arXiv subjects

Irene D'Amico

Publications and source records attributed to Irene D'Amico.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Unitary Design of Quantum Spin Networks for Robust Routing, Entanglement Generation, and Phase Sensing

Spin chains can be used to describe a wide range of platforms for quantum computation and quantum information. They enable the understanding, demonstration, and modeling of numerous useful phenomena, such as high fidelity transfer of quantum states, creation and distribution of entanglement, and creation of resources for measurement-based quantum processing. In this paper, a more complex spin system, a 2D spin network (SN) engineered by applying suitable unitaries to two uncoupled spin chains, is studied. Considering only the single-excitation subspace of the SN, it is demonstrated that the system can be operated as a router, directing information through the SN. It is also shown that it can serve to generate maximally entangled states between two sites. Furthermore, it is illustrated that this SN system can be used as a sensor device able to determine an unknown phase applied to a system spin. A detailed modeling investigation of the effects of static disorder in the system shows that this system is robust against different types of disorder.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Work statistics and Entanglement across the fermionic superfluid-insulator transition

Entanglement in many-body systems may display interesting signatures of quantum phase transitions and similar properties are starting to be encountered in the analysis of work fluctuations. Here, we consider the fermionic superfluid-to-insulator transition (SIT) and relate its entanglement properties with its work distribution statistics. The SIT is modeled by the attractive fermionic Hubbard model in the presence of randomly distributed impurities. The work distribution is calculated across two quench protocols, both triggering the SIT. In the first, the concentration of impurities is increased; in the second, the impurities' disorder strength is varied. Our results indicate that, the critical state that induces minimization of the entanglement also maximizes the average work. We demonstrate that, for this state, density fluctuations vanish at all orders, hence all central moments of the work probability distribution are exactly zero at criticality. For systems undergoing a precursor to the transition (short chains with finite impurity potential) numerical results confirm these predictions, with higher moments further from the ideal result. For both protocols, at criticality, the system absorbs the most energy with almost no penalty in terms of fluctuations: ultimately this feature could be used to implement a quantum critical battery. The effects of temperature on these signatures of critical behaviour are also investigated and shown to favor work extraction for high enough temperatures.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Correlation-boosted quantum engine: A proof-of-principle demonstration

Employing currently available quantum technology, we design and implement a non-classically correlated SWAP heat engine that allows to achieve an efficiency above the standard Carnot limit. Such an engine also boosts the amount of extractable work, in a wider parameter window, with respect to engine's cycle in the absence of initial quantum correlations in the working substance. The boosted efficiency arises from a trade-off between the entropy production and the consumption of quantum correlations during the full thermodynamic cycle. We derive a generalized second-law limit for the correlated cycle and implement a proof-of-principle demonstration of the engine efficiency enhancement by effectively tailoring the thermal engine on a cloud quantum processor.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Spatial correlations in the qubit properties of D-Wave 2000Q measured and simulated qubit networks

We show strong positive spatial correlations in the qubits of a D-Wave 2000Q quantum annealing chip that are connected to qubits outside their own unit cell. By simulating the dynamics of spin networks, we then show that correlation between nodes is affected by a number of factors. The different connectivity of qubits within the network means that information transfer is not straightforward even when all the qubit-qubit couplings have equal weighting. The similarity between connected nodes is further changed when the couplings' strength is scaled according to the physical length of the connections (here to simulate dipole-dipole interactions). This highlights the importance of understanding the architectural features and potentially unprogrammed interactions/connections that can divert the performance of a quantum system away from the idealised model of identical qubits and couplings across the chip.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Approximating quantum thermodynamic properties using DFT

The fabrication, utilisation, and efficiency of quantum technologies rely on a good understanding of quantum thermodynamic properties. Many-body systems are often used as hardware for these quantum devices, but interactions between particles make the complexity of related calculations grow exponentially with the system size. Here we explore and systematically compare `simple' and `hybrid' approximations to the average work and entropy variation built on static density functional theory concepts. These approximations are computationally cheap and could be applied to large systems. We exemplify them considering driven one-dimensional Hubbard chains and show that, for `simple' approximations and low to medium temperatures, it pays to consider a good Kohn-Sham Hamiltonian to approximate the driving Hamiltonian. Our results confirm that a `hybrid' approach, requiring a very good approximation of the initial and, for the entropy, final states of the system, provides great improvements. This approach should be particularly efficient when many-body effects are not increased by the driving Hamiltonian.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Evolutionary computation for adaptive quantum device design

As Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices grow in number of qubits, determining good or even adequate parameter configurations for a given application, or for device calibration, becomes a cumbersome task. An evolutionary algorithm is presented here which allows for the automatic tuning of the parameters of any arrangement of coupled qubits, to perform a given task with high fidelity. The algorithm's use is exemplified with the generation of schemes for the distribution of quantum states and the design of multi-qubit gates. The algorithm is demonstrated to converge very rapidly, yielding unforeseeable designs of quantum devices that perform their required tasks with excellent fidelities. Given these promising results, practical scalability and application versatility, the approach has the potential to become a powerful technique to aid the design and calibration of NISQ devices.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Easy access to energy fluctuations in non-equilibrium quantum many-body systems

We combine theoretical and experimental efforts to propose a method for studying energy fluctuations, in particular, to obtain the related bi-stochastic matrix of transition probabilities by means of simple measurements at the end of a protocol that drives a many-body quantum system out-of-equilibrium. This scheme is integrated with numerical optimizations in order to ensure a proper analysis of the experimental data, leading to physical probabilities. The method is experimentally evaluated employing a two interacting spin-1/2 system in a nuclear magnetic resonance setup. We show how to recover the transition probabilities using only local measures which enables an experimental verification of the detailed fluctuation theorem in a many-body system driven out-of-equilibrium.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Generation and Robustness of Quantum Entanglement in Spin Graphs

Entanglement is a crucial resource for quantum information processing, and so protocols to generate high fidelity entangled states on various hardware platforms are in demand. While spin chains have been extensively studied to generate entanglement, graph structures also have such potential; however, only a few classes of graphs have been explored for this specific task. In this paper, we apply a particular coupling scheme involving two different coupling strengths to a graph of two interconnected $3\times3$ square graphs such that it effectively contains three defects. We show how this structure allows generation of a Bell state whose fidelity depends on the chosen coupling ratio. We apply partitioned graph theory in order to reduce the dimension of the graph and show that, using a reduced graph or a reduced chain, we can still simulate the same protocol with identical dynamics. Finally, we investigate how fabrication errors affect the entanglement generation protocol and how the different equivalent structures are affected, finding that for some specific coupling ratios they are extremely robust.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Efficiency of free auxiliary models in describing interacting fermions: from the Kohn-Sham model to the optimal entanglement model

Density functional theory maps an interacting Hamiltonian onto the Kohn-Sham Hamiltonian, an explicitly free model with identical local fermion densities. Using the interaction distance, the minimum distance between the ground state of the interacting system and a generic free fermion state, we quantify the applicability and limitations of the exact Kohn-Sham model in capturing the various properties of the interacting system. As a byproduct, this distance determines the optimal free state that reproduces the entanglement properties of the interacting system as faithfully as possible. The parent Hamiltonian of the optimal free state identifies a system that can determine the expectation value of any observable with controlled accuracy. This optimal entanglement model opens up the possibility of extending the systematic applicability of auxiliary free models into the non-perturbative, strongly-correlated regimes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Work-distribution quantumness and irreversibility when crossing a quantum phase transition in finite time

The thermodynamic behavior of out-of-equilibrium quantum systems in finite-time dynamics encompasses the description of energy fluctuations, which dictates a series of system's physical properties. In addition, strong interactions in many-body systems strikingly affect the energy-fluctuation statistics along a non-equilibrium dynamics. By driving transient currents to oppose the precursor to metal-Mott insulator transition in a diversity of dynamical regimes, we show how increasing correlations dramatically affect the statistics of energy fluctuations and consequently the quantum work distribution of finite Hubbard chains. Statistical properties of such distributions, as its skewness, that changes dramatically across the transition, can be related to irreversibility and entropy production. Even close to adiabaticity, the quasi quantum phase transition hinders equilibration, increasing the process irreversibility, and inducing strong quantum features in the quantum work distribution. In the Mott-insulating phase the work fluctuation-dissipation balance gets modified, with the irreversible entropy production dominating over work fluctuations. The effect of an interaction-driven quantum-phase-transition on thermodynamics quantities and irreversibility has to be considered in the design of protocols in small scale devices for application in quantum technology. Eventually, such many-body effects can also be employed in work extraction and refrigeration protocols at quantum scale.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Chirality and intrinsic dissipation of spin modes in two-dimensional electron liquids

We review recent theoretical and experimental developments concerning collective spin excitations in two-dimensional electron liquid (2DEL) systems, with particular emphasis on the interplay between many-body and spin-orbit effects, as well as the intrinsic dissipation due to the spin-Coulomb drag. Historically, the experimental realization of 2DELs in silicon inversion layers in the 60s and 70s created unprecedented opportunities to probe subtle quantum effects, culminating in the discovery of the quantum Hall effect. In the following years, high quality 2DELs were obtained in doped quantum wells made in typical semiconductors like GaAs or CdTe. These systems became important test beds for quantum many-body effects due to Coulomb interaction, spin dynamics, spin-orbit coupling, effects of applied magnetic fields, as well as dissipation mechanisms. Here we focus on the recent results involving chiral effects and intrinsic dissipation of collective spin modes: these are not only of fundamental interest but also important towards demonstrating new concepts in spintronics. Moreover, new realizations of 2DELs are emerging beyond traditional semiconductors, for instance in multilayer graphene, oxide interfaces, dichalcogenide monolayers, and many more. The concepts discussed in this review will be relevant also for these emerging systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Entanglement in finite quantum systems under twisted boundary conditions

In a recent publication, we have discussed the effects of boundary conditions in finite quantum systems and their connection with symmetries. Focusing on the one-dimensional Hubbard Hamiltonian under twisted boundary conditions, we have shown that properties, such as the ground-state and gap energies, converge faster to the thermodynamical limit ($L \rightarrow \infty$) if a special torsion $Θ^*$ is adjusted to ensure particle-hole symmetry. Complementary to the previous research, the present paper extends our analysis to a key quantity for understanding correlations in many-body systems: the entanglement. Specifically, we investigate the average single-site entanglement $\langle S_j \rangle$ as a function of the coupling $U/t$ in Hubbard chains with up to $L=8$ sites and further examine the dependence of the per-site ground-state $ε_0$ on the torsion $Θ$ in different coupling regimes. We discuss the scaling of $ε_0$ and $\langle S_j \rangle$ under $Θ^*$ and analyse their convergence to Bethe Ansatz solution of the infinite Hubbard Hamiltonian. Additionally, we describe the exact diagonalization procedure used in our numerical calculations and show analytical calculations for the case-study of a trimer.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Melting a Hubbard dimer: benchmarks of `ALDA' for quantum thermodynamics

The competition between evolution time, interaction strength, and temperature challenges our understanding of many-body quantum systems out-of-equilibrium. Here we consider a benchmark system, the Hubbard dimer, which allows us to explore all the relevant regimes and calculate exactly the related average quantum work. At difference with previous studies, we focus on the effect of increasing temperature, and show how this can turn competition between many-body interactions and driving field into synergy. We then turn to use recently proposed protocols inspired by density functional theory to explore if these effects could be reproduced by using simple approximations. We find that, up to and including intermediate temperatures, a method which borrows from ground-state adiabatic local density approximation improves dramatically the estimate for the average quantum work, including, in the adiabatic regime, when correlations are strong. However at high temperature and at least when based on the pseudo-LDA, this method fails to capture the counterintuitive qualitative dependence of the quantum work with interaction strength, albeit getting the quantitative estimates relatively close to the exact results.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Fermionic correlations as metric distances: a useful tool for materials science

We introduce a rigorous, physically appealing, and practical way to measure distances between exchange-only correlations of interacting many-electron systems, which works regardless of their size and inhomogeneity. We show that this distance captures fundamental physical features such as the periodicity of atomic elements, and that it can be used to effectively and efficiently analyze the performance of density functional approximations. We suggest that this metric can find useful applications in high-throughput materials design.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Symmetries and boundary conditions with a twist

Interest in finite-size systems has risen in the last decades, due to the focus on nanotechnological applications and because they are convenient for numerical treatment that can subsequently be extrapolated to infinite lattices. Independently of the envisioned application, special attention must be given to boundary condition, which may or may not preserve the symmetry of the infinite lattice. Here we present a detailed study of the compatibility between boundary conditions and conservation laws. The conflict between open boundary conditions and momentum conservation is well understood, but we examine other symmetries, as well: we discuss gauge invariance, inversion, spin, and particle-hole symmetry and their compatibility with open, periodic, and twisted boundary conditions. We develop the reasoning in the framework of the one-dimensional half-filled Hubbard model, whose Hamiltonian displays a variety of symmetries. Our discussion includes analytical and numerical results. Our analytical survey shows that boundary conditions break one or more symmetries of the infinite-lattice Hamiltonian. The exception is twisted boundary condition with the special torsion $Θ=πL/2$, where $L$ is the lattice size. Our numerical results for the ground-state energy at half-filling and the energy gap for $L=2$--$7$ show how the breaking of symmetry affects the convergence to the $L\to\infty$ limit. We compare the computed energies and gaps with the exact results for the infinite lattice drawn from the Bethe-Ansatz solution. The deviations are boundary-condition dependent. The special torsion yields more rapid convergence than open or periodic boundary conditions. For sizes as small as $L=7$, the numerical results for twisted condition are very close to the $L\to\infty$ limit. We also discuss the ground-state electronic density and magnetization at half filling under the three boundary conditions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Robust Quantum Entanglement Generation and Generation-plus-Storage Protocols with Spin Chains

Reliable quantum communication/processing links between modules are a necessary building block for various quantum processing architectures. Here we consider a spin chain system with alternating strength couplings and containing three defects, that impose three domain walls between topologically distinct regions of the chain. We show that -- in addition to its useful, high fidelity, quantum state transfer properties -- an entangling protocol can be implemented in this system, with optional localisation and storage of the entangled states. We demonstrate both numerically and analytically that, given a suitable initial product-state injection, the natural dynamics of the system produces a maximally entangled state at a given time. We present detailed investigations of the effects of fabrication errors, analyzing random static disorder both in the diagonal and off-diagonal terms of the system Hamiltonian. Our results show that the entangled state formation is very robust against perturbations of up to $\sim10\%$ the weaker chain coupling, and also robust against timing injection errors. We propose a further protocol which manipulates the chain in order to localise and store each of the entangled qubits. The engineering of a system with such characteristics would thus provide a useful device for quantum information processing tasks involving the creation and storage of entangled resources.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Properties of quantum stochastic walks from the asymptotic scaling exponent

This work focuses on the study of quantum stochastic walks, which are a generalization of coherent, i. e. unitary quantum walks. Our main goal is to present a measure of a coherence of the walk. To this end, we utilize the asymptotic scaling exponent of the second moment of the walk i. e. of the mean squared distance covered by a walk. As the quantum stochastic walk model encompasses both classical random walks and quantum walks, we are interested how the continuous change from one regime to the other influences the asymptotic scaling exponent. Moreover this model allows for behavior which is not found in any of the previously mentioned model -- the model with global dissipation. We derive the probability distribution for the walker, and determine the asymptotic scaling exponent analytically, showing that ballistic regime of the walk is maintained even at large dissipation strength.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

DFT-inspired methods for quantum thermodynamics

In the framework of quantum thermodynamics, we propose a method to quantitatively describe thermodynamic quantities for out-of-equilibrium interacting many-body systems. The method is articulated in various approximation protocols which allow to achieve increasing levels of accuracy, it is relatively simple to implement even for medium and large number of interactive particles, and uses tools and concepts from density functional theory. We test the method on the driven Hubbard dimer at half filling, and compare exact and approximate results. We show that the proposed method reproduces the average quantum work to high accuracy: for a very large region of parameter space (which cuts across all dynamical regimes) estimates are within 10% of the exact results.

quant-ph↗