arXiv subjects

Zongping Gong

Publications and source records attributed to Zongping Gong.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Scattering States in One-Dimensional Non-Hermitian Baths

A single quantum emitter coupled to a structured non-Hermitian environment shows anomalous bound states and real-time dynamics without Hermitian counterparts, as shown in [Gong et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 223601 (2022)]. In this work, we establish a general approach for studying the scattering states of a single quantum emitter coupled to one-dimensional non-Hermitian single-band baths. We formally solve the exact eigenvalue equation for all the scattering states defined on finite periodic lattices. In the thermodynamic limit, the formal solution reduces to the celebrated Lippmann-Schwinger equation for generic baths. In this case, we find that the scattering states are no longer linear superpositions of plane waves in general, unlike those in Hermitian systems; Instead, the wave functions exhibit a large, yet finite localization length proportional to the lattice size. Furthermore, we show and discuss the cases where the Lippmann-Schwinger equation breaks down. We find the analytical solutions for the Hatano-Nelson and unidirectional next-to-nearest-neighbor baths in the thermodynamic limit.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Entanglement Spectrum Resolved by Loop Symmetries

A rigorous analysis is presented for the entanglement spectrum of quantum many-body states possessing a higher-form group-representation symmetry generated by topological Wilson loops, which is generally non-invertible. A general framework based on elementary algebraic topology and category theory is developed to determine the block structure of reduced density matrices for arbitrary bipartite manifolds on which the states are defined. Within this framework, we scrutinize the impact of topology on the entanglement structure for low-dimensional manifolds, including especially the torus, the Klein bottle, and lens spaces. By further incorporating gauge invariance, we refine our framework to determine the entanglement structure for topological gauge theories in arbitrary dimensions. In particular, in two dimensions, it is shown for the Kitaev quantum double model that not only the topological entanglement entropy can be reproduced, but also the Li-Haldane conjecture concerning the full entanglement spectrum holds exactly.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Symmetry and Topology of Successive Quantum Feedback Control

We establish a symmetry classification for a general class of quantum feedback control. For successive feedback control with a non-adaptive sequence of bare measurements (i.e., with positive Kraus operators), we prove that the symmetry classification collapses to the ten-fold AZ$^\dagger$ classes, specifying the allowed topology of CPTP maps associated with feedback control. We demonstrate that a chiral Maxwell's demon with Gaussian measurement errors exhibits quantized winding numbers. Moreover, for general (non-bare) measurements, we explicitly construct a protocol that falls outside the ten-fold classification. These results broaden and clarify the principles in engineering topological aspects of quantum control robust against disorder and imperfections.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Entanglement negativity in free fermions: twisted characteristic polynomial, universal bounds, and area laws

We present a general and simple formula for computing the entanglement negativity in free fermions. Our formula allows for deriving several universal bounds on negativity and its rate of change in dynamics. The bound on negativity directly relates the clustering property of correlations in free-fermion states to the entanglement area law, and provides the optimal condition for the area law in mixed free fermion states with long-range correlations. In addition, we establish an area-law bound on entanglement generation in open systems, analogous to previously known results for entanglement entropy in unitary dynamics. Our work provides new analytical insights into fermionic mixed-state entanglement.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Transition from topological to chaos in the nonlinear Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model

Recent studies on topological materials are expanding into the nonlinear regime, while the central principle, namely the bulk-edge correspondence, is yet to be elucidated in the strongly nonlinear regime. Here, we reveal that nonlinear topological edge modes can exhibit the transition to spatial chaos by increasing nonlinearity, which can be a universal mechanism of the breakdown of the bulk-edge correspondence. Specifically, we unveil the underlying dynamical system describing the spatial distribution of zero modes and show the emergence of chaos. We also propose the correspondence between the absolute value of the topological invariant and the dimension of the stable manifold under sufficiently weak nonlinearity. Our results provide a general guiding principle to investigate the nonlinear bulk-edge correspondence that can potentially be extended to arbitrary dimensions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Waveguide QED with dissipative light-matter couplings

Dissipative light-matter coupling plays a vital role in non-Hermitian physics, but it remains largely unexplored in waveguide QED systems. In this work, we find that by employing pseudo-Hermitian symmetry rather than anti-PT symmetry, the concept of dissipative coupling could be generalized and applied to the field of waveguide QED. This leads to a series of intriguing results, such as spontaneous breaking of pseudo-Hermitian symmetry across the exceptional points (EPs), level attraction between the bound states, and critical transition across the EPs for the population of quantum emitters in the bound state. Thanks to the tunability of photonic bands in crystal waveguides, we also demonstrate that dissipative light-matter coupling leads to the emergence of nonstandard third-order exceptional points with chiral spatial profiles in a topological waveguide QED system. This work provides a promising paradigm for studying non-Hermitian quantum phenomena in waveguide QED systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Threefold Way for Typical Entanglement

A typical quantum state with no symmetry can be realized by letting a random unitary act on a fixed state, and the subsystem entanglement spectrum follows the Laguerre unitary ensemble (LUE). For integer-spin time reversal symmetry, we have an analogous scenario where we prepare a time-reversal symmetric state and let random orthogonal matrices act on it, leading to the Laguerre orthogonal ensemble (LOE). However, for half-integer-spin time reversal symmetry, a straightforward analogue leading to the Laguerre symplectic ensemble (LSE) is no longer valid due to that time reversal symmetric state is forbidden by the Kramers' theorem. We devise a system in which the global time reversal operator is fractionalized on the subsystems, and show that LSE arises in the system. Extending this idea, we incorporate general symmetry fractionalization into the system, and show that the statistics of the entanglement spectrum is decomposed into a direct sum of LOE, LUE, and/or LSE. Here, various degeneracies in the entanglement spectrum may appear, depending on the non-Abelian nature of the symmetry group and the cohomology class of the non-trivial projective representation on the subsystem. Our work establishes the entanglement counterpart of the Dyson's threefold way for Hamiltonians with symmetries.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Optimal spectral transport of non-Hermitian systems

The optimal transport problem seeks to minimize the total transportation cost between two distributions, thus providing a measure of distance between them. In this work, we study the optimal transport of the eigenspectrum of one-dimensional non-Hermitian models as the spectrum deforms on the complex plane under a varying imaginary gauge field. Notably, according to the non-Bloch band theory, the deforming spectrum continuously connects the eigenspectra of the original non-Hermitian model (with vanishing gauge field) under different boundary conditions. It follows that the optimal spectral transport should contain key information of the model. Characterizing the optimal spectral transport through the Wasserstein metric, we show that, indeed, important features of the non-Hermitian model, such as the (auxiliary) generalized Brillouin zone, the non-Bloch exceptional point, and topological phase transition, can be determined from the Wasserstein-metric calculation. We confirm our conclusions using concrete examples. Our work highlights the key role of spectral geometry in non-Hermitian physics, and offers a practical and convenient access to the properties of non-Hermitian models.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Clustering Theorem for Bose-Hubbard class Gibbs states

We establish the exponential clustering of correlation functions for the high-temperature Gibbs states of Bose-Hubbard type models. To overcome the technical difficulties arising from the unboundedness of bosonic operators, we develop the interaction-picture cluster-expansion technique. This method also allows us to systematically bound the moments of the local particle number. This result provides an analytical justification for the low-boson-density condition frequently assumed in the study of bosonic many-body systems. As direct mathematical consequences of the clustering property, we derive a uniform upper bound on the specific heat density and establish a bosonic thermal area law with improved temperature dependence.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Any Quantum Many-Body State under Local Dissipation will be Disentangled in Finite Time

We prove that any quantum many-spin state under genetic local dissipation will be fully separable after a finite time independent of the system size. Such a sudden death of many-body entanglement occurs universally provided that there is a finite damping gap and the unique steady-state density matrix is of full rank. This result is rigorously derived by combining a state-reconstruction identity based on random measurements and the convergence bound for quantum channels. Related works and possible generalizations are also discussed.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Quantum Dynamical Tunneling Breaks Classical Conserved Quantities

We discover that quantum dynamical tunneling, occurring between phase space regions in a classically forbidden way, can break conserved quantities in pseudointegrable systems. We rigorously prove that a conserved quantity in a class of typical pseudointegrable systems can be broken quantum mechanically. We then numerically compute the uncertainties of this broken conserved quantity, which remain non-zero for up to $10^5$ eigenstates and exhibit universal distributions similar to energy level statistics. Furthermore, all the eigenstates with large uncertainties show the superpositions of regular orbits with different values of the conserved quantity, showing definitive manifestation of dynamical tunneling. A random matrix model is constructed to successfully reproduce the level statistics in pseudointegrable systems.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2023

Alternating quantum-emitter chains: Exceptional-point phase transition, edge state, and quantum walks

We study the long-range hopping limit of a one-dimensional array of $N$ equal-distanced quantum emitters in free space, where the hopping amplitude of emitter excitation is proportional to the inverse of the distance and equals the lattice dimension. For two species of emitters in an alternating arrangement, the single excitation sector exhibits non-Hermitian spectral singularities known as exceptional points. We unveil an unconventional phase transition, dubbed exceptional-point phase transition, from the collective to individual spontaneous emission behaviors. At the transition point, the $N \times N$ Hamiltonian fragments into $N/2-1$ many two-dimensional non-diagonalizable blocks. The remaining diagonalizable block contains a dissipation-induced edge state with algebraically localized profiles, and we provide numerical evidence for its existence in the infinite-array limit. We demonstrate that the edge state can be eliminated via a continuous deformation, consistent with the ill-definedness of bulk topological invariant. We also propose a spatially resolved character to quantify the incoherent flow and loss in the non-unitary quantum walks of single atomic excitations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Hermitian and Non-Hermitian Topology from Photon-Mediated Interactions

Light can mediate effective dipole-dipole interactions between atoms or quantum emitters coupled to a common environment. Exploiting them to tailor a desired effective Hamiltonian can have major applications and advance the search for many-body phases. Quantum technologies are mature enough to engineer large photonic lattices with sophisticated structures coupled to quantum emitters. In this context, a fundamental problem is to find general criteria to tailor a photonic environment that mediates a desired effective Hamiltonian of the atoms. Among these criteria, topological properties are of utmost importance since an effective atomic Hamiltonian endowed with a non-trivial topology can be protected against disorder and imperfections. Here, we find general theorems that govern the topological properties (if any) of photon-mediated Hamiltonians in terms of both Hermitian and non-Hermitian topological invariants, thus unveiling a system-bath topological correspondence. The results depend on the number of emitters relative to the number of resonators. For a photonic lattice where each mode is coupled to a single quantum emitter, the Altland-Zirnbauer classification of topological insulators allows us to link the topology of the atoms to that of the photonic bath: we unveil the phenomena of topological preservation and reversal to the effect that the atomic topology can be the same or opposite to the photonic one, depending on Hermiticity of the photonic system and on the parity of the spatial dimension. As a consequence, the bulk-edge correspondence implies the existence of atomic boundary modes with the group velocity opposite to the photonic ones in a 2D Hermitian topological system. If there are fewer emitters than photonic modes, the atomic system is less constrained and no general photon-atom topological correspondence can be found. We show this with two counterexamples.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Long-Range Free Fermions: Lieb-Robinson Bound, Clustering Properties, and Topological Phases

We consider free fermions living on lattices in arbitrary dimensions, where hopping amplitudes follow a power-law decay with respect to the distance. We focus on the regime where this power is larger than the spatial dimension (i.e., where the single particle energies are guaranteed to be bounded) for which we provide a comprehensive series of fundamental constraints on their equilibrium and nonequilibrium properties. First we derive a Lieb-Robinson bound which is optimal in the spatial tail. This bound then implies a clustering property with essentially the same power law for the Green's function, whenever its variable lies outside the energy spectrum. The widely believed (but yet unproven in this regime) clustering property for the ground-state correlation function follows as a corollary among other implications. Finally, we discuss the impact of these results on topological phases in long-range free-fermion systems: they justify the equivalence between Hamiltonian and state-based definitions and the extension of the short-range phase classification to systems with decay power larger than the spatial dimension. Additionally, we argue that all the short-range topological phases are unified whenever this power is allowed to be smaller.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Free-fermion Page Curve: Canonical Typicality and Dynamical Emergence

We provide further analytical insights into the newly established noninteracting (free-fermion) Page curve, focusing on both the kinematic and dynamical aspects. First, we unveil the underlying canonical typicality and atypicality for random free-fermion states. The former appears for a small subsystem and is exponentially weaker than the well-known result in the interacting case. The latter explains why the free-fermion Page curve differs remarkably from the interacting one when the subsystem is macroscopically large, i.e., comparable with the entire system. Second, we find that the free-fermion Page curve emerges with unexpectedly high accuracy in some simple tight binding models in long-time quench dynamics. This contributes a rare analytical result concerning quantum thermalization on a macroscopic scale, where conventional paradigms such as the generalized Gibbs ensemble and quasi-particle picture are not applicable.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Bound states and photon emission in non-Hermitian nanophotonics

We establish a general framework for studying the bound states and the photon-emission dynamics of quantum emitters coupled to structured nanophotonic lattices with engineered dissipation (loss). In the single-excitation sector, the system can be described exactly by a non-Hermitian formalism. We have pointed out in the accompanying letter [Gong \emph{et al}., arXiv:2205.05479] that a single emitter coupled to a one-dimensional non-Hermitian lattice may already exhibit anomalous behaviors without Hermitian counterparts. Here we provide further detail on these observations. We also present several additional examples on the cases with multiple quantum emitters or in higher dimensions. Our work unveils the tip of the iceberg of the rich non-Hermitian phenomena in dissipative nanophotonic systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Anomalous Behaviors of Quantum Emitters in Non-Hermitian Baths

Both non-Hermitian systems and the behaviour of emitters coupled to structured baths have been studied intensely in recent years. Here we study the interplay of these paradigmatic settings. In a series of examples, we show that a single quantum emitter coupled to a non-Hermitian bath displays a number of unconventional behaviours, many without Hermitian counterpart. We first consider a unidirectional hopping lattice whose complex dispersion forms a loop. We identify peculiar bound states inside the loop as a manifestation of the non-Hermitian skin effect. In the same setting, emitted photons may display spatial amplification markedly distinct from free propagation, which can be understood with the help of the generalized Brillouin zone. We then consider a nearest-neighbor lattice with alternating loss. We find that the long-time emitter decay always follows a power law, which is usually invisible for Hermitian baths. Our work points toward a rich landscape of anomalous quantum emitter dynamics induced by non-Hermitian baths.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Bounds in Nonequilibrium Quantum Dynamics

We review various bounds concerning out-of-equilibrium dynamics in few-level and many-body quantum systems. We primarily focus on closed quantum systems but will also mention some related results for open quantum systems and classical stochastic systems. We start from the speed limits, the universal bounds on the speeds of (either quantum or classical) dynamical evolutions. We then turn to review the bounds that address how good and how long would a quantum system equilibrate or thermalize. Afterward, we focus on the stringent constraint set by locality in many-body systems, rigorously formalized as the Lieb-Robinson bound. We also review the bounds related to the dynamics of entanglement, a genuine quantum property. Apart from some other miscellaneous topics, several notable error bounds for approximated quantum dynamics are discussed. While far from comprehensive, this topical review covers a considerable amount of recent progress and thus could hopefully serve as a convenient starting point and up-to-date guidance for interested readers.

quant-ph↗