arXiv subjects

Vaibhav Madhok

Publications and source records attributed to Vaibhav Madhok.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Non-Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser Quantum Sensors for Quantum Parameter Estimation

Non-KAM (Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser) systems, when subjected to weak time-dependent perturbations, exhibit an abrupt transition to classical chaos through the breakdown of invariant phase-space tori. We showcase the utilization of non-KAM systems in the quantum regime as quantum sensors, leveraging their sensitivity at \textit{resonances}. Quantum Fisher information (QFI) is a central quantity in quantum parameter estimation theory that measures how much information a quantum state contains about an unknown parameter that is encoded into it. In other words, it quantifies the sensitivity of a quantum state to small changes in that parameter. In this work, through numerical analysis in conjunction with analytical results, we study the performance of the non-KAM systems for quantum sensing applications by computing the QFI. We find that the growth of the QFI is remarkably enhanced when the resonance condition is satisfied. For frequency estimation under Floquet unitary encodings, we derive a transport bound: if the mean excitation number grows as $\langle\hat n(t)\rangle\sim t^α$, the QFI obeys $I(t)\lesssim t^{2α+2}$. The quantum kicked harmonic oscillator, a paradigmatic non-KAM system, realizes the full hierarchy: localized dynamics ($α=0$) yield quadratic growth, delocalized diffusion along stochastic webs ($α=1$) yields quartic growth, and translationally invariant resonances ($α=2$) saturate the bound with anomalous hexic growth, $I(t)\sim t^{6}$, established analytically at resonance $R=2$ and numerically at $R=4$. The enhancement stems from resonance-induced translational symmetry rather than exponential instability, identifying non-KAM resonances as a metrological resource distinct from chaos-assisted and criticality-based sensing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Quantum-enhanced single and multiparameter metrology in qutrit ensembles by generalized twisting dynamics

Quantum-enhanced sensing with atomic ensembles has predominantly focused on qubit-based protocols, despite the growing ability of many experimental platforms to coherently control and entangle multi-level systems. Here, we investigate quantum-enhanced sensing with qutrit ensembles by introducing three experimentally feasible qutrit generalisations of the one-axis twisting (OAT) model that involve entangling operations only between two levels, while the third level primarily acts as a spectator. We characterize the metrological utility of the dynamically generated states using the quantum Fisher information toolbox. We find numerically that all three models offer considerable freedom in encoding direction for quantum-enhanced sensing, with up to 6 out of 8 possible directions exhibit near-Heisenberg scaling after a short evolution time. We discuss experimental access to this enhanced metrological precision via effective time-reversal protocols. Furthermore, we examine the practical issues of estimation ambiguity and local dissipation, and show that they can be largely overcome by optimizing the sensor operating point. Finally, we show that the measurement incompatibility in estimating multiple parameters simultaneously encoded in different directions with near-Heisenberg scaling of precision is suppressed at the zero operating point as the system size increases. In the process, we find that one of the models enables near-Heisenberg scaling metrology with a pair of commuting generators, a possibility that arises from the $su(3)$ algebra and is thus absent in qubit-ensemble based sensors of collective $SU(2)$ rotations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Quantum-to-classical transition and the emergence of trajectory level Darwinism with measurements distributed in time: a path integral approach

We present a formulation for the emergence of classical dynamics in a quantum world using a path integral approach that incorporates continuous measurements. Our approach complements decoherence and coarse-grained quantum-to-classical transition frameworks. The path-integral formulation provides the joint statistics of a sequence of measurements, with each Feynman path picking up an additional random phase. Its magnitude is proportional to the measurement strength, and we give conditions under which the dominant contribution to the probability amplitude comes from trajectories near classical paths. Information proliferates across the environment, a key feature of quantum Darwinism, via plane-wave probe scattering. Extending to repeated measurements, we show that in the continuous limit each system trajectory picks up an additional phase due to momentum kicks from the probes--the origin of the back-action force. We provide conditions under which measurements yield enough ``which-path'' information while keeping the wave packet localized. This allows the quantum-to-classical transition to be described from individual measurement records, complementing the ensemble description from density matrices. We further show that the same scattering that decoheres a trajectory heats it, tying decoherence and measurement back-action together. This bounds how redundantly an individual classical trajectory can be recorded before back-action randomises it into Brownian motion. For a trapped particle, the ceiling is fixed by the resolution measured in units of the zero-point motion. It is not restrictive for macroscopic systems; it collapses to a single record where the semiclassical description of a trajectory fails, delimiting the regime in which objective classical trajectories exist. The deterministic-to-Brownian crossover is accessible in levitated optomechanics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Loschmidt echo and scrambling of systematic errors in tomography -- a quantum signature of chaos

How does quantum chaos lead to rapid scrambling of information as well as systematic errors across a system when one introduces perturbations in the dynamics? What are its consequences for the reliability of quantum simulations and quantum information processing? We employ continuous measurement quantum tomography as a paradigm to study these questions. The measurement record is generated as a sequence of expectation values of a Hermitian observable evolving under repeated application of the Floquet map of the quantum kicked top. We construct a quantity to capture the scrambling of systematic errors, an out-of-time-ordered correlator (OTOC), that serves as a signature of chaos and quantifies the spread of errors. We show that the spread of errors, as quantified by the OTOC, is related to the operator Loschmidt echo (OLE), which is defined as the Hilbert-Schmidt inner product of the operators $\mathcal{O}_n$ and $\mathcal{O'}_n$ generated from repeated application of the Floquet map for ideal (unperturbed) dynamics and the \emph{true} (perturbed) dynamics, respectively. This also gives us an operational interpretation of the Loschmidt echo for operators by connecting it to the performance of quantum tomography. We show how our results demonstrate not only a link between LE and scrambling of errors different than previous studies, but that such a link can have operational consequences in quantum information processing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Localizable Entanglement as an Order Parameter for Measurement-Induced Phase Transitions

We identify localizable entanglement (LE) as an order parameter for measurement-induced phase transitions (MIPT). LE exhibits universal finite-size scaling with critical exponents that match previous MIPT results and gives a nice operational interpretation connecting MIPTs to classical percolation. Remarkably, we find that LE decays exponentially with distance in the area-law phase as opposed to being essentially constant for the volume-law phase thereby, discover an intrinsic length scale $ξ_E$ that diverges at the critical measurement probability $p_c$. While classical percolation transition captures successful transport across a network, MIPT as characterized by LE can be interpreted as quantifying the amount of quantum teleportation between two given nodes in a quantum circuit. Building on this insight, we propose a two-ancilla protocol that provides an experimentally accessible readout of entanglement redistribution across the transition.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Adaptive dynamics of eco-evolutionary repeated games: Effect of reward and punishment

Long-term evolutionary processes can strongly influence common-pool resource conservation by generating new traits or behaviours that modify the feedback between population strategies and the resource state. Here we develop an eco-evolutionary framework in which individuals repeatedly interact with the same opponent and follow direct reciprocity through reactive strategies. The strategic dynamics is coupled to a renewable common resource and analyzed using adaptive dynamics. After our exhaustive non-linear dynamical analysis of $2\times2$ strategic games, we focus on comparative and combined usefulness of institutional incentives in the form of rewards and punishments in preventing the Tragedy of the Commons even when defection dominates in the replete resource state. We also report possibility of robust stable oscillations -- emerging via Hopf bifurcation -- in resource state and population strategies.

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2026

Oscillatory evolutionarily stable state and limit cycle in replicator dynamics

The idea of evolutionarily stable state (ESS) of a population is a cornerstone of evolutionary game theory; moreover, it coincides with the game-theoretic concept of Nash equilibrium. Such a state corresponds to a strategy adopted by the population such that a rare mutant strategy cannot invade the population. In parallel, the dynamical formulation of evolutionary game theory -- particularly through replicator dynamics embodying the tenet of survival of the fittest -- provides a framework for modelling frequency-dependent selection over time. While it is well known that an ESS corresponds to stable fixed point in replicator dynamics, the evolutionary game-theoretic characterization of limit cycles is unknown. Here we fill this lacuna by defining oscillatory ESS (OESS) which we prove to be a stable limit cycle. We also show when an OESS is unique and if there are multiple OESSes, then what their locations are in the phase space.

nlin.AO↗

arXiv2025

Absence of quantum Darwinism as a resource in secure quantum communication and computation

The emergence of classical world from underlying quantum mechanics is characterized by not only vanishing quantum correlations but also an unfolding of objectivity also known as quantum Darwinism. We show that the absence of this objectivity has a quantum advantage in cryptography and also provides the crucial missing link in efficient classical simulation of quantum circuits with zero discord. For this purpose, we consider a model of mixed state quantum computation where one is promised concordant states at all stages of the quantum circuit. A concordant quantum state has zero discord with respect to any part and there exists a basis made up of a tensor product of orthonormal local subsystem basis in which the density matrix is diagonal. Efficient classical simulation of concordant computation has surprisingly been an outstanding question in quantum information theory. We argue that a key ingredient of an efficient classical simulation algorithm, a knowledge of the local basis in which the multi-party state is diagonal, is made available by quantum Darwinism. Concordant states in the absence of quantum Darwinism cannot be efficiently simulated by existing methods and give a cryptographic advantage in communication. We show this by giving a protocol for secure quantum communication that exploits this insight. Our work also has implications for the quantum-classical border and we discuss how objectivity emerging out of Darwinism demarcates this border in three ways - empirical based on our observations and experience of objectivity, information theoretic due to the absence of any quantum correlations and lastly computational in the sense discussed above. Lastly, we show that the quantum-classical boundary as drawn by quantum Darwinism as well by what can be simulated efficiently in a mixed state quantum computation aligns with the boundary given by Hardy

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Entangling power, gate typicality, and measurement-induced phase transitions

When subject to a non-local unitary evolution, qubits in a quantum circuit become increasingly entangled. Conversely, measurements applied to individual qubits lead to their disentanglement from the collective system. The extent of entanglement reduction depends on the frequency of local projective measurements. A delicate balance emerges between unitary evolution, which enhances entanglement, and measurements which diminish it. In the thermodynamic limit, there is a phase transition from volume law entanglement to area law entanglement at a critical value of measurement frequency. This phenomenon, occurring in hybrid quantum circuits with both unitary gates and measurements, is termed as measurement-induced phase transition (MIPT). We study the behavior of MIPT in circuits comprising of two qubit unitary gates parameterized by Cartan decomposition. We show that the entangling power and gate typicality of the two-qubit local unitaries employed in the circuit can be used to explain the behavior of global bipartite entanglement the circuit can sustain. When the two qubit gate throughout the circuit is the identity and measurements are the sole driver of the entanglement behavior, we obtain analytical estimate for the entanglement entropy that shows remarkable agreement with numerical simulations. We also find that the entangling power and gate typicality enable the classification of the two-qubit unitaries by different universality classes of phase transitions that can occur in the hybrid circuit. For all unitaries in a particular universality class, the transition from volume to area law of entanglement occurs with same exponent that characterizes the phase transition.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

On Simultaneous Information and Energy Transmission through Quantum Channels

The optimal rate at which information can be sent through a quantum channel when the transmitted signal must simultaneously carry some minimum amount of energy is characterized. To do so, we introduce the quantum-classical analogue of the capacity-power function and generalize results in classical information theory for transmitting classical information through noisy channels. We show that the capacity-power function for a classical-quantum channel, for both unassisted and private protocol, is concave and also prove additivity for unentangled and uncorrelated ensembles of input signals for such channels. This implies we do not need regularized formulas for calculation. We show these properties also hold for all noiseless channels when we restrict the set of input states to be pure quantum states. For general channels, we find that the capacity-power function is piece-wise concave. We give an elegant visual proof for this supported by numerical simulations. We connect channel capacity and properties of random quantum states. In particular, we obtain analytical expressions for the capacity-power function for the case of noiseless channels using properties of random quantum states under an energy constraint and concentration phenomena in large Hilbert spaces.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Information acquisition, scrambling, and sensitivity to errors in quantum chaos

Signatures of chaos can be understood by studying quantum systems whose classical counterpart is chaotic. However, the concepts of integrability, non-integrability and chaos extend to systems without a classical analogue. Here, we first review the classical route from order into chaos. Since nature is fundamentally quantum, we discuss how chaos manifests in the quantum domain. We briefly describe semi-classical methods, and discuss the consequences of chaos in quantum information processing. We review the quantum version of Lyapunov exponents, as quantified by the out-of-time ordered correlators (OTOC), Kolmogorov-Sinai (KS) entropy and sensitivity to errors. We then review the study of signatures of quantum chaos using quantum tomography. Classically, if we know the dynamics exactly, as we maintain a constant coarse-grained tracking of the trajectory, we gain exponentially fine-grained information about the initial condition. In the quantum setting,as we track the measurement record with fixed signal-to-noise, we gain increasing information about the initial condition. In the process, we have given a new quantification of operator spreading in Krylov subspaces with quantum state reconstruction. The study of these signatures is not only of theoretical interest but also of practical importance.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Out-of-Time Ordered Correlators in Kicked Coupled Tops: Information Scrambling in Mixed Phase Space and the Role of Conserved Quantities

We study operator growth in a bipartite kicked coupled tops (KCT) system using out-of-time ordered correlators (OTOCs), which quantify ``information scrambling" due to chaotic dynamics and serve as a quantum analog of classical Lyapunov exponents. In the KCT system, chaos arises from the hyper-fine coupling between the spins. Due to a conservation law, the system's dynamics decompose into distinct invariant subspaces. Focusing initially on the largest subspace, we numerically verify that the OTOC growth rate aligns well with the classical Lyapunov exponent for fully chaotic dynamics. While previous studies have largely focused on scrambling in fully chaotic dynamics, works on mixed-phase space scrambling are sparse. We explore scrambling behavior in both mixed-phase space and globally chaotic dynamics. In the mixed phase space, we use Percival's conjecture to partition the eigenstates of the Floquet map into ``regular" and ``chaotic." Using these states as the initial states, we examine how their mean phase space locations affect the growth and saturation of the OTOCs. Beyond the largest subspace, we study the OTOCs across the entire system, including all other smaller subspaces. For certain initial operators, we analytically derive the OTOC saturation using random matrix theory (RMT). When the initial operators are chosen randomly from the unitarily invariant random matrix ensembles, the averaged OTOC relates to the linear entanglement entropy of the Floquet operator, as found in earlier works. For the diagonal Gaussian initial operators, we provide a simple expression for the OTOC.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Quantifying operator spreading and chaos in Krylov subspaces with quantum state reconstruction

We study operator spreading in many-body quantum systems by its potential to generate an informationally complete measurement record in quantum tomography. We adopt continuous weak measurement tomography for this purpose. We generate the measurement record as a series of expectation values of an observable evolving under the desired dynamics, which can show a transition from integrability to complete chaos. We find that the amount of operator spreading, as quantified by the fidelity in quantum tomography, increases with the degree of chaos in the system. We also observe a remarkable increase in information gain when the dynamics transitions from integrable to nonintegrable. We find our approach in quantifying operator spreading is a more consistent indicator of quantum chaos than Krylov complexity as the latter may correlate/anti-correlate or show no explicit behavior with the level of chaos in the dynamics. We support our argument through various metrics of information gain for two models: the Ising spin chain with a tilted magnetic field and the Heisenberg XXZ spin chain with an integrability-breaking field. Our paper gives an operational interpretation for operator spreading in quantum chaos.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Probing Dynamical Sensitivity of a Non-KAM System Through Out-of-Time-Order Correlators

Non-KAM (Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser) systems, when perturbed by weak time-dependent fields, offer a fast route to classical chaos through an abrupt breaking of invariant phase space tori. In this work, we employ out-of-time-order correlators (OTOCs) to study the dynamical sensitivity of a perturbed non-KAM system in the quantum limit as the parameter that characterizes the $\textit{resonance}$ condition is slowly varied. For this purpose, we consider a quantized kicked harmonic oscillator (KHO) model, which displays stochastic webs resembling Arnold's diffusion that facilitate large-scale diffusion in the phase space. Although the Lyapunov exponent of the KHO at resonances remains close to zero in the weak perturbative regime, making the system weakly chaotic in the conventional sense, the classical phase space undergoes significant structural changes. Motivated by this, we study the OTOCs when the system is in resonance and contrast the results with the non-resonant case. At resonances, we observe that the long-time dynamics of the OTOCs are sensitive to these structural changes, where they grow quadratically as opposed to linear or stagnant growth at non-resonances. On the other hand, our findings suggest that the short-time dynamics remain relatively more stable and show the exponential growth found in the literature for unstable fixed points. The numerical results are backed by analytical expressions derived for a few special cases. We will then extend our findings concerning the non-resonant cases to a broad class of near-integrable KAM systems.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2022

Effect of chaos on information gain in quantum tomography

Does chaos in the dynamics enable information gain in quantum tomography or impede it? We address this question by considering continuous measurement tomography in which the measurement record is obtained as a sequence of expectation values of a Hermitian observable evolving under the repeated application of the Floquet map of the quantum kicked top. For a given dynamics and Hermitian observables, we observe completely opposite behavior in the tomography of well-localized spin coherent states compared to random states. As the chaos in the dynamics increases, the reconstruction fidelity of spin coherent states decreases. This contrasts with the previous results connecting information gain in tomography of random states with the degree of chaos in the dynamics that drives the system. The rate of information gain and hence the fidelity obtained in tomography depends not only on the degree of chaos in the dynamics and to what extent it causes the initial observable to spread in various directions of the operator space but, more importantly, how well these directions are aligned with the density matrix to be estimated. Our study also gives an operational interpretation for operator spreading in terms of fidelity gain in an actual quantum information tomography protocol.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Quantum tomography with random diagonal unitary maps and statistical bounds on information generation using random matrix theory

We study quantum tomography from a continuous measurement record obtained by measuring expectation values of a set of Hermitian operators obtained from unitary evolution of an initial observable. For this purpose, we consider the application of a random unitary, diagonal in a fixed basis at each time step and quantify the information gain in tomography using Fisher information of the measurement record and the Shannon entropy associated with the eigenvalues of covariance matrix of the estimation. Surprisingly, very high fidelity of reconstruction is obtained using random unitaries diagonal in a fixed basis even though the measurement record is not informationally complete. We then compare this with the information generated and fidelities obtained by application of a different Haar random unitary at each time step. We give an upper bound on the maximal information that can be obtained in tomography and show that a covariance matrix taken from the Wishart-Laguerre ensemble of random matrices and the associated Marchenko-Pastur distribution saturates this bound. We find that physically, this corresponds to an application of a different Haar random unitary at each time step. We show that repeated application of random diagonal unitaries gives a covariance matrix in tomographic estimation that corresponds to a new ensemble of random matrices. We analytically and numerically estimate eigenvalues of this ensemble and show the information gain to be bounded from below by the Porter-Thomas distribution.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Out-of-time-ordered correlators and the Loschmidt echo in the quantum kicked top: How low can we go?

The out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOC) and the Loschmidt echo are two measures that are now widely being explored to characterize sensitivity to perturbations and information scrambling in complex quantum systems. Studying few qubits systems collectively modelled as a kicked top, we solve exactly the three- and four- qubit cases, giving analytical results for the OTOC and the Loschmidt echo. While we may not expect such few-body systems to display semiclassical features, we find that there are clear signatures of the exponential growth of OTOC even in systems with as low as 4 qubits in appropriate regimes, paving way for possible experimental measurements. We explain qualitatively how classical phase space structures like fixed points and periodic orbits have an influence on these quantities and how our results compare to the large-spin kicked top model. Finally we point to a peculiar case at the border of quantum-classical correspondence which is solvable for any number of qubits and yet has signatures of exponential sensitivity in a rudimentary form.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Exponential speedup in measuring out-of-time-ordered correlators with a single bit of quantum information

Out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOC) are a quantifier of quantum information scrambling and quantum chaos. We propose an efficient quantum algorithm to measure OTOCs that provides an exponential speed-up over the best known classical algorithm provided the OTOC operator to be estimated admits an efficient gate decomposition. We also discuss a scheme to obtain information about the eigenvalue spectrum and the spectral density of OTOCs.

quant-ph↗