Papers

Quantum computing and quantum simulation with ultracold neutral atoms require Rydberg excitation of individual atoms in atomic arrays. Rydberg states are extremely sensitive to external electric fields, therefore precise three-dimensional control of the electric field is essential. We performed a spectroscopic study of three-photon Rydberg excitation of a single Rb atom in an optical dipole trap in the presence of an external DC electric field. The field was generated by eight electrodes deposited on the inner surfaces of an ultrahigh-vacuum glass cell. The used three-photon scheme of laser excitation of Rydberg nP states allows the Stark shift and the splitting of the resonances to be observed simultaneously, which simplifies calibration of the electric field. In addition, in the commonly used two-photon Rydberg excitation schemes, the light shifts can complicate accurate determination of the DC Stark shift, particularly when the external electric field is scanned across different spatial directions, and different Stark components are excited. These shifts are absent in the three-photon excitation scheme used in our experiment. We demonstrated the ability to independently tune the electric field along all three spatial directions and to compensate for stray electric fields. The measured three-photon spectra exhibit Stark shifts and splittings of the three-photon resonance that are in good agreement with theoretical calculations. These results are also of interest for Rydberg electrometry.

We investigate the behavior of Einstein crystals in noncommutative backgrounds described by the Snyder and Snyder-de Sitter models. Possible novel effects, which may arise in realistic systems such as diamond crystals, are analyzed within a thermodynamical framework. We show that noncommutativity influences the key thermodynamic quantities, including internal energy and specific heat. These corrections can be directly related to modifications of the underlying uncertainty relations, of the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) and generalized extended uncertainty principle (GEUP) types.

Grover's algorithm is one of the most significant quantum algorithms, enabling the search for a marked element in an unsorted database quadratically faster than classical search algorithms. We utilize Groves's algorithm to detect the edges of a digital image faster than any classical edge detection methods. The high success probability of our method in detecting image edges, compared to most existing quantum edge detection methods, makes it a more suitable candidate for use in the presence of noise on current quantum devices. We implemented our model for the $2\times 2$ blocks of the image using a two-qubit Qiskit circuit with the QASM simulator and the noisy IBM Sydney(fake) device, making it suitable for most of the current NISQ devices.

Non-Gaussianity is an essential resource for genuine quantum advantages in continuous-variable quantum systems and is regarded as a counterpart of the magic resource in discrete-variable systems. Recently, an exact correspondence between non-Gaussianity (NG) and the magic resource was identified within the Gottesman–Kitaev–Preskill (GKP) encoding framework. Whether such a relation persists beyond GKP encoding, however, remains unclear. Here, we address this question in the cat-code setting. By comparing the Wigner logarithmic negativity (WLN) and a magic measure defined from a phase-operator basis, we analyze the resource geometry of non-degenerate $d$-peaked cat states. We find that cat codes do not inherit the global value-preserving GKP magic–NG equivalence, but their asymptotic WLN geometry allows a constructive local alignment with the magic-measure geometry. Specifically, under a distinguished SU($d$) asymptotic cat code, we establish a sector-dependent alignment between WLN level sets and magic-measure level sets based on their intrinsic local geometries. These results identify both the global incompatibility and the locally constructive relation between magic and non-Gaussian resources in cat codes, suggesting a geometry-based approach to resource correspondences beyond the GKP framework.

Quartet correlations in neutron-rich Te isotopes are investigated within the quartet Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) framework. Taking $^{100}$Sn as an inert core, we consider two valence protons and valence neutrons occupying the $2d_{5/2} \oplus 1g_{7/2}$ model space, and solve the quartet BCS variational equations with a charge-independent isovector pairing interaction. The effective pairing strength is constrained from empirical neutron pairing gaps in the Te isotopic chain. We find that the valence quartet number increases as the valence neutron number is enlarged from $N_{\rm val}=2$ to $14$. The same increasing behavior is also found for the condensed quartet component. The proton occupation of the $1g_{7/2}$ orbit is strongly enhanced relative to the conventional like-particle BCS reference and is driven close to the degeneracy-weighted limit. These results suggest that additional valence neutrons enhance the quartet admixture in the correlated quartet BCS state, while redistributing the fixed proton weight from pair-like configurations to quartet configurations.

Motion-mediated trapped-ion interactions commonly coordinate state-dependent forces on both target ions. Sequential optical access reduces the number of concurrent target channels but makes the relative phase between disjoint force windows a control variable. We derive a complex near-resonant description in which each window generates a displacement vector and ordered symplectic products between vectors on different ions produce the ZZ phase. Only relative boundary phases affect this area; a common phase shift is a gauge transformation. Building on the experimental precedent for alternating single-ion addressing, we develop matched-envelope phase and contrast controls that isolate this boundary-phase dependence without target-window overlap or hidden force in the dark gaps. The analysis separates phase generation from differential closure, projector-common motion, deterministic local-Z phases, spectator coupling, and control-parameter transfer. A conditional-Ramsey sequence gives continuous and reset contrasts of 0.998 and 0.996, with a reset-induced phase separation of 0.581 rad modulo $\pi/2$. In the representative comparison, sequential control uses fewer concurrent target channels but greater normalized force action than independently calibrated simultaneous control. All results are model-level estimates within the stated Lamb-Dicke, rotating-wave, and apparatus-input limits.

Copropagating quantum Hall edge channels provide a promising platform for compact electron interferometry and flying quantum states. In silicon, the valley degree of freedom offers a natural alternative to spin-resolved edge channels because spin-flip scattering is strongly suppressed by the weak spin-orbit interaction. Here, we investigate interchannel transitions between copropagating valley edge channels in a double-layer-gated silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor. With the bulk filling factor set to $\nu=2$, two spin-polarized valley edge channels are brought into close proximity near a depleted side gate. We observe strong intervalley mixing, with a transition probability close to 1/2, indicating nearly complete equilibration between the two valley edge channels. In contrast, interchannel transport between edge channels with different spin orientations shows negligible transition probability, consistent with suppressed spin-flip scattering in silicon. These results demonstrate that intervalley coupling at a Si/SiO$_2$ interface can provide a beam-splitter-like operation for copropagating valley edge channels, establishing a key building block toward compact silicon quantum Hall interferometers.

Continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) has attracted extensive attention due to its compatibility and low costs. However, bandwidth mismatch exists to varying degrees between the transmitter and receiver. This may prevent frequency components carrying modulation information from being fully perceived by the legitimate party. In this paper, we identify a practical security loophole caused by bandwidth mismatch and propose a corresponding spectral attack scheme. Different from previous approaches that exploit security loopholes to conceal the excess noise introduced by intercept-resend attacks, this scheme can directly obtain raw-key information without introducing additional disturbances. A proof-of-principle attack on a CVQKD system with filtering operation is constructed to verify the feasibility. Experimental results indicate that Eve can obtain enough information to render the system insecure if this practical security loophole is ignored. Based on the identified security loophole, corresponding defense strategies are proposed. This work helps bridge the gap between theoretical models and practical implementations, providing a reference for defense design in practical quantum communication systems.

Previous investigations of dynamical quantum phase transition (DQPT) have predominantly focused on sudden quench protocols. In this work, we systematically explore the fate of DQPT from the sudden to the slow quench regime. We establish that DQPT remains robust under slow quenching when the protocol crosses an equilibrium quantum phase transition. Conversely, we show that accidental DQPTs,which occur when the pre and post quench Hamiltonians reside in the same equilibrium phase, can be filtered out in the slow quench limit. This demonstrates that slow quenches can reveal the intrinsic connection between DQPT and equilibrium quantum phase transitions, thereby enabling DQPT to serve as a dynamical probe for identifying equilibrium quantum critical points. We illustrate these findings with examples from the XY chain, the Aubry-André model, and the trimer Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model.

We consider whether every quantum random access code (QRAC) with density-operator encodings and arbitrary decoding measurements obeys the conjectured bound $p\leq(1+\sqrt{m/n})/2$, where $n$ classical bits are encoded into $m$ qubits and $p$ is the worst-case success probability. We find that classical random access codes with private randomness, which form a subclass of this QRAC model, violate the bound. We embed these classical codes as QRACs with diagonal encoding states and commuting decoding measurements, and construct pure-state realizations with identical decoding statistics. The achievability theorem of Ambainis, Nayak, Ta-Shma, and Vazirani then yields violations for every fixed $p\in(1/2,1)$ at sufficiently large input length. The counterexamples span the full open interval between the conjectured and Nayak bounds at each fixed compression rate. A finite-blocklength analysis further yields order-optimal logarithmic qubit scaling for a recovery bias scaling as $\sqrt{\log_2 n/n}$ with a sufficiently large prefactor. These results identify the classical coding rate as the source of the separation and motivate restricted bounds based on quantitative spectral properties of decoding measurements.

Although hidden-photon dark matter with masses above $10^{-4}\,\mathrm{eV}$ is well motivated by inflationary production, it remains largely unexplored by terrestrial experiments. Through kinetic mixing, hidden photons induce a weak oscillating electric field above $10\,\mathrm{GHz}$. We propose to amplify this signal using a compact high-frequency distributed cavity and detect it with chip-scale Rydberg-atom superheterodyne spectroscopy. Combining resonant enhancement, large dipole moments of Rydberg atoms, and long-term stable integration, this approach can probe hidden-photon dark matter in the mass range $5 \times 10^{-5}\text{--}7\times 10^{-4}\,\mathrm{eV}$ with sensitivities $3$–$4$ orders of magnitude beyond existing limits.

Neutral-atom arrays and trapped-ion crystals offer complementary strengths for fault-tolerant quantum computing but lack a fast way to deterministically interact. Here we propose a controlled-$Z$ gate generated by the charge-induced-dipole ($C_4$) force between a Rydberg-excited atom and a trapped ion, balanced by a spin-dependent optical Magnus force on the ion that closes phase-space trajectories within a few microseconds. Toggling the Rydberg state extends the scheme to multi-ion crystals at negligible overhead. The resulting ${\sim}5\,$kHz atom shuttle accelerates short-distance QCCD links and enables hybrid qLDPC memories in which atom logical qubits are written onto an ion block treated as a passive storage zone. We perform circuit-level Monte Carlo simulations and find that the hybrid architecture supports orders of magnitude more operations than atom-only or ion-only architectures at fixed code distance and logical error rate.

Learning a classical description of a quantum state is a fundamental task in quantum computation. Among the most important classes of quantum states are stabilizer states, which play a central role in quantum error correction and fault-tolerant computation. To mitigate the effects of realistic noise, agnostic learning of stabilizer states has emerged as a natural and well-motivated problem. Recently, Chen et al. [STOC'25, p. 429-438] resolved this problem for qubit systems by using a stabilizer bootstrapping framework. However, the agnostic learning of qudit stabilizer states remains largely unexplored, since the qudit setting introduces fundamental structural differences that prevent a direct generalization of existing qubit techniques. In this paper, we successfully generalize the stabilizer bootstrapping framework to qudit systems and present the first efficient quantum algorithm for agnostic learning of qudit stabilizer states. Specifically, given copies of an unknown $n$-qudit pure state $|\psi\rangle$ that has fidelity $\tau$ with some stabilizer state, our algorithm outputs a stabilizer state $|\phi\rangle$ such that $\left| \braket{\phi|\psi} \right|^2 \geq \tau - \varepsilon$ with high probability. The algorithm uses only single-copy and four-copy measurements, and its sample and time complexity scale as $(d/\tau)^{O(d^2 \log(1/\tau))} \cdot \mathrm{poly}(n, 1/\varepsilon)$, where the dimension $d$ is an odd prime. As a direct corollary, our algorithm enables efficient estimation of the magic of a quantum state, as quantified by its stabilizer fidelity. Completing the picture, we also present a streamlined algorithm for the high-fidelity regime $\tau > \cos^2(\pi/8)$, establishing a qudit analogue of the threshold-based approach in prior qubit work.

Testing Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) is notoriously difficult, as its characteristic energy scale, $M_\star$, in modified dispersion relations typically lies beyond current experimental reach. To enable a low-energy probe, we investigate the quantum coherence of an inertial Unruh-DeWitt (UDW) detector interacting with a massless scalar field with a Lorentz-violating dispersion relation $\omega_{|\textbf{k}|}=|\textbf{k}|f(|\textbf{k}|/M_\star)$. Unlike the Lorentz-invariant case where quantum coherence is rapidity-independent, we find for the Lorentz-violating quantum field case the dynamics of detector's quantum coherence exhibits a strong dependence on its rapidity – offering a potential low-energy signature of LIV. Applying this to the polymer-quantized scalar field theory inspired by loop quantum gravity, we show that the detector's quantum coherence exhibits a pronounced dependence on rapidity and undergoes a sharp transition near a critical rapidity $\beta_c \approx 1.3675$, a value within reach of existing facilities like the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. We also show how the detector's rapidity and its energy-level spacing enhance the response to the test of LIV. Our results establish quantum coherence as a sensitive and practical probe of LIV, providing a complementary avenue for testing quantum gravity-induced modifications to field theory.

In this work, we establish a structural correspondence between quantum states and matroid theory. This connection demonstrates that key properties of quantum states, including entanglement and measurement, can be characterized in purely combinatorial terms via matroids, despite the apparent conceptual distance between these two fields. Using this framework, we show that a matroid-supported state is genuinely entangled when its underlying matroid is connected. Moreover, a uniform superposition over all bases of a matroid is genuinely entangled if and only if the matroid is connected. We also demonstrate that a local measurement in the $Z$-basis on such a state yields another matroid-supported state, whose underlying matroid is a minor of the original one. Inspired by matroid duality, we further propose a notion of quantum state duality, uncovering a deep structural symmetry in state transformations.

Alternating Current Optimal Power Flow Unit Commitment (AC-OPF-UC) is a difficult mixed-integer nonlinear optimization problem that combines binary generator commitment decisions with nonconvex continuous AC power-flow constraints. In this work, we investigate whether hybrid quantum-classical variational algorithms can improve the solution of single-period AC-OPF-UC relative to classical approaches. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to directly evaluate quantum or hybrid quantum-classical algorithms for the full AC-OPF-UC problem. We consider two candidate algorithms for improving AC-OPF-UC solution quality relative to purely classical methods on ideal quantum hardware. The first applies QAOA directly to a fully discretized formulation of the problem, with equality and inequality constraints incorporated through penalty terms and slack variables. Although conceptually straightforward, this approach requires a prohibitively large number of qubits even for small instances. The second, qubit-efficient approach encodes only the binary generator status variables on a quantum computer, while optimizing the continuous power-flow variables classically for each sampled bitstring. We benchmark this method on randomly generated AC-OPF-UC instances with 5 to 13 generators and compare it against SCIP, SMAC, and uniform random sampling. Our simulations show that the qubit-efficient hybrid method does not outperform uniform sampling. These results suggest that in order to establish potential advantage of the variational hybrid strategy considered here over the best classical algorithms, if any, much larger system sizes (25+ generators) need to be tested, which is beyond our computational capacity. Alternatively, different approaches, such as quantum versions of branch-and-bound methods, may be more promising.

In the Hayden–Preskill protocol, the decoder is usually assumed to know the microscopic identity of the collected output qubits. We study what happens when these labels are unavailable and only the relative order of the received qubits is preserved. The resulting order-preserving deletion channel maps an $n$-qubit scrambled register to a subsequence of length $\ell$. For a diary of fixed size $k$, we prove that the optimal entanglement fidelity converges to the no-output value $4^{-k}$ when $\ell=o(n^{2/3})$, uniformly over the scrambling unitary. For a Haar-random scrambling unitary, it converges to one when $\ell=\omega(n^{2/3})$ and $\ell=o(n)$. Monotonicity then gives the fixed-error recovery scale $\ell_{\mathrm{rec}}=\Theta(n^{2/3})$. We also consider partial position information obtained by dividing the register into $B$ consecutive blocks and revealing the block of origin of each received qubit. The recovery scale becomes $\ell_{\mathrm{rec}}(n,B)\asymp n^{2/3}B^{-1/3}$ for $B\leq\sqrt n$ and $\ell_{\mathrm{rec}}(n,B)\asymp n/B$ for $B\geq\sqrt n$. The exponent $2/3$ is traced to rank-aligned coincidences between random subsequences, which control both the converse and the recovery argument. Thus, even purely classical information about the origin of the received subsystems can change the amount of quantum output required for Hayden–Preskill recovery.

Coherent Hamiltonian drifts and systematic errors can pass through quantum error correction differently than stochastic Pauli noise: they generate phase components of the logical channel that are lost under full Pauli twirling. We consider the Lindbladian dynamics of \(n\) physical qubits propagated through an effective logical channel of a fixed encoding, recovery, and decoding scheme. The work is methodological in character: standard ideas of observability and minimal realization from linear systems theory are applied to the channel \[ \omega \mapsto \Phi_t(\omega) = \cD e^{t\cL}\cE(\omega), \] where \(\cE\) encodes the logical state and \(\cD\) is the chosen recovery map with final decoding. The minimal code-visible space \(\cK_{\rm code}\) is defined as the Krylov closure of the decodable logical observables with respect to \(\cL^\dagger\); its observable factorization yields a minimal realization of the logical channel. In this form, the Knill–Laflamme conditions serve as a short-time consistency check, Pauli noise on stabilizer codes reduces to a chain on syndrome-logical classes, and the choice of recovery map acts as a spectral filter on the visible modes. For quantum memory, the same language yields an estimate of the storage time in terms of the dominant visible eigenvalues of the logical channel of the correction cycle. Particular attention is paid to the spectral signatures of coherent noise and to how these signatures depend on the chosen decoder.

High-fidelity entangling gates are useful for circuit-based quantum computing, yet their realization in a scalable platform is challenging. Optically trapped ultracold polar molecules offer a potentially scalable platform. Here, we introduce a two-qubit molecular entangling gate via a novel ancilla-assisted dark-state mechanism, where high fidelity is achievable. In particular, we find that by using appropriate qubit states for the ancilla and the data qubits, dark states can appear, and entanglement can emerge by driving the ancilla only. It is also feasible to extend the two-qubit gate to a multi-qubit gate via the same dark-state mechanism.

The sign problem is the non-positive path-integral weight that makes a quantum system hard to simulate classically. It shows up in problems that look unrelated, from fermion antisymmetry and geometric frustration to real-time evolution, topological angles, and finite density. We study it here for compact continuous variables, modeled as networks of quantum rotors, $\hat H=\sum_i 4E_C(\hat n_i-n_{g,i})^2-\sum_{\langle ij\rangle} E_{ij}\cos(\hat\phi_i-\hat\phi_j-\theta_{ij})$. For these, a single gauge-invariant quantity controls the obstruction, the frustration flux through the independent loops of the interaction graph. We prove a sign rule, the rotor analogue of Marshall's. The charge-basis Hamiltonian is sign-free if and only if every loop flux vanishes modulo $2\pi$. Exact diagonalization and density-matrix renormalization then show that the sign cost is a gauge-invariant function of the flux. For a single loop it vanishes at zero flux, peaks at $\pi$, and is exponentially small in the loop's perimeter. Summed over many loops it is extensive, growing with system size. The same loop flux generates the sign of three problems usually treated apart, namely the Mott transition (through the slave-rotor mapping), compact $U(1)$ lattice gauge theory, and frustrated continuous optimization. A superconducting rotor array realizes both the model and its sign natively.

Quantum platforms can realize many-body dynamics beyond classical simulation yet complete readout remains intractable: the cost of extracting accessible information scales exponentially with system size. Classical shadows and Bell sampling offer scalable, multi-observable estimation from randomized or entanglement-assisted measurements. Here we aim to push these ideas beyond static snapshots to dynamical correlators, including out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) and two-point functions. In particular, we introduce the notion of the shadow of an operator, defined as the classical shadow of the vectorized time-evolved operator. Pauli operator-shadows enable simultaneous estimation of all local OTOCs, while Clifford operator-shadows enable efficient simultaneous estimation of all two-point correlators. Alternatively, Bell sampling allows one to simultaneously compute all diagonal OTOCs. We also prove information-theoretic lower bounds for learning OTOCs, fully characterizing their query complexities in many cases, and yielding exponential separations that formalize when the vectorized approach provides measurement-efficiency advantages.

As practical quantum networks approach large-scale deployment, the need for efficient user-to-user frequency allocation is increasing, yet current approaches only provide partial solutions to the routing and spectrum allocation problem for an arbitrary quantum network. We address this challenge for repeater-less flex-grid quantum networks based on hyperentangled photons using an efficient three-stage pipeline combining leading tools in classical networking with recent advances in numerical optimization. First, double instantiations of Yen's algorithm obtain low-loss route candidates between each pair of users and the entanglement sources. Second, the advanced process optimizer (APOPT) obtains frequency channel allocations that maximize distribution rates under fidelity constraints. Finally, the constraint programming solver using satisfiability methods (CP-SAT) assigns specific frequency bins to each link, ensuring that there is no contention between frequencies from different sources. We numerically demonstrate this approach on a representative ring network and a Manhattan incumbent local exchange carrier topology, realizing significant improvements over prior genetic algorithm approaches in speed, accuracy, and scalability. Overall, this pipeline provides an efficient heuristic workflow for optimizing broadband entanglement distribution, applicable to arbitrarily connected quantum networks integrated within the existing lightwave infrastructure.

The ability to generate and detect quantum states of light on a single integrated photonic device is essential to scale quantum photonics into useful quantum technologies. Integrating the required capabilities into complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor compatible monolithic chips can reduce cost and unlock new functionality through miniaturisation. In this work we demonstrate a single silicon-on-insulator photonic integrated circuit for the monolithic generation and detection of quantum light on a commercially available platform that operates entirely at room temperature. Specifically, we leverage spontaneous four-wave mixing in silicon waveguides to produce squeezed light which is subsequently detected by photodiodes operating in a pulsed homodyne detector configuration on the same chip as the source. We directly measure $0.25(1)$ dB of squeezing, including contributions from waveguide propagation loss and detection inefficiency, and include a detailed analysis of the impact of nonlinear loss on the squeezing levels achievable using this platform.

Quantum machine learning ideas are typically absent from traditional machine learning curricula and are instead introduced in upper-level courses on quantum information processing and quantum computing. We propose a route for bringing quantum ideas into the standard machine learning classroom directly after the introduction of binary linear classifiers. Specifically, we develop a pedagogical bridge between linear classifiers and single-qubit mixed-state classifiers by characterizing their geometric model structure. This characterization reveals that a single-qubit mixed-state model for binary classification can be viewed as the “ellipsoidal version” of a standard linear classifier: rather than learning a hyperplane that separates data, the model learns a hyperellipsoid.. We present this connection as an accessible bridge from familiar classical machine learning concepts to quantum machine learning, and encourage instructors to use it as a natural entry point for introducing quantum ideas in the undergraduate machine learning classroom.

Hybrid quantum-classical workflows are expected to underpin practical quantum computing applications, yet the quantum and HPC communities lack a shared framework for reasoning about where and when their integration requirements matter most. Such a framework must separate two distinct levels of analysis: the application level, where communication overhead affects runtime performance, and the real-time level, where it determines feasibility. To address this, we introduce a runtime model that decomposes workflow execution into quantum compute, classical compute, and communication costs. At the application level, a communication-to-computation ratio from this decomposition quantifies whether a workflow is communication-bound or compute-bound; at the real-time level, a feasibility constraint determines whether timing requirements can be met at all, with the reaction time setting the logical clock speed of fault-tolerant computation once they are. Application of this model to representative workflows demonstrates that co-location of quantum processors with HPC infrastructure offers negligible performance benefit for compute-intensive applications today, while tight integration remains crucial for real-time tasks such as quantum error correction needed for large scale quantum computations. However, we discuss how even at the application level these assessments may shift with hardware evolution, illustrating how the model can identify specific crossover conditions, and how, under fault tolerance, the reaction time can set application-level performance.

Preserving quantum resources in dissipative environments is a fundamental challenge in quantum information processing. While environmental interactions usually degrade quantum resources, we theoretically show that in a Quantum Brownian Motion (QBM) channel, continuous-variable state discrimination can be improved by increasing, rather than minimizing, the initial thermal noise. Specifically, without suppressing the inherent environmental dissipation, when combined with squeezing, this initial noise induces a coherence preservation mechanism driven by the transient non-thermalization of the probe with the bath. This preservation translates into a pronounced reduction in error probabilities for state discrimination between orthogonal squeezing directions. Furthermore, we also show that quadrature homodyne detection achieves near-optimal performance, approaching the Helstrom limit. These results highlight the advantage of exploiting thermal-squeezed states, offering a robust physical architecture for quantum communication in high-temperature environments.

The Bayesian Nagaoka–Hayashi (NH) bound is a semidefinite lower bound on the Bayes risk of multiparameter estimation, tighter than the Bayesian symmertic logarithmic derivative (SLD) Cramér–Rao bounds, and whether it can be attained is an open problem. We study the single-shot estimation of a qubit rotation, all three parameters at once, under depolarizing noise and a uniform prior, with $k$ parallel uses of the channel. Rotational covariance reduces the joint optimization of probe, measurement, and estimator, and the NH bound itself, to small semidefinite programs, solvable through $k=4$. At every number of uses and noise strength the optimized strategy reaches the NH bound within the numerical precision of the calculation, numerical evidence that the bound is attained for this channel family, while the SLD bound lies strictly below and is never attained. As the noise grows the optimal probe collapses to the tensored Bell state.

Thermodynamics imposes fundamental constraints on the evolution of quantum systems. These constraints and their dynamical consequences have been formulated within distinct paradigms, including axiomatic approaches based on quantum master equations, microscopic descriptions of open-system dynamics, and operational formulations rooted in resource theories. While each perspective has yielded important insights into thermodynamically consistent quantum dynamics, their precise relationship has remained unresolved. Here we establish the exact equivalence of these three paradigms in the Markovian regime. We prove that thermal Lindbladians satisfying Markovianity, time-translation symmetry, and quantum detailed balance are precisely those admitting a microscopic realisation as an energy-conserving thermal collision model and, equivalently, those generating Markovian thermal operations. This unifies the existing approaches to Markovian quantum thermodynamics and identifies its dynamical underpinnings. We further provide an explicit microscopic protocol for simulating thermal Markovian processes with controlled finite-time simulation errors. We illustrate its applicability by providing faithful thermal collision-model implementations of a qubit thermalising in a bosonic environment and of a three-level autonomous thermal machine. In the latter case, the protocol gives rise to a finite-stroke thermal engine that not only reproduces the continuous-time dynamics but also its steady-state thermodynamic performance. As a whole, these results establish a unified foundation for Markovian quantum thermodynamics, showing that its axiomatic, microscopic, and operational formulations are exactly equivalent and providing a universal protocol for implementing thermal processes and machines.

We demonstrate an asymptotic gate complexity improvement in first-quantized ground-state energy estimation of electronic structure Hamiltonians in a plane wave basis by employing the sum-of-squares spectral gap amplification protocol. The improvement relies on identifying a sum-of-squares representation of the Hamiltonian which provides a lower bound certificate and low cost block encoding that leads to a provably lower quantum phase estimation gate cost. This is achieved by using a sum-of-squares operator generated by the total charge density operator resulting in a block encoding normalization improvement of $\lambda = \mathcal{O}\left(\eta\Delta^{-1.5}+\eta^{1.5}\Delta^{-1} \right)$ compared to prior work $\lambda = \mathcal{O}(\eta\Delta^{-2}+\eta^2\Delta^{-1})$ where $\eta$ is the number of electrons and $\Delta$ is the simulation grid spacing. The asymptotic reduction in block encoding normalization and similar block encoding costs to prior work is demonstrated to reduce resource estimates for materials and chemical systems by a factor of $2 - 44\times$ corresponding to the lowest cost estimates for ab initio materials simulation.

The Paradox of the Third Particle arises when particles are described relative to one of them serving as a reference frame. Although it is typically attributed to quantum superpositions, we show that the paradox and its ramifications$\unicode{x2014}$such as the relativity of subsystems$\unicode{x2014}$already occur classically. In light of this insight, we establish a no-go theorem that holds whenever physical subsystems, whether classical or quantum, are used as reference frames: if one demands that frame transformations be information-preserving, then it is impossible to meaningfully partition the world into subsystems, like individual particles, from the perspective of each frame.