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Monday 23 March

Quantum Physics

Post-selective attack with multi-mode projection onto Fock subspace

In this work we present a comprehensive analysis of a post-selective attack on quantum key distribution protocols employing phase-encoded linearly independent coherent states (or similar alternatives). The attack relies on multimode projection onto a Fock subspace and enables probabilistic extraction of information by an eavesdropper. We derive analytical expressions for the information accessible to the adversary and show that it depends only on three protocol parameters: the mean photon number of the signal states, the phase separation in the information basis, and the expected optical loss of the quantum channel. Several optical realizations of phase-encoded quantum key distribution protocols are analyzed to illustrate the applicability of the results. Possible countermeasures against the proposed attack are also discussed.
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Quantum Physics · Cross-listed from physics.atom-ph

Standalone optical frequency-offset locking electronics for atomic physics

We present a standalone frequency-offset locking system for controlling narrow-linewidth lasers using off-the-shelf electronic components. We lock two frequency-doubled 1560 nm lasers to a stable primary laser operating at 780 nm via their optical beat note. This radio-frequency beat note is fed through a broadband variable divider, a frequency-to-voltage converter, and a proportional-integrator controller to lock each follower laser to a tunable offset frequency relative to the primary. This architecture provides a large capture range ($> 1$ GHz), fast response times ($< 1$ ms), and high linearity. We achieve a frequency resolution of 1.9 kHz and a short-term fractional frequency instability $10^{-11}/\sqrt{\tau \rm (s)}$ at 780 nm without the need for a dedicated, precise clock reference. We perform high-resolution spectroscopy of cold $^{87}$Rb atoms to demonstrate the tunability and precision of our locking system. We designed the system to be modular and extensible, making it applicable to a wide variety of atomic physics experiments, including laser cooling, spectroscopy, and quantum sensing with atoms, ions, and molecules.
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All authors K. Shalaby, T. Hunt, S. Moir, P. Trottier, T. Reuschel, B. Barrett

Quantum Physics

Deterministic feedforward-based generation of large optical coherent-state superposition

Large optical coherent-state superpositions are essential to advance quantum sensing, quantum repeaters and error-correction codes. We propose a deterministic feedforward protocol employing qubit-mode dispersive coupling, currently available in cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). We show this single-mode protocol to outperform the advanced three-mode Gaussian-photon-number-resolving detector scheme both in terms of average fidelity and quantum non-Gaussian phase-space properties, and propose sensitivity to weak displacements of interference fringes as a feasible and conclusive witness of quantum interference. This approach combining QED with electro-optical feedforward is extendable to tailored states for applications and other platforms.
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Quantum Physics

The color code, the surface code, and the transversal CNOT: NP-hardness of minimum-weight decoding

The decoding problem is a ubiquitous algorithmic task in fault-tolerant quantum computing, and solving it efficiently is essential for scalable quantum computing. Here, we prove that minimum-weight decoding is NP-hard in three quintessential settings: (i) the color code with Pauli $Z$ errors, (ii) the surface code with Pauli $X$, $Y$ and $Z$ errors, and (iii) the surface code with a transversal CNOT gate, Pauli $Z$ and measurement bit-flip errors. Our results show that computational intractability already arises in basic and practically relevant decoding problems central to both quantum memories and logical circuit implementations, highlighting a sharp computational complexity separation between minimum-weight decoding and its approximate realizations.
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Quantum Physics

Detection Time Distribution Predicted Using Absorbing Boundary Conditions and Imaginary Potentials

There are several inequivalent proposals in the literature for how to compute the probability distribution of the time that a detector registers for the arrival of a quantum particle. For three of these proposals, based on two kinds of absorbing boundary conditions and imaginary potentials, we compute the predicted distribution for an experimental setup involving a single non-relativistic quantum particle with spin 0 or 1/2 in a wave guide along the $z$ axis with the detector waiting downstream. We find that the distribution shows signs of partial reflection of the wave function off of the detector; for a spin-1/2 wave function, it is independent of the initial spin orientation for the parameters tested but does depend, for boundary conditions coupling to the spin, on the width of the wave guide. We also compare our predictions with the competing ones of Das and Dürr [arXiv:1802.07141].
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Quantum Physics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.str-el

Drinfeld Center as Quantum State Monodromy over Bloch Hamiltonians around Defects

The Drinfeld center fusion category $\mathcal{Z}(\mathrm{Vec}_G)$ famously models anyons in certain lattice models. Here we demonstrate how its fusion rules may also describe topological order in fractional topological insulator materials, in the vicinity of point defects in the Brillouin zone. Concretely, we prove that $\mathcal{Z}(\mathrm{Vec}_G)$ reflects, locally over a punctured disk in the Brillouin zone, the monodromy (topological order) of gapped quantum states over the parameter space of Bloch Hamiltonians whose classifying space has fundamental group $G$.
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Quantum Physics · Cross-listed from physics.atom-ph

Theory Framework for Medium-Mass Muonic Atoms

We present a state-of-the-art theoretical approach for computing bound-state energies in muonic atoms, incorporating improved quantum electrodynamics effects and nuclear polarization corrections with a systematic assessment of theoretical uncertainties. Our approach is based on a combination of the $Z\alpha$-expansion and the all-order formalism (Furry picture) optimized for the medium-mass range $(3 \leq Z \lesssim 30)$ and guided by the accuracy requirements of modern muonic spectroscopy experiments. These calculations are directly relevant to ongoing and forthcoming measurements aimed at extracting nuclear structure parameters, particularly nuclear charge radii, with unprecedented precision.
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All authors S. Rathi, I. A. Valuev, Z. Sun, M. Heines, P. Indelicato, B. Ohayon, N. S. Oreshkina

Quantum Physics

Identical, independent quantum weak measurements violate objective realism

We demonstrate violation of objective realism in quantum world using unconstrained weak measurements. Instead of limited Leggett-Garg approach with artificial bounds on the observed values, we assume two identical and indepenent weak detectors and final conditioning. The experimental verification has been performed on public quantum computers, IBM and IonQ. Thanks to sufficiently large statistics, the violation is observed at the level of 10 standard deviations. The tests confirmed also high quality of parametric two-qubit gates offered by main quantum hardware providers.
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All authors Tomasz Rybotycki, Tomasz Białecki, Josep Batle, Bartłomiej Zglinicki, Adam Szereszewski, Wolfgang Belzig, Adam Bednorz

Quantum Physics

Hyperloss from coherent spatial-mode mixing in quantum-correlated networks

Quantum-correlated networks distribute quantum resources such as squeezed and entangled states. These states are central to modern quantum technology, including photonic quantum computing, quantum communications, non-destructive biological sensing and gravitational-wave detection. Even for squeezed states of light - the most robust quantum-correlated resource - loss-induced decoherence remains the dominant obstacle to strong quantum advantage in in large-scale interferometric and networked quantum systems. Common design assumption in these applications is treating mismatches between spatial modes as a small, incoherent loss. Here we show that this picture can fail: coherent spatial-mode mixing with higher-order spatial modes can produce an apparent loss exceeding 100% relative to the initial squeezing, a regime we term hyperloss. We experimentally demonstrate hyperloss in a minimal two-node quantum network: with only 8% mode mismatch, a 5.8dB squeezed state is converted into an effectively thermal state with no quadrature squeezing, eliminating the quantum advantage. Because the effect is coherent, it is controllable: lost correlations can be recovered by tuning differential spatial-mode phases (e.g., Gouy-/propagation-phase). We demonstrate this recovery experimentally, not only eliminating the hyperloss, but even significantly suppressing the mode mismatch loss, with 15% geometric mismatch acting like only ~2.8% effective loss. Hyperloss is a design-limiting mechanism for all quantum networks with squeezed light, from from photonic quantum processors to large-scale interferometers and distributed quantum-sensing networks. Our results provide a practical route to avoid hyperloss and turn mode mismatch into an explicit, phase-aware design parameter for future quantum technologies.
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All authors Stephan Grebien, Julian Gurs, Roman Schnabel, Mikhail Korobko

Quantum Physics

Non-Hermiticity induced thermal entanglement phase transition

Theoretical analysis of a prototypical two-qubit effective non-Hermitian system characterized by asymmetric Heisenberg $XY$ interactions in the absence of external magnetic fields demonstrates that maximal bipartite entanglement and quantum phase transitions can be induced exclusively through non-Hermiticity. At thermal equilibrium as $T\rightarrow 0$, the system attains maximal entanglement ${C}=1$ for values of the non-Hermiticity parameter greater than a critical value $\gamma>\gamma_c=J\sqrt{(1-\delta^2)}$, where $J$ denotes the exchange interaction and $\delta$ represents the anisotropy of the system; conversely, for $\gamma < \gamma_c$, entanglement is nonmaximal and given by ${C} = \sqrt{(1 - (\gamma/J)^2)}$. The entanglement undergoes a discontinuous transition to zero precisely at $\gamma = \gamma_c$. This phase transition originates from the closing of the energy gap at a non-Hermiticity-driven ground state degeneracy, which is fundamentally different from an exceptional point. This work suggests the use of singular-value-decomposition generalized density matrix for the computation of entanglement in bi-orthogonal systems.
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Quantum Physics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.quant-gas

Emergent thermal fluctuations and non-Hermitian phase transitions in open photon condensates

We investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics of an open photon Bose-Einstein condensate in a dye-filled microcavity using a Lindblad master-equation approach, treating the condensate and the noncondensed fluctuations on the same footing. The driven-dissipative condensate exhibits a long-lived, metastable plateau stabilized by a ghost attractor, a fixed point that lies outside the physical domain in configuration space, yet stalls the condensate dynamics for exceedingly long times before it dephases to zero [Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 053402 (2025)]. Despite the nonequilibrium origin of this dynamical stabilization, the condensate exhibits quasithermal fluctuations in the plateau in that the relative order-parameter fluctuations scale as the inverse square root of the system size. A linear stability analysis further reveals the presence of exceptional points, resulting in multiple non-Hermitian phase transitions associated with the relaxation dynamics into and out of the metastable condensate.
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All authors Moritz Janning, Roman Kramer, Michael Turaev, Sayak Ray, Johann Kroha

Quantum Physics

Accurate ground state energy estimation with noise and imperfect state preparation

We introduce a classical estimator for the post-processing of quantum phase estimation (QPE) data when a single target phase is isolated within a known interval, as is typical of ground state energy estimation of gapped systems. Our estimator filters the QPE signal within this promise region and recovers the phase through a moment-projection routine, which is robust to both external spurious phases and experimental noise. In the noiseless case this achieves an exponential suppression of bias with respect to a naive mean estimator. In the presence of global depolarizing noise the bias is exponentially small in the circuit depth $t$, and the variance is $O(t^{-2}F^{-2})$ for circuit fidelity $F$. This improves by a factor of $t^2$ over a naive shifted-and-rescaled-mean approach. To mitigate realistic circuit-level noise, we combine our method with the explicit unbiasing scheme described in [Dutkiewicz et al., 2025]. This yields an overhead interpolating between the $F^{-4}$ scaling typical of explicitly unbiased error mitigation and a reduced $F^{-2}$ scaling when the noise samples fall outside the promise interval. We validate our estimators on a small-scale simulation of the Ising model, observing better-than-expected performance for a global depolarizing noise approximation. This robustness to both multiple eigenvalues and realistic noise makes limited-depth phase estimation practical for early fault tolerant quantum experiments.
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Quantum Physics

Canonically consistent quantum master equation for proton-transfer reactions

The canonically consistent quantum master equation (CCQME) method to treat system-bath dynamics is used to describe intramolecular proton transfer in the thioacetylacetone molecule (TAA, C5H8OS), modeled as an N-level quantum system coupled to a solvent. The solvent is represented as a harmonic bath (a continuum of oscillators) characterized by an Ohmic-Drude spectral density. We benchmark the secularized population dynamics and steady-state populations predicted by CCQME against numerically exact hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) theory and compare it to the corresponding secularized Redfield results. Our results reveal that Redfield dynamics deviates increasingly from the HEOM reference as the system-bath coupling strength grows. In contrast, for not-too-strong couplings, the secularized CCQME population dynamics remains consistent with HEOM over an extended system-bath coupling range, and approaches the second-order mean-force Gibbs state. A complementary non-secular calculation shows that retaining population-coherence coupling reveals limitations of the second-order treatment for coherence-sensitive observables.
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All authors Zahra Sartipi, Richard Gundermann, Janet Anders, Peter Saalfrank

Quantum Physics · Cross-listed from gr-qc

Entanglement degradation in regular and singular spacetimes

We study entanglement degradation near the horizons of regular, Reissner-Nordström, and Schwarzschild-de Sitter black holes, considering the Bardeen, Hayward, and generalized Hayward metrics as regular black holes. To this end, we compute the entanglement negativity, $\mathcal{N}$, for two Unruh-like modes of a scalar field shared by Alice, who is inertial, and Rob, who hovers at a fractional offset $\rho$ outside the horizon of the backgrounds under consideration. For each geometry, we locally approximate the metric by a Rindler patch characterized by Rob's proper acceleration $a_0$. Because this Rindler approximation breaks down near the extremal limit, we also compute a near-extremal cutoff. Tracing over the inaccessible Rindler wedge yields a mixed Alice-Rob state, from which we evaluate $\mathcal{N}$ as a function of the mode frequency $\omega$ and the acceleration $a_0$. In all geometries considered, except for one, $\mathcal{N}$ increases monotonically with the parameter distinguishing that geometry form the Schwarzschild one. The exception is the Reissner-Nordström metric, for which $\mathcal{N}$ exhibits a shallow local minimum at a particular value of the charge. We also find that the Reissner-Nordström metric is the only background for which the negativity falls below that of the Schwarzschild case. Among all cases studied, the Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime provides the strongest protection of entanglement. Finally, across all backgrounds, high-frequency modes undergo less degradation than low-frequency modes. These results suggest that entanglement may serve as a useful probe for distinguishing Schwarzschild spacetime from other geometries.
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Quantum Physics

Numerical security framework for quantum key distribution with bypass channels

Satellite based quantum key distribution (QKD) aims to establish secure key exchange over long distances despite significant technological challenges. To alleviate some of these challenges, Ghalaii et al. [PRX Quantum 4, 040320 (2023)] proposed that any airborne eavesdropper up to a certain size can be detected by classical monitoring techniques, limiting the transmission efficiencies of any undetected Eve. This creates a new QKD scenario in which some of the transmitted signal from Alice to Bob bypasses Eve entirely. In this manuscript, we develop a general framework for computing key rates in this "bypass" scenario for discrete variable protocols. We first numerically support a conjecture that the performance of BB84 with single photons does not improve under bypass constraints, and go on to find new regimes that do. Specifically, we find improvements when the receiver's detectors have an efficiency mismatch and when BB84 is implemented using weak coherent pulses under certain squashing assumptions. Technically, our framework is realized by including marginal constraints on the source to account for bypass effects, combined with existing numerical approaches for minimizing the key rate and squashing and dimension reduction techniques to handle photonic states of unbounded dimension.
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Quantum Physics

A generalized Coulomb problem for a spin-1/2 fermion

We study the Dirac equation in 3+1 dimensions with a general combination of scalar, vector and tensor interactions with arbitrary strengths, all of them described by central Coulomb potentials acting on a particular plane of motion. For the tensor coupling a constant term is also included, since this gives rise to an effective Coulomb potential, which is necessary for the formation of bound states in a pure tensor coupling configuration. The exact bound-state solutions for this generalized Coulomb problem are computed by exploiting the freedom in choosing the coefficients of the Ansätze for the radial functions, which leads to wave functions in terms of generalized Laguerre polynomials. From the quantization condition, the exact energy spectrum is also determined and its dependence on the parameters of the potentials is discussed. We show that similar features of the equations for the problem in the plane and the spherically symmetric problem allow a simple and direct mapping between them, thereby providing the solution to the spherical Coulomb problem. Our results are validated by showing that the solutions correctly encompass several previous solutions available in the literature for particular cases of this problem, for which we further develop the analysis of the parameters. We also derive two new particular cases not yet reported in the literature: the case of breaking of spin and pseudospin symmetries by the addition of a Coulomb plus constant tensor potential and the problem of a scalar plus tensor Coulomb potentials.
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Quantum Physics

Fiber-optic quantum interface with an array of more than 100 individually addressable atoms on an optical nanofiber

Integrating the scalability of individually addressable arrays of optical-tweezer-trapped single atoms with the efficient light-matter interface provided by nanophotonic waveguides has been a long-standing challenge in quantum technologies based on atoms and photons. Here we realize a quantum interface between photons guided in an optical nanofiber with a diameter of 310 nm and an array of on average 155 individually addressable atoms. Using a spatial light modulator and an objective lens with NA = 0.45, single cesium atoms are trapped in a one-dimensional array of 200 optical tweezer spots with micrometer-scale trap sizes on the nanofiber. Individual atoms are addressed by spatially scanning an excitation laser beam, focused to a spot size comparable to that of the traps through the same objective lens, along the nanofiber. We confirm the single-atom nature of the individual trapping sites through photon-correlation measurements of the guided fluorescence, observing strong photon antibunching with $g^{(2)}(0) \approx 0.26$. We measure trap lifetimes of a few hundred milliseconds, with a maximum value of 460 ms, at an atom-surface separation of 670 nm without active cooling, representing an order-of-magnitude improvement over previous nanofiber traps. This platform opens a new regime for atom-photon interfaces, paving the way for scalable distributed quantum computing and quantum networks, as well as for the exploration of collective radiative effects in waveguide QED with individually addressable atoms.
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All authors Mitsuyoshi Takahata, Jameesh Keloth, Takashi Yamamoto, Ken-ichi Harada, Shigehito Miki, Takao Aoki

Quantum Physics

Using spatiotemporal Born rule for testing macroscopic realism: some applications to the pseudo-density matrices and nonclassical temporal correlations

We show that, given an evolving quantum system and the quasiprobability distribution generated by the spatiotemporal generalization of the Born rule in pseudo density-matrices (PDMs), this distribution deviates from the sequential measurements probability distribution, given by the Lüders von-Neumann distribution, if and only if the non-signaling in time (NSIT) is violated; equivalently, if and only if the macroscopic realism (MR) is violated. Furthermore, we propose a definition of temporal entanglement according to the structure of the PDMs that is analogous to the definition of spatial entanglement in density matrices, showing that temporal entanglement is necessary for the violation of temporal Bell inequalities and the violation of MR. We employ our results to study the relationship between the negativity of the PDM, temporal entanglement, violation of temporal Bell inequalities, and MR.
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All authors Naim Elias Comar, Lucas C. Céleri, Mia Stamatova, Vlatko Vedral, Aditya Varna Iyer, Rafael Chaves

Quantum Physics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.stat-mech

Materials Beyond Hamiltonian Limits – Quantum Measurement as a Resource for Material Design

Recent studies have identified materials and devices whose behavior lies beyond the scope of conventional electronic-structure theory. Such theories are formulated entirely in terms of Hamiltonian evolution and therefore describe only unitary dynamics and thus only a restricted class of quantum systems. In contrast, electron systems that incorporate quantum measurement as an intrinsic dynamical element undergo Hamiltonian evolution interleaved with projection-induced state updates. This unitary-projective dynamics breaks constraints imposed by purely unitary evolution and permits stochastic population transfer between symmetry-related transport channels, thereby enabling fundamentally new material functionalities. This insight motivates the deliberate design of materials and devices that harness unitary-projective dynamics. This article explores the foundations of unitary-projective electron dynamics and charts the resulting landscape of quantum materials and their functionalities. Model calculations demonstrate passive mesoscopic structures with intrinsic nonreciprocal single-electron transmission, materials exhibiting a novel category of magnetism, and possible platforms for energy harvesting and conversion with efficiencies that exceed the standard Carnot limit.
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Quantum Physics

Global Optimization for Parametrized Quantum Circuits

In the absence of error correction, noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices are operated by training parametrized quantum circuits (PQCs) so as to minimize a suitable loss function. Finding the optimal parameters of those circuits is a hard optimization problem, where global guarantees are known only for highly structured cases of limited practical relevance, and first-order methods can fail to find even local minima due to the presence of barren plateaus. In this work, we study the training of practical classes of PQCs, namely polynomial-depth circuits with a constant number of trainable parameters. This captures widely used PQC families, including fixed-depth QAOA, hardware-efficient ansätze, and Fixed Parameter Count QAOA. Our main technical result is a fully polynomial randomized approximation scheme (FPRAS), which, for every $\epsilon>0$, returns an $\epsilon$-approximate solution to the problem's global optimum with high probability, and has runtime and query complexity polynomial in $1/\epsilon$ and the number of qubits. Unlike the standard hybrid quantum-classical training loop in variational algorithms, where the quantum device is queried repeatedly throughout the training, our approach separates the computation into two distinct stages: (1) an initial quantum data-acquisition phase, followed by (2) a classical global-optimization phase based on the trigonometric moment/sum-of-squares hierarchies. Under a standard flat-extension condition, which can be checked numerically, the method also supports the extraction of optimal circuit parameters. The existence of an FPRAS implies that the promise problem associated with the optimization of poly-depth constant-parameter PQC is in BQP. This imposes a limitation on the expressive power of the class, namely, it cannot encode combinatorial optimization problems whose objective values are separated by an inverse-polynomial gap.
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All authors Iosif Sakos, Antonios Varvitsiotis, Georgios Korpas, Wayne Lin

Quantum Physics · Cross-listed from physics.optics

Nonlinear Electro-Optic Visible Photonic Circuits for Solid-State Quantum Defects

Integrated visible photonic engines for solid-state quantum defects provide a foundation for scalable quantum networks. While miniaturization is advancing, active manipulation remains limited by the difficulty of achieving simultaneous milliwatt-scale visible light generation and high-contrast modulation. Despite extensive efforts, the concurrent chip-scale realization of nonlinear frequency conversion and fast temporal gating for high-fidelity quantum control has remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate a monolithic thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) platform integrating periodically poled frequency conversion with GHz-bandwidth electro-optic (EO) switching. The device delivers off-chip green-light power exceeding 1 mW with an extinction ratio (ER) of 42.2 dB, enabling coherent spin control and time-resolved lifetime measurements of individual nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond through nanosecond gating. System performance is validated through pulsed optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR), Rabi oscillations, and Ramsey interference, supported by time-tagged photon counting with nanosecond resolution. By unifying sufficient nonlinear light generation with high-speed active manipulation, this platform establishes a scalable framework for the realization of high-rate quantum communication nodes.
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All authors Yongchan Park, Yong Soo Lee, Hansol Kim, Jaepil Park, Junhyung Lee, Hye-yoon Jeon, Jinil Lee, Yong-gwon Kim, Yeeun Choi, Min-Kyo Seo, Dae-Hwan Ahn, Hojoong Jung, Dongyeon Daniel Kang, Hyounghan Kwon

Quantum Physics

Model selection in hybrid quantum neural networks with applications to quantum transformer architectures

Quantum machine learning models generally lack principled design guidelines, often requiring full resource-intensive training across numerous choices of encodings, quantum circuit designs and initialization strategies to find effective configuration. To address this challenge, we develope the Quantum Bias-Expressivity Toolbox ($\texttt{QBET}$), a framework for evaluating quantum, classical, and hybrid transformer architectures. In this toolbox, we introduce lean metrics for Simplicity Bias ($\texttt{SB}$) and Expressivity ($\texttt{EXP}$), for comparing across various models, and extend the analysis of $\texttt{SB}$ to generative and multiclass-classification tasks. We show that $\texttt{QBET}$ enables efficient pre-screening of promising model variants obviating the need to execute complete training pipelines. In evaluations on transformer-based classification and generative tasks we employ a total of $18$ qubits for embeddings ($6$ qubits each for query, key, and value). We identify scenarios in which quantum self-attention variants surpass their classical counterparts by ranking the respective models according to the $\texttt{SB}$ metric and comparing their relative performance.
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All authors Harsh Wadhwa, Rahul Bhowmick, Naipunnya Raj, Rajiv Sangle, Ruchira V. Bhat, Krishnakumar Sabapathy

Quantum Physics

Neural Belief-Matching Decoding for Topological Quantum Error Correction Codes

Quantum error correction (QEC) is critical for scalable fault-tolerant quantum computing. Topological codes, such as the toric code, offer hardware-efficient architectures but their Tanner graphs contain many girth-4 cycles that degrade the performance of belief-propagation (BP) decoding. For this reason, BP decoding is typically followed by a more complex second stage decoder such as minimum-weight perfect matching. These combined decoders achieve a remarkable performance, albeit at the cost of increased complexity. In this paper we propose two key improvements for the decoding of toric code. The first one is replacing the BP decoder by a neural BP decoder, giving rise to the neural belief-matching decoder which substantially decreases the average decoding complexity. The main drawback of this approach is the high cost associated with the training of the neural BP decoder. To address this issue, we impose a convolutional architecture on the neural BP decoder, enabling weight sharing across the spatially homogeneous structure of the code's factor graph. This design allows a model trained on a modest-size topological code to be directly transferred to much larger instances, preserving decoding quality while dramatically lowering the training burden. Our numerical experiments on toric-code lattices of various sizes demonstrate that this technique does not result in a noticeable loss in performance.
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Quantum Physics

All-optical quantum memory using bosonic quantum error correction codes

Reliable quantum memory is essential for scalable quantum networks and fault-tolerant photonic quantum computing. We present a quantitative analysis of an all-optical quantum memory architecture in which a Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) encoded qubit is stored in a fibre loop and periodically stabilized using teleportation-based error correction. By modelling fibre propagation as a pure-loss channel and representing each correction round as an effective logical map acting on the Bloch vector, we obtain a compact description of the full multi-round memory channel. We show that syndrome decoder optimization plays a crucial role in the experimentally relevant finite-squeezing regime. The optimal decoder deviates from standard square-grid GKP decoder in both tile-size and tile-shape, leading to significant improved logical performance. Using this optimized decoding strategy, we identify a squeezing-dependent optimal spacing between correction nodes that maximizes the memory lifetime. Remarkably, this optimal segment length is largely independent of the desired storage time, providing a simple and practical design rule for fibre-loop quantum memory. We further find a squeezing threshold of approximately 6.7 dB below which intermediate error correction becomes counterproductive, while above threshold the achievable storage time increases approximately exponentially with squeezing. For example, at 17 dB squeezing, storage times exceeding 400 ms can be achieved with logical infidelity below 1%. These results establish clear performance benchmarks and reveal the fundamental trade-off between photon loss, squeezing, and correction frequency in continuous-variable architectures. Our findings provide actionable design principles for near-term photonic quantum memory and clarify the path toward scalable all-optical fault-tolerant quantum storage.
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All authors Kaustav Chatterjee, Niklas Budinger, Kian Latifi Yaghin, Lucas Borg Clausen, Ulrik Lund Andersen

Quantum Physics

Fast and Smooth Quantum Unitary Control of High-Dimensional Spin-Qudits via a Shooting Technique

High-fidelity quantum control is a cornerstone of scalable quantum technologies. We introduce a shooting-based optimization framework that generates smooth, experimentally realistic control pulses for implementing quantum gates in discrete quantum systems. Through numerical simulations on realistic architectures inspired by single-molecule magnets, we demonstrate that our method efficiently decomposes target quantum operations into electric pulse sequences while outperforming the widely used GRAPE algorithm.
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All authors Paul-Louis Etienney, Denis Janković, Killian Lutz, Jean-Gabriel Hartmann, Emmanuel Franck, Paul-Antoine Hervieux

Quantum Physics

Efficient Gaussian Simulations of Fermionic Open Quantum Systems

We review existing classical simulation methods for performing fermionic Gaussian operations and develop new methods to address the gap by adhering to the fundamental theoretical framework established by Bravyi [Quantum Info. Comput. 5, 216 (2005)] for the most general fermionic Gaussian processes. Throughout this attempt, the focus remains on the unified approach that can be applied to generic fermionic Gaussian operations. This is beneficial since the selection of simulation methods has often been based on an ad hoc choice, heavily influenced by the specific model and circumstances, rather than on a systematic approach.
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All authors Yinan Fang, Hyesung Choi, Minchul Lee, Mahn-Soo Choi

Quantum Physics

Gate-based Readout and Cooling of Neutral Atoms

Neutral atom arrays have seen tremendous progress in quantum simulation, quantum metrology, and fault-tolerant quantum computing. However, hardware constraints such as atom loss and heating remain significant challenges. In this work, we introduce a comprehensive ancilla-based toolbox for optical tweezer experiments that utilizes high-fidelity Rydberg entangling gates and ancilla atoms to mitigate these physical limitations. First, we demonstrate repeated ancilla-based atom readout, achieving improved detection fidelity over multiple rounds with minimal perturbation to data atoms. Second, leveraging the quantized motional states in tweezer-trapped strontium atoms, we transduce quantum information from the electronic to the motional manifold. This enables us to perform mid-circuit ancilla-based atom loss detection in a coherence-preserving fashion. Finally, we demonstrate algorithmic cooling, a circuit-based sequence that deterministically cools data atoms by transferring their motional entropy to the electronic states of ancilla atoms. We observe a marked reduction in the atomic temperature of data atoms. These tools offer a pathway to continuous operation in tweezer clocks and complement recent developments in continuous reloading experiments.
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All authors Richard Bing-Shiun Tsai, Lewis R. B. Picard, Xiangkai Sun, Yuan Le, Kon H. Leung, Manuel Endres

Quantum Physics

Neural network approach to mitigating intra-gate crosstalk in superconducting CZ gates

The potential of quantum computing is fundamentally constrained by the inherent susceptibility of qubits to noise and crosstalk, particularly during multi-qubit gate operations. Existing strategies, such as hardware isolation and dynamical decoupling, face limitations in scalability, experimental feasibility, and robustness against complex noise sources. In this manuscript, we propose a physics-guided neural control (PGNC) framework to generate robust control pulses for superconducting transmon qubit systems, specifically targeting crosstalk mitigation. By combining a hardware aware parameterization with a Hamiltonian-informed objective that accounts for condition-dependent crosstalk distortions, PGNC steers the search toward smooth and physically realizable pulses while efficiently exploring high dimensional control landscapes. Numerical simulations for the CZ gate demonstrate superior fidelity and pulse smoothness compared to a Krotov baseline under matched constraints. Taken together, the results show consistent and practically meaningful improvements in both nominal and perturbed conditions, with pronounced gains in worst-case fidelity, supporting PGNC as a viable route to robust control on near-term transmon devices.
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All authors Yiming Yu, Yexiong Zeng, Ye-Hong Chen, Franco Nori, Yan Xia

Quantum Physics

Systematic construction of digital autonomous quantum error correction for state preparation and error suppression via conditional Gaussian operations

In continuous-variable quantum computing, autonomous quantum error correction (QEC) can dissipatively steer a noisy quantum state into a target state or manifold, enabling robust quantum information processing without explicit syndrome measurements and feedback. Here, we propose a nullifier-based digital autonomous QEC enabled by conditional Gaussian operations. By designing jump operators for target nullifiers and compiling the resulting Lindbladian into a Trotterized sequence of elementary conditional Gaussian operations, we demonstrate two use cases: (i) deterministic preparation of non-Gaussian resource states for universal computation, including finitely squeezed cubic phase states and approximate trisqueezed states, and (ii) autonomous suppression of dephasing error for cat and squeezed cat states. We provide explicit gate decompositions for the required conditional Gaussian operations and numerically evaluate the performance under realistic imperfections, including photon loss in the bosonic mode and ancillary-qubit decoherence. Our results clarify the resource requirements and trade-offs, such as circuit depth, time-step choices, and the required set of conditional Gaussian operations, for scalable, gate-level implementations of autonomous state preparation and error suppression.
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All authors Keitaro Anai, Suguru Endo, Shuntaro Takeda, Tomohiro Shitara

Quantum Physics

Thermal expectation estimation via single-trajectory Gibbs sampling with non-destructive measurements

Estimating thermal expectation values of quantum many-body systems is a central challenge in physics, chemistry, and materials science. Standard quantum Gibbs sampling protocols address this task by preparing the Gibbs state from scratch after every measurement, incurring a full mixing time cost at each step. Recent advances in single-trajectory Gibbs sampling [Jiang et al. 2026] substantially reduce this overhead: once stationarity is reached, measurements can be collected along a single trajectory without re-thermalizing, provided the measurement channel preserves the Gibbs ensemble. However, explicit constructions of such non-destructive measurements have been limited primarily to observables that commute with the Hamiltonian. In this work, we fundamentally extend the single-trajectory framework to arbitrary, non-commuting observables. We provide two measurement constructions that extract measurement information without fully destroying the Gibbs state, thereby eliminating the need for full re-mixing between samples. First, we construct a measurement that satisfies exact detailed balance. This ensures the system remains in equilibrium throughout the trajectory, allowing measurement outcomes to decorrelate in an autocorrelation time that could be significantly shorter than the global mixing time. Second, assuming the underlying quantum Gibbs sampler has a positive spectral gap, we design a simplified measurement scheme that ensures the post-selected state serves as a warm start for rapid re-mixing. This approach successfully decouples the resampling cost from the global mixing time. Both measurement schemes admit efficient quantum circuit implementations, requiring only polylogarithmic Hamiltonian simulation time.
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All authors Hongrui Chen, Jiaqing Jiang, Bowen Li, Lexing Ying