arXiv subjects

Peter D. Drummond

Publications and source records attributed to Peter D. Drummond.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Discrete time symmetry breaking in quantum circuits: exact solutions and tunneling

We discuss general properties of discrete time quantum symmetry breaking in degenerate parametric oscillators. Recent experiments in superconducting quantum circuit with Josephson junction nonlinearities give rise to new properties of strong parametric coupling and nonlinearities. Exact analytic solutions are obtained for the steady-state of this single-mode case of subharmonic generation. We also obtain analytic solutions for the tunneling time over which the time symmetry-breaking is lost above threshold. We find that additional anharmonic terms found in the superconducting case increase the tunneling rate, and can also lead to new regimes of tristability as well as bistability. Our analytic results are confirmed by number state calculations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Schrödinger cats and steady states in subharmonic generation with Kerr nonlinearities

We discuss general properties of the equilibrium state of parametric down-conversion in superconducting quantum circuits with detunings and Kerr anharmonicities, in the strongly nonlinear regime. By comparing moments of the steady state and those of a Schrödinger cat, we show that true Schrödinger cats cannot survive in the steady state if there is any single-photon loss. A delta-function 'cat-like' steady-state distribution can be formed, but this only exists in the limit of an extremely large nonlinearity. The steady state is a mixed state, which is more complex than a mixture or linear combination of delta-functions, and whose purity is reduced by driving. We expect this general behaviour to occur in other driven, dissipative quantum subharmonic non-equilibrium open systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Nonlocal pair correlations in a higher-order Bose gas soliton

The truncated Wigner and positive-P phase-space representations are used to study the dynamics of a one-dimensional Bose gas. This allows calculations of the breathing quantum dynamics of higher-order solitons with 10^{3}-10^{5} particles, as in realistic Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) experiments. Although classically stable, these decay quantum mechanically. Our calculations show that there are large nonlocal correlations. These also violate the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, showing the presence of nonclassical quantum entanglement.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2018

Robustness of quantum Fourier transform interferometry

We analyse the effect of decoherence and noise on quantum Fourier transform interferometry, in which a boson sampling photonic network is used to measure optical phase gradients. This novel type of metrology is shown to be robust against phase decoherence. One can also measure gradients using lower order correlations without substantial degradation. Our results involve estimation of up to a 100 x 100 matrix permanent.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Phase-space representations of thermal Bose-Einstein condensates

Phase-space methods allow one to go beyond the mean-field approximation to simulate the quantum dynamics of interacting fields. Here, we obtain a technique for initializing either Wigner or positive-P phase-space simulations of Bose-Einstein condensates with quantum states at a finite temperature. As a means to calculate the initial states, we introduce the idea of a nonlinear chemical potential, which removes the zero-momentum phase-noise divergences of Bogoliubov theory to give a diagonal Hamiltonian. The resulting steady-state quantum theory is then directly applicable to the calculations of initial conditions for quantum simulations of BEC dynamics using phase-space techniques. These methods allow efficient and scalable simulation of large Bose-Einstein condensates. We suggest that nonlinear chemical potentials may have a general applicability to cases of broken symmetry.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Quantum fidelity measures for mixed states

Applications of quantum technology often require fidelities to quantify performance. These provide a fundamental yardstick for the comparison of two quantum states. While this is straightforward in the case of pure states, it is much more subtle for the more general case of mixed quantum states often found in practice. A large number of different proposals exist. In this review, we summarize the required properties of a quantum fidelity measure, and compare them, to determine which properties each of the different measures has. We show that there are large classes of measures that satisfy all the required properties of a fidelity measure, just as there are many norms of Hilbert space operators, and many measures of entropy. We compare these fidelities, with detailed proofs of their properties. We also summarize briefly the applications of these measures in teleportation, quantum memories, quantum computers, quantum communications, and quantum phase-space simulations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Phase space methods for Majorana fermions

Fermionic phase space representations are a promising method for studying correlated fermion systems. The fermionic Q-function and P-function have been defined using Gaussian operators of fermion annihilation and creation operators. The resulting phase-space of covariance matrices belongs to the symmetry class D, one of the non-standard symmetry classes. This was originally proposed to study mesoscopic normal-metal-superconducting hybrid structures, which is the type of structure that has led to recent experimental observations of Majorana fermions. Under a unitary transformation, it is possible to express these Gaussian operators using real anti-symmetric matrices and Majorana operators, which are much simpler mathematical objects. We derive differential identities involving Majorana fermion operators and an antisymmetric matrix which are relevant to the derivation of the corresponding Fokker-Planck equations on symmetric space. These enable stochastic simulations either in real or imaginary time. This formalism has direct relevance to the study of fermionic systems in which there are Majorana type excitations, and is an alternative to using expansions involving conventional Fermi operators. The approach is illustrated by showing how a linear coupled Hamiltonian as used to study topological excitations can be transformed to Fokker-Planck and stochastic equation form, including dissipation through particle losses.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

One-dimensional Bose gas dynamics: breather relaxation

One-dimensional Bose gases are a useful testing-ground for quantum dynamics in many-body theory. They allow experimental tests of many-body theory predictions in an exponentially complex quantum system. Here we calculate the dynamics of a higher-order soliton in the mesoscopic case of $N=10^3-10^4$ particles, giving predictions for quantum soliton breather relaxation. These quantum predictions use a truncated Wigner approximation, which is a $1/N$ expansion, in a regime where other exactly known predictions are recovered to high accuracy. Such dynamical calculations are testable in forthcoming BEC experiments.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

The universe on a table top: engineering quantum decay of a relativistic scalar field from a metastable vacuum

The quantum decay of a relativistic scalar field from a metastable state ("false vacuum decay") is a fundamental idea in quantum field theory and cosmology. This occurs via local formation of bubbles of true vacuum with their subsequent rapid expansion. It can be considered as a relativistic analog of a first-order phase transition in condensed matter. Here we expand upon our recent proposal [EPL 110, 56001 (2015)] for an experimental test of false vacuum decay using an ultra-cold spinor Bose gas. A false vacuum for the relative phase of two spin components, serving as the unstable scalar field, is generated by means of a modulated linear coupling of the spin components. We analyze the system theoretically using the functional integral approach and show that various microscopic degrees of freedom in the system, albeit leading to dissipation in the relative phase sector, will not hamper the observation of the false vacuum decay in the laboratory. This is well supported by numerical simulations demonstrating the spontaneous formation of true vacuum bubbles on millisecond time-scales in two-component $^{7}$Li or $^{41}$K bosonic condensates in one-dimensional traps of $\sim100\,μ\mathrm{m}$ size.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Comment on: `Single-shot simulations of dynamic quantum many-body systems' [arXiv:1501.03224]

In their recent paper [Nature Physics 15, 451 (2006)], Sakmann and Kasevich study the formation of fringe patterns in ultra-cold Bose gases and claim: `Here, we show how single shots can be simulated from numerical solutions of the time-dependent many-body Schrödinger equation.' It would be remarkable if they had solved this exponentially complex equation. Instead they solve nonlinear equations with the aim to approximate the solution of the Schrödinger equation. The authors proceed to criticize phase-space approaches to simulating quantum dynamics and claim the impossibility of interpreting single trajectories of the truncated Wigner (tW) method as single-shot experimental outcomes. Here we aim to provide relevant context and elaborate why we disagree with the authors' claims.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

The scaling of boson sampling experiments

Boson sampling is the problem of generating a quantum bit stream whose average is the permanent of a $n\times n$ matrix. The bitstream is created as the output of a prototype quantum computing device with $n$ input photons. It is a fundamental challenge to verify boson sampling, and the question of how output count rates scale with matrix size $n$ is crucial. Here we apply results from random matrix theory to establish scaling laws for average count rates in boson sampling experiments with arbitrary inputs and losses. The results show that, even with losses included, verification of nonclassical behaviour at large $n$ values is indeed possible.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Critical fluctuations in an optical parametric oscillator: when light behaves like magnetism

We study the nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator in a planar interferometer near threshold, where critical phenomena are expected. These phenomena are associated with nonequilibrium quantum dynamics that are known to lead to quadrature entanglement and squeezing in the oscillator field modes. We obtain a universal form for the equation describing this system, which allows a comparison with other phase transitions. We find that the unsqueezed quadratures of this system correspond to a two-dimensional XY-type model with a tricritical Lifshitz point. This leaves open the possibility of a controlled experimental investigation into this unusual class of statistical models. We evaluate the correlations of the unsqueezed quadrature using both an exact numerical simulation and a Gaussian approximation, and obtain an accurate numerical calculation of the non-Gaussian correlations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Parallel optimized sampling for stochastic equations

Stochastic equations play an important role in computational science, due to their ability to treat a wide variety of complex statistical problems. However, current algorithms are strongly limited by their sampling variance, which scales proportionate to 1/N_S for N_S samples. In this paper, we obtain a new class of variance reduction methods for treating stochastic equations, called parallel optimized sampling. The objective of parallel optimized sampling is to reduce the sampling variance in the observables of an ensemble of stochastic trajectories. This is achieved through calculating a finite set of observables - typically statistical moments - in parallel, and minimizing the errors compared to known values. The algorithm is both numerically efficient and unbiased. Importantly, it does not increase the errors in higher order moments, and generally reduces such errors as well. The same procedure is applied both to initial ensembles and to changes in a finite time-step. Results of these methods show that errors in initially optimized moments can be reduced to the machine precision level, typically around 10^(-16) in current hardware. For nonlinear stochastic equations, sampled moment errors during time-evolution are larger than this, due to error propagation effects. Even so, we provide evidence for error reductions of up to two orders of magnitude in a nonlinear equation example, for low order moments, which is a large practical benefit. The sampling variance typically scales as 1/N_S, but with the advantage of a very much smaller prefactor than for standard, non-optimized methods.

math.NA↗

arXiv2014

Probabilistic quantum phase-space simulation of Bell violations and their dynamical evolution

Quantum simulations of Bell inequality violations are numerically obtained using probabilistic phase space methods, namely the positive P-representation. In this approach the moments of quantum observables are evaluated as moments of variables that have values outside the normal eigenvalue range. There is thus a parallel with quantum weak measurements and weak values. Nevertheless, the representation is exactly equivalent to quantum mechanics. A number of states violating Bell inequalities are sampled, demonstrating that these quantum paradoxes can be treated with probabilistic methods. We treat quantum dynamics by simulating the time evolution of the Bell state formed via parametric down-conversion, and discuss multi-mode generalizations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Quantum probabilistic sampling of multipartite 60-qubit Bell inequality violations

We show that violation of genuine multipartite Bell inequalities can be obtained with sampled, probabilistic phase space methods. These genuine Bell violations cannot be replicated if any part of the system is described by a local hidden variable theory. The Bell violations are simulated probabilistically using quantum phase-space representations. We treat mesoscopically large Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states having up to 60 qubits, using both a multipartite SU(2) Q-representation and the positive P-representation. Surprisingly, we find that sampling with phase-space distributions can be exponentially faster than experiment. This is due to the classical parallelism inherent in the simulation of quantum measurements using phase-space methods. Our probabilistic sampling method predicts a contradiction with local realism of "Schrödinger-cat" states that can be realized as a GHZ spin state, either in ion traps or with photonic qubits. We also present a quantum simulation of the observed super-decoherence of the ion-trap "cat" state, using a phenomenological noise model.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Probabilistic simulation of mesoscopic "Schrödinger cat" states

We carry out probabilistic phase-space sampling of mesoscopic Schrödinger cat quantum states, demonstrating multipartite Bell violations for up to 60 qubits. We use states similar to those generated in photonic and ion-trap experiments. These results show that mesoscopic quantum superpositions are directly accessible to probabilistic sampling, and we analyze the properties of sampling errors. We also demonstrate dynamical simulation of super-decoherence in ion traps. Our computer simulations can be either exponentially faster or slower than experiment, depending on the correlations measured.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Simulating Bell violations without quantum computers

We demonstrate that it is possible to simulate Bell violations using probabilistic methods. A quantum state corresponding to optical experiments that violate the Bell inequality is generated, demonstrating that these quantum paradoxes can indeed be simulated probabilistically. This provides an explicit counter-example to Feynman's claim that such classical simulations could not be carried out.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Quantum simulations of the early universe

A procedure is described whereby a linearly coupled spinor Bose condensate can be used as a physically accessible quantum simulator of the early universe. In particular, an experiment to generate an analog of an unstable vacuum in a relativistic scalar field theory is proposed. This is related to quantum theories of the inflationary phase of the early universe. There is an unstable vacuum sector whose dynamics correspond to the quantum sine-Gordon equations in one, two or three space dimensions. Numerical simulations of the expected behavior are reported using a truncated Wigner phase-space method, giving evidence for the dynamical formation of complex spatial clusters. Preliminary results showing the dependence on coupling strength, condensate size and dimensionality are obtained.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗