arXiv subjects

Claudio Chamon

Publications and source records attributed to Claudio Chamon.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Competing symmetry breaking and topology in quantum spin chains

We investigate how spontaneous symmetry breaking and symmetry-protected topology compete and cooperate in one-dimensional quantum spin-1/2 systems. We introduce two families of local Hamiltonians with $\mathbb{Z}^{\,}_{2}\times\mathbb{Z}^{\,}_{2}\times\mathbb{Z}^{T}_{2}$ symmetry which host a zoo of broken-symmetry phases with and without gapless boundary spins, namely, six long-range-ordered gapped phases that differ by their $\mathbb{Z}^{\,}_{2}$-symmetry-breaking patterns (FM$^{\,}_{x,y,z}$ and Neel$^{\,}_{x,y,z}$), their partner symmetry-protected topological phases (FM$^{\mathrm{SPT}}_{x,y}$ and Neel$^{\mathrm{SPT}}_{x,y}$), and two gapless phases (gFM$^{\,}_{z}$ and gNeel$^{\,}_{z}$) with incommensurate $\mathbb{Z}^{T}_{2}$-breaking magnetic long-range order and central charge $\mathsf{c}=1$. Direct transitions between competing gapped phases can be continuous or weakly first order. We demonstrate that continuous phase transition lines have exotic critical properties. For example, a line of deconfined quantum critical points (between the Neel$^{\,}_{x}$ and Neel$^{\,}_{y}$ phases) described by Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid theory is terminated by the gFM$^{\,}_{z}$ phase at a Lifshitz tricritical point which exhibits spontaneous breaking of the continuous U(1) symmetry despite the locality and one-dimensionality of the Hamiltonian, contrary to a naive expectation from the Hohenberg-Mermin-Wagner-Coleman theorem. Furthermore, critical lines between symmetry-protected topological phases with different $\mathbb{Z}^{\,}_{2}$-symmetry breaking (e.g., Neel$^{\mathrm{SPT}}_{x}$ and Neel$^{\mathrm{SPT}}_{y}$) additionally retain low-energy boundary degrees of freedom, realizing symmetry-enriched criticality (or a gapless SPT phase). Our results reveal unconventional mechanisms by which competing symmetry breaking and topology generate ordered critical phases and multicriticality.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Kitaev spin liquid in superconducting networks

We propose a realization of the Kitaev honeycomb Hamiltonian -- an archetypal spin-liquid model -- in a superconducting metamaterial. The architecture consists of Cooper-pair boxes coupled through depleted semiconductor--superconductor heterostructures that do not require spin--orbit coupling. The Cooper-pair boxes encode effective spin degrees of freedom, while normal and anomalous virtual propagation through the heterostructures mediate bond-directional interactions. Two key control parameters are an out-of-plane magnetic flux and the semiconductor Fermi energy. The former controls interference and distinguishes the bond directions, while tuning the latter close to the bottom of the band gives rise to an emergent Nambu-exchange symmetry that enforces the required bond directionality. Through numerical calculations, we identify an operating regime with controlled corrections, with associated energy and length scales within experimental reach. These results establish a route toward equilibrium quantum spin liquids in engineered superconducting networks.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Nonplanar qubit with tunable gauge symmetry

Circuit quantum electrodynamics embeds Josephson junction qubits within superconducting cavities, and has emerged as a leading approach to quantum computing and quantum simulation. Despite the many permutations of circuit geometry that have been explored, Josephson connectivities have so far been planar, making them effectively low-dimensional. Here we show that a non-planar qubit -- a $3\times3$ crossbar Josephson array -- gives rise to flux-tunable $\mathbb{Z}_3$ combinatorial gauge symmetry (CGS), potentially enabling spin-liquid behavior when networked into a lattice. The observed excitation spectrum shows excellent agreement with predictions from a neural network trained to generate variational quantum states, demonstrating that we have predictive power over our high-dimensional quantum system. Fine-structure splittings near the CGS point are compatible with weak tunneling or symmetry breaking due to experimental imperfections. We additionally use the superconducting cavity to externally induce symmetry breaking, observing a restoration of symmetry at the CGS point where ground states differ only by a $\mathbb{Z}_3$ phase. This work initiates a general program exploring lattice gauge theories using the toolbox of circuit quantum electrodynamics. More broadly, introducing non-planar Josephson connectivities opens a vast space for experimental and theoretical exploration of structures in almost any imaginable dimensionality and geometry.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Graph-based emulation of $d$-dimensional curved spaces with superconducting arrays

We introduce a framework for emulating graphs and, through them, curved spaces of arbitrary dimension, using arrays of superconducting wires. The array consists of two stacked layers of wires, horizontal and vertical, such that wires are parallel within each layer and perpendicular between layers. By discretizing a space into a graph, assigning a superconducting wire with a rigid phase to each vertex, and coupling pairs of wires through Josephson junctions according to the graph edges, arbitrary geometries and topologies can be engineered in a controlled setting. The superconducting phases then realize scalar field theories on the emergent geometry. We establish experimentally realistic conditions for implementing these architectures and develop a dictionary relating measurable circuit observables to quantities in the emulated field theory. As an application, we develop the implementation of hyperbolic (Anti-de Sitter) spaces of constant negative curvature and use them as an experimentally accessible platform to explore holographic duality in arbitrary dimensions. We investigate the effects of disorder in the Josephson couplings, which translate into metric variations in the bulk-boundary correspondence, and analyze their impact on boundary scaling exponents both analytically and numerically, finding that holographic duality remains robust even in the presence of strong disorder. Beyond holography, the framework opens a broad range of architectural possibilities, including the exploration of physics on highly nontrivial graphs and toy models of dynamical spacetimes.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Hall-on-Toric: Descendant Laughlin state in the chiral $\mathbb{Z}_p$ toric code

We demonstrate that the chiral $\mathbb{Z}_p$ toric code -- the quintessential model of topological order -- hosts additional, emergent topological phases when perturbed: descendant fractional quantum Hall-like states, which we term \textit{Hall-on-Toric}. These hierarchical states feature fractionalized $\mathbb{Z}_p$ charges and increased topological ground-state degeneracy. The Hall-on-Toric phases appear in the vicinity of the transitions between deconfined $\mathbb{Z}_p$ phases with different background charge per unit cell, in a fixed non-trivial flux background. We confirm their existence through extensive infinite density matrix renormalization group (iDMRG) simulations, analyzing the topological entanglement entropy, entanglement spectra, and a generalized Hall conductance. Remarkably, the Hall-on-Toric states remain robust even in the absence of $U(1)$ symmetry. Our findings reinforce the foundational interpretation of star and plaquette defects as magnetic and electric excitations, and reveal that this perspective extends to a much deeper level.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Bridging Classical and Quantum Information Scrambling with the Operator Entanglement Spectrum

Universal features of chaotic quantum dynamics underlie our understanding of thermalization in closed quantum systems and the complexity of quantum computations. Reversible automaton circuits, comprised of classical logic gates, have emerged as a tractable means to study such dynamics. Despite generating no entanglement in the computational basis, these circuits nevertheless capture many features expected from fully quantum evolutions. In this work, we demonstrate that the differences between automaton dynamics and fully quantum dynamics are revealed by the operator entanglement spectrum, much like the entanglement spectrum of a quantum state distinguishes between the dynamics of states under Clifford and Haar random circuits. While the operator entanglement spectrum under random unitary dynamics is governed by the eigenvalue statistics of random Gaussian matrices, we show evidence that under random automaton dynamics it is described by the statistics of Bernoulli random matrices, whose entries are random variables taking values $0$ or $1$. We study the crossover between automaton and generic unitary operator dynamics as the automaton circuit is doped with gates that introduce superpositions, namely Hadamard or $R_x = e^{-i\fracπ{4}X}$ gates. We find that a constant number of superposition-generating gates is sufficient to drive the operator dynamics to the random-circuit universality class, similar to earlier results on Clifford circuits doped with $T$ gates. This establishes the operator entanglement spectrum as a useful tool for probing the chaoticity and universality class of quantum dynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Topological order and Fractons from Gauging Exponential Symmetries

We broaden the scope of quantum field theory by introducing a general class of discrete gauge theories that realize either topological order or fracton behavior across dimensions. We start from translation-invariant systems endowed with unconventional charge-conservation laws, which we term \textit{exponential polynomial symmetries}. Gauging these symmetries yields $\mathbb{Z}_N$ gauge theories in 2D that exhibit topological order whose quasiparticles have constrained mobility and whose ground-state degeneracy shows ultraviolet (UV) dependence. These features are reminiscent of spatial symmetry-enriched topological order, wherein quasiparticle excitations transform nontrivially under lattice translations. We further propose a Chern-Simons variant that produces non-CSS stabilizer codes and outline a framework for exponentially symmetric subsystem SPT phases. Finally, we extend this gauging procedure to 3D, obtaining new variants of fracton topological order.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Topological Robustness of Anyon Tunneling at $ν= 1/3$

The scaling exponent $g$ of the quasiparticle propagator for incompressible fractional quantum Hall states in the Laughlin sequence is expected to be robust against perturbations that do not close the gap. Here we probe the topological robustness of the chiral Luttinger liquid at the boundary of the $ν=1/3$ state by measuring the tunneling conductance between counterpropagating edge modes as a function of quantum point contact transmission. We demonstrate that for transmission $t\geq 0.7$ the tunneling conductance is well-described by the first two terms of a perturbative series expansion corresponding to $g=1/3$. We further demonstrate that the measured scaling exponent is robustly pinned to $g=1/3$ across the plateau, only deviating as the bulk state becomes compressible. Finally we examine the impact of weak disorder on the scaling exponent, finding it insensitive. These measurements firmly establish the topological robustness of anyon tunneling at $ν=1/3$ and substantiate the chiral Luttinger liquid description of the edge mode.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Incommensurate gapless ferromagnetism connecting competing symmetry-enriched deconfined quantum phase transitions

We present a scenario, in which a gapless extended phase serves as a "hub" connecting multiple symmetry-enriched deconfined quantum critical points. As a concrete example, we construct a lattice model with $\mathbb{Z}^{\,}_{2}\times \mathbb{Z}^{\,}_{2}\times \mathbb{Z}^{\,}_{2}$ symmetry for quantum spin-1/2 degrees of freedom that realizes four distinct gapful phases supporting antiferromagnetic long-range order and one extended incommensurate gapless ferromagnetic phase. The quantum phase transition between any two of the four gapped and antiferromagnetic phases goes through either a (deconfined) quantum critical point, a quantum tricritical point, or the incommensurate gapless ferromagnetic phase. In this phase diagram, it is possible to interpolate between four deconfined quantum critical points by passing through the extended gapless ferromagnetic phase. We identify the phases in the model and the nature of the transitions between them through a combination of analytical arguments and density matrix renormalization group studies.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Cooper-pair splitters as circuit elements for realizing topological superconductors

Advances in materials and fabrication of superconducting devices allows the exploration of novel quantum effects in synthetic superconducting systems beyond conventional Josephson junction arrays. As an example, we introduce a new circuit element, the Y-splitter, a superconducting loop with three leads and three Josephson junctions, smaller or comparable in size to the superconducting coherence length of the material. By tuning magnetic flux through an array of Y-splitters, Cooper-pair transport can be made to interfere destructively, while spatially separated split Cooper pairs propagate coherently. We consider an array of Y-splitters connected in a two-dimensional star [Archimedean (3,$12^2$)] geometry, deformable into the kagome lattice, and find a rich phase diagram that includes topological superconducting phases with Chern numbers $\pm 2$. Experimental realization appears feasible.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Circuit complexity and functionality: a thermodynamic perspective

Circuit complexity, defined as the minimum circuit size required for implementing a particular Boolean computation, is a foundational concept in computer science. Determining circuit complexity is believed to be a hard computational problem [1,2,3]. Recently, in the context of black holes, circuit complexity has been promoted to a physical property, wherein the growth of complexity is reflected in the time evolution of the Einstein-Rosen bridge (``wormhole'') connecting the two sides of an AdS ``eternal'' black hole [4]. Here we are motivated by an independent set of considerations and explore links between complexity and thermodynamics for functionally-equivalent circuits, making the physics-inspired approach relevant to real computational problems, for which functionality is the key element of interest. In particular, our thermodynamic framework provides a new perspective on the obfuscation of programs of arbitrary length -- an important problem in cryptography -- as thermalization through recursive mixing of neighboring sections of a circuit, which can be viewed as the mixing of two containers with ``gases of gates''. This recursive process equilibrates the average complexity and leads to the saturation of the circuit entropy, while preserving functionality of the overall circuit. The thermodynamic arguments hinge on ergodicity in the space of circuits which we conjecture is limited to disconnected ergodic sectors due to fragmentation. The notion of fragmentation has important implications for the problem of circuit obfuscation as it implies that there are circuits of same size and functionality that cannot be connected via a polynomial number of local moves. Furthermore, we argue that fragmentation is unavoidable unless the complexity classes NP and coNP coincide.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2025

Universal Anyon Tunneling in a Chiral Luttinger Liquid

The edge modes of fractional quantum Hall liquids are described by chiral Luttinger liquid theory. Despite many years of experimental investigation fractional quantum Hall edge modes remain enigmatic with significant discrepancies between experimental observations and detailed predictions of chiral Luttinger liquid theory. Here we report measurements of tunneling conductance between counterpropagating edge modes at $ν=1/3$ across a quantum point contact fabricated on an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure designed to promote a sharp confinement potential. We present evidence for tunneling of anyons through a $ν=1/3$ incompressible liquid that exhibits universal scaling behavior with respect to temperature, source-drain bias, and barrier transmission, as originally proposed by Wen [1, 2]. For transmission $t\geq0.800$, we measured the tunneling exponent $\bar{g} = 0.333 \pm 0.005$ averaged over 29 independent data sets, consistent with the scaling dimension $Δ= g/2 = 1/6$ for a Laughlin quasiparticle at the edge. When combined with measurements of the fractional charge $e^*=e/3$ and the recently observed anyonic statistical angle $θ_a=\frac{2π}{3}$, the measured tunneling exponent fully characterizes the topological order of the primary Laughlin state at $ν=1/3$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

A Matrix Product State Representation of Boolean Functions

We introduce a novel normal form representation of Boolean functions in terms of products of binary matrices, hereafter referred to as the Binary Matrix Product (BMP) representation. BMPs are analogous to the Tensor-Trains (TT) and Matrix Product States (MPS) used, respectively, in applied mathematics and in quantum many-body physics to accelerate computations that are usually inaccessible by more traditional approaches. BMPs turn out to be closely related to Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs), a powerful compressed representation of Boolean functions invented in the late 80s by Bryant that has found a broad range of applications in many areas of computer science and engineering. We present a direct and natural translation of BMPs into Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs), and derive an elementary set of operations used to manipulate and combine BMPs that are analogous to those introduced by Bryant for BDDs. Both BDDs and BMPs are practical tools when the complexity of these representations, as measured by the maximum bond dimension of a BMP (or the accumulated bond dimension across the BMP matrix train) and the number of nodes of a BDD, remains polynomial in the number of bits, $n$. In both cases, controlling the complexity hinges on optimizing the order of the Boolean variables. BMPs offer the advantage that their construction and manipulation rely on simple linear algebra -- a compelling feature that can facilitate the development of open-source libraries that are both more flexible and easier to use than those currently available for BDDs. An initial implementation of a BMP library is available on GitHub, with the expectation that the close conceptual connection to TT and MPS techniques will motivate further development of BMP methods by researchers in these fields, potentially enabling novel applications to classical and quantum computing.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2025

Probing anyonic statistics via Mach-Zehnder interferometry in quantum computers

We introduce a synthetic Mach-Zehnder interferometer for digitized quantum computing devices to probe fractional exchange statistics of anyonic excitations that appear in quantum spin liquids. Employing an IonQ quantum computer, we apply this scheme to the toric ladder, a quasi-one-dimensional reduction of the toric code. We observe interference patterns resulting from the movement of `electric' excitations in the presence and absence of `magnetic' ones. We model the noise in IonQ via depolarizing Lindbladian dynamics, and find quantitative agreement with the measurements obtained from the quantum device. The synthetic Mach-Zehnder interferometer can thus also serve as an effective means to probe the coherence length and time scales of multi-qubit noisy quantum devices.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Standardized test of many-body coherence in gate-based quantum platforms

Quantum coherence is a crucial resource in achieving quantum advantage over classical information processing, and more generally developing new quantum technologies. While its effects are observable in current quantum platforms, there are no standardized tools for systematically measuring and quantifying multi-qubit coherence across different gate-based quantum hardware. In this work, we propose a method to define a many-body quantum coherence length scale using anyon interference effects in a spin-chain setup, which effectively mirrors the problem of a quantum particle on a ring, with or without flux through it. We propose using the maximum length of the ring for which the presence or absence of flux can be clearly discerned, as a simple measure of the many-body quantum coherence grade (Q-grade) in a given quantum hardware. We demonstrate how this approach can be implemented on gate-based quantum platforms to estimate and compare the quantum coherence of current devices, such as those from Google, IBM, IonQ, IQM, and Quantinuum that we considered here. This work aims to contribute to the creation of a live Web interface where the latest developments and advancements can be demonstrated, and progress in quantum coherence resources tracked over time. Establishing such a standardized quantum test would enable monitoring the growth of quantum coherence in gate-based quantum platforms, in a spirit similar to Moore's law.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Deconfined classical criticality in the anisotropic quantum spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ XY model on the square lattice

The anisotropic quantum spin-1/2 XY model on a linear chain was solved by Lieb, Schultz, and Mattis in 1961 and shown to display a continuous quantum phase transition at the O(2) symmetric point separating two gapped phases with competing Ising long-range order. For the square lattice, the following is known. The two competing Ising ordered phases extend to finite temperatures, up to a boundary where a transition to the paramagnetic phase occurs, and meet at the O(2) symmetric critical line along the temperature axis that ends at a tricritical point at the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature where the two competing phases meet the paramagnetic phase. We show that the first-order zero-temperature (quantum) phase transition that separates the competing phases as a function of the anisotropy parameter is smoothed by thermal fluctuations into deconfined classical criticality.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Non-Abelian Combinatorial Gauge Theory

Building on the principle of combinatorial gauge symmetry, lattice gauge theories can be formulated with only one- and two-body interactions that ensure the exact realization of the symmetry rather than its approximate emergence in a perturbative regime. This paper extends the framework to encompass generic non-Abelian finite gauge groups by expanding on previous work that developed the theory for finite Abelian gauge groups and presented one non-Abelian example.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Fast pseudorandom quantum state generators via inflationary quantum gates

We propose a mechanism for reaching pseudorandom quantum states, computationally indistinguishable from Haar random, with shallow log-n depth quantum circuits, where n is the number of qudits. We argue that $\log n$ depth 2-qubit-gate-based generic random quantum circuits that are claimed to provide a lower bound on the speed of information scrambling, cannot produce computationally pseudorandom quantum states. This conclusion is connected with the presence of polynomial (in $n$) tails in the stay probability of short Pauli strings that survive evolution through such shallow circuits. We show, however, that stay-probability-tails can be eliminated and pseudorandom quantum states can be accomplished with shallow $\log n$ depth circuits built from a special universal family of `inflationary' quantum (IQ) gates. We prove that IQ-gates cannot be implemented with 2-qubit gates, but can be realized either as a subset of 2-qudit-gates in $U(d^2)$ with $d\ge 3$ and $d$ prime, or as special 3-qubit gates.

quant-ph↗