arXiv subjects

Pranay Patil

Publications and source records attributed to Pranay Patil.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Level statistics of the disordered Haldane-Shastry model with $1/r^\alpha$ interaction

Understanding how the interaction range and various types of disorder affect the level statistics of many-body quantum systems and lead to the emergence of many-body localization (MBL) is a challenging open frontier. We study the level statistics of a variant of the spin-$1/2$ Haldane-Shastry model with $1/r^{\alpha}$ interactions, where $\alpha{\geq}0$ parametrizes the range of the interactions, in the presence of position disorder and/or random magnetic fields. We find that neither position disorder nor random magnetic fields alone yields pristine Poisson statistics in this long-range interacting system; however, Poisson statistics emerge in their combined presence, suggesting the emergence of MBL when both types of disorder coexist. Interestingly, once random magnetic fields break the $SU(2)$ symmetry, the strength of the position disorder, $\delta$, appears to play an important role, as evidenced by an approximate scaling collapse of the disorder-averaged gap ratios that is parametrized in terms of a single parameter, $\alpha \delta$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Tunable topological protection in Rydberg lattices via a novel quantum Monte Carlo approach

Rydberg atom arrays have recently been conjectured to host $Z_2$ quantum spin liquids (QSLs) in certain parameter regimes. Due to the strong interactions between these atoms, it is not possible to analytically study these systems, and one must resort to Monte Carlo sampling of the path integral to reach definite conclusions. We use a tailored update, specifically designed to target the low energy excitations of the QSL. This allows us to reliably simulate Rydberg atoms on a triangular lattice in the proposed QSL regime. We identify a correlated paramagnetic phase at low temperatures which hosts topological protection similar to a $Z_2$ spin liquid up to a length scale tuned by Hamiltonian parameters. However, this correlated paramagnet seems to be continuously connected to the trivial paramagnetic regime and thus does not seem to be a true QSL. This result indicates the feasibility of Rydberg atom arrays to act as topological qubits.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Topological Phase Transitions in a Constrained Two-Qubit Quantum Control Landscape

In optimal quantum control, control landscape phase transitions (CLPTs) indicate sharp changes occurring in the set of optimal protocols, as a physical model parameter is varied. Here, we demonstrate the existence of a new class of CLPTs, associated with changes in the topological properties of the optimal level set in a two-qubit state-preparation problem. In particular, the distance distribution of control protocols sampled through stochastic homotopic dynamics reveals discontinuous changes in the number of connected components in the optimal level set, as a function of the protocol duration. We demonstrate how topological CLPTs can be detected in modern-day experiments.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Toward a Theory of Phase Transitions in Quantum Control Landscapes

Control landscape phase transitions (CLPTs) occur as abrupt changes in the cost function landscape upon varying a control parameter, and can be revealed by non-analytic points in statistical order parameters. A prime example are quantum speed limits (QSL) which mark the onset of controllability as the protocol duration is increased. Here we lay the foundations of an analytical theory for CLPTs by developing Dyson, Magnus, and cumulant expansions for the cost function that capture the behavior of CLPTs with a controlled precision. Using linear and quadratic stability analysis, we reveal that CLPTs can be associated with different types of instabilities of the optimal protocol. This allows us to explicitly relate CLPTs to critical structural rearrangements in the extrema of the control landscape: utilizing path integral methods from statistical field theory, we trace back the critical scaling of the order parameter at the QSL to the topological and geometric properties of the set of optimal protocols, such as the number of connected components and its dimensionality. We verify our predictions by introducing a numerical sampling algorithm designed to explore this optimal set via a homotopic stochastic update rule. We apply this new toolbox explicitly to analyze CLPTs in the single- and two-qubit control problems whose landscapes are analytically tractable, and compare the landscapes for bang-bang and continuous protocols. Our work provides the first steps towards a systematic theory of CLPTs and paves the way for utilizing statistical field theory techniques for generic complex control landscapes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Quantum Monte Carlo simulations in the restricted Hilbert space of Rydberg atom arrays

Rydberg atom arrays have emerged as a powerful platform to simulate a number of exotic quantum ground states and phase transitions. To verify these capabilities numerically, we develop a versatile quantum Monte Carlo sampling technique which operates in the reduced Hilbert space generated by enforcing the constraint of a Rydberg blockade. We use the framework of stochastic series expansion and show that in the restricted space, the configuration space of operator strings can be understood as a hard rod gas in $d+1$ dimensions. We use this mapping to develop cluster algorithms which can be visualized as various non-local movements of rods. We study the efficiency of each of our updates individually and collectively. To elucidate the utility of the algorithm, we show that it can efficiently generate the phase diagram of a Rydberg atom array, to temperatures much smaller than all energy scales involved, on a Kagom\'e link lattice. This is of broad interest as the presence of a $Z_2$ spin liquid has been hypothesized recently.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Protecting Hilbert space fragmentation through quantum Zeno dynamics

Hilbert space fragmentation is an intriguing paradigm of ergodicity breaking in interacting quantum many-body systems with applications to quantum information technology, but it is usually adversely compromised in the presence of perturbations. In this work, we demonstrate the protection of constrained dynamics arising due to a combination of mirror symmetry and Hilbert space fragmentation by employing the concept of quantum Zeno dynamics. We focus on an Ising spin ladder with carefully chosen quantum fluctuations, which in the ideal case guarantee a perfect disentanglement under Hamiltonian dynamics for a large class of initial conditions. This is known to be a consequence of the interplay of Hilbert space fragmentation with a mirror symmetry, and we show numerically the effect of breaking the latter. To evince the power of this perfect disentanglement, we study the effect of generic perturbations around the fine-tuned model, and show that we can protect against the undesirable growth of entanglement entropy by using a local Ising interaction on the rungs of the ladder. This allows us to suppress the entanglement entropy to an \textit{arbitrarily} small value for an \textit{arbitrarily} long time by controlling the strength of the rung interaction. Our work demonstrates the experimentally feasible viability of quantum Zeno dynamics in the protection of quantum information against thermalization.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Anomalous relaxation of density waves in a ring-exchange system

We present the analysis of the slowing down exhibited by stochastic dynamics of a ring-exchange model on a square lattice, by means of numerical simulations. We find the preservation of coarse-grained memory of initial state of density-wave types for unexpectedly long times. This behavior is inconsistent with the prediction from a low frequency continuum theory developed by assuming a mean-field solution. Through a detailed analysis of correlation functions of the dynamically active regions, we exhibit an unconventional transient long ranged structure formation in a direction which is featureless for the initial condition, and argue that its slow melting plays a crucial role in the slowing-down mechanism. We expect our results to be relevant also for the dynamics of quantum ring-exchange dynamics of hard-core bosons and more generally for dipole moment conserving models

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Weakly first-order quantum phase transition between Spin Nematic and Valence Bond Crystal Order in a square lattice SU(4) fermionic model

We consider a model Hamiltonian with two SU(4) fermions per site on a square lattice, showing a competition between bilinear and biquadratic interactions. This model has generated interest due to possible realizations in ultracold atom experiments and existence of spin liquid ground states. Using a basis transformation, we show that part of the phase diagram is amenable to quantum Monte Carlo simulations without a sign problem. We find evidence for spin nematic and valence bond crystalline phases, which are separated by a weak first order phase transition. A U(1) symmetry is found to emerge in the valence bond crystal histograms, suggesting proximity to a deconfined quantum critical point. Our results are obtained with the help of a loop algorithm which allows large-scale simulations of bilinear-biquadratic SO(N ) models on arbitrary lattices in a certain parameter regime.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Unconventional U(1) to $\mathbf{Z_q}$ cross-over in quantum and classical ${\bf q}$-state clock models

We consider two-dimensional $q$-state quantum clock models with quantum fluctuations connecting states with clock transitions with different choices for matrix elements. We study the quantum phase transitions in these models using quantum Monte Carlo simulations, with the aim of characterizing the cross-over from emergent U(1) symmetry at the transition (for $q \ge 4$) to $Z_q$ symmetry of the ordered state. We also study classical three-dimensional clock models with spatial anisotropy corresponding to the space-time anisotropy of the quantum systems. The U(1) to ${Z_q}$ symmetry cross-over in all these systems is governed by a dangerously irrelevant operator. We specifically study $q=5$ and $q=6$ models with different forms of the quantum fluctuations and different anisotropies in the classical models. We find the expected classical XY critical exponents and scaling dimensions $y_q$ of the clock fields. However, the initial weak violation of the U(1) symmetry in the ordered phase, characterized by a $Z_q$ symmetric order parameter $\phi_q$, scales in an unexpected way. As a function of the system size $L$, close to the critical temperature $\phi_q \propto L^p$, where the known value of the exponent is $p=2$ in the classical isotropic clock model. In contrast, for strongly anisotropic classical models and the quantum models we find $p=3$. For weakly anisotropic classical models we observe a cross-over from $p=2$ to $p=3$ scaling. The exponent $p$ directly impacts the exponent $\nu'$ governing the divergence of the U(1) to $Z_q$ cross-over length scale $\xi'$ in the thermodynamic limit, according to the relationship $\nu'=\nu(1+|y_q|/p)$, where $\nu$ is the conventional correlation length exponent. We present a phenomenological argument based on an anomalous renormalization of the clock field in the presence of anisotropy, possibly as a consequence of topological (vortex) line defects.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Quantum half-orphans in kagome antiferromagnets

We numerically study the effects of non-magnetic impurities (vacancies) in the spin-$S$ Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagom\'e lattice. For a range of low but nonzero temperatures, and spin values that extend down to $S=2$, we find that the magnetization response to an external magnetic field is consistent with the response of emergent "half-orphan" degrees of freedom that are expected to dominate the response of the corresponding classical magnet in a similar temperature range whenever there are two vacancies on the same triangle. Specifically, for all spin values we have considered (from $S=1/2$ to $S=4$), there is a large enhancement of the local susceptibility of the lone spin on such a triangle with two vacancies; in the presence of a uniform magnetic field $h$, this lone-spin behaves effectively as an almost free spin $S$ in an effective field $h/2$. Quite remarkably, in the zero temperature limit, the ground state in the presence of a half-orphan has a non-zero total spin value $S_{GS}$ that shows a trend similar to $S/2$ when $S\ge 2$. These qualitative aspects of the response differ strikingly from the more conventional response of diluted samples without such half-orphan degrees of freedom. We discuss how these findings could be checked experimentally.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

A Neural-Network Variational Quantum Algorithm for Many-Body Dynamics

We propose a neural-network variational quantum algorithm to simulate the time evolution of quantum many-body systems. Based on a modified restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM) wavefunction ansatz, the proposed algorithm can be efficiently implemented in near-term quantum computers with low measurement cost. Using a qubit recycling strategy, only one ancilla qubit is required to represent all the hidden spins in an RBM architecture. The variational algorithm is extended to open quantum systems by employing a stochastic Schrodinger equation approach. Numerical simulations of spin-lattice models demonstrate that our algorithm is capable of capturing the dynamics of closed and open quantum many-body systems with high accuracy without suffering from the vanishing gradient (or 'barren plateau') issue for the considered system sizes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Hilbert Space Fragmentation and Ashkin-Teller Criticality in Fluctuation Coupled Ising Models

We discuss the effects of exponential fragmentation of the Hilbert space on phase transitions in the context of coupled ferromagnetic Ising models in arbitrary dimension with special emphasis on the one dimensional case. We show that the dynamics generated by quantum fluctuations is bounded within spatial partitions of the system and weak mixing of these partitions caused by global transverse fields leads to a zero temperature phase with ordering in the local product of both Ising copies but no long range order in either species. This leads to a natural connection with the Ashkin-Teller universality class for general lattices. We confirm this for the periodic chain using quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We also point out that our treatment provides an explanation for pseudo-first order behavior seen in the Binder cumulants of the classical frustrated $J_1-J_2$ Ising model and the $q=4$ Potts model in 2D.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Obstacles to quantum annealing in a planar embedding of XORSAT

We introduce a planar embedding of the k-regular k-XORSAT problem, in which solutions are encoded in the ground state of a classical statistical mechanics model of reversible logic gates arranged on a square grid and acting on bits that represent the Boolean variables of the problem. The special feature of this embedding is that the resulting model lacks a finite-temperature phase transition, thus bypassing the first-order thermodynamic transition known to occur in the random graph representation of XORSAT. In spite of this attractive feature, the thermal relaxation into the ground state displays remarkably slow glassy behavior. The question addressed in this paper is whether this planar embedding can afford an efficient path to solution of k-regular k-XORSAT via quantum adiabatic annealing. We first show that our model bypasses an avoided level crossing and consequent exponentially small gap in the limit of small transverse fields. We then present quantum Monte Carlo results for our embedding of the k-regular k-XORSAT that strongly support a picture in which second-order and first-order transitions develop at a finite transverse field for k = 2 and k = 3, respectively. This translates into power-law and exponential dependences in the scaling of energy gaps with system size, corresponding to times-to-solution which are, respectively, polynomial and exponential in the number of variables. We conclude that neither classical nor quantum annealing can efficiently solve our reformulation of XORSAT, even though the original problem can be solved in polynomial time by Gaussian elimination.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

Numerical Investigations of SO(4) Emergent Extended Symmetry in Spin-1/2 Heisenberg Antiferromagnetic Chains

The antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain is expected to have an extended symmetry, [SU(2)xSU(2)]/Z 2 , in the infrared limit, whose physical interpretation is that the spin and dimer order parameters form the components of a common 4-dimensional vector. Here we numerically in- vestigate this emergent symmetry using quantum Monte Carlo simulations of a modified Heisenberg chain (the J-Q model) in which the logarithmic scaling corrections of the conventional Heisenberg chain can be avoided. We show how the two- and three-point spin and dimer correlation func- tions approach their forms constrained by conformal field theory as the system size increases and numerically confirm the expected effects of the extended symmetry on various correlation functions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Indicators of Conformal Field Theory: entanglement entropy and multiple-point correlators

The entanglement entropy (EE) of quantum systems is often used as a test of low-energy descriptions by conformal field theory (CFT). Here we point out that this is not a reliable indicator, as the EE often shows the same behavior even when a CFT description is not correct (as long as the system is asymptotically scale-invariant). We use constraints on the scaling dimension given by the CFT with SU(2) symmetry to provide alternative tests with two- and four-point correlation functions, showing examples for quantum spin models in 1+1 dimensions. In the case of a critical amplitude-product state expressed in the valence-bond basis (where the amplitudes decay as a power law of the bond length and the wave function is the product of all bond amplitudes), we show that even though the EE exhibits the expected CFT behavior, there is no CFT description of this state. We provide numerical tests of the behavior predicted by CFT for the correlation functions in the critical transverse-field Ising chain and the $J$-$Q$ spin chain, where the conformal structure is well understood. That behavior is not reproduced in the amplitude-product state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Resonating valence-bond physics on the honeycomb lattice

We study bond and spin correlations of the nearest-neighbour resonating valence bond (RVB) wavefunction for a SU($2$) symmetric $S=1/2$ antiferromagnet on the honeycomb lattice. We find that spin correlations in this wavefunction are short-ranged, while the bond energy correlation function takes on an oscillatory power-law form $D(\vec{r}) \sim \cos({\mathbf Q}\cdot {\vec{r}}) /|{\vec{r}}|^{η_w(2)}$, where ${\mathbf Q} = (2π/3, -2π/3)$ is the wavevector corresponding to "columnar" valence-bond solid order on the honeycomb lattice, and $η_w(2) \approx 1.49(3)$. We use a recently introduced large-$g$ expansion approach to relate bond-energy correlators of the SU($g$) wavefunction to dimer correlations of an interacting fully-packed dimer model with a three-dimer interaction of strength $V(g)=-\log(1+1/g^2)$. Putting $g=2$, we find numerically that the dimer correlation function $D^{d}(\vec{r})$ of this dimer model has power-law behaviour $D^{d}(\vec{r}) \sim \cos({\mathbf Q}\cdot {\vec{r}}) /|{\vec{r}}|^{η_d(2)}$ with $η_d(2) \approx 1.520(15)$, in rather good agreement with the wavefunction results. We also study the same quantities for $g=3,4,10$ and find that the bond-energy correlations in the SU($g$) wavefunction are consistently well-reproduced by the corresponding dimer correlations in the interacting dimer model.

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