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Gian Michele Graf

Publications and source records attributed to Gian Michele Graf.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Perfect Wave Transfer in Continuous Quantum Systems

The transfer of information from one part of a quantum system to another is fundamental to the understanding and design of quantum information processing devices. In the realm of discrete systems such as spin chains, inhomogeneous networks have been engineered that allow for the perfect transfer of qubits from one end to the other. Here, by contrast, we investigate the perfect transfer of information in continuous systems, phrased in terms of wave propagation. A remarkable difference is found between systems that possess conformal invariance and those that do not. Systems in the first class enjoy perfect wave transfer (PWT), explicitly shown for one-particle excitations and anticipated in general. In the second class, those that exhibit PWT are characterized as solutions to an inverse spectral problem. As a concrete example, we demonstrate how to formulate and solve this problem for a prototypical class of bosonic theories, showing the importance of conformal invariance for these theories to enjoy PWT. Using bosonization, our continuum results extend to theories with interactions, broadening the scope of perfect information transfer to more general quantum systems.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2025

Galilei covariance of the theory of Thouless pumps

The Thouless theory of quantum pumps establishes the conditions for quantized particle transport per cycle, and determines its value. When describing the pump from a moving reference frame, transported and existing charges transform, though not independently. This transformation is inherent to Galilean space and time, but it is underpinned by a transformation of vector bundles. Different formalisms can be used to describe this transformation, including one based on Bloch theory. Depending on the chosen formalism, the two types of charges will be realized as indices of either the same or different kinds. Finally, we apply the bulk-edge correspondence principle, so as to implement the transformation law within Büttiker's scattering theory of quantum pumps.

math-ph↗
arXiv2024

Boundary conditions and violations of bulk-edge correspondence in a hydrodynamic model

Bulk-edge correspondence is a wide-ranging principle that applies to topological matter, as well as a precise result established in a large and growing number of cases. According to the principle, the distinctive topological properties of matter, thought of as extending indefinitely in space, are equivalently reflected in the excitations running along its boundary, when one is present. Indices encode those properties, and their values, when differing, are witness to a violation of that correspondence. We address such violations, as they are encountered in a hydrodynamic context. The model concerns a shallow layer of fluid in a rotating frame and provides a local description of waves propagating either across the oceans or along a coastline; it becomes topological when suitably modified at short distances. The edge index is sensitive to boundary conditions, as exemplified in earlier work, hence exhibiting a violation. Here we present classification of all (local, self-adjoint) boundary conditions and a parameterization of their manifold. They come in four families, distinguished in part by the degree of their underlying differential operators. Essentially, that degree counts the degrees of freedom of the hydrodynamic field that are constrained at the boundary by way of their normal derivatives. Generally, both the correspondence and its violation are typical. Within families though, the maximally possible amount of violation is increasing with its degree. Several indices of interest are charted for all boundary conditions. A single spectral mechanism for the onset of violations is furthermore identified. The role of a symmetry is investigated.

math-ph↗
arXiv2021

Infraparticle states in the massless Nelson model -- revisited

We provide a new construction of infraparticle states in the massless Nelson model. The approximating sequence of our infraparticle state does not involve any infrared cut-offs. Its derivative w.r.t. the time parameter $t$ is given by a simple explicit formula. The convergence of this sequence as $t\to \infty$ to a non-zero limit is then obtained by the Cook method combined with stationary phase estimates. To apply the latter technique we exploit recent results on regularity of ground states in the massless Nelson model, which hold in the low coupling regime.

math-ph↗
arXiv2020

Topology in shallow-water waves: a violation of bulk-edge correspondence

We study the two-dimensional rotating shallow-water model describing Earth's oceanic layers. It is formally analogue to a Schrödinger equation where the tools from topological insulators are relevant. Once regularized at small scale by an odd-viscous term, such a model has a well-defined bulk topological index. However, in presence of a sharp boundary, the number of edge modes depends on the boundary condition, showing an explicit violation of the bulk-edge correspondence. We study a continuous family of boundary conditions with a rich phase diagram, and explain the origin of this mismatch. Our approach relies on scattering theory and Levinson's theorem. The latter does not apply at infinite momentum because of the analytic structure of the scattering amplitude there, ultimately responsible for the violation.

math-ph↗
arXiv2018

Indirect Measurements of a Harmonic Oscillator

The measurement of a quantum system becomes itself a quantum-mechanical process once the apparatus is internalized. That shift of perspective may result in different physical predictions for a variety of reasons. We present a model describing both system and apparatus and consisting of a harmonic oscillator coupled to a field. The equation of motion is a quantum stochastic differential equation. By solving it we establish the conditions ensuring that the two perspectives are compatible, in that the apparatus indeed measures the observable it is ideally supposed to.

math-ph↗
arXiv2018

The Bulk-Edge Correspondence for Disordered Chiral Chains

We study one-dimensional insulators obeying a chiral symmetry in the single-particle picture. The Fermi level is assumed to lie in a mobility gap. Topological indices are defined for infinite (bulk) or half-infinite (edge) systems, and it is shown that for a given Hamiltonian with nearest neighbor hopping the two indices are equal. We also give a new formulation of the index in terms of the Lyapunov exponents of the zero energy Schrödinger equation, which illustrates the conditions for a topological phase transition occurring in the mobility gap regime.

math-ph↗
arXiv2018

Bulk-Edge correspondence for two-dimensional Floquet topological insulators

Floquet topological insulators describe independent electrons on a lattice driven out of equilibrium by a time-periodic Hamiltonian, beyond the usual adiabatic approximation. In dimension two such systems are characterized by integer-valued topological indices associated to the unitary propagator, alternatively in the bulk or at the edge of a sample. In this paper we give new definitions of the two indices, relying neither on translation invariance nor on averaging, and show that they are equal. In particular weak disorder and defects are intrinsically taken into account. Finally indices can be defined when two driven sample are placed next to one another either in space or in time, and then shown to be equal. The edge index is interpreted as a quantized pumping occurring at the interface with an effective vacuum.

math-ph↗
arXiv2016

Dynamical crossing of an infinitely degenerate critical point

We study the evolution of a driven harmonic oscillator with a time-dependent frequency $ω_t \propto |t|$. At time $t=0$ the Hamiltonian undergoes a point of infinite spectral degeneracy. If the system is initialized in the instantaneous vacuum in the distant past then the asymptotic future state is a squeezed state whose parameters are explicitly determined. We show that the squeezing is independent on the sweeping rate. This manifests the failure of the adiabatic approximation at points where infinitely many eigenvalues collide. We extend our analysis to the situation where the gap at $t=0$ remains finite. We also discuss the natural geometry of the manifold of squeezed states. We show that it is realized by the Poincaré disk model viewed as a Kähler manifold.

math-ph↗
arXiv2014

The Colored Hofstadter Butterfly for the Honeycomb Lattice

We rely on a recent method for determining edge spectra and we use it to compute the Chern numbers for Hofstadter models on the honeycomb lattice having rational magnetic flux per unit cell. Based on the bulk-edge correspondence, the Chern number $σ_H$ is given as the winding number of an eigenvector of a $2 \times 2$ transfer matrix, as a function of the quasi-momentum $k \in (0,2 π)$. This method is computationally efficient (of order $O(n^4)$ in the resolution of the desired image). It also shows that for the honeycomb lattice the solution for $σ_H $ for flux $p/q$ in the $r$-th gap conforms with the Diophantine equation $r=σ_H\cdot p+ s\cdot q$, which determines $σ_H \mod q$. A window such as $σ_H \in(-q/2,q/2)$, or possibly shifted, provides a natural further condition for $σ_H$, which however turns out not to be met. Based on extensive numerical calculations, we conjecture that the solution conforms with the relaxed condition $σ_H\in(-q,q)$.

math-ph↗
arXiv2013

Statistics of charge transport and unconventional time ordering

The statistics of charge transport across a tunnel junction with energy-dependent scattering is investigated. A model with quadratic dispersion relation is discussed in general and, independently, in the two limiting cases of a large detector and of a linear dispersion relation. The measurement of charge takes place according to various protocols. It is found that, as a rule, the statistics is expressed by means of time-ordered current correlators, differing however from the conventional ones in the ordering prescription. Nevertheless binomial statistics is confirmed in all cases.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2007

Comparison of quantization of charge transport in periodic and open pumps

We compare the charges transported in two systems, a spatially periodic and an open quantum pump, both depending periodically and adiabatically on time. The charge transported in a cycle was computed by Thouless, respectively by Buttiker et al. in the two cases. We show that the results agree in the limit where the two physical situations become the same, i.e., that of a large open pump.

math-ph↗
arXiv2007

Fredholm determinants and the statistics of charge transport

Using operator algebraic methods we show that the moment generating function of charge transport in a system with infinitely many non-interacting Fermions is given by a determinant of a certain operator in the one-particle Hilbert space. The formula is equivalent to a formula of Levitov and Lesovik in the finite dimensional case and may be viewed as its regularized form in general. Our result embodies two tenets often realized in mesoscopic physics, namely, that the transport properties are essentially independent of the length of the leads and of the depth of the Fermi sea.

math-ph↗
arXiv2006

A remark on an estimate by Minami

In the context of the Anderson model, Minami proved a Wegner type bound on the expectation of 2 by 2 determinant of Green's functions. We generalize it so as to allow for a magnetic field, as well as to determinants of higher order.

math-ph↗