arXiv subjects

Abhinav Prem

Publications and source records attributed to Abhinav Prem.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Topology from Decoherence

Decoherence is conventionally regarded as an obstacle to realizing topological quantum phases. This has motivated extensive efforts to suppress noise in candidate topological materials and devices. Here, we show that decoherence can instead induce topological phenomena. We demonstrate this in a lattice system subject to environment-induced dephasing. The noise-averaged dynamics, governed by an interacting quantum master equation, realize a topological phase characterized by a winding number and the non-Hermitian skin effect. The dynamical consequence is striking: the correlated nature of the stochastic noise yields asymmetric diffusion, whose direction is fixed by the winding number and is reversible only through a topological phase transition. This effect is induced purely by interactions, distinguishing it from previous studies of free, effectively single-particle systems. It also disappears upon postselecting measurement outcomes, confirming that it is a genuinely open-system phenomenon with no effective Hamiltonian description. Remarkably, the model remains analytically tractable. Our results establish correlated quantum noise as a route to topology in open many-body systems, beyond free-particle and non-Hermitian Hamiltonian paradigms.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Sixteen-Fold Way for Fermionic Topological Orders

Fermionic topological orders can host 't Hooft anomalies with no bosonic counterpart. We identify a new sixteen-fold family of (2+1)D fermionic topological orders, forming a fermionic analogue of Kitaev's sixteen-fold way. This family is distinguished by the mod 16 't Hooft anomaly of a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ one-form symmetry, generated in each theory by a single nontrivial $\mathbb{Z}_2$ anyon. This intrinsically fermionic anomaly permits anyon spins that are forbidden in bosonic phases; the simplest new example is an Abelian fermionic topological order containing a single $\mathbb{Z}_2$ Abelian anyon of spin 1/8. Each theory can be realized as the gapped boundary of a (3+1)D fermionic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase protected by the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ one-form symmetry, which acquires a $\mathbb{Z}_{16}$ classification once the spacetime spin structure is twisted by the one-form symmetry. We realize these phases microscopically via lattice models built from Walker-Wang models coupled to local fermions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Geometric Decoherence Time in Lindbladian Dynamics

The onset of decoherence in open many-body systems lacks a dynamical timescale grounded in the loss of bipartite entanglement. Here, we introduce the $geometric$ $decoherence$ $time$, defined as the earliest moment the monotone relation between logarithmic negativity and R\'{e}nyi-$\tfrac{1}{2}$ entropy -- exactly equal across any bipartition for pure states -- breaks down under open-system evolution, signaling entropy growth without accompanying entanglement growth. We establish this criterion in both single-particle Gaussian dynamics and many-body Lindbladian evolution. We show that quantum mutual information provides a complementary long-time diagnostic: its asymptotic vanishing is equivalent to factorization of the steady state across the bipartition, a condition strictly stronger than separability, and whenever a product steady state is approached exponentially in trace norm, negativity and mutual information share the same decay rate. In the presence of a strong symmetry, this tracking can fail -- residual classical correlations can survive after entanglement has vanished. In the Kitaev chain with balanced gain and loss, we derive a closed-form solution and show that the topological phase sustains longer coherence times than the trivial phase at identical dissipation, with a local minimum at the chiral-symmetric point. In the interacting XXZ chain, exact many-body evolution shows that local $Z$-dephasing preserves residual classical correlations, whereas gain and loss restore the mutual-information tracking of negativity. Our results establish the geometric decoherence time as a dynamical scale tracking the onset of decoherence.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Non-Equilibrium Phase Transition in a Boundary-Driven Dissipative Fermionic Chain

We demonstrate that a boundary-localized periodic (Floquet) drive can induce nontrivial long-range correlations in a non-interacting fermionic chain which is additionally subject to boundary dissipation. Surprisingly, we find that this phenomenon occurs even when the corresponding isolated bulk is in a trivial gapped phase with exponentially decaying correlations. We argue that this boundary-drive induced non-equilibrium transition (as witnessed through the correlation matrix) is driven by a resonance mechanism whereby the drive frequency bridges bulk energy gaps, allowing boundary-injected particles and holes to propagate and mediate long-range correlations into the bulk. We also numerically establish that when the drive bridges a particle-hole gap, the induced long-range order scales as a power law with the bulk pairing potential ($\chi \sim \gamma^2$). Our results highlight the potential of localized coherent driving for generating macroscopic order in open quantum systems.

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arXiv2025

Local-to-Global Entanglement Dynamics by Periodically Driving Impurities

We study the entanglement dynamics of one-dimensional fermionic chains subject to a local Floquet drive of a two-site impurity, and uncover a sharp transition in the entanglement dynamics set by the driving period $T$. For large periods, the entanglement entropy (EE) grows linearly in time, signaling a heating phase with volume-law entanglement; below a critical period $T_\ast$, the EE instead grows subextensively, characteristic of a local quantum quench. We establish this dichotomy in two complementary settings: a gapless nearest-neighbor hopping chain, where a single transition separates logarithmic from volume-law growth, and a gapped Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) chain, whose two-band structure yields a richer phase diagram with multiple area-to-volume-law transitions. In the noninteracting limit, we trace these transitions analytically to quasienergy folding in the single-particle Floquet spectrum: a single $\pi$-gap closure for the NN chain, and a sequence of foldings at both 0- and $\pi$-gaps for the SSH chain, yielding the alternating pattern of heating and non-heating phases. We further show that the so-called ``average energy" operator furnishes a many-body diagnostic of the transition, remaining local in the non-heating phase but developing non-local couplings in the heating phase. For the gapless chain, using extensive matrix-product-state simulations, we demonstrate that the non-heating phase and its subextensive entanglement growth survive weak interactions over numerically accessible timescales. Our results establish local Floquet engineering as a route to emergent bulk phenomena, offering a new perspective on energy localization and thermalization in driven many-body systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Temporal Entanglement Transitions in the Periodically Driven Ising Chain

Periodically driven quantum systems can host non-equilibrium phenomena without static analogs, including in their entanglement dynamics. Here, we discover $temporal$ $entanglement$ $transitions$ (TET) in a Floquet spin chain, which correspond to a quantum phase transition in the spectrum of the entanglement Hamiltonian and are signaled by dynamical spontaneous symmetry breaking. We identify the symmetry principles underlying these transitions: they appear when the driven Hamiltonian preserves global symmetry (here, $\mathbb{Z}_2$), the initial state respects this symmetry, and the reduced density matrix carries weight in both subsystem-parity sectors, with TET occurring precisely when the sector weights become equal (given the previous two conditions are also satisfied). Intriguingly, we find these transitions across a broad range of driving frequencies (from adiabatic to high-frequency regime) and independently of drive details, where they manifest as periodic, sharp entanglement spectrum reorganizations marked by the Schmidt-gap closure, a vanishing entanglement echo, and symmetry-quantum-number flips, while remaining invisible to conventional local observables. At high frequencies, the entanglement Hamiltonian acquires an intrinsic timescale decoupled from the drive period, rendering the transitions genuine steady-state features. Finite-size scaling reveals universal critical behavior with correlation-length exponent $\nu=1$, matching equilibrium Ising universality despite its emergence from purely dynamical mechanisms decoupled from static criticality. Our work establishes TET as novel features in Floquet quantum matter.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

There and Back Again: A Gauging Nexus between Topological and Fracton Phases

Coupled layer constructions are a valuable tool for capturing the universal properties of certain interacting quantum phases of matter in terms of the simpler data that characterizes the underlying layers. In the study of fracton phases, the X-Cube model in 3+1D can be realized via such a construction by starting with a stack of 2+1D Toric Codes and turning on a coupling which condenses a composite "particle-string" object. In a recent work [Phys. Rev. B 112, 125124 (2025)], we have demonstrated that in fact, the particle-string can be viewed as a symmetry defect of a topological 1-form symmetry. In this paper, we study the result of gauging this symmetry in depth. We unveil a rich gauging web relating the X-Cube model to symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases protected by a mix of subsystem and higher-form symmetries, subsystem symmetry fractionalization in the 3+1D Toric Code, and non-trivial extensions of topological symmetries by subsystem symmetries. Our work emphasizes the importance of topological symmetries in non-topological, geometric phases of matter.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

The Symmetry Taco: Equivalences between Gapped, Gapless, and Mixed-State SPTs

Symmetry topological field theory (SymTFT), or topological holography, offers a unifying framework for describing quantum phases of matter and phase transitions between them. While this approach has seen remarkable success in describing gapped and gapless pure-state phases in $1+1$d, its applicability to open quantum systems remains entirely unexplored. In this work, we propose a natural extension of the SymTFT framework to mixed-state phases by introducing the \textit{symmetry taco}: a bilayer topological order in $2+1$d whose folded geometry naturally encapsulates both strong and weak symmetries of the $1+1$d theory. We use this perspective to identify a series of correspondences, including a one-to-one map between intrinsically gapless SPTs (igSPTs) and certain gapped SPTs, and a mapping between igSPTs and intrinsically average SPTs (iASPTs) arising in $1+1$d mixed states. More broadly, our framework yields a classification of short-range correlated $G$-symmetric Choi states in $1+1$d, provides a route for systematically generating mixed-state SPTs via local decoherence of igSPTs, and allows us to identify a new mixed-state ``anomaly". Besides folding in mixed-state phases into the SymTFT paradigm, the symmetry taco opens new avenues for exploring dualities, anomalies, and non-equilibrium criticality in mixed-state quantum matter.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

String-Membrane-Nets from Higher-Form Gauging: An Alternate Route to $p$-String Condensation

We present a new perspective on the $p$-string condensation procedure for constructing 3+1D fracton phases by implementing this process via the gauging of higher-form symmetries. Specifically, we show that gauging a 1-form symmetry in 3+1D that is generated by Abelian anyons in isotropic stacks of 2+1D topological orders naturally results in a 3+1D $p$-string condensed phase, providing a controlled non-perturbative construction that realizes fracton orders. This approach clarifies the symmetry principles underlying $p$-string condensation and generalizes the familiar connection between anyon condensation and one-form gauging in two spatial dimensions. We demonstrate this correspondence explicitly in both field theories and lattice models: in field theory, we derive the foliated field theory description of the $\mathbb{Z}_N$ X-Cube model by gauging a higher-form symmetry in stacks of 2+1D $\mathbb{Z}_N$ gauge theories; on the lattice, we show how gauging a diagonal 1-form symmetry in isotropic stacks of $G$-graded string-net models leads to string-membrane-nets hosting restricted mobility excitations. This perspective naturally generalizes to spatial dimensions $d \geq 2$ and provides a step towards building an algebraic theory of $p$-string condensation.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Higher-Form Anomalies Imply Intrinsic Long-Range Entanglement

We show that generic gapped quantum many-body states which respect an anomalous finite higher-form symmetry have an exponentially small overlap with any short-range entangled (SRE) state. Hence, anomalies of higher-form symmetries enforce $intrinsic$ long-range entanglement, which is in contrast with anomalies of ordinary (0-form) symmetries which are compatible with symmetric SRE states (specifically, symmetric cat states). As an application, we show that the anomalies of strong higher-form symmetries provide a diagnostic for mixed-state topological order in $d \geq 2$ spatial dimensions. We also identify a new (3+1)D intrinsic mixed-state topological order that does not obey remote-detectability by local decoherence of the (3+1)D Toric Code with fermionic loop excitations. This breakdown of remote detectability, as encoded in anomalies of strong higher-form symmetries, provides a partial characterization of intrinsically mixed-state topological order.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Stable Symmetry-Protected Topological Phases in Systems with Heralded Noise

We present a family of local quantum channels whose steady-states exhibit stable mixed-state symmetry-protected topological (SPT) order. Motivated by recent experimental progress on "erasure conversion" techniques that allow one to identify ($\textit{herald}$) decoherence processes, we consider open systems with biased erasure noise, which leads to strongly symmetric heralded errors. We utilize this heralding to construct a local correction protocol that effectively confines errors into short-ranged pairs in the steady-state. Using a combination of numerical simulations and mean-field analysis, we show that our protocol stabilizes SPT order against a sufficiently low rate of decoherence. As the rate of heralded noise increases, SPT order is eventually lost through a directed percolation transition. We further find that while introducing unheralded errors destroys SPT order in the limit of long length- and time-scales, the correction protocol is sufficient for ensuring that local SPT order persists, with a correlation length that diverges as $ξ\sim (1-f_e)^{-1/2}$, where $f_e$ is the fraction of errors that are heralded.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Stabilizing Non-Abelian Topological Order against Heralded Noise via Local Lindbladian Dynamics

An important open question for the current generation of highly controllable quantum devices is understanding which phases can be realized as stable steady-states under local quantum dynamics. In this work, we show how robust steady-state phases with both Abelian and non-Abelian mixed-state topological order can be stabilized, in two spatial dimensions (2d), against generic ``heralded" noise using active dynamics that incorporate measurement and feedback, modeled as a \emph{fully local} Lindblad master equation. These topologically ordered steady states are two-way connected to pure topologically ordered ground states using local quantum channels, and preserve quantum information for a time that is exponentially large in the system size. Specifically, we present explicit constructions of families of local Lindbladians for both Abelian ($\mathbb{Z}_2$) and non-Abelian ($D_4$) topological order whose steady-states host mixed-state topological order when the noise is below a threshold strength. As the noise strength is increased, these models exhibit first-order transitions to intermediate mixed state phases where they encode robust classical memories, followed by (first-order) transitions to a trivial steady state at high noise rates. When the noise is imperfectly heralded, steady-state order disappears but our active dynamics significantly enhances the lifetime of the encoded logical information. To carry out the numerical simulations for the non-Abelian $D_4$ case, we introduce a generalized stabilizer tableau formalism that permits efficient simulation of the non-Abelian Lindbladian dynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

A Noisy Approach to Intrinsically Mixed-State Topological Order

We propose a general framework for studying two-dimensional (2D) topologically ordered states subject to local correlated errors and show that the resulting mixed-state can display intrinsically mixed-state topological order (imTO) -- topological order which is not expected to occur in the ground state of 2D local gapped Hamiltonians. Specifically, we show that decoherence, previously interpreted as anyon condensation in a doubled Hilbert space, is more naturally phrased as, and provides a physical mechanism for, ``gauging out" anyons in the original Hilbert space. We find that gauging out anyons generically results in imTO, with the decohered mixed-state strongly symmetric under certain anomalous 1-form symmetries. This framework lays bare a striking connection between the decohered density matrix and topological subsystem codes, which can appear as anomalous surface states of 3D topological orders. Through a series of examples, we show that the decohered state can display a classical memory, encode logical qubits (i.e., exhibit a quantum memory), and even host chiral or non-modular topological order. We argue that a partial classification of imTO is given in terms of non-modular braided fusion categories.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Hofstadter Butterflies in Topological Insulators

In this chapter, we investigate the energy spectra as well as the bulk and surface states in a two-dimensional system composed of a coupled stack of one-dimensional dimerized chains in the presence of an external magnetic field. Specifically, we analyze the Hofstadter butterfly patterns that emerge in a 2D stack of coupled 1D Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) chains subject to an external transverse magnetic field. Depending on the parameter regime, we find that the energy spectra of this hybrid topological system can exhibit topologically non-trivial bulk bands separated by energy gaps. Upon introducing boundaries into the system, we observe topologically protected in-gap surface states, which are protected either by a non-trivial Chern number or by inversion symmetry. We examine the resilience of these surface states against perturbations, confirming their expected stability against local symmetry-preserving perturbations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Dynamical control in a prethermalized molecular ultracold plasma: Local dissipation drives global relaxation

Prethermalization occurs as an important phase in the dynamics of many-body systems when strong coupling drives a quasi-equilibrium in a subspace separated from the thermodynamic equilibrium by the restriction of a gap in energy or other conserved quantity. Here, we report the signature of an enduring prethermal regime of arrested relaxation in the molecular ultracold plasma that forms following the avalanche of a state-selected Rydberg gas of nitric oxide. Electron collisions mix orbital angular momentum, scattering Rydberg molecules to states of very high-$\ell$. Spontaneous predissociation purifies this non-penetrating character, creating an extraordinary gap between the plasma states of $n \approx \ell$, with measured $n>200$ and penetrating states of $\ell = 0, ~1$ and 2. Evolution to a statistically equilibrated state of N and O atoms cannot occur without Rydberg electron penetration, and this gap blocks relaxation for a millisecond or more. Evolving through the critical phase, electrons that balance the NO$^+$ charge behave as though localized in the prethermal phase and play an ineffective role in bridging this gap. However, the application of a weak radiofrequency (RF) field promotes a dramatic degree of relaxation owing to electron collisions. On an entirely different scale, exciting a quantum-state transition in an exceedingly small fraction of the molecules in the prethermalized ensemble acts with even greater effect to drive the entire system toward equilibrium. We ascribe this to dissipative character added to a small fraction of the states in the prethermally localized ensemble. Using the Lindblad master equation, we illustrate qualitatively similar dynamics for a toy model of an open quantum system that consists of a localized set of spins on which dissipation acts locally at a single site.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Filling constraints on translation invariant dipole conserving systems

Systems with conserved dipole moment have drawn considerable interest in light of their realization in recent experiments on tilted optical lattices. An important question for such systems is delineating the conditions under which they admit a unique gapped ground state that is consistent with all symmetries. Here, we study one-dimensional translation-invariant lattices that conserve U(1) charge and $\mathbb{Z}_L$ dipole moment, where discreteness of the dipole symmetry is enforced by periodic boundary conditions, with $L$ the system size. We show that in these systems, a symmetric, gapped, and non-degenerate ground state requires not only integer charge filling, but also a fixed value of the dipole filling, while other fractional dipole fillings enforce either a gapless or symmetry-breaking ground state. In contrast with prior results in the literature, we find that the dipole filling constraint depends both on the charge filling as well as the system size, emphasizing the subtle interplay of dipole symmetry with boundary conditions. We support our results with numerical simulations and exact results.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Periodically Driven Open Quantum Systems: Spectral Properties and Non-Equilibrium Steady States

In this article, we investigate periodically driven open quantum systems within the framework of Floquet-Lindblad master equations. Specifically, we discuss Lindblad master equations in the presence of a coherent, time-periodic driving and establish their general spectral features. We also clarify the notions of transient and non-decaying solutions from this spectral perspective, and then prove that any physical system described by a Floquet-Lindblad equation must have at least one \textit{physical} non-equilibrium steady state (NESS), corresponding to an eigenoperator of the Floquet-Lindblad evolution superoperator $\mathcal{U}_F$ with unit eigenvalue. Since the Floquet-Lindblad formalism encapsulates the entire information regarding the NESS, it in principle enables us to obtain non-linear effects to all orders at once. The Floquet-Lindblad formalism thus provides a powerful tool for studying driven-dissipative solid-state systems, which we illustrate by deriving the nonlinear optical response of a simple two-band model of an insulating solid and comparing it with prior results established through Keldysh techniques.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Quantum Fragmentation in the Extended Quantum Breakdown Model

We introduce a one-dimensional (1D) extended quantum breakdown model comprising a fermionic and a spin degree of freedom per site, and featuring a spatially asymmetric breakdown-type interaction between the fermions and spins. We analytically show that, in the absence of any magnetic field for the spins, the model exhibits Hilbert space fragmentation within each symmetry sector into exponentially many Krylov subspaces and hence displays non-thermal dynamics. Here, we demonstrate that the fragmentation naturally occurs in an entangled basis and thus provides an example of "quantum fragmentation." Besides establishing the nature of fragmentation analytically, we also study the long-time behavior of the entanglement entropy and its deviation from the expected Page value as a probe of ergodicity in the system. Upon introducing a non-trivial magnetic field for the spins, most of the Krylov subspaces merge and the model becomes chaotic. Finally, we study the effects of strong randomness on the system and observe behavior similar to that of many-body localized systems.

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