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Monday 9 February

Quantum Physics

Universality classes split by strong and weak symmetries

Jongjun M. Lee, Myung-Joong Hwang and Igor Boettcher

Dissipative phase transitions are strongly shaped by the symmetries of the Liouvillian, yet a clear understanding of the quantitative impact of weak and strong symmetries on critical behavior is presently lacking. We study a squeezed-photon model with single- and two-photon losses, realizing weak and strong symmetries in the simplest possible setting. The two symmetries exhibit identical Gaussian static fluctuations, whereas the order parameter and the asymptotic decay rate display distinct scaling behaviors. Our one-loop Keldysh analysis, together with cumulant-expansion numerics, reveals sharply different critical scaling with respect to the thermodynamic scaling parameter. This shows that weak and strong symmetries lead to distinct dynamical universality classes despite originating from the same symmetry group in the closed system. Our results provide a clear quantitative demonstration that strong symmetries fundamentally reshape dissipative criticality.
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Quantum Physics

Eigenstate thermalization for local versus translationally invariant observables

Rohit Patil and Marcos Rigol

Local observables and their translationally invariant counterparts are generally thought to provide the same predictions for experiments. While this equivalence holds for expectation values in clean systems (up to finite-size effects), it is often assumed to extend to correlation functions, where it need not hold. We examine this assumption from the perspective of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. Specifically, we explore the spectral functions of local and translationally invariant observables in the spin-1 tilted-field Ising chain with periodic and open boundary conditions. We identify the contexts in which these observables and boundary conditions differ and those in which they are interchangeable. We unveil an off-diagonal eigenstate thermalization in translationally invariant systems for matrix elements between energy eigenstates with different quasimomenta.
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Quantum Physics

Volume-law protection of metrological advantage

Piotr Wysocki, Jan Chwedeńczuk and Marcin Płodzień

Although entanglement can boost metrological precision beyond the standard quantum limit, the advantage often disappears with particle loss. We demonstrate that scrambling safeguards precision by dispersing information about the encoded parameter into many-body correlations. For Haar-random scrambling unitaries, we derive exact formulas for the average quantum Fisher information (QFI) of the reduced state after tracing out lost particles. The result exhibits a threshold; any remaining subsystem larger than $N/2$ recovers the full QFI, while smaller subsystems contain negligible information. We link this threshold to the scrambling-induced transition from area-law to volume-law entanglement and the associated growth of the Schmidt rank. We outline two realizations – a brickwork circuit and chaotic XX-chain evolution – and demonstrate the protection of one-axis-twisted probes against the loss of up to half of the particles.
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Quantum Physics

Thermodynamics Beyond Equilibrium in Coherent Quantum Systems

Md Manirul Ali and Po-Wen Chen

A central open question in quantum thermodynamics is the identification of thermodynamic entropy away from equilibrium. Although thermodynamic entropy coincides with the von Neumann entropy for a Gibbs state at equilibrium, the thermodynamic role of quantum coherence generated during nonequilibrium evolution remains unclear. Here, we show that von Neumann entropy does not, in general, represent the thermodynamic entropy governing heat exchange in coherent nonequilibrium quantum systems. By integrating the resource theory of quantum coherence with thermodynamic principles, we develop a general framework for nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics. We identify thermodynamic entropy with the energy entropy derived from energy-measurement statistics and introduce a dynamical temperature extending the equilibrium concept to nonequilibrium states. Consequently, we obtain an exact entropy-balance relation separating the entropy flux associated with heat exchange from the coherence-loss contribution to entropy production, establishing an operational connection between quantum coherence, heat flow, and total entropy change. Unlike approaches relying on equilibrium reference states or stationary Gibbs ensembles, our framework uses instantaneous dynamical quantities and remains valid throughout transient nonequilibrium evolution. It provides consistent dynamical definitions of temperature, work, heat, and free energy. Applying the formalism to an exactly solvable open quantum system, we show that the first and second laws hold throughout transient evolution and that equilibrium thermodynamics emerges dynamically in the weak-coupling long-time limit. Our results establish a unified framework for coherent nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics and suggest opportunities for controlling heat dissipation through coherence engineering in quantum thermal technologies.
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Quantum Physics

Hybrid Method of Efficient Simulation of Physics Applications for a Quantum Computer

Carla Rieger, Albert T. Schmitz, Gehad Salem et al. (+5 more)

Quantum chemistry and materials science are among the most promising areas for demonstrating algorithmic quantum advantage and quantum utility due to their inherent quantum mechanical nature. Still, large-scale simulations of quantum circuits are essential for determining the problem size at which quantum solutions outperform classical methods. In this work, we present a novel hybrid simulation approach, forming a hybrid of a fullstate and a Clifford simulator, specifically designed to address the computational challenges associated with the time evolution of quantum chemistry Hamiltonians. Our method focuses on the efficient emulation of multi-qubit rotations, a critical component of Trotterized Hamiltonian evolution. By optimizing the representation and execution of multi-qubit operations leveraging the Pauli frame, our approach significantly reduces the computational cost of simulating quantum circuits, enabling more efficient simulations. Beyond its impact on chemistry applications, our emulation strategy has broad implications for any computational workload that relies heavily on multi-qubit rotations. By increasing the efficiency of quantum simulations, our method facilitates more accurate and cost-effective studies of complex quantum systems. We quantify the performance improvements and computational savings for this emulation strategy, and we obtain a speedup of a factor $\approx 18$ ($\approx 22$ with MPI) for our evaluated chemistry Hamiltonians with 24 qubits. Thus, we evaluate our integration of this emulation strategy into the Intel Quantum SDK, further bridging the gap between theoretical algorithm development and practical quantum software implementations.
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All authors Carla Rieger, Albert T. Schmitz, Gehad Salem, Massimiliano Incudini, Sofia Vallecorsa, Anne Y. Matsuura, Michele Grossi, Gian Giacomo Guerreschi

Quantum Physics

Cascaded Optomechanical Sensing for Small Signals

Marta Maria Marchese, Daniel Braun, Stefan Nimmrichter et al. (+1 more)

We propose a sensing scheme for detecting weak forces that achieves Heisenberg-limited sensitivity without relying on entanglement or other non-classical resources. Our scheme utilizes coherent averaging across a chain of N optomechanical cavities, unidirectionally coupled via a laser beam. As the beam passes through the cavities, it accumulates phase shifts induced by a common external force acting on the mechanical elements. Remarkably, this fully classical approach achieves the sensitivity scaling typically associated with quantum-enhanced protocols, providing a robust and experimentally feasible route to precision sensing. Potential applications range from high-sensitivity gravitational field measurements at the Large Hadron Collider to probing dark matter interactions and detecting gravitational waves. This work opens a new pathway for leveraging coherent light-matter interactions for force sensing.
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All authors Marta Maria Marchese, Daniel Braun, Stefan Nimmrichter, Dennis Rätzel

Quantum Physics · Cross-listed from cs.MA

Learning to Coordinate via Quantum Entanglement in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

John Gardiner, Orlando Romero, Brendan Tivnan et al. (+2 more)

The inability to communicate poses a major challenge to coordination in multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL). Prior work has explored correlating local policies via shared randomness, sometimes in the form of a correlation device, as a mechanism to assist in decentralized decision-making. In contrast, this work introduces the first framework for training MARL agents to exploit shared quantum entanglement as a coordination resource, which permits a larger class of communication-free correlated policies than shared randomness alone. This is motivated by well-known results in quantum physics which posit that, for certain single-round cooperative games with no communication, shared quantum entanglement enables strategies that outperform those that only use shared randomness. In such cases, we say that there is quantum advantage. Our framework is based on a novel differentiable policy parameterization that enables optimization over quantum measurements, together with a novel policy architecture that decomposes joint policies into a quantum coordinator and decentralized local actors. To illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed method, we first show that we can learn, purely from experience, strategies that attain quantum advantage in single-round games that are treated as black box oracles. We then demonstrate how our machinery can learn policies with quantum advantage in an illustrative multi-agent sequential decision-making problem formulated as a decentralized partially observable Markov decision process (Dec-POMDP).
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All authors John Gardiner, Orlando Romero, Brendan Tivnan, Nicolò Dal Fabbro, George J. Pappas

Quantum Physics

Long distance quantum illumination and ranging using polarization entangled photon pairs in a lossy environment

Sujai Matta, Soumya Asokan, Sanchari Chakraborti et al. (+3 more)

Using polarization entangled photon pairs, we demonstrate a robust scheme for quantum illumination and ranging in a lossy environment. Entangled photon pairs are generated in a Sagnac interferometer configuration, yielding high-visibility two-photon polarization entanglement with a measured CHSH parameter of $S =2.802\pm0.002$. One of the photons from the entangled pair is retained as idler and the other one is directed into either of the two paths, namely reference and probe, of which probe is sent toward a distant object through a lossy free-space channel, and the reflected photons are collected after round-trip free-space propagation over distances approaching $1$ km. Remarkably, strong correlations are observed with CHSH values $S >2.6$ even when only a few tens of probe photons are returned, confirming the robustness of polarization entanglement under long-distance free-space propagation. This work reports the robustness of encoding photons in different basis before it is sent towards the object and recovery of polarization entanglement even after a kilometer-scale scattering from the objects, establishing a practical foundation for scalable quantum-assisted object detection and ranging.
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All authors Sujai Matta, Soumya Asokan, Sanchari Chakraborti, Mayank Joshi, Rahul Dalal, C. M. Chandrashekar

Quantum Physics

GHz-rate polarization-based QKD system for fiber and satellite applications

Matías Rubén Bolaños, Edoardo Rossi, Federico Berra et al. (+9 more)

Quantum key distribution (QKD) leverages the principles of quantum mechanics to exchange a secret key between two parties. Despite its promising features, QKD also faces several practical challenges such as transmission loss, noise in quantum channels and finite key size effects. Addressing these issues is crucial for the large-scale deployment of QKD in fiber and satellite networks. In this paper, we present a 1550 nm QKD system realizing the efficient-BB84 protocol and based on the iPOGNAC scheme. The system achieved repetition rates up to 1.5~GHz and showed an intrinsic QBER of $\sim 0.4\%$. The system was first tested on a laboratory fiber link and then on an intermodal link in the field, consisting of both deployed fiber and a 620 m free-space channel. The experiment was performed in daylight conditions, exploiting the Qubit4Sync synchronization protocol. With this trial, we achieved a new benchmark for free-space BB84 QKD systems by generating a sustained secret key rate (SKR) above 1~Mb/s for 1 hour. Finally, exploiting a recently discovered finite-size bound, we achieved a secure key rate of about 10 Mb/s at low losses (5 dB), and around 6.5~kb/s in the high-loss (38.5 dB), low block length ($N=10^4$) regime. The latter results demonstrate the system's suitability for highly lossy and time-constrained scenarios such as QKD from low Earth orbit satellites.
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All authors Matías Rubén Bolaños, Edoardo Rossi, Federico Berra, Alberto De Toni, Ilektra Karakosta-Amarantidou, Daniel Christian Lawo, Costantino Agnesi, Marco Avesani, Andrea Stanco, Francesco Vedovato, Paolo Villoresi, Giuseppe Vallone

Quantum Physics

Multiplexed microwave resonators by frequency comb spectroscopy

Angelo Greco, Jukka-Pekka Kaikkonen, Luca Chirolli et al. (+4 more)

Coplanar waveguide resonators are central to the thriving field of circuit quantum electrodynamics. Recently, we have demonstrated the generation of a broadband microwave-frequency comb spectrum using a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) driven by a time-dependent magnetic field. Here, the frequency comb is used to spectroscopically probe a bank of coplanar microwave resonators, inductively coupled to a common transmission line, a standard circuit with a variety of applications. We compare the resonator line shape obtained from signals synthesized at room temperature using conventional electronics with the radiation produced in the cryogenic environment by our source, showing substantial equivalence in the estimation of the resonator quality factors. To measure non-uniformly spaced resonant frequencies, we drive the generator with a bi-chromatic tone to generate intermodulation products. Such a dense frequency comb spectrum enables simultaneous addressing of a few resonators via frequency multiplexing. Finally, we discuss the criteria for achieving effective spectroscopic coverage of a given frequency bandwidth.
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All authors Angelo Greco, Jukka-Pekka Kaikkonen, Luca Chirolli, Alberto Ronzani, Jorden Senior, Francesco Giazotto, Alessandro Crippa

Quantum Physics

Error compensation without a time penalty: robust spin-lock-induced crossing in solution NMR

Mohamed Sabba, Christian Bengs, Urvashi D. Heramun et al. (+1 more)

A modification of the widely-used spin-lock-induced crossing (SLIC) procedure is proposed for the solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of strongly coupled nuclear spin systems, including singlet NMR and parahydrogen-enhanced hyperpolarised NMR experiments. The compensated-SLIC (cSLIC) scheme uses a repetitive sequence where the repeated element employs two different radiofrequency field amplitudes. Effective compensation for deviations in the radiofrequency field amplitude is achieved without increasing the overall duration of the SLIC sequence. The advantageous properties of cSLIC are demonstrated by numerical simulations and by representative experiments.
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All authors Mohamed Sabba, Christian Bengs, Urvashi D. Heramun, Malcolm H. Levitt

Quantum Physics · Cross-listed from math-ph

Quantum Riemannian Cubics with Obstacle Avoidance for Quantum Geometric Model Predictive Control

Leonardo Colombo

We propose a geometric model predictive control framework for quantum systems subject to smoothness and state constraints. By formulating quantum state evolution intrinsically on the projective Hilbert space, we penalize covariant accelerations to generate smooth trajectories in the form of Riemannian cubics, while incorporating state-dependent constraints through potential functions. A structure-preserving variational discretization enables receding-horizon implementation, and a Lyapunov-type stability result is established for the closed-loop system. The approach is illustrated on the Bloch sphere for a two-level quantum system, providing a viable pathway toward predictive feedback control of constrained quantum dynamics.
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Quantum Physics

Differentiable Logical Programming for Quantum Circuit Discovery and Optimization

Antonin Sulc

Designing high-fidelity quantum circuits remains challenging, and current paradigms often depend on heuristic, fixed-ansatz structures or rule-based compilers that can be suboptimal or lack generality. We introduce a neuro-symbolic framework that reframes quantum circuit design as a differentiable logic programming problem. Our model represents a scaffold of potential quantum gates and parameterized operations as a set of learnable, continuous “truth values” or “switches,” $s \in [0, 1]^N$. These switches are optimized via standard gradient descent to satisfy a user-defined set of differentiable, logical axioms (e.g., correctness, simplicity, robustness). We provide a theoretical formulation bridging continuous logic (via T-norms) and unitary evolution (via geodesic interpolation), while addressing the barren plateau problem through biased initialization. We illustrate the approach on tasks including discovery of a 4-qubit Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT) from a scaffold of 21 candidate gates. We also report hardware-aware adaptation experiments on the 156-qubit IBM Fez processor, where the method autonomously adapted to both gradual noise drift (24.2~pp over static baseline) and catastrophic hardware failure (46.7~pp post-failure improvement), using only measurement-driven gradient updates with no hardwired bias or prior path preference
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Quantum Physics

A cavity-mediated reconfigurable coupling scheme for superconducting qubits

Shinyoung Hwang, Sangyeon Lee and Eunjong Kim

Superconducting qubits have achieved remarkable progress in gate fidelity and coherence, yet their typical nearest-neighbor connectivity presents constraints for implementing complex quantum circuits. Here, we introduce a cavity-mediated coupling architecture in which a shared cavity mode, accessed through tunable qubit-cavity couplers, enables dynamically reconfigurable interactions between non-adjacent qubits. By selectively activating the couplers, we demonstrate that high-fidelity iSWAP and CZ gates can be performed within 50 ns with simulated coherent error below $10^{-4}$, while residual $ZZ$ interaction during idling remains below a few kilohertz. Extending to a four-qubit system, we also simulate gates between every qubit pair by selectively enabling the couplers with low qubit crosstalk. This approach provides a practical route toward enhanced interaction flexibility in superconducting quantum processors and may serve as a useful building block for devices that benefit from selective non-local coupling.
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Quantum Physics

High-brightness fiber-based Sagnac source of entangled photon pairs for multiplexed quantum networks

Tess Troisi, Yoann Pelet, Romain Dalidet et al. (+4 more)

A fully fibered source of entangled photon pairs based on a nonlinear Sagnac interferometer is reported. Operating at telecom wavelengths, the source relies exclusively on standard fiber-optic components and periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguides, resulting in a compact, robust, and field-deployable architecture. The generation stage supports both polarization and energy-time entanglement without modification, enabling versatile operation depending on the targeted application. Broadband spontaneous parametric down-conversion allows dense wavelength-division multiplexing over the telecom C and L bands. High normalized brightness (10.3 kpairs/s/nm/mW$^2$) is achieved on a standard 100 GHz ITU channel pair, together with high entanglement quality. Polarization and energy-time encodings are characterized through state tomography and two-photon interference measurements, yielding fidelities, purities, and visibilities exceeding 96 % over multiple wavelength channels. The stability and reproducibility of the source are further evaluated through long-duration operation in a network environment. These results demonstrate that the proposed Sagnac source constitutes a practical and scalable building block for future plug-and-play quantum communication and quantum networking platforms.
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All authors Tess Troisi, Yoann Pelet, Romain Dalidet, Gregory Sauder, Olivier Alibart, Sébastien Tanzilli, Anthony Martin

Quantum Physics

Spin-active chlorine-related centers in 4H-SiC with telecom-band emissions

Danial Shafizadeh, Misagh Ghezellou, Viktor M. Bobal et al. (+5 more)

A photoluminescence (PL) and magnetic resonance investigation of a defect in chlorine-implanted 4H-SiC is presented. This Cl-related center emits light at telecom wavelengths with zero-phonon lines in the range 1350-1540 nm. Its four configurations exhibit stable PL spectra characterized by narrow zero-phonon lines. For the two configurations that emit light at the C-band, a Debye-Waller factor in the range 22-25% is estimated. Optically detected magnetic resonance confirms that the Cl-related center is spin active and stable at room temperature with the zero-field splitting in the range of 1.0-1.4 GHz. The combined optical and spin properties suggest this center to be a highly promising candidate for scalable quantum networks.
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All authors Danial Shafizadeh, Misagh Ghezellou, Viktor M. Bobal, Lasse Vines, Jawad Ul-Hassan, Valdas Jokubavicius, Nguyen T. Son, Ivan G. Ivanov

Quantum Physics

High-Probability Heralded Entanglement via Repeated Spin-Photon Phase Encoding with Moderate Cooperativity

Yu Liu and Martin B. Plenio

We propose a heralded high-probability scheme to generate remote entanglement between moderate-cooperativity spin-cavity registers with high fidelity. In conventional single-shot interfaces, limited cooperativity restricts the spin-conditional optical response and thus strongly suppresses the success probability. Our proposal instead recycles a single incident photon for repeated interactions with the spin-cavity register, such that a small spin-conditional phase shift acquired on each round trip accumulates coherently to enable remote entanglement. Moreover, the repeated scheme enables higher spin-photon encoding efficiency by using a spectral-width-scaling photon pulse with a shorter duration. We show that, for realistic imperfections and losses, this repeated phase-encoding approach produces high-fidelity entangled states with an appreciable success probability even at cooperativity $C\sim1$. Our protocol is particularly well suited to weakly coupled, cavity-based solid-state spin platforms and provides a route toward hybrid, photon-loss-tolerant distributed quantum computing.
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Quantum Physics

The equivalence of quantum deletion and insertion errors on permutation-invariant codes

Lewis Bulled and Yingkai Ouyang

Quantum synchronisation errors are a class of errors that change the number of qubits in a quantum system. The classical error correction of synchronisation errors has been well-studied, including an insertion-deletion equivalence more than a half-century ago, but little progress has been made towards the quantum counterpart since the birth of quantum error correction. We address the longstanding problem of a quantum insertion-deletion equivalence on permutation-invariant codes, detailing the conditions under which such codes are $t$-insertion error-correctable. We extend these conditions to quantum insertion-deletion errors, formulating a more restrictive set of conditions under which permutation-invariant codes are $(t,s)$-insdel error-correctable. For completeness, we extend our approach to qudit errors on qudit permutation-invariant codes. Our work resolves many of the outstanding questions regarding the quantum error correction of synchronisation errors.
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Quantum Physics

Heterogeneous Optically-Detected Spin-Acoustic Resonance in Solid-State Molecular Thin-film

Kuan-Cheng Chen, Yongqiang Wen, Xiaotian Xu et al. (+7 more)

We report an implementation of spin-acoustic resonance in pentacene thin films integrated on a high-quality-factor (high-Q) surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator on a lithium niobate substrate. Heterogeneous optically detected spin-acoustic resonance (HODSAR) is an optically detected spin-resonance measurement in which the resonant drive is delivered mechanically by a surface acoustic wave (SAW). By leveraging the photo-excited triplet state of pentacene at room temperature, we demonstrate coherent spin manipulation via acoustic driving under zero externally applied magnetic field. The heterogeneously integrated device, referred to as HODSAR, utilizes spin-phonon coupling to achieve mechanically driven, zero-field spin resonance, opening avenues for room-temperature mechanically addressable spin control and device integration. We show that the high-Q multimode response of the SAW resonator enables spectrally selective acoustic addressing of triplet transitions near 105 MHz. Coherent control is evidenced by Rabi oscillations, with a Rabi frequency that increases linearly with the square root of the applied RF input power over the measured drive range, consistent with driven two-level dynamics under acoustic excitation. These results establish spin-acoustic resonance in a heterogeneously integrated molecular thin-film platform and provide a quantitative basis for benchmarking mechanically mediated spin control.
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All authors Kuan-Cheng Chen, Yongqiang Wen, Xiaotian Xu, Max Attwood, Jingdong Xu, Chen Fu, Sami Ramadan, Shang Yu, Sandrine Heutz, Mark Oxborrow

Quantum Physics

Non-Hermitian Renormalization Group from a Few-Body Perspective

Hiroyuki Tajima, Masaya Nakagawa, Haozhao Liang et al. (+1 more)

Non-Hermiticity plays a fundamental role in open quantum systems and describes a wide variety of effects of interactions with environments, including quantum measurement. However, understanding its consequences in strongly interacting systems is still elusive due to the interplay between non-perturbative strong correlations and non-Hermiticity. While the Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) method has been applied to tackle this problem, its foundation, based on the existence of the partition function, is ill-defined. In this paper, we establish a microscopic foundation of the non-Hermitian RG method from a few-body perspective. We show that the invariance of the scattering amplitude under RG transformations enables us to rigorously derive the non-Hermitian RG equation, giving a physically transparent interpretation of RG flows. We discuss a detailed structure of such RG flows in a non-relativistic two-body system with inelastic two-body loss, and show its relation to a non-Hermitian quantum scale anomaly. Our analysis suggests that non-Hermitian complex potentials often used in high-energy physics can be interpreted as being caused by quantum measurement, where the detection of elastically scattered particles updates the observer's knowledge, resulting in a nonunitary state change of the system. We apply our formalism to nuclear physics, find the emergence of a critical semicircle, and show that several nuclei are located near the critical semicircle in the coherent neutron-nucleus scattering. We also propose that the localized dineutron in two-neutron halo nuclei can be interpreted as the quantum measurement effect on the imaginary potential associated with absorption into the core nucleus. Our result bridges different contexts of non-Hermitian systems in high-energy and atomic, molecular, and optical physics, opening an interdisciplinary playground of non-Hermitian few-body physics.
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All authors Hiroyuki Tajima, Masaya Nakagawa, Haozhao Liang, Masahito Ueda

Quantum Physics

Weak forms offer strong regularisations: how to make physics-informed (quantum) machine learning more robust

Annie E. Paine, Smit Chaudhary and Antonio A. Gentile

Physics-informed (PI) methodologies have surged to become a pillar route to solve Differential Equations (DEs), sustained by the growth of machine learning methods in scientific contexts. The main proposition of PI is to minimise variationally a loss function, formally ensuring that a neural surrogate of the solution has the DE locally satisfied. The nature of such formulation encouraged the exploration of equivalent quantum algorithms, where the surrogate solution is expressed by variational quantum architectures. The locality of typical loss functions emphasises the DE to hold at an ensemble of points sampled in the domain, but encounters issues when generalising beyond such points, or when propagating boundary conditions. Issues which affect classical and quantum PI algorithms alike. The quest to fill this gap in robustness and accuracy against mainstream DE solvers has led to a plethora of proposals in various directions. In particular, classical DE solvers have long employed the weak form - an integral based approach aiming at imposing a global condition on the solution - prioritising a good average behaviour instead of “overfitting” select points. Here, we propose and explore to combine contributions from both local and global loss functions in PI routines, to exploit the advantages and mitigate the weaknesses of both. We showcase this intuition in a variety of problems focusing on differentiable quantum architectures, and demonstrating in particular how orchestrating such hybrid loss formulation with domain decomposition can offer a strong advantage over local-only strategies.
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Quantum Physics · Cross-listed from math-ph

Quantum Wasserstein isometries of the $n$-qubit state space: a Wigner-type result

Gergely Bunth, Eszter Szabó and Dániel Virosztek

We determine the isometry group of the $n$-qubit state space with respect to the quantum Wasserstein distance induced by the so-called symmetric transport cost for all $n \in \mathbb{N}.$ It turns out that the isometries are precisely the Wigner symmetries, that is, the unitary or anti-unitary conjugations.
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Quantum Physics

Representation theory of inhomogeneous Gaussian unitaries

Jingqi Sun, Joshua Combes and Lucas Hackl

Gaussian unitaries, generated by quadratic Hamiltonians, are fundamental in quantum optics and continuous-variable computing. Their structures correspond to symplectic (bosons) and orthogonal (fermions) groups, but physical realizations give rise to their respective double covers, introducing phase and sign ambiguities. The homogeneous (quadratic-only) case has been resolved through a parameterization constructed in a recent work [arXiv:2409.11628]. We extend the previous framework to inhomogeneous Gaussian unitaries parameterized by $(M,z,\Psi)$. The Baker-Campbel-Hausdorff formula allows us then to factor any Gaussian unitary into a squeezing and a displacement transformation, from which we derive the group multiplication law.
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Quantum Physics

Quantum Charging Advantage in Superconducting Solid-State Batteries

Chang-Kang Hu, Chilong Liu, Jingchao Zhao et al. (+20 more)

Quantum battery, as a novel energy storage device, offers the potential for unprecedented efficiency and performance beyond the capabilities of classical systems, with broad implications for future quantum technologies. Here, we experimentally \RefC{demonstrate quantum charging advantage (QCA)} in a scalable solid-state quantum battery. More specifically, we show how double-excitation Hamiltonians for two-level systems promote scalable QCA \RefB{with standard methods.} We effectively implement the collective evolution of quantum systems with 2 up to 12 battery cells in a superconducting quantum processor, and study the performance of quantum charging compared to its uncorrelated classical counterpart. The model considered is a linear chain of superconducting transmon qubits with only nearest-neighbor and pairwise interactions, which constitute the simplest model of a multi-cell quantum battery. Our results empirically realize substantial QCA without the necessity of adopting long-range and many-body interactions \RefB{ and showcase the quantum features of the QB charging processes with measurements of non-zero coherent ergotropy, incoherent ergotropy and entanglement,} revealing a promising prospect for further developments of efficient and experimentally feasible protocols for QCA.
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All authors Chang-Kang Hu, Chilong Liu, Jingchao Zhao, Liuzhu Zhong, Yuxuan Zhou, Mingze Liu, Haolan Yuan, Yongchang Lin, Yue Xu, Guantian Hu, Guixu Xie, Zixing Liu, Ruiyang Zhou, Yougui Ri, Wenxuan Zhang, Ruicheng Deng, Andreia Saguia, Xiayu Linpeng, Marcelo S. Sarandy, Song Liu, Alan C. Santos, Dian Tan, Dapeng Yu

Quantum Physics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mes-hall

Elastic field causing noncommutativity

A. L. Silva Netto, A. M. de M. Carvalho, G. Q. Garcia et al. (+1 more)

We study how a uniform torsion background, modeling a continuous density of screw dislocations and induces effective spatial noncommutativity and reshapes the energy spectrum of a free quantum particle. Within the geometric theory of defects, the metric yields a first-order (magnetic-like) coupling in the transverse dynamics, equivalent to an effective magnetic field $B_{eff}$ proportional to $p_z Omega$, where $Omega$ encodes the torsion strength. In the strong-coupling (Landau) regime, the planar coordinates obey [x,y] != 0 and the spectrum organizes into Landau-like levels with a slight electric-field-driven tilt and a uniform shift. Thus, increasing $Omega$ drives the system continuously toward the familiar Landau problem in flat space, with torsion setting the noncommutativity scale and controlling the approach to the Landau limit.
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All authors A. L. Silva Netto, A. M. de M. Carvalho, G. Q. Garcia, C. Furtado

Quantum Physics

Time resolution at the quantum limit of two incoherent sources based on frequency resolved two-photon-interference

Salvatore Muratore and Vincenzo Tamma

The Rayleigh criterion is a widely known limit in the resolution of incoherent sources with classical measurements in the spatial domain. Unsurprisingly the estimation of the time delay between two weak incoherent signals is afflicted by an analogue problem. In this work, we show the emergence of two-photon quantum beats in the frequency domain from the interference at a beam splitter of a photon emitted by a reference source and one from the two incoherent weak signals. We demonstrate, based on this phenomena, that with a relatively low number of measurements of the frequencies of the interfering photons either bunching or antibunching at the beam splitter output one can achieve a precision amounting to half of the quantum limit, independently of both the mode structure of the photonic wavepackets and the time delay to be estimated. The feasibility of the technique makes it applicable in astronomy, microscopy, remote clocks synchronization and radar ranging
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Quantum Physics

Intelligent Control of Collisional Architectures for Deterministic Multipartite State Engineering

Duc-Kha Vu, Minh Tam Nguyen, Özgür E. Müstecapl{\i}oğlu et al. (+1 more)

Designing scalable, noise-tolerant control protocols for multipartite entanglement is a central challenge for quantum technologies, and it naturally calls for algorithmic synthesis of interaction parameters rather than handcrafted gate sequences. Here we introduce an intelligent, constraint-aware control framework for deterministic generation of symmetric Dicke states $|D_n^{(m)}\rangle$ in repeated-interaction (collision-model) architectures. The protocol employs excitation-preserving partial-SWAP collisions between two disjoint qubit registers, mediated by $m$ ancillary “shuttle” qubits, and poses Dicke-state preparation as a closed-loop design problem: given the target $(n,m)$, automatically infer collision strengths that maximize fidelity under practical constraints. Concretely, we formulate a two-parameter, bound-constrained optimization over intra-register and shuttle–register collision angles and solve it using a multi-start strategy with L-BFGS-B, yielding a reproducible controller prescription (optimized $\gamma_{\mathrm{in}}$, $\gamma_{\mathrm{sh}}$, and minimal-round convergence points) for each target. This removes the need for projective measurements and extends collisional entanglement generation beyond the single-excitation (W-state) sector to arbitrary $m$. Crucially, we optimize within imperfect collisional dynamics where errors act throughout the sequence, including stochastic interaction dropouts (missing collisions) and standard decoherence channels. Strikingly, across wide error ranges the optimized controller preserves high preparation fidelity; imperfections manifest primarily as a modest increase in the required number of collision rounds. This behavior reflects a tunable competition in which noise suppresses correlations while properly chosen collisions continuously replenish them, allowing the control algorithm to trade time for fidelity.
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All authors Duc-Kha Vu, Minh Tam Nguyen, Özgür E. Müstecapl{\i}oğlu, Fatih Ozaydin

Quantum Physics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Coupling between CaWO$_4$ phonons and Er$^{3+}$ dopants

Mikhael T. Sayat, Federico Pisani, Hin Lok Chang et al. (+8 more)

We investigate the lattice dynamics of CaWO$_4$, a promising host crystal for erbium-based quantum memories, using inelastic neutron scattering together with density-functional perturbation theory. The measured phonon dispersion along the (100), (001), and (101) reciprocal space direction reveals phonon bands extending up to 130 meV, with a gap between 60 and 80 meV, in good agreement with our calculations. From a symmetry analysis of the phonon eigenmodes, we identify eight Raman-active modes that can couple directly to the Er$^{3+}$ crystal-field operators, including a low-energy $B_g$ mode at 9.1 meV that is expected to play a dominant role in phonon-assisted spin-lattice relaxation. These results provide a microscopic description of the phonon bath in CaWO$_4$ and establish a basis for engineering phononic environments to mitigate the loss of stored quantum states and optimize Er-doped CaWO$_4$ for quantum-memory applications.
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All authors Mikhael T. Sayat, Federico Pisani, Hin Lok Chang, Yaroslav Zhumagulov, Kirrily C. Rule, Tom Fennell, Jakob Nunnendorf, Chee Kwan Gan, Oleg V. Yazyev, Ping Koy Lam, Jian-Rui Soh

Quantum Physics

Empirical Study of Observable Sets in Multiclass Quantum Classification

Paul San Sebastian, Mikel Cañizo and Roman Orus

Variational quantum algorithms have gained attention as early applications of quantum computers for learning tasks. In the context of supervised learning, most of the works that tackle classification problems with parameterized quantum circuits constrain their scope to the setting of binary classification or perform multiclass classification via ensembles of binary classifiers (strategies such as one versus rest). Those few works that propose native multiclass models, however, do not justify the choice of observables that perform the classification. This work studies two main classification criteria in multiclass quantum machine learning: maximizing the expected value of an observable representing a class or maximizing the fidelity of the encoded quantum state with a reference state representing a class. To compare both approaches, sets of Pauli strings and sets of projectors into the computational basis are chosen as observables in the quantum machine learning models. Observing the empirical behavior of each model type, the effect of different observable set choices on the performance of quantum machine learning models is analyzed in the context of Barren Plateaus and Neural Collapse. The results provide insights that may guide the design of future multiclass quantum machine learning models.
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Quantum Physics

A building block of quantum repeaters for scalable quantum networks

Wen-Zhao Liu, Ya-Bin Zhou, Jiu-Peng Chen et al. (+26 more)

Quantum networks, integrating quantum communication, quantum metrology, and distributed quantum computing, could provide secure and efficient information transfer, high-resolution sensing, and an exponential speed-up in information processing. Deterministic entanglement distribution over long distances is a prerequisite for scalable quantum networks, enabling the utilization of device-independent quantum key distribution (DI-QKD) and quantum teleportation to achieve secure and efficient information transfer. However, the exponential photon loss in optical fibres prohibits efficient and deterministic entanglement distribution. Quantum repeaters, incorporating entanglement swapping and entanglement purification with quantum memories, offer the most promising means to overcome this limitation in fibre-based quantum networks. Despite numerous pioneering efforts toward realizing quantum repeaters, a critical bottleneck remains, as remote memory-memory entanglement suffers from decoherence more rapidly than it can be established and purified over long distances. We overcome this by developing long-lived trapped-ion memories, an efficient telecom interface, and a high-visibility single-photon entanglement protocol. This allows us to establish and maintain memory-memory entanglement over a 10 km fibre within the average entanglement establishment time for the same distance. As a direct application, we demonstrate metropolitan-scale DI-QKD, distilling 1,917 secret keys out of 4.05*10^5 Bell pairs over 10 km. We further report a positive key rate over 101 km in the asymptotic limit, extending the achievable distance by more than two orders of magnitude. Our work provides a critical building block for quantum repeaters and marks an important step toward scalable quantum networks.
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All authors Wen-Zhao Liu, Ya-Bin Zhou, Jiu-Peng Chen, Bin Wang, Ao Teng, Xiao-Wen Han, Guang-Cheng Liu, Zhi-Jiong Zhang, Yi Yang, Feng-Guang Liu, ChaoHui Xue, Bo-Wen Yang, Jin Yang, Chao Zeng, Du-Ruo Pan, Ming-Yang Zheng, Xing-Jian Zhang, Cao Shen, Yi-Zheng Zhen, You Xiao, Hao Li, Li-Xing You, XiongFeng Ma, Qi Zhao, Feihu Xu, Ye Wang, Yong Wan, Qiang Zhang, Jian-Wei Pan