arXiv subjects

Martin Fraas

Publications and source records attributed to Martin Fraas.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

A many-body index for quantum charge transport

We propose an index for pairs of a unitary map and a clustering state on many-body quantum systems. We require the map to conserve an integer-valued charge and to leave the state, e.g. a gapped ground state, invariant. This index is integer-valued and stable under perturbations. In general, the index measures the charge transport across a fiducial line. We show that it reduces to (i) an index of projections in the case of non-interacting fermions, (ii) the charge density for translational invariant systems, and (iii) the quantum Hall conductance in the two-dimensional setting without any additional symmetry. Example (ii) recovers the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorem, and (iii) provides a new and short proof of quantization of Hall conductance in interacting many-body systems.

math-ph↗

arXiv2019

The adiabatic theorem in a quantum many-body setting

In these lecture notes, we review the adiabatic theorem in quantum mechanics, focusing on a recent extension to many-body systems. The role of locality is emphasized and the relation to the quasi-adiabatic flow discussed. An important application of these results to linear response theory is also reviewed.

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

Quantization of conductance in gapped interacting systems

We provide a short proof of the quantisation of the Hall conductance for gapped interacting quantum lattice systems on the two-dimensional torus. This is not new and should be seen as an adaptation of the proof of [1], simplified by making the stronger assumption that the Hamiltonian remains gapped when threading the torus with fluxes. We argue why this assumption is very plausible. The conductance is given by Berry's curvature and our key auxiliary result is that the curvature is asymptotically constant across the torus of fluxes.

math-ph↗

arXiv2018

Note on linear response for interacting Hall insulators

We relate explicitly the adiabatic curvature -- in flux space -- of an interacting Hall insulator with nondegenerate ground state to various linear response coefficients, in particular the Kubo response and the adiabatic response. The flexibility of the setup, allowing for various driving terms and currents, reflects the topological nature of the adiabatic curvature. We also outline an abstract connection between Kubo response and adiabatic response, corresponding to the fact that electric fields can be generated both by electrostatic potentials and time-dependent magnetic fields. Our treatment fits in the framework of rigorous many-body theory, thanks to the gap assumption.

math-ph↗

arXiv2017

The adiabatic theorem and linear response theory for extended quantum systems

The adiabatic theorem refers to a setup where an evolution equation contains a time-dependent parameter whose change is very slow, measured by a vanishing parameter $ε$. Under suitable assumptions the solution of the time-inhomogenous equation stays close to an instantaneous fixpoint. In the present paper, we prove an adiabatic theorem with an error bound that is independent of the number of degrees of freedom. Our setup is that of quantum spin systems where the manifold of ground states is separated from the rest of the spectrum by a spectral gap. One important application is the proof of the validity of linear response theory for such extended, genuinely interacting systems. In general, this is a long-standing mathematical problem, which can be solved in the present particular case of a gapped system, relevant e.g.~for the integer quantum Hall effect.

math-ph↗

arXiv2017

Adiabatic Theorem for Quantum Spin Systems

The first proof of the quantum adiabatic theorem was given as early as 1928. Today, this theorem is increasingly applied in a many-body context, e.g. in quantum annealing and in studies of topological properties of matter. In this setup, the rate of variation $\varepsilon$ of local terms is indeed small compared to the gap, but the rate of variation of the total, extensive Hamiltonian, is not. Therefore, applications to many-body systems are not covered by the proofs and arguments in the literature. In this letter, we prove a version of the adiabatic theorem for gapped ground states of quantum spin systems, under assumptions that remain valid in the thermodynamic limit. As an application, we give a mathematical proof of Kubo linear response formula for a broad class of gapped interacting systems.

math-ph↗

arXiv2017

Invariant Measure for Quantum Trajectories

We study a class of Markov chains that model the evolution of a quantum system subject to repeated measurements. Each Markov chain in this class is defined by a measure on the space of matrices. It is then given by a random product of correlated matrices taken from the support of the defining measure. We give natural conditions on this support that imply that the Markov chain admits a unique invariant probability measure. We moreover prove the geometric convergence towards this invariant measure in the Wasserstein metric. Standard techniques from the theory of products of random matrices cannot be applied under our assumptions, and new techniques are developed, such as maximum likelihood-type estimations.

math.PR↗

arXiv2016

On Landau-Zener transitions for dephasing Lindbladians

We consider a driven open system whose evolution is described by a Lindbladian. The Lindbladian is assumed to be dephasing and its Hamiltonian part to be given by the Landau-Zener Hamiltonian. We derive a formula for the transition probability which, unlike previous results, extends the Landau-Zener formula to open systems.

math-ph↗

arXiv2016

Geometry and response of Lindbladians

Markovian reservoir engineering, in which time evolution of a quantum system is governed by a Lindblad master equation, is a powerful technique in studies of quantum phases of matter and quantum information. It can be used to drive a quantum system to a desired (unique) steady state, which can be an exotic phase of matter difficult to stabilize in nature. It can also be used to drive a system to a unitarily-evolving subspace, which can be used to store, protect, and process quantum information. In this paper, we derive a formula for the map corresponding to asymptotic (infinite-time) Lindbladian evolution and use it to study several important features of the unique state and subspace cases. We quantify how subspaces retain information about initial states and show how to use Lindbladians to simulate any quantum channels. We show that the quantum information in all subspaces can be successfully manipulated by small Hamiltonian perturbations, jump operator perturbations, or adiabatic deformations. We provide a Lindblad-induced notion of distance between adiabatically connected subspaces. We derive a Kubo formula governing linear response of subspaces to time-dependent Hamiltonian perturbations and determine cases in which this formula reduces to a Hamiltonian-based Kubo formula. As an application, we show that (for gapped systems) the zero-frequency Hall conductivity is unaffected by many types of Markovian dissipation. Finally, we show that the energy scale governing leakage out of the subspaces, resulting from either Hamiltonian/jump-operator perturbations or corrections to adiabatic evolution, is different from the conventional Lindbladian dissipative gap and, in certain cases, is equivalent to the excitation gap of a related Hamiltonian.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Full statistics of erasure processes: Isothermal adiabatic theory and a statistical Landauer principle

We study driven finite quantum systems in contact with a thermal reservoir in the regime in which the system changes slowly in comparison to the equilibration time. The associated isothermal adiabatic theorem allows us to control the full statistics of energy transfers in quasi-static processes. Within this approach, we extend Landauer's Principle on the energetic cost of erasure processes to the level of the full statistics and elucidate the nature of the fluctuations breaking Landauer's bound.

math-ph↗

arXiv2016

An analysis of the stationary operation of atomic clocks

We develop an abstract model of atomic clocks that fully describes the dynamics of repeated synchronization between a classical oscillator and a quantum reference. We prove existence of a stationary state of the model and study its dependence on the control scheme, the interrogation time and the stability of the oscillator. For unbiased atomic clocks, we derive a fundamental bound on atomic clocks long time stability for a given local oscillator noise. In particular, we show that for a local oscillator noise with integrated frequency variance scaling as $T^α$ for short times $T$, the optimal clock time variance scales as $F^{-(α+1)/(α+2)}$ with respect to the quantum Fisher information, $F$, associated to the quantum reference.

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↗

arXiv2015

Distinguishing decoherence from alternative quantum theories by dynamical decoupling

A longstanding challenge in the foundations of quantum mechanics is the verification of alternative collapse theories despite their mathematical similarity to decoherence. To this end, we suggest a novel method based on dynamical decoupling. Experimental observation of nonzero saturation of the decoupling error in the limit of fast decoupling operations can provide evidence for alternative quantum theories. As part of the analysis we prove that unbounded Hamiltonians can always be decoupled, and provide novel dilations of Lindbladians.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Indirect retrieval of information and the emergence of facts in quantum mechanics

Long sequences of successive direct (projective) measurements or observations of a few "uninteresting" physical quantities of a quantum system may reveal indirect, but precise and unambiguous information on the values of some very "interesting" observables of the system. In this paper, the mathematics underlying this claim is developed; i.e., we attempt to contribute to a mathematical theory of indirect and, in particular, non-demolition measurements in quantum mechanics. Our attempt leads us to make novel uses of classical notions and results of probability theory, such as the "algebra of functions measurable at infinity", the Central Limit Theorem, results concerning relative entropy and its role in the theory of large deviations, etc.

math-ph↗

arXiv2014

Bayesian quantum frequency estimation in presence of collective dephasing

We advocate a Bayesian approach to optimal quantum frequency estimation - an important issue for future quantum enhanced atomic clock operation. The approach provides a clear insight into the interplay between decoherence and the extent of the prior knowledge in determining the optimal interrogation times and optimal estimation strategies. We propose a general framework capable of describing local oscillator noise as well as additional collective atomic dephasing effects. For a Gaussian noise the average Bayesian cost can be expressed using the quantum Fisher information and thus we establish a direct link between the two, often competing, approaches to quantum estimation theory

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Adiabatic theorem for a class of quantum stochastic equations

We derive an adiabatic theory for a stochastic differential equation, $ \varepsilon\, \mathrm{d} X(s) = L_1(s) X(s)\, \mathrm{d} s + \sqrt{\varepsilon} L_2(s) X(s) \, \mathrm{d} B_s, $ under a condition that instantaneous stationary states of $L_1(s)$ are also stationary states of $L_2(s)$. We use our results to derive the full statistics of tunneling for a driven stochastic Schrödinger equation describing a dephasing process.

math-ph↗

arXiv2012

Isolated singularities of positive solutions of p-Laplacian type equations in R^d

We study the behavior of positive solutions of p-Laplacian type elliptic equations of the form Q'(u) := -p-Laplacian(u) + V |u|^(p-2) u = 0 in Omega near an isolated singular point zeta, where 1 < p < inf, Omega is a domain in R^d with d > 1, and zeta = 0 or zeta = inf. We obtain removable singularity theorems for positive solutions near zeta. In particular, using a new three-spheres theorems for certain solutions of the above equation near zeta we prove that if V belongs to a certain Kato class near zeta and p>d (respectively, p<d), then any positive solution u of the equation Q'(u)=0 in a punctured neighborhood of zeta=0 (respectively, zeta=inf) is in fact continuous at zeta. Under further assumptions we find the asymptotic behavior of u near zeta.

math.AP↗