arXiv subjects

Xiang Zhan

Publications and source records attributed to Xiang Zhan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Chiral Entangled-State Generation through Dissipative Quantum Dynamics

Dissipation, though often detrimental to quantum entanglement, can be manipulated for the preparation of entangled states, wherein ingeniously designed quantum jump processes drive the system toward the desired steady state. Here we venture beyond this paradigm, and demonstrate a new type of entanglement generation in dissipative quantum dynamics. Combining driven-dissipative steady-state engineering and adiabatic passage, we propose a general protocol where the final entangled state depends on the chirality of the evolution path in the parameter space, a scheme that is further extendable to multipartite entanglement. By simulating the Liouvillian dynamics through the quantum Langevin equation for a pair of photons, we experimentally confirm the noise-resistant chiral preparation of various entangled states with high fidelity and concurrence. Our work establishes parametric chiral dynamics as a scalable and robust tool for controllable entanglement generation, paving the way for its applications in quantum information.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Randomized interventional effects in semicompeting risks, with application to a hematopoietic cell transplantation study

In clinical studies, the risk of the primary (terminal) event may be modified by intermediate events, resulting in semicompeting risks. To study the treatment effect on the terminal event mediated by the intermediate event, researchers wish to decompose the total effect into direct and indirect effects. In this article, we extend the randomized interventional approach to time-to-event outcomes, where both intermediate and terminal events are subject to right censoring. We envision a random draw for the intermediate event process from a reference distribution, either marginally over time-varying confounders or conditionally given the observed history. We present the identification formula for interventional effects. We also discuss some variants of the identification assumptions. We estimate the treatment effects using nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation and propose a sensitivity analysis that incorporates a latent frailty. As an illustration, we study the effect of matched unrelated donor versus haploidentical donor on death mediated by relapse in a hematopoietic cell transplantation study with graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) as the time-varying confounder. We find that matched unrelated donor transplantation is preferable in terms of survival rates under the use of post-transplant PTCy GVHD prophylaxis for lymphoma patients.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2026

Topological Sensing in the Dynamics of Quantum Walks with Defects

Topological quantum sensing leverages unique topological features to suppress noise and improve the precision of parameter estimation, emerging as a promising tool in both fundamental research and practical application. In this Letter, we propose a sensing protocol that exploits the dynamics of topological quantum walks incorporating localized defects. Unlike conventional schemes that rely on topological protection to suppress disorder and defects, our protocol harnesses the evolution time as a resource to enable precise estimation of the defect parameter. By utilizing topologically nontrivial properties of the quantum walks, the sensing precision can approach the Heisenberg limit. We further demonstrate the performance and robustness of the protocol through Bayesian estimation. Our results show that this approach maintains high precision over a broad range of parameters and exhibits strong robustness against disorder, offering a practical pathway for topologically enhanced quantum metrology.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Experimental device-independent certification of indefinite causal order

Understanding the physical world fundamentally relies on the assumption that events are temporally ordered, with past events serving as causes for future ones. However, quantum mechanics permits events to occur in a superposition of causal orders, providing new types of quantum resources for quantum information tasks. Previous demonstrations of indefinite causal order have relied on a process known as quantum switch and depended on specific assumptions about the devices used in the laboratory. Recently, a theoretical scheme for the certification of indefinite causal order in the quantum switch has been obtained solely from the output statistics of the devices, analogous to the device-independent proofs of nonlocality through violations of the Bell inequality. Here, we report an experimental verification of the causal inequality using spacelike-separated entangled photons, where one photon functions as the control qubit in a quantum switch and the other serves as an additional observer. Through local measurement statistics, we observe a violation of the causal inequality by 24 standard deviations. This work provides evidence for a device-independent certification of indefinite causal order, relying solely on observed correlations without requiring device characterization. Our results pave the way toward a complete understanding of indefinite causal order and its potential applications in quantum information processing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Separable pathway effects of semi-competing risks using multi-state models

Semi-competing risks refer to the phenomenon where a primary event (such as mortality) can ``censor'' an intermediate event (such as relapse of a disease), but not vice versa. Under the multi-state model, the primary event consists of two specific types: the direct outcome event and an indirect outcome event developed from intermediate events. Within this framework, we show that the total treatment effect on the cumulative incidence of the primary event can be decomposed into three separable pathway effects, capturing treatment effects on population-level transition rates between states. We next propose two estimators for the counterfactual cumulative incidences of the primary event under hypothetical treatment components. One estimator is given by the generalized Nelson--Aalen estimator with inverse probability weighting under covariates isolation, and the other is given based on the efficient influence function. The asymptotic normality of these estimators is established. The first estimator only involves a propensity score model and avoid modeling the cause-specific hazards. The second estimator has robustness against the misspecification of submodels. As an illustration of its potential usefulness, the proposed method is applied to compare effects of different allogeneic stem cell transplantation types on overall survival after transplantation.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2024

High-dimensional log contrast models with measurement errors

High-dimensional compositional data are frequently encountered in many fields of modern scientific research. In regression analysis of compositional data, the presence of covariate measurement errors poses grand challenges for existing statistical error-in-variable regression analysis methods since measurement error in one component of the composition has an impact on others. To simultaneously address the compositional nature and measurement errors in the high-dimensional design matrix of compositional covariates, we propose a new method named Error-in-composition (Eric) Lasso for regression analysis of corrupted compositional predictors. Estimation error bounds of Eric Lasso and its asymptotic sign-consistent selection properties are established. We then illustrate the finite sample performance of Eric Lasso using simulation studies and demonstrate its potential usefulness in a real data application example.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2023

Unusual Sign Reversal of Field-like Spin-Orbit Torque in Pt/Ni/Py with an Ultrathin Ni Spacer

The magnetization manipulation by spin-orbit torques (SOTs) in nonmagnetic-metal (NM)/ferromagnet (FM) heterostructures has provided great opportunities for spin devices. Besides the conventional spin Hall effect (SHE) in heavy metals with strong spin-orbit coupling, the orbital currents have been proposed to be another promising approach to generate strong SOTs. Here, we systematically study the SOTs efficiency and its dependence on the FM thickness and different NM/FM interfaces in two prototypical Pt/Py and Ta/Py systems by inserting an ultrathin magnetic layer (0.4 nm thick ML = Co, Fe, Gd, and Ni). The dampinglike (DL) torque efficiency $ξ_{DL}$ is significantly enhanced by inserting ultrathin Co, Fe, and Ni layers and is noticeably suppressed for the Gd insertion. Moreover, the Ni insertion results in a sign change of the field-like (FL) torque in Pt/Py and substantially reduces $ξ_{DL}$ in Ta/Py. These results are likely related to the additional spin currents generated by combining the orbital Hall effect (OHE) in the NM and orbital-to-spin conversion in the ML insertion layer and/or their interfaces, especially for the Ni insertion. Our results demonstrate that inserting ultrathin ML can effectively manipulate the strength and sign of the SOTs, which would be helpful for spintronics applications.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2023

Efficient characteristics of exchange coupling and spin-flop transition in Py/Gd bilayer using anisotropic magnetoresistance

The interlayer antiferromagnetic coupling rare-earth/transition-metal bilayer ferrimagnet systems have attracted much attention because they present variously unusual temperature-and field-dependent nontrivial magnetic states and dynamics. These properties and the implementation of their applications in spintronics highly depend on the significant temperature dependence of the magnetic exchange stiffness constant A. Here, we quantitatively determine the temperature dependence of magnetic exchange stiffness A_{Py-Gd} and A_{Gd} in the artificially layered ferrimagnet consisting of a Py/Gd bilayer, using a measurement of anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) of the bilayer thin film at different temperatures and magnetic fields. The obtained temperature dependence of A_{Py-Gd} and A_{Gd} exhibit a scaling power law with the magnetization of Gd. The critical field of spin-flop transition and its temperature dependence can also be directly obtained by this method. Additionally, the experimental results are well reproduced by micromagnetic simulations with the obtained parameters A_{Py-Gd} and A_{Gd}, which further confirms the reliability of this easily accessible technique.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

A Flexible Zero-Inflated Poisson-Gamma model with application to microbiome read counts

In microbiome studies, it is of interest to use a sample from a population of microbes, such as the gut microbiota community, to estimate the population proportion of these taxa. However, due to biases introduced in sampling and preprocessing steps, these observed taxa abundances may not reflect true taxa abundance patterns in the ecosystem. Repeated measures, including longitudinal study designs, may be potential solutions to mitigate the discrepancy between observed abundances and true underlying abundances. Yet, widely observed zero-inflation and over-dispersion issues can distort downstream statistical analyses aiming to associate taxa abundances with covariates of interest. To this end, we propose a Zero-Inflated Poisson Gamma (ZIPG) framework to address the aforementioned challenges. From a perspective of measurement errors, we accommodate the discrepancy between observations and truths by decomposing the mean parameter in Poisson regression into a true abundance level and a multiplicative measurement of sampling variability from the microbial ecosystem. Then, we provide a flexible model by connecting both mean abundance and the variability to different covariates, and build valid statistical inference procedures for both parameter estimation and hypothesis testing. Through comprehensive simulation studies and real data applications, the proposed ZIPG method provides significant insights into distinguished differential variability and abundance.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2022

Enhancement of spin-orbit torque efficiency by tailoring interfacial spin-orbit coupling in Pt-based magnetic multilayers

We study inserting Co layer thickness-dependent spin transport and spin-orbit torques (SOTs) in the Pt/Co/Py trilayers by spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance. The interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy density ($K_s = 2.7~erg/cm^2$), which is dominated by interfacial spin-orbit coupling (ISOC) in the Pt/Co interface, total effective spin-mixing conductance ($G_{eff,tot} = 0.42 {\times} 10^{15}~Ω^{-1} m^{-2}$) and two-magnon scattering ($β_{TMS} = 0.46~nm^2$) are first characterized, and the damping-like torque ($ξ_{DL}$ = 0.103) and field-like torque ($ξ_{FL}$ = -0.017) efficiencies are also calculated quantitatively by varying the thickness of the inserting Co layer. The significant enhancement of $ξ_{DL}$ and $ξ_{FL}$ in Pt/Co/Py than Pt/Py bilayer system originates from the interfacial Rashba-Edelstein effect due to the strong ISOC between Co-3d and Pt-5d orbitals at the Pt/Co interface. Additionally, we find a considerable out-of-plane spin polarization SOT, which is ascribed to the spin anomalous Hall effect and possible spin precession effect due to IPMA-induced perpendicular magnetization at the Pt/Co interface. Our results demonstrate that the ISOC of the Pt/Co interface plays a vital role in spin transport and SOTs-generation. Our finds offer an alternative approach to improve the conventional SOTs efficiencies and generate unconventional SOTs with out-of-plane spin polarization to develop low power Pt-based spintronic via tailoring the Pt/FM interface.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Conserved quantities in parity-time symmetric systems

Conserved quantities such as energy or the electric charge of a closed system, or the Runge-Lenz vector in Kepler dynamics are determined by its global, local, or accidental symmetries. They were instrumental to advances such as the prediction of neutrinos in the (inverse) beta decay process and the development of self-consistent approximate methods for isolated or thermal many-body systems. In contrast, little is known about conservation laws and their consequences in open systems. Recently, a special class of these systems, called parity-time ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetric systems, has been intensely explored for their remarkable properties that are absent in their closed counterparts. A complete characterization and observation of conserved quantities in these systems and their consequences is still lacking. Here we present a complete set of conserved observables for a broad class of $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric Hamiltonians and experimentally demonstrate their properties using single-photon linear optical circuit. By simulating the dynamics of a four-site system across a fourth-order exceptional point, we measure its four conserved quantities and demonstrate their consequences. Our results spell out non-local conservation laws in non-unitary dynamics and provide key elements that will underpin self-consistent analysis of non-Hermitian quantum many-body systems that are forthcoming.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Experimental demonstration of one-sided device-independent self-testing of any pure two-qubit entangled state

We demonstrate one-sided device-independent self-testing of any pure entangled two-qubit state based on a fine-grained steering inequality. The maximum violation of a fine-grained steering inequality can be used to witness certain steerable correlations, which certify all pure two-qubit entangled states. Our experimental results identify which particular pure two-qubit entangled state has been self-tested and which measurement operators are used on the untrusted side. Furthermore, we analytically derive the robustness bound of our protocol, enabling our subsequent experimental verification of robustness through state tomography. Finally, we ensure that the requisite no-signalling constraints are maintained in the experiment.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Experimental entropic test of state-independent contextuality via single photons

Recently, an inequality satisfied by non-contextual hidden-variable models and violated by quantum mechanics for all states of a four-level system has been derived based on information-theoretic distance approach to non-classical correlations. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate violation of this inequality with single photons. Our experiment offers a method to study a distinction between quantum and classical correlations from an information-theoretic perspective.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Experimental orthogonalization of highly overlapping quantum states with single photons

We experimentally realize a nonlinear quantum protocol on single-photon qubits with linear optical elements and appropriate measurements. The quantum nonlinearity is induced by post-selecting the polarization qubit based on a measurement result obtained on the spatial degree of freedom of the single photon which plays the role of a second qubit. Initially, both qubits are prepared in the same quantum state and an appropriate two-qubit unitary transformation entangles them before the measurement on the spatial part. We analyze the result by quantum state tomography on the polarization degree of freedom. We then demonstrate the usefulness of the protocol for quantum state discrimination by iteratively applying it on either one of two slightly different quantum states which rapidly converge to different orthogonal states by the iterative dynamics. Our work opens the door to employ effective quantum nonlinear evolution for quantum information processing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

ET-Lasso: A New Efficient Tuning of Lasso-type Regularization for High-Dimensional Data

The L1 regularization (Lasso) has proven to be a versatile tool to select relevant features and estimate the model coefficients simultaneously and has been widely used in many research areas such as genomes studies, finance, and biomedical imaging. Despite its popularity, it is very challenging to guarantee the feature selection consistency of Lasso especially when the dimension of the data is huge. One way to improve the feature selection consistency is to select an ideal tuning parameter. Traditional tuning criteria mainly focus on minimizing the estimated prediction error or maximizing the posterior model probability, such as cross-validation and BIC, which may either be time-consuming or fail to control the false discovery rate (FDR) when the number of features is extremely large. The other way is to introduce pseudo-features to learn the importance of the original ones. Recently, the Knockoff filter is proposed to control the FDR when performing feature selection. However, its performance is sensitive to the choice of the expected FDR threshold. Motivated by these ideas, we propose a new method using pseudo-features to obtain an ideal tuning parameter. In particular, we present the Efficient Tuning of Lasso (ET-Lasso) to separate active and inactive features by adding permuted features as pseudo-features in linear models. The pseudo-features are constructed to be inactive by nature, which can be used to obtain a cutoff to select the tuning parameter that separates active and inactive features. Experimental studies on both simulations and real-world data applications are provided to show that ET-Lasso can effectively and efficiently select active features under a wide range of scenarios

stat.ML↗

arXiv2019

Observation of critical phenomena in parity-time-symmetric quantum dynamics

We experimentally simulate non-unitary quantum dynamics using a single-photon interferometric network and study the information flow between a parity-time (PT)-symmetric non-Hermitian system and its environment. We observe oscillations of quantum-state distinguishability and complete information retrieval in the PT-symmetry-unbroken regime. We then characterize in detail critical phenomena of the information flow near the exceptional point separating the PT-unbroken and -broken regimes, and demonstrate power-law behavior in key quantities such as the distinguishability and the recurrence time. We also reveal how the critical phenomena are affected by symmetry and initial conditions. Finally, introducing an ancilla as an environment and probing quantum entanglement between the system and the environment, we confirm that the observed information retrieval is induced by a finite-dimensional entanglement partner in the environment. Our work constitutes the first experimental characterization of critical phenomena in PT-symmetric non-unitary quantum dynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Higher winding number in a non-unitary photonic quantum walk

Topological matter exhibits exotic properties yet phases characterized by large topological invariants are difficult to implement, despite rapid experimental progress. A promising route toward higher topological invariants is via engineered Floquet systems, particularly in photonics, where flexible control holds the potential of extending the study of conventional topological matter to novel regimes. Here we implement a one-dimensional photonic quantum walk to explore large winding numbers. By introducing partial measurements and hence loss into the system, we detect winding numbers of three and four in multi-step non-unitary quantum walks, which agree well with theoretical predictions. Moreover, by probing statistical moments of the walker, we identify locations of topological phase transitions in the system, and reveal the breaking of pseudo-unitary near topological phase boundaries. As the winding numbers are associated with non-unitary time evolution, our investigation enriches understanding of topological phenomena in non-unitary settings.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Observation of emergent momentum-time skyrmions in parity-time-symmetric non-unitary quench dynamics

Topology in quench dynamics gives rise to intriguing dynamic topological phenomena, which are intimately connected to the topology of static Hamiltonians yet challenging to probe experimentally. Here we experimentally detect momentum-time skyrmions in parity-time (PT)-symmetric non-unitary quench dynamics, which are protected by dynamic Chern numbers defined for the emergent momentum-time manifold. Specifically, we experimentally simulate non-unitary quench dynamics of PT-symmetric topological systems using single-photon discrete-time quantum walks, and demonstrate emergence of skyrmions by constructing the time-dependent non-Hermitian density matrix via direct measurements in position space. Our work experimentally reveals the interplay of PT symmetry and quench dynamics in inducing emergent topological structures, and highlights the application of discrete-time quantum walks for the study of dynamic topological phenomena.

quant-ph↗