Publications

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• Introduction to quantum non-reciprocal interactions: from non-Hermitian Hamiltonians to quantum master equations and quantum feedforward schemes

  Aashish A. Clerk

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 44 (2022) · published 21 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  These lecture notes from the 2019 Les Houches Summer School on Quantum Information Machines provides a pedagogical introduction to the theory of non-reciprocal quantum interactions and devices. The goal is connect various approaches and concepts, including Hamiltonians encoding synthetic gauge fields, scattering descriptions, quantum master equations, and non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. The importance of having both non-trivial synthetic gauge fields and dissipation for obtaining non-reciprocal interactions is stressed. Connections to broader topics such as quantum reservoir engineering and the quantum theory of continuous-measurement based feedforward are also discussed.

  27 citations

• Engaging with the State. Illegalized migrants, welfare institutions and the law in French-Speaking Belgium

  Sophie Andreetta

  Mig. Pol. 1, 001 (2022) · published 21 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  By highlighting informal strategies and solidarities on the one hand, and protests on the other, current studies of citizenship and illegalized migration describe two main forms of political subjectivities among illegalized migrants: ‘without’ the state or ‘against’ it. In contrast, this article unpacks how migrants make use of state laws and institutions, voice expectations, and pursue their claims using official venues – in short, how they act ‘with’ the state. It builds on ethnographic fieldwork on illegalized migrants’ welfare requests in French-speaking Belgium and the various sets of actors involved in assessing or furthering their cases. Migrants’ discourses and expectations of the welfare office provide insights into their understandings of the state, highlight the crucial role of immigration lawyers in brokering cases, and ultimately allow for a more nuanced reading of the idea that welfare dependency leads to deportability. On a theoretical level, this article contributes to ongoing debates both in the study of statehood and in migration studies, showing how procedural fairness can be a central aspect of – in this case – migrants’ relationship to and expectations of the state, and how migrants’ strategies and practices of inclusion can also be formal ones, based on existing state laws and institutions.

  3 citations

• Bubble instabilities of mIIA on AdS$_4\times S^6$

  Pieter Bomans, Davide Cassani, Giuseppe Dibitetto, Nicolò Petri

  SciPost Phys. 12, 099 (2022) · published 18 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider compactifications of massive IIA supergravity on a six-sphere. This setup is known to give rise to non-supersymmetric AdS$_4$ vacua preserving SO$(7)$ as well as G$_2$ residual symmetry. Both solutions have a round $S^6$ metric and are supported by the Romans’ mass and internal $F_6$ flux. While the SO$(7)$ invariant vacuum is known to be perturbatively unstable, the G$_2$ invariant one has been found to have a fully stable Kaluza-Klein spectrum. Moreover, it has been shown to be protected against brane-jet instabilities. Motivated by these results, we study possible bubbling solutions connected to the G$_2$ vacuum, representing non-perturbative instabilities of the latter. We indeed find an instability channel represented by the nucleation of a bubble of nothing dressed up with a homogeneous D2 brane charge distribution in the internal space. Our solution generalizes to the case where $S^6$ is replaced by any six-dimensional nearly-Kähler manifold.

  21 citations

• 2-Group symmetries and their classification in 6d

  Fabio Apruzzi, Lakshya Bhardwaj, Dewi S. W. Gould, Sakura Schäfer-Nameki

  SciPost Phys. 12, 098 (2022) · published 18 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We uncover 2-group symmetries in 6d superconformal field theories. These symmetries arise when the discrete 1-form symmetry and continuous flavor symmetry group of a theory mix with each other. We classify all 6d superconformal field theories with such 2-group symmetries. The approach taken in 6d is applicable more generally, with minor modifications to include dimension specific operators (such as instantons in 5d and monopoles in 3d), and we provide a discussion of the dimension-independent aspects of the analysis. We include an ancillary mathematica code for computing 2-group symmetries, once the dimension specific input is provided. We also discuss a mixed 't Hooft anomaly between discrete 0-form and 1-form symmetries in 6d.

  60 citations

• Sub-GeV dark matter models and direct detection

  Tongyan Lin

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 43 (2022) · published 18 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Lecture notes for Les Houches Summer School 2021: Dark Matter. These lectures give a brief introduction to sub-GeV dark matter models, and then reviews theory and approaches to direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter.

  5 citations

• Algebraic theory of quantum synchronization and limit cycles under dissipation

  Berislav Buča, Cameron Booker, Dieter Jaksch

  SciPost Phys. 12, 097 (2022) · published 17 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Synchronization is a phenomenon where interacting particles lock their motion and display non-trivial dynamics. Despite intense efforts studying synchronization in systems without clear classical limits, no comprehensive theory has been found. We develop such a general theory based on novel necessary and sufficient algebraic criteria for persistently oscillating eigenmodes (limit cycles) of time-independent quantum master equations. We show these eigenmodes must be quantum coherent and give an exact analytical solution for all such dynamics in terms of a dynamical symmetry algebra. Using our theory, we study both stable synchronization and metastable/transient synchronization. We use our theory to fully characterise spontaneous synchronization of autonomous systems. Moreover, we give compact algebraic criteria that may be used to prove absence of synchronization. We demonstrate synchronization in several systems relevant for various fermionic cold atom experiments.

  65 citations

• Stability of topological purity under random local unitaries

  Salvatore F. E. Oliviero, Lorenzo Leone, You Zhou, Alioscia Hamma

  SciPost Phys. 12, 096 (2022) · published 17 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this work, we provide an analytical proof of the robustness of a form of topological entanglement under a model of random local perturbations. We define the notion of topological purity and show that, in the context of quantum double models, this quantity does detect topological order and is robust under the action of a random shallow quantum circuit.

  5 citations

• Measurable signatures of bosonic fractional Chern insulator states and their fractional excitations in a quantum-gas microscope

  Botao Wang, Xiao-Yu Dong, André Eckardt

  SciPost Phys. 12, 095 (2022) · published 17 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The recent progress in engineering topological band structures in optical-lattice systems makes it promising to study fractional Chern insulator states in these systems. Here we consider a realistic finite system of a few repulsively interacting bosons on a square lattice with magnetic flux and sharp edges, as it can be realized in quantum-gas microscopes. We investigate under which conditions a fractional Chern insulator state corresponding to the Laughlin-like state at filling $\nu=1/2$ can be stabilized and its fractional excitations probed. Using numerical simulations, we find an incompressible bulk density at the expected filling for systems, whose linear extent is as small as 6-8 sites. This is a promising result, since such small systems are favorable with respect to the required adiabatic state preparation. Moreover, we also see very clear signatures of excitations with fractional charge in response both to static pinning potentials and dynamical flux insertion. Since the compressible edges, which are found to feature chiral currents, can serve as a reservoir, these observations are robust against changes in the total particle number. Our results suggest that signatures of both a fractional Chern insulator state and its fractional excitations can be found under realistic experimental conditions.

  19 citations

• Multimode-polariton superradiance via Floquet engineering

  Christian Høj Johansen, Johannes Lang, Andrea Morales, Alexander Baumgärtner, Tobias Donner, Francesco Piazza

  SciPost Phys. 12, 094 (2022) · published 16 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We consider an ensemble of ultracold bosonic atoms within a near-planar cavity, driven by a far detuned laser whose phase is modulated at a frequency comparable to the transverse cavity mode spacing. We show that a strong, dispersive atom-photon coupling can be reached for many transverse cavity modes at once. The resulting Floquet polaritons involve a superposition of a set of cavity modes with a density excitation of the atomic cloud. The mutual interactions between these modes lead to distinct avoided crossings between the polaritons. Increasing the laser drive intensity, a low-lying multimode Floquet polariton softens and eventually becomes undamped, corresponding to the transition to a superradiant, self-organized phase. We demonstrate the stability of the stationary state for a broad range of parameters.

  5 citations

• Dark Matter Superfluidity

  Justin Khoury

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 42 (2022) · published 16 March 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In these lectures I describe a theory of dark matter superfluidity developed in the last few years. The dark matter particles are axion-like, with masses of order eV. They Bose-Einstein condense into a superfluid phase in the central regions of galaxy halos. The superfluid phonon excitations in turn couple to baryons and mediate a long-range force (beyond Newtonian gravity). For a suitable choice of the superfluid equation of state, this force reproduces the various galactic scaling relations embodied in Milgrom's law. Thus the dark matter and modified gravity phenomena represent different phases of a single underlying substance, unified through the rich and well-studied physics of superfluidity.

  9 citations