arXiv subjects

Nelly H. Y. Ng

Publications and source records attributed to Nelly H. Y. Ng.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Field-Space Entanglement Dynamics Between Tunnel-Coupled Luttinger Liquids

Entanglement dynamics depend not only on how a quantum system is partitioned, but critically on how interactions across that partition are structured. For a spatial bipartition of a locally interacting system, entanglement is generated near the boundary and then propagates into the bulk. By contrast, when two extended quantum fields are coupled locally along their entire length, the interaction crosses the field-space partition everywhere, and this generates correlations throughout the system. Here, we study the entanglement dynamics between two gapless one-dimensional quantum many-body systems described by Luttinger liquid theory. The systems are initially decoupled and prepared at zero or finite temperature, after which a time-dependent tunneling interaction is activated uniformly along their length. Within a Gaussian approximation, we derive general analytical expressions for the logarithmic negativity, mutual information, and Rényi entropies under arbitrary coupling protocols. At zero temperature, entanglement displays an early-time power-law growth whose exponent is fixed solely by the first non-null derivative of the tunneling protocol. Once the coupling saturates, we obtain exact long-time averages of the information-theoretic quantities and characterise how the correlations scale with temperature and the final coupling strength. We also analyse how mutual information and logarithmic negativity approach the adiabatic limit for a very slow protocol with respect to intrinsic system timescale. This work extends the study of entanglement dynamics in nonequilibrium field theory to field-space partitions and mixed initial states.

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arXiv2026

Extensive entanglement between coupled Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids in and out of equilibrium

Quantum entanglement exists in nature but is absent in classical physics, hence it fundamentally distinguishes quantum from classical theories. While entanglement is routinely observed for few-body systems, it is significantly more challenging to witness in quantum many-body systems. Here, we theoretically study entanglement between two parallel and spatially separated Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids (TLLs) partitioned along the longitudinal axis. In particular, we focus on 1D Bose gases as a realization of TLLs and investigate two experimentally relevant situations: tunnel-coupled gases at finite temperatures and after coherent splitting. In both scenarios, we analytically calculate the logarithmic negativity and identify a threshold temperature below which the system is entangled. Notably, this threshold temperature is accessible in the current and near-term 1D Bose gas experiments. Furthermore, we investigate the crossover between quantum and classical correlations in the vicinity of the threshold temperature by comparing logarithmic negativity with mutual information. We argue that the initial mutual information established by the coherent splitting is conserved in TLL dynamics, thus preventing certain generalized Gibbs ensembles from being reached during prethermalization. Moreover, both logarithmic negativity and mutual information are found to scale extensively with the subsystem's length. Although the ground-state entanglement between coupled TLLs has been predicted to be extensive, this setting is largely overlooked compared to other partitions. Our work extends the study of entanglement between coupled TLLs to finite temperatures and out-of-equilibrium regimes, and provides a strategy towards experimental detection of extensive entanglement in quantum many-body systems at finite temperatures.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

Gaussian time-translation covariant operations: structure, implementation, and thermodynamics

Time-translation symmetry strongly constrains physical dynamics, yet systematic characterization for continuous-variable systems lags behind its discrete-variable counterpart. We close this gap by providing a rigorous classification of Gaussian quantum operations that are covariant under time translations, termed Gaussian covariant operations. We show that several key results known for discrete-variable covariant operations break down in the Gaussian optical setting: discrepancies arise in physical and thermodynamic implementation, in the extensivity of asymmetry, and in catalytic advantages. Our results provide comprehensive mathematical and operational toolkits for Gaussian covariant operations, including a peculiar pair of asymmetry measures that are completely non-extensive. Our findings also reveal surprising consequences of the interplay among symmetry, Gaussianity, and thermodynamic constraints, suggesting that real-world scenarios with multiple constraints have a rich structure not accessible from examining individual constraints separately.

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arXiv2026

Generalized Numerical Framework for Improved Finite-Sized Key Rates with Rényi Entropy

Quantum key distribution requires tight and reliable bounds on the secret key rate to ensure robust security. This is particularly so for the regime of finite block sizes, where the optimization of generalized Rényi entropic quantities is known to provide tighter bounds on the key rate. However, such an optimization is often non-trivial, and the non-monotonicity of the key rate in terms of the Rényi parameter demands additional optimization to determine the optimal Rényi parameter as a function of block sizes. In this work, we present a tight analytical bound on the Rényi entropy in terms of the Rényi divergence and derive the analytical gradient of the Rényi divergence. This enables us to generalize existing state-of-the-art numerical frameworks for the optimization of the key rate. With this generalized framework, we show improvements in regimes of high loss and low block sizes, which are particularly relevant for long-distance satellite-based protocols.

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arXiv2026

Manipulating heterogeneous quantum resources over a network

Quantum information processing relies on a variety of resources, including entanglement, coherence, non-Gaussianity, and magic. In realistic settings, protocols run on networks of parties with heterogeneous local resource constraints, so different resources coexist and interact. Yet, resource theories have mostly treated each resource in isolation, and a general theory for manipulation in such distributed settings has been lacking. We develop a unified framework for composite quantum resource theories that describes distributed networks of locally constrained parties. We formulate natural axioms a composite theory should satisfy to respect the local structure, and from these axioms derive fundamental bounds on resource manipulation that hold universally, independent of the particular network characteristics. We apply our results to central operational tasks, including resource conversion and assisted distillation, and introduce new methods to construct new resource monotones from this setup. Our framework further reveals previously unexplored phenomena in the remote certification of quantum resources. Together, these results establish foundational laws for distributed quantum resource manipulation across diverse physical platforms.

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arXiv2026

Grover's algorithm is an approximation of imaginary-time evolution

We reveal the power of Grover's algorithm from thermodynamic and geometric perspectives by showing that it is a product formula approximation of imaginary-time evolution (ITE), a Riemannian gradient flow on the special unitary group. This ITE formulation provides a unified perspective on Grover's algorithm, its variants and extensions to widely used quantum subroutines including amplitude amplification and oblivious amplitude amplification. Specifically, the framework explains the choice of angles in the original Grover's algorithm and $π/3$-algorithm. It also motivates a new $π/2$-algorithm, for cases a modest failure probability is acceptable, that converges faster than the $π/3$-algorithm without overshooting. Our analysis further provides a link between ITE and quantum signal processing, which yields a new implementation of the fixed-point quantum search algorithm. Moreover, the ITE formulation can systematically reproduce widely-used subroutines in modern quantum algorithms, such as (oblivious) amplitude amplification. These results collectively establish a deeper understanding of Grover's algorithm and suggest a potential role for thermodynamics and geometry in quantum algorithm design.

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arXiv2026

Catalytic channels are the only noise-robust catalytic processes

Catalysis refers to the possibility of enabling otherwise inaccessible quantum state transitions by supplying an auxiliary system, provided that the auxiliary is returned to its initial state at the end of the protocol. We show that previous studies on catalysis are largely impractical, because even small errors in the system's initial state can irreversibly degrade the catalyst. To overcome this limitation, we introduce robust catalytic transformations and explore the fundamental extent of their capabilities. We demonstrate that robust catalysis is closely tied to the property of resource broadcasting. In particular, in completely resource non-generating theories, robust catalysis is possible if and only if resource broadcasting is possible. We develop a no-go theorem under a set of general axioms, demonstrating that robust catalysis is unattainable for a broad class of quantum resource theories. However, surprisingly, we also identify thermodynamical scenarios where maximal robust catalytic advantage can be achieved. Our approach clarifies the practical prospects of catalytic advantage for a wide range of quantum resources, including entanglement, coherence, thermodynamics, magic, and imaginarity.

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arXiv2025

Double-bracket algorithm for quantum signal processing without post-selection

Quantum signal processing (QSP), a framework for implementing matrix-valued polynomials, is a fundamental primitive in various quantum algorithms. Despite its versatility, a potentially underappreciated challenge is that all systematic protocols for implementing QSP rely on post-selection. This can impose prohibitive costs for tasks when amplitude amplification cannot sufficiently improve the success probability. For example, in the context of ground-state preparation, this occurs when using a too poor initial state. In this work, we introduce a new formula for implementing QSP transformations of Hermitian matrices, which requires neither auxiliary qubits nor post-selection. Rather, using approximation to the exact unitary synthesis, we leverage the theory of the double-bracket quantum algorithms to provide a new quantum algorithm for QSP, termed Double-Bracket QSP (DB-QSP). The algorithm requires the energy and energetic variance of the state to be measured at each step and has a recursive structure, which leads to circuit depths that can grow super exponentially with the degree of the polynomial. With these strengths and caveats in mind, DB-QSP should be viewed as complementing the established QSP toolkit. In particular, DB-QSP can deterministically implement low-degree polynomials to "warm start" QSP methods involving post-selection.

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arXiv2025

Double-bracket quantum algorithms for high-fidelity ground state preparation

Ground state preparation is a central application for quantum computers but remains challenging in practice. In this work, we quantitatively investigate the performance and gate counts of double-bracket quantum algorithms (DBQAs) for ground state preparation. We propose a practical strategy in which DBQAs refine initial state preparation circuits, and we compile them for Heisenberg chains using controlled-Z and single-qubit gates. Warm-started DBQAs consistently improve both the energy and ground-state fidelity relative to the initial states provided by variational ansätze, indicating that DBQAs offer an effective unitary synthesis method. To demonstrate compatibility with near-term hardware, we executed a proof-of-concept example on IBM devices. With error mitigation, we observed a statistically significant improvement over the corresponding warm-start circuit. Furthermore, numerical emulations for the same system size indicate that executing DBQAs on Quantinuum's hardware could achieve similar cost-function gains without requiring error mitigation. These findings suggest that DBQAs are a promising approach for enhancing ground-state approximations on near-term quantum devices.

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arXiv2025

Thermal operations from informational equilibrium

Thermal operations are quantum channels that have taken a prominent role in deriving fundamental thermodynamic limitations in quantum systems. We show that these channels are uniquely characterized by a purely quantum information theoretic property: They admit a dilation into a unitary process that leaves the environment invariant when applied to the equilibrium state. In other words, they are the only channels that preserve equilibrium between system and environment. Extending this perspective, we explore an information theoretic idealization of heat bath behavior, by considering channels where the environment remains locally invariant for every initial state of the system. These are known as catalytic channels. We show that catalytic channels provide a refined hierarchy of Gibbs-preserving maps for fully-degenerate Hamiltonians, and are closely related to dual unitary quantum circuits.

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arXiv2025

Double-bracket quantum algorithms for quantum imaginary-time evolution

Efficiently preparing approximate ground-states of large, strongly correlated systems on quantum hardware is challenging and yet nature is innately adept at this. This has motivated the study of thermodynamically inspired approaches to ground-state preparation that aim to replicate cooling processes via imaginary-time evolution. However, synthesizing quantum circuits that efficiently implement imaginary-time evolution is itself difficult, with prior proposals generally adopting heuristic variational approaches or using deep block encodings. Here, we use the insight that quantum imaginary-time evolution is a solution of Brockett's double-bracket flow and synthesize circuits that implement double-bracket flows coherently on the quantum computer. We prove that our Double-Bracket Quantum Imaginary-Time Evolution (DB-QITE) algorithm inherits the cooling guarantees of imaginary-time evolution. Concretely, each step is guaranteed to i) decrease the energy of an initial approximate ground-state by an amount proportion to the energy fluctuations of the initial state and ii) increase the fidelity with the ground-state. We provide gate counts for DB-QITE through numerical simulations in Qrisp which demonstrate scenarios where DB-QITE outperforms quantum phase estimation. Thus DB-QITE provides a means to systematically improve the approximation of a ground-state using shallow circuits.

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arXiv2025

Second Law of Entanglement Manipulation with Entanglement Battery

A central question since the beginning of quantum information science is how two distant parties can convert one entangled state into another. It has been conjectured that such conversions could be executed reversibly in an asymptotic regime, mirroring the reversible nature of Carnot cycles in classical thermodynamics. While a conclusive proof of this conjecture has been missing so far, earlier studies have excluded reversible entanglement manipulation in various settings. In this work, we show that arbitrary mixed state entanglement transformations can be made reversible under local operations and classical communication, when assisted by an entanglement battery--an auxiliary quantum system that stores and supplies entanglement in a way that ensures no net entanglement is lost. In particular, the rate of transformation in the asymptotic limit can be quantitatively expressed as a ratio of entanglement present within the quantum states involved. Our setting allows to consider different entanglement quantifiers which give rise to unique principles governing state transformations, effectively constituting diverse manifestations of a ``second law'' of entanglement manipulation. These findings resolve a long-standing open question on the reversible manipulation of entangled states and are also applicable to multipartite entanglement and other quantum resource theories, including quantum thermodynamics.

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arXiv2025

Fully passive quantum random number generation with untrusted light

Quantum random number generators (QRNGs) harness the inherent unpredictability of quantum mechanics to produce true randomness. Yet, in many optical implementations, the light source remains a potential vulnerability - susceptible to deviations from ideal behavior and even adversarial eavesdropping. Source-device-independent (SDI) protocols address this with a pragmatic strategy, by removing trust assumptions on the source, and instead rely on realistic modelling and characterization of the measurement device. In this work, we enhance an existing SDI-QRNG protocol by eliminating the need for a perfectly balanced beam splitter within the trusted measurement device, which is an idealized assumption made for the simplification of security analysis. We demonstrate that certified randomness can still be reliably extracted across a wide range of beam-splitting ratios, significantly improving the protocol's practicality and robustness. Using only off-the-shelf components, our implementation achieves real-time randomness generation rates of 0.347 Gbps. We also experimentally validate the protocol's resilience against adversarial attacks and highlight its self-testing capabilities. These advances mark a significant step toward practical, lightweight, high-performance, fully-passive, and composably secure QRNGs suitable for real-world deployment.

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arXiv2025

Systematic analysis of relative phase extraction in one-dimensional Bose gases interferometry

Spatially resolved relative phase measurement of two adjacent 1D Bose gases is enabled by matter-wave interference upon free expansion. However, longitudinal dynamics is typically ignored in the analysis of experimental data. We provide an analytical formula showing a correction to the readout of the relative phase due to longitudinal expansion and mixing with the common phase. We numerically assess the error propagation to the estimation of the gases' physical quantities such as correlation functions and temperature. Our work characterizes the reliability and robustness of interferometric measurements, directing us to the improvement of existing phase extraction methods necessary to observe new physical phenomena in cold-atomic quantum simulators.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Measurement of total phase fluctuation in cold-atomic quantum simulators

Studying the dynamics of quantum many-body systems is often constrained by the limitations in probing relevant observables, especially in continuous systems. A powerful method to gain information about such systems is the reconstruction of local currents from the continuity equation. We show that this approach can be used to extract the total phase fluctuation of adjacent Bose gases. We validate our technique numerically and demonstrate its effectiveness by analyzing data from selected experiments simulating 1D quantum field theories through the phase difference of two parallel 1D Bose gases. This analysis reveals the previously hidden sector of the sum mode of the phase, which is important for studying long-time thermalization and out-of-equilibrium dynamics of the system. Our method is general and can be applied to other cold atom systems with spatial phase gradients, thereby expanding the scope and capabilities of cold-atomic quantum simulators.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Quantum Dynamic Programming

We introduce a quantum extension of dynamic programming, a fundamental computational method that efficiently solves recursive problems using memory. Our innovation lies in showing how to coherently generate recursion step unitaries by using memorized intermediate quantum states. Quantum dynamic programming achieves an exponential reduction in circuit depth for a broad class of fixed-point quantum recursions, though this comes at the cost of increased circuit width. Interestingly, the trade-off becomes more favourable when the initial state is pure. By hybridizing our approach with a conventional memoryless one, we can flexibly balance circuit depth and width to optimize performance on quantum devices with fixed hardware constraints. Finally, we showcase applications of quantum dynamic programming to several quantum recursions, including a variant of Grover's search, quantum imaginary-time evolution, and a new protocol for obliviously preparing a quantum state in its Schmidt basis.

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arXiv2024

Quantum-Secured Data Centre Interconnect in a field environment

In the evolving landscape of quantum technology, the increasing prominence of quantum computing poses a significant threat to the security of conventional public key infrastructure. Quantum key distribution (QKD), an established quantum technology at a high readiness level, emerges as a viable solution with commercial adoption potential. QKD facilitates the establishment of secure symmetric random bit strings between two geographically separated, trustworthy entities, safeguarding communications from potential eavesdropping. In particular, data centre interconnects can leverage the potential of QKD devices to ensure the secure transmission of critical and sensitive information in preserving the confidentiality, security, and integrity of their stored data. In this article, we present the successful implementation of a QKD field trial within a commercial data centre environment that utilises the existing fibre network infrastructure. The achieved average secret key rate of 2.392 kbps and an average quantum bit error rate of less than 2% demonstrate the commercial feasibility of QKD in real-world scenarios. As a use case study, we demonstrate the secure transfer of files between two data centres through the Quantum-Secured Virtual Private Network, utilising secret keys generated by the QKD devices.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Catalysis in Quantum Information Theory

Catalysts open up new reaction pathways that can speed up chemical reactions while not consuming the catalyst. A similar phenomenon has been discovered in quantum information science, where physical transformations become possible by utilizing a quantum degree of freedom that returns to its initial state at the end of the process. In this review, a comprehensive overview of the concept of catalysis in quantum information science is presented and its applications in various physical contexts are discussed.

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