arXiv subjects

Thomas G. Kiely

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas G. Kiely.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Observation of Strong-to-Weak Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking in a Dephased Fermi Gas

Symmetry-based classification of quantum phases of matter is one of the most foundational organizing principles in physics; however, an analogous framework for mixed, decohered quantum states has only begun to emerge. A central new concept is strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking (SW-SSB), a sharp transition in mixed quantum states that is invisible to any observable linear in the density matrix and that has since been predicted across a broad class of open and monitored quantum systems. It also provides a unifying language for phenomena as disparate as the decodability of topological quantum memories and the emergence of classical hydrodynamics from decohered quantum dynamics. Here we report the first experimental observation of SW-SSB, in dephased single-component fermionic matter imaged by a quantum gas microscope. A quantum-classical estimator built on a machine-learned Gaussian reference state gives direct access to the nonlinear Rényi-1 and Rényi-2 correlators that diagnose SW-SSB, and reveals long-range Rényi order in the dephased Fermi liquid. Adding a commensurate superlattice drives the underlying fermions through a metal-to-insulator transition that, after full dephasing, manifests as a sharp SW-SSB phase transition. Our results uncover the symmetry principle behind information-theoretic transitions in open quantum systems, and extend Landau's symmetry paradigm into the regime of real, decohering quantum devices.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

Strong-to-Weak Symmetry Breaking in Open Quantum Systems: From Discrete Particles to Continuum Hydrodynamics

We explore the onset of spontaneous strong-to-weak symmetry breaking (SW-SSB) under U(1)-symmetric (i.e., charge-conserving) open-system dynamics. We define this phenomenon for quantum states and classical probability distributions, and explore it in three complementary models, one of which exhibits nontrivial quantum coherence at short times. Our main conclusions are as follows. In one dimension, the strong symmetry is not spontaneously broken at any finite time; however, correlators probing strong-to-weak symmetry breaking develop order on length scales that grow linearly in time, parametrically faster than charge diffusion. We provide numerical evidence for this scaling in multiple distinct probes of SW-SSB, and derive it from a field-theory analysis. Moreover, we relate this scaling to the problem of inferring the charge inside a subregion by measuring its surroundings, and construct explicit decoding protocols that illustrate its origin. In two dimensions, field theory and numerical simulations support a finite-time Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless-like SW-SSB transition. Within continuum hydrodynamics, by contrast, SW-SSB happens at infinitesimal time in two or more dimensions. The SW-SSB transition time can thus be interpreted as marking the emergence of a continuum hydrodynamic description, or (more precisely) the timescale beyond which non-hydrodynamic information such as discrete particle worldlines can no longer be inferred. We support this picture by analyzing a model in which we exploit SW-SSB to derive a classical stochastic hydrodynamic description from the underlying quantum dynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Exact kinetic propagators for coherent state complex Langevin simulations

We introduce and benchmark an improved algorithm for complex Langevin simulations of bosonic coherent state path integrals. Our approach utilizes a Strang splitting of the imaginary-time propagator rather than the conventional linear-order Taylor expansion, allowing us to construct an action that incorporates higher-order terms at negligible computational cost. The resulting algorithm enjoys guaranteed linear stability independent of the imaginary-time discretization, enabling more resource-efficient simulations. We demonstrate this improved performance for single-species bosons and for two-component bosons with Rashba spin-orbit coupling.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Phase Transition of Topological Index driven by Dephasing

We study topological insulators under dephasing noise. With examples of both a $2d$ Chern insulator and a $3d$ topological insulator protected by time-reversal symmetry, we demonstrate that there is a phase transition at finite dephasing strength between phases with nontrivial and trivial topological indices. Here the topological index is defined through the correlation matrix. The transition can be diagnosed through the spectrum of the whole correlation matrix or of a local subsystem. Interestingly, even if the topological insulator is very close to the topological-trivial critical point in its Hamiltonian, it still takes finite strength of dephasing to change the topological index, suggesting the robustness of topological insulators under dephasing. We further consider Chern insulators in the presence of real-space disorder, which exhibit a ground-state transition between topological and Anderson insulating phases. We find that even strongly-disordered Chern insulators, close to the critical disorder strength, exhibit robustness with respect to dephasing.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Vacancy-assisted superfluid drag

We study superfluid drag in the two-component Bose-Hubbard model with infinitely strong repulsive interactions. In this system, all transport is mediated by the motion of empty sites, or ``holes", and it is hard to move one component without moving the other. We demonstrate, with a combination of analytic and numeric techniques, that the motion of holes leads to strong dissipationless coupling between currents in the two components. This behavior is attributable to polaronic correlations that emerge in the presence of spin currents, which can be observed in experiments. We derive a closed-form expression for the coupling on various lattices in arbitrary spatial dimensions, which we verify through numerical simulations on two dimensional lattices.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Continuous Wigner-Mott transition at $ν=1/5$

Electrons can organize themselves into charge-ordered states to minimize the effects of long-ranged Coulomb interactions. In the presence of a lattice, commensurability constraints lead to the emergence of incompressible Wigner-Mott insulators at various rational electron fillings, $ν~=p/q$. The mechanism for quantum fluctuation-mediated melting of the Mott insulators with increasing electron kinetic energy remains an outstanding problem. Here, using matrix product state techniques, we analyze the bandwidth-tuned transition out of the Wigner-Mott insulator at $ν=1/5$ in an extended Hubbard model on infinite cylinders of varying circumference. For the two-leg ladder, the transition from the Mott insulator to the Luttinger liquid proceeds via a distinct intermediate phase with gapless Cooper-pairs and gapped electronic excitations. The resulting Luther-Emery liquid is the analog of a strongly fluctuating superconductor. We place these results in the context of a low-energy bosonization based theory for the transition. On the five-leg cylinder, we provide numerical evidence for a direct continuous transition between the Wigner-Mott insulator and a metallic phase across which the spin and charge-gaps vanish simultaneously. We comment on the connections to ongoing experiments in dual-gated bilayer moiré transition metal dichalcogenide materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Multi-site gates for state preparation in quantum simulation of the Bose Hubbard Model

We construct a sequence of multi-site gates which transform an easily constructed product state into an approximation to the superfluid ground state of the Bose-Hubbard model. The mapping is exact in the one dimensional hard core limit, and for non-interacting particles in both one and two dimensions. The gate sequence has other applications, such as being used as part of a many-body interferometer which probes the existence of doublons.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

High temperature transport in the one dimensional mass-imbalanced Fermi-Hubbard model

We study transport in the one-dimensional mass-imbalanced Fermi-Hubbard model at infinite temperature, focusing on the case of strong interactions. Prior theoretical and experimental investigations have revealed unconventionally long transport timescales, with complications due to strong finite size effects. We compute the dynamical current-current correlation function directly in the thermodynamic limit using infinite tensor network techniques. We show that transport in the strong-imbalance limit is dominated by AC resonances, which we compute with an analytic expansion. We study the dephasing of these resonances with mass imbalance, $η$. In the small-imbalance limit, the model is nearly integrable. We connect these unusual limits by computing the DC conductivity and transport decay time as a function of $η$ and the interaction strength $U/t$. We propose an experimental protocol to measure these correlation functions in cold atom experiments.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Role of conservation laws in the Density Matrix Renormalization Group

We explore matrix product state approximations to wavefunctions which have spontaneously broken symmetries or are critical. We are motivated by the fact that symmetries, and their associated conservation laws, lead to block-sparse matrix product states. Numerical calculations which take advantage of these symmetries run faster and require less memory. However, in symmetry-broken and critical phases the block sparse ansatz yields less accurate energies. We characterize the role of conservation laws in matrix product states and determine when it is beneficial to make use of them.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Superfluidity in the 1D Bose-Hubbard Model

We study superfluidity in the 1D Bose-Hubbard model using a variational matrix product state technique. We determine the superfluid density as a function of the Hubbard parameters by calculating the energy cost of phase twists in the thermodynamic limit. As the system is critical, correlation functions decay as power laws and the entanglement entropy grows with the bond dimension of our variational state. We relate the resulting scaling laws to the superfluid density. We compare two different algorithms for optimizing the infinite matrix product state and develop a physical explanation why one of them (VUMPS) is more efficient than the other (iDMRG). Finally, we comment on finite-temperature superfluidity in one dimension and how our results can be realized in cold atom experiments.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Strong Increase in Ultrasound Attenuation Below T$_\mathrm{c}$ in Sr$_2$RuO$_4$: Possible Evidence for Domains

Recent experiments suggest that the superconducting order parameter of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ has two components. A two-component order parameter has multiple degrees of freedom in the superconducting state that can result in low-energy collective modes or the formation of domain walls -- a possibility that would explain a number of experimental observations including the smallness of the time reversal symmetry breaking signal at T$_\mathrm{c}$ and telegraph noise in critical current experiments. We perform ultrasound attenuation measurements across the superconducting transition of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS). We find that the attenuation for compressional sound increases by a factor of seven immediately below T$_\mathrm{c}$, in sharp contrast with what is found in both conventional ($s$-wave) and high-T$_\mathrm{c}$ ($d$-wave) superconductors. We find our observations to be most consistent with the presence of domain walls between different configurations of the superconducting state. The fact that we observe an increase in sound attenuation for compressional strains, and not for shear strains, suggests an inhomogeneous superconducting state formed of two distinct, accidentally-degenerate superconducting order parameters that are not related to each other by symmetry. Whatever the mechanism, a factor of seven increase in sound attenuation is a singular characteristic with which any potential theory of the superconductivity in Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ must be reconciled.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Anomalous Resistivity at Weak Coupling

Recent cold atom experiments have observed bad and strange metal behaviors in strongly-interacting Fermi-Hubbard systems. Motivated by these results, we calculate the thermoelectric transport properties of a 2D Fermi-Hubbard system in the weak coupling limit using quantum kinetic theory. We find that many features attributed to strong correlations are also found at weak coupling. In particular, for temperatures $T\gtrsim t$ the electrical resistivity is nearly linear in temperature despite the fact that the quasiparticle scattering rate is non-linear and changes by nearly an order of magnitude. We argue that this asymptotic behavior is a general feature of systems with a finite spectral width, which implies that there is no MIR bound on the resistivity in single-band models. Due to nesting, the $T$-linear resistivity persists down to $T=0$ at half filling. Our work sheds light on the transport regime in ultracold atom experiments, which can differ substantially from that of condensed matter systems. Disentangling these band-structure effects from the physics of strong correlations is a major challenge for future experiments.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Transport in the 2D Fermi-Hubbard Model: Lessons from Weak Coupling

We use quantum kinetic theory to calculate the thermoelectric transport properties of the 2D single band Fermi-Hubbard model in the weak coupling limit. For generic filling, we find that the high-temperature limiting behaviors of the electrical ($\sim T$) and thermal ($\sim T^2$) resistivities persist down to temperatures of order the hopping matrix element $T\sim t$, almost an order of magnitude below the bandwidth. At half filling, perfect nesting leads to anomalous low temperature scattering and nearly $T$-linear electrical resistivity at all temperatures. We hypothesize that the $T$-linear resistivity observed in recent cold atom experiments is continuously connected to this weak coupling physics and suggest avenues for experimental verification. We find a number of other novel thermoelectric results, such as a low-temperature Wiedemann-Franz law with Lorenz coefficient $5π^2/36$.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Relationship between the transverse-field Ising model and the XY model via the rotating-wave approximation

In a large transverse field, there is an energy cost associated with flipping spins along the axis of the field. This penalty can be employed to relate the transverse-field Ising model in a large field to the XY model in no field (when measurements are performed at the right stroboscopic times). We describe the details for how this relationship works and, in particular, we also show under what circumstances it fails. We examine wavefunction overlap between the two models and observables, such as spin-spin Green's functions. In general, the mapping is quite robust at short times, but will ultimately fail if the run time becomes too long. There is also a trade-off between the length of time one can run a simulation out to and the time jitter of the stroboscopic measurements that must be balanced when planning to employ this mapping.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗