arXiv subjects

M. Heyl

Publications and source records attributed to M. Heyl.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Spectrum and low-temperature bulk properties of triangular quantum spin liquid candidate NaYbSe$_2$

We report neutron scattering, pressure-dependent AC calorimetry, and AC magnetic susceptibility measurements of triangular lattice NaYbSe$_2$. We observe a continuum of scattering, which is reproduced by matrix product simulations, and no phase transition is detected in any bulk measurements. Comparison to heat capacity simulations suggest the material is within the Heisenberg spin liquid phase. AC Susceptibility shows a frequency-dependent peak at 40 mK, as has been observed in several triangular magnets.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Wave function network description and Kolmogorov complexity of quantum many-body systems

Programmable quantum devices are now able to probe wave functions at unprecedented levels. This is based on the ability to project the many-body state of atom and qubit arrays onto a measurement basis which produces snapshots of the system wave function. Extracting and processing information from such observations remains, however, an open quest. One often resorts to analyzing low-order correlation functions - i.e., discarding most of the available information content. Here, we introduce wave function networks - a mathematical framework to describe wave function snapshots based on network theory. For many-body systems, these networks can become scale free - a mathematical structure that has found tremendous success in a broad set of fields, ranging from biology to epidemics to internet science. We demonstrate the potential of applying these techniques to quantum science by introducing protocols to extract the Kolmogorov complexity corresponding to the output of a quantum simulator, and implementing tools for fully scalable cross-platform certification based on similarity tests between networks. We demonstrate the emergence of scale-free networks analyzing data from Rydberg quantum simulators manipulating up to 100 atoms. We illustrate how, upon crossing a phase transition, the system complexity decreases while correlation length increases - a direct signature of build up of universal behavior in data space. Comparing experiments with numerical simulations, we achieve cross-certification at the wave-function level up to timescales of 4 $\mu$ s with a confidence level of 90%, and determine experimental calibration intervals with unprecedented accuracy. Our framework is generically applicable to the output of quantum computers and simulators with in situ access to the system wave function, and requires probing accuracy and repetition rates accessible to most currently available platforms.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Finite-temperature critical behavior of long-range quantum Ising models

We study the phase diagram and critical properties of quantum Ising chains with long-range ferromagnetic interactions decaying in a power-law fashion with exponent $\alpha$, in regimes of direct interest for current trapped ion experiments. Using large-scale path integral Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate both the ground-state and the nonzero-temperature regimes. We identify the phase boundary of the ferromagnetic phase and obtain accurate estimates for the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition temperatures. We further determine the critical exponents of the respective transitions. Our results are in agreement with existing predictions for interaction exponents $\alpha > 1$ up to small deviations in some critical exponents. We also address the elusive regime $\alpha < 1$, where we find that the universality class of both the ground-state and nonzero-temperature transition is consistent with the mean-field limit at $\alpha = 0$. Our work not only contributes to the understanding of the equilibrium properties of long-range interacting quantum Ising models, but can also be important for addressing fundamental dynamical aspects, such as issues concerning the open question of thermalization in such models.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2020

Spatiotemporal dynamics of particle collisions in quantum spin chains

Recent developments have highlighted the potential of quantum spin models to realize the phenomenology of confinement leading to the formation of bound states such as mesons. In this work we show that Ising chains also provide a platform to realize and probe particle collisions in pristine form with the key advantage that one can not only monitor the asymptotic particle production, but also the whole spatiotemporal dynamics of the collision event. We study both elastic and inelastic collisions between different kinds of mesons and also more complex bound states of mesons, which one can interpret as an analog of exotic particles such as the tetraquark in quantum chromodynamics. We argue that our results not only apply to the specific studied spin model, but can be readily extended to lattice gauge theories in a more general context. As the considered Ising chains admit a natural realization in various quantum simulator platforms, it is a key implication of this work that particle collisions therefore become amenable within current experimental scope. Concretely, we discuss a potentially feasible implementation in systems of Rydberg atoms.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Disorder-free localization in an interacting two-dimensional lattice gauge theory

Disorder-free localization has been recently introduced as a mechanism for ergodicity breaking in low-dimensional homogeneous lattice gauge theories caused by local constraints imposed by gauge invariance. We show that also genuinely interacting systems in two spatial dimensions can become nonergodic as a consequence of this mechanism. Specifically, we prove nonergodic behavior in the quantum link model by obtaining a rigorous bound on the localization-delocalization transition through a classical correlated percolation problem implying a fragmentation of Hilbert space on the nonergodic side of the transition. We study the quantum dynamics in this system by means of an efficient and perturbatively controlled representation of the wavefunction in terms of a variational network of classical spins akin to artificial neural networks. We identify a distinguishing dynamical signature by studying the propagation of line defects, yielding different light cone structures in the localized and ergodic phases, respectively. The methods we introduce in this work can be applied to any lattice gauge theory with finite-dimensional local Hilbert spaces irrespective of spatial dimensionality.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Dynamical Topological Quantum Phase Transitions for Mixed States

We introduce and study dynamical probes of band structure topology in the post-quench time-evolution from mixed initial states of quantum many-body systems. Our construction generalizes the notion of dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs), a real-time counterpart of conventional equilibrium phase transitions in quantum dynamics, to finite temperatures and generalized Gibbs ensembles. The non-analytical signatures hallmarking these mixed state DQPTs are found to be characterized by observable phase singularities manifesting in the dynamical formation of vortex-antivortex pairs in the interferometric phase of the density matrix. Studying quenches in Chern insulators, we find that changes in the topological properties of the Hamiltonian can be identified in this scenario, without ever preparing a topologically non-trivial or low-temperature initial state. Our observations are of immediate relevance for current experiments aimed at realizing topological phases in ultracold atomic gases.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Direct observation of dynamical quantum phase transitions in an interacting many-body system

Dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) extend the concept of phase transitions and thus universality to the non-equilibrium regime. In this letter, we investigate DQPTs in a string of ions simulating interacting transverse-field Ising models. We observe non-equilibrium dynamics induced by a quantum quench and show for strings of up to 10 ions the direct detection of DQPTs by measuring a quantity that becomes non-analytic in time in the thermodynamic limit. Moreover, we provide a link between DQPTs and the dynamics of other relevant quantities such as the magnetization, and we establish a connection between DQPTs and entanglement production.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Cosmic vacuum energy decay and creation of cosmic matter

In the more recent literature on cosmological evolutions of the universe the cosmic vacuum energy has become a non-renouncable ingredient. The cosmological constant $Λ$, first invented by Einstein, but later also rejected by him, presently experiences an astonishing revival. Interestingly enough it acts, like a constant vacuum energy density would also do. Namely, it has an accelerating action on cosmic dynamics without which, as it appears, presently obtained cosmological data cannot be conciliated with theory. As we are going to show in this review, however, the concept of a constant vacuum energy density is unsatisfactory for very basic reasons, since it would claim for a physical reality that acts upon spacetime and matter dynamics without itself being acted upon by spacetime or matter.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

New Aspects of Photon Propagation in Expanding Universes

According to present cosmological views the energy density of CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) photons, freely propagating through the expanding cosmos, varies proportional to 1/S^4 with S being the scale factor of the universe. This behavior is expected, because General Theory of Relativity, in application to FLRW- (Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker) cosmological universes, leads to the conclusion that the photon wavelengths increase during their free passage through the spacetime metrics of the universe by the same factor as does the scale factor S. This appears to be a reasonable explanation for the presently observed Planckian CMB spectrum with its actual temperature of about 2.7 K, while at the time of its origin after the last scattering during the recombination phase its temperature should have been about 3000 K, at an epoch of about 380 ky after the Big Bang, when the scale of the universe S_r was smaller by roughly a factor of S/S_r = 1+z_r = 1100 compared to the present scale S = S_0 of the universe. In this paper we start from putting the question whether the scale-behavior of the CMB energy density that enters the energy-momentum tensor of the field equations describing the expanding universe is really falling off like 1/S^4 and, if in fact a deviation from a behavior according to 1/S^4 would occur, why do we nevertheless presently observe a CMB energy density which appears to be in accordance with such a 1/S^4-scaling? This question arises from another basic and fundamental question, namely: Can we really assume that the wavelength of the freely propagating photon during its travel all the way along its light geodetic is permanently affected by the expansion of the universe, i.e continuously recognizes the expansion of the cosmic scale S? With other words: Do freely propagating photons ........

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2016

Real-time dynamics of lattice gauge theories with a few-qubit quantum computer

Gauge theories are fundamental to our understanding of interactions between the elementary constituents of matter as mediated by gauge bosons. However, computing the real-time dynamics in gauge theories is a notorious challenge for classical computational methods. In the spirit of Feynman's vision of a quantum simulator, this has recently stimulated theoretical effort to devise schemes for simulating such theories on engineered quantum-mechanical devices, with the difficulty that gauge invariance and the associated local conservation laws (Gauss laws) need to be implemented. Here we report the first experimental demonstration of a digital quantum simulation of a lattice gauge theory, by realising 1+1-dimensional quantum electrodynamics (Schwinger model) on a few-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer. We are interested in the real-time evolution of the Schwinger mechanism, describing the instability of the bare vacuum due to quantum fluctuations, which manifests itself in the spontaneous creation of electron-positron pairs. To make efficient use of our quantum resources, we map the original problem to a spin model by eliminating the gauge fields in favour of exotic long-range interactions, which have a direct and efficient implementation on an ion trap architecture. We explore the Schwinger mechanism of particle-antiparticle generation by monitoring the mass production and the vacuum persistence amplitude. Moreover, we track the real-time evolution of entanglement in the system, which illustrates how particle creation and entanglement generation are directly related. Our work represents a first step towards quantum simulating high-energy theories with atomic physics experiments, the long-term vision being the extension to real-time quantum simulations of non-Abelian lattice gauge theories.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

The thermodynamics of a gravitating vacuum

In the present days of modern cosmology it is assumed that the main ingredient to cosmic energy presently is vacuum energy with an energy density $ε_\mathrm{vac}$ that is constant over the cosmic evolution. In this paper here we show, however, that this assumption of constant vacuum energy density is unphysical, since it conflicts with the requirements of cosmic thermodynamics. We start from the total vacuum energy including the negatively valued gravitational binding energy and show that cosmic thermodynamics then requires that the cosmic vacuum energy density can only vary with cosmic scale $R=R(t)$ according to $ε_\mathrm{vac}\sim R^{-ν}$ with only two values of $ν$ being allowed, namely $ν_\mathrm{1}=2$ and $ν_\mathrm{2}=5/2$. We then discuss these two remaining solutions and find, when requiring a universe with a constant total energy, that the only allowed power index is $ν_\mathrm{1}=2$. We discuss the consequences of this scaling of $ε_\mathrm{vac}$ and show the results for a cosmic scale evolution of a quasi-empty universe like the one that we are presently faced by.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2006

About universes with scale-related total masses and their abolition of presently outstanding cosmological problems

Cosmological consequences of a strictly valid total energy conservation for the whole universe are investigated in this paper. Interestingly enough as one consequence of ergodically behaving universes very specific scaling laws with the diameter R of the universe can be derived for relevant cosmic quantities. Especially the 1/R^2- scaling of mass - and vacuum energy - density then automatically leads to a vanishing cosmic curvature parameter k=0 and also reveals, that for such universes no horizon problem occurs. In addition the longstanding problem of observationally indicated very low cosmic vacuum energies in contrast to the very large quantumfield estimates is easily solved when the vacuum energy density decay with 1/R^2 is taken into account reconciling presently observed vacuum energy density values with those from theoretical expectations. We also suggest why the mass of the universe can permanently increase and can in fact grow up from a Planck mass as a pure vacuum fluctuation.

astro-ph↗