arXiv subjects

Zhixing Zou

Publications and source records attributed to Zhixing Zou.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Macroscopic Spin GHZ States with a Levitated Ferromagnet

The generation of macroscopic quantum states can drive both fundamental physics and quantum technologies. This work proposes a top-down approach to the generation of macroscopic spin GHZ states using a levitated ferromagnet, where a strong locking between the collective spin and the lattice rotation enables mechanical control of the collective spin. We quantify the metrological advantage of the resulting macrospin superposition state by showing that Heisenberg scaling of the quantum Fisher information is achievable. Roles of symmetry and geometry are analyzed in terms of decoherence due to gas collisions, identifying accessible conditions for experimental realization. The usefulness of a macrospin superposition state of a levitated cylindrical ferromagnet in testing spin-dependent wavefunction collapse models is also discussed.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

The Quantum Kicked Rotor: A Paradigm of Quantum Chaos. Foundational aspects and new perspectives

The kicked rotor provides a simple yet powerful model for introducing many of the central concepts of classical and quantum chaos. Despite its apparent simplicity, it exhibits rich dynamical behavior and has found applications across a wide range of fields, including atomic and optical physics, condensed matter physics, and emerging quantum technologies. This chapter begins by exploring foundational ideas using the kicked rotor as a unifying framework. We first discuss the transition from regular to chaotic motion in the classical system, and then introduce key quantum phenomena such as dynamical localization and quantum resonances. Special attention is devoted to the emergence of characteristic time scales and their role in the quantum-classical correspondence. To make these ideas more concrete, we also provide a brief overview of experimental realizations of the kicked rotor and its variants, illustrating how theoretical concepts are implemented in practice. In the second part of the chapter, we guide the reader toward more recent and advanced developments. Topics include near-resonant dynamics, topological features of kicked systems, the emergence of quantum dynamical phases inferred from classical transport properties, and extensions to non-Hermitian physics. We conclude with a discussion of open problems and future perspectives, outlining directions in which the kicked rotor continues to offer valuable insights.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Quantum vs Classical Thermal Transport at Low Temperatures

This work aims to understand how quantum mechanics affects heat transport at low temperatures. In the classical setting, by considering a simple paradigmatic model, our simulations reveal the emergence of Negative Differential Thermal Resistance (NDTR): paradoxically, increasing the temperature bias by lowering the cold bath temperature reduces the steady-state heat current. In sharp contrast, the quantum version of the model, treated via a Lindblad master equation, exhibits no NDTR: the heat current increases monotonically with thermal bias. This marked divergence highlights the fundamental role of quantum effects in low-temperature thermal transport and underscores the need to reconsider classical predictions when designing and optimizing nanoscale thermal devices.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2025

Microscopic theory of a precessing ferromagnet for ultrasensitive magnetometry

Levitated systems have great potential in quantum sensing and exploring quantum effects at the macroscopic scale. Of particular interest are recent works suggesting that a levitated ferromagnet can beat the standard quantum limit of magnetometry. This work offers a theoretical model to analyze and understand critical features of the precessing dynamics of a levitated ferromagnetic needle, indeed much like a macrospin, in the presence of a weak magnetic field. The dynamics from the atomic scale reveals how the standard quantum limit is surpassed, thus verifying sensing advantages when compared with a collection of independent spins. Our theory further takes us to two additional experimental designs of immediate interest: measurement of the celebrated Berry phase with a precessing ferromagnetic needle and the use of its nutation motion to sense a low-frequency oscillating magnetic field. With a microscopic theory established for levitated ferromagnetic needles, future studies of macroscopic quantum effects and the associated quantum-classical transition also become possible.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Enhancing Quantum Metrology by Quantum Resonance Dynamics

Quantum effects in metrology can in principle enhance measurement precision from the so-called standard quantum limit to the Heisenberg Limit. Further advancements in quantum metrology largely rely on innovative metrology protocols that can avoid a number of known obstacles, including the challenge of preparing entangled states with sufficient fidelity, the readout noise in measuring highly entangled states, and no-go theorems for quantum metrology under noisy environments. In this Letter, exploiting some peculiar but experimentally feasible dynamical features of a collection of spins with all-to-all time-periodic interactions, we propose a metrology protocol that can circumvent all the three mentioned obstacles and yet still make good use of time as a resource for metrology. Specifically, by mapping the dynamics of such a periodically driven spin system to that of a paradigm of quantum chaos but tuned to some high-order quantum resonance, it is shown that a simple $SU(2)$ coherent state can, after evolving to highly entangled states in the ensuing dynamics, be dynamically brought back to the same initial coherent state. The associated quantum Fisher information is found to exhibit quadratic scaling with both the number of spins and the duration of the metrology protocol. The achieved Heisenberg scaling can also largely survive in the presence of Markovian noise. Representing a previously unknown strategy for quantum metrology, the protocol proposed here can be tested on available experimental platforms.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Boson-fermion universality of mesoscopic entanglement fluctuations in free systems

Entanglement fluctuations associated with Schrödinger evolution of wavefunctions offer a unique perspective on various fundamental issues ranging from quantum thermalization to state preparation in quantum devices. Very recently, a subset of present authors have shown that in a class of free-fermion lattice models and interacting spin chains, entanglement dynamics enters into a new regime at long time, with entanglement probes displaying persistent temporal fluctuations, whose statistics falls into the seemingly disparate paradigm of mesoscopic fluctuations in condensed matter physics. This motivate us to revisit here entanglement dynamics of a canonical bosonic model in many-body physics, i.e., a coupled harmonic oscillator chain. We find that when the system is driven out of equilibrium, the long-time entanglement dynamics exhibits strictly the same statistical behaviors as that of free-fermion models. Specifically, irrespective of entanglement probes and microscopic parameters, the statistical distribution of entanglement fluctuations is flanked by asymmetric tails: sub-Gaussian for upward fluctuations and sub-Gamma for downward; moreover, the variance exhibits a crossover from the scaling $\sim 1/L$ to $\sim L_A^3/L^2$, as the subsystem size $L_A$ increases ($L$ the total system size). This insensitivity to the particle statistics, dubbed boson-fermion universality, is contrary to the common wisdom that statistical phenomena of many-body nature depend strongly on particle statistics. Together with our previous work, the present work indicates rich fluctuation phenomena in entanglement dynamics awaiting in-depth explorations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

A pseudoclassical theory for the wavepacket dynamics of the kicked rotor model

In this study, we propose a generalized pseudoclassical theory for the kicked rotor model in an attempt to discern the footprints of the classical dynamics in the deep quantum regime. Compared with the previous pseudoclassical theory that applies only in the neighborhoods of the lowest two quantum resonances, the proposed theory is applicable in the neighborhoods of all quantum resonances in principle by considering the quantum effect of the free rotation at a quantum resonance. In particular, it is confirmed by simulations that the quantum wavepacket dynamics can be successfully forecasted based on the generalized pseudoclassical dynamics, offering an intriguing example where it is feasible to bridge the dynamics in the deep quantum regime to the classical dynamics. The application of the generalized pseudoclassical theory to the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric kicked rotor is also discussed.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Rectification of heat current in Corbino geometry

We prove analytically the ballistic thermal rectification effect (BTRE) in the Corbino disk characterized by an annular shape. We derive the thermal rectification efficiency (RE) and show that it can be expressed as the product of two independent functions, the first dependent on the temperatures of the heat baths and the second on the system's geometry. It follows that a perfect BTRE can be reached with the increase of the ratios of the heat baths' temperatures and of the radius of the outer edge to the inner edge of the disk. We also show that, by introducing a potential barrier into the Corbino disk, the RE can be greatly improved. Quite remarkably, by an appropriate choice of parameters, the thermal diode effect can be reversed. Our results are robust under variation of the Corbino geometry, which may provide a novel and flexible route to manipulate the heat flow at the nanoscale.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Pseudoclassical dynamics of the kicked top

The kicked rotor and the kicked top are two paradigms of quantum chaos. The notions of quantum resonance and the pseudoclassical limit, developed in the study of the kicked rotor, have revealed an intriguing and unconventional aspect of classical-quantum correspondence. Here, we show that, by extending these notions to the kicked top, its rich dynamical behavior can be appreciated more thoroughly; of special interest is the entanglement entropy. In particular, the periodic synchronization between systems subject to different kicking strength can be conveniently understood and elaborated from the pseudoclassical perspective. The applicability of the suggested general pseudoclassical theory to the kicked rotor is also discussed.

quant-ph↗