluminescence and transient absorption, reveal biexciton signatures but suffer from spectral congestion and reabsorption artifacts. Two-dimensional coherent spectroscopies, particularly two-quantum (2Q) multidimensional techniques, uniquely access multi-exciton coherences and provide unambiguous estimates of biexciton binding energies. This minireview surveys the spectroscopic evidence for biexcitons in RPMHs, highlights the advantages of nonlinear multidimensional approaches, and situates biexciton physics within the broader context of excitonic materials, including GaAs quantum wells, quantum dots, and transition-metal dichalcogenides. By emphasizing the interplay of exciton-exciton annihilation, excitation-induced dephasing, and biexciton formation, we argue that multidimensional coherent spectroscopy offers the most reliable pathway to disentangle many-body interactions in quantum-well derivatives of metal-halide perovskites.
Read the full abstract

Statistical Mechanics

Random Walks Across Dimensions: Exploring Simplicial Complexes

We introduce a novel operator to describe a random walk process on a simplicial complex. Walkers are allowed to wonder across simplices of various dimensions, bridging nodes to edges, and edges to triangles, via a nested organization that hierarchically extends to higher structures of arbitrary large, but finite, dimension. The asymptotic distribution of the walkers provides a natural ranking to gauge the relative importance of higher order simplices. Optimal search strategies in presence of stochastic teleportation are addressed and the peculiar interplay of noise with higher order structures unraveled.
Read the full abstract

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Interface Spin-orbit Coupling Induced Room-temperature Ferromagnetic Insulator

Fabricating room-temperature ferromagnetic insulators, which are crucial candidates for next-generation dissipation-free quantum and spintronic devices, remains a significant challenge. In this Letter, we report on the epitaxial synthesis of novel room-temperature ferromagnetic insulating thin films created through the precise construction of (111)-oriented 3d/5d interfaces. Our analysis indicates that, unlike conventional doping methods, the (111)-oriented SrIrO3/La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 (SIO/LSMO) interfaces exhibit markedly enhanced spin-orbit coupling. This enhanced interfacial spin-orbit coupling strengthens the electron-phonon coupling in LSMO, thereby shortening the electronic mean free path. As a result, the intrinsic metallicity of LSMO is suppressed, giving rise to a new ferromagnetic insulating phase that emerges between the ferromagnetic metal and paramagnetic insulator regimes of the LSMO phase diagram. Furthermore, the temperature window of the ferromagnetic insulating phase can be tuned by precisely controlling the thickness of the LSMO layers. Our Letter reveals a new strategy for developing ferromagnetic insulators by engineering 3d/5d interfaces and orientations, paving a way for the development of novel dissipation-free quantum and spintronic devices.
Read the full abstract

All authors Yuhao Hong, Shilin Hu, Ziyue Shen, Chao Deng, Xiaodong Zhang, Lei Wang, Long Wei, Qinghua Zhang, Lingfei Wang, Liang Si, Yulin Gan, Kai Chen, Zhaoliang Liao