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At least 217 records · Page 12

Dynamical dark energy from lattice quantum gravity

We study the behavior of the vacuum in Euclidean dynamical triangulations (EDT). Algorithmic improvements and better lattice spacing determinations allow us to test the properties of the emergent de Sitter geometries of our simulations to higher precision than previously possible. Although the agreement with de Sitter is good, the improved precision reveals deviations that can be interpreted as nontrivial vacuum dynamics, well described by a cosmological constant that runs with scale. The simulations show that the dominant running is quadratic and that the scale can be identified with the Hubble rate. Several key cross-checks support this picture, including consistent results across multiple lattice spacings and the fact that the null energy condition is not violated. The parameters of the running are fully determined by simulations, enabling predictions when extrapolated to the scales relevant for our Universe. This leads to a model for dark energy that is compatible with current observations, but which predicts deviations from the Standard Model of cosmology at the 𝒪⁡(10 −3 ) level in observables that could be tested with future improvements in precision measurements.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Revealing subterahertz atomic vibrations in quantum paraelectrics by surface-sensitive spintronic terahertz spectroscopy

Understanding surface collective dynamics in quantum materials is crucial for advancing quantum technologies. For example, surface phonon modes in quantum paraelectrics are thought to be essential in facilitating interfacial superconductivity. However, detecting these modes, especially below 1 terahertz, is challenging because of limited sampling volumes and the need for high spectroscopic resolution. Here, we report surface soft transverse optical (TO1) phonon dynamics in KTaO 3 and SrTiO 3 by surface-sensitive spintronic terahertz spectroscopy that can sense the collective modes only a few nanometers deep from the surface. In KTaO 3 , the TO1 mode softens and sharpens with decreasing temperature, leveling off at 0.7 terahertz. In contrast, this mode in SrTiO 3 broadens substantially below the quantum paraelectric crossover and coincides with the hardening of a sub–milli–electron volt phonon mode related to the antiferrodistortive transition. These observations that deviate from their bulk properties may have implications for interfacial superconductivity and ferroelectricity. The developed technique opens opportunities for sensing low-energy surface collective excitations.

Chu, Zhaodong↗

Capturing the Page curve and entanglement dynamics of black holes in quantum computers

Quantum computers are emerging technologies expected to become important tools for exploring various aspects of fundamental physics in the future. Therefore, we pose the question of whether quantum computers can help us to study the Page curve and the black hole information dynamics, which has been a key focus in fundamental physics. In this regard, we rigorously examine the qubit transport model, a toy qubit model of black hole evaporation on IBM’s superconducting quantum computers, to shed light on this question. Specifically, we implement the quantum simulation of the scrambling dynamics in black holes using an efficient random unitary circuit. Furthermore, we employ the swap-based many-body interference protocol and the randomized measurement protocol to measure the entanglement entropy of Hawking radiation qubits in this model. Finally, by incorporating quantum error mitigation techniques into our challenging implementation of entanglement entropy measurement protocols on the IBM quantum hardware, we accurately determine the Rényi entropy in the qubit transport model, thus showcasing the utility of quantum computers for future investigations of complex quantum systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Noise-canceling quantum feedback: Non-Hermitian dynamics with applications to state preparation and magic state distillation

Time-continuous quantum measurement allows for the tracking of a quantum system in real time via sequences of short, and individually weak, measurement intervals. Such measurements are necessarily invasive, imparting backaction to the system, and allowing the observer to update their state estimate based on stochastic measurement outcomes. Feedback control then involves real-time interventions by an observer, conditioned on the time-continuous measurement signal that they receive. Here, we consider here diffusive quantum trajectories and focus on the “noise-canceling” subset of feedback protocols that aim to minimize the degree of stochasticity in the dynamics. We derive such a class of feedback operations, showing that under the idealized assumptions of pure states, unit measurement efficiency, and zero time delay in implementing feedback operations, perfectly noise-canceling feedback always exists. We consider the resulting noise-canceled dynamics generated by an effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonian; while non-Hermitian Hamiltonians from continuous monitoring generally describe rare dynamics (accessible by costly postselection), the use of noise-canceling feedback here leads to non-Hermitian dynamics that occur deterministically. We demonstrate this via examples of entangled state preparation and stabilization. We then illustrate the potential for the application of noise cancellation to boost success rates in magic state distillation protocols. We show that adding feedback based on noise cancellation into a time-continuous five-to-one distillation protocol leads to higher probabilities of successful distillation across a range of input errors and increases the threshold on input errors for which the protocol is effective. Our results highlight the efficacy of noise-canceling feedback-aided protocols for quantum state preparation and stabilization tasks.

Karmakar, Tathagata [University of California, Ber↗

Scrambling Dynamics with Imperfections in a Solvable Model

We study how probes of quantum scrambling dynamics respond to two kinds of imperfections -- unequal forward and backward evolutions and decoherence -- in a solvable Brownian circuit model. We calculate a ``renormalized'' out-of-time-order correlator (ROTOC) in the model with $N$ qubits, and we show that the circuit-averaged ROTOC is controlled by an effective probability distribution in operator weight space which obeys a system of $N$ non-linear equations of motion. These equations can be easily solved numerically for large system sizes which are beyond the reach of exact methods. Moreover, for an operator initially concentrated on weight one $w_0=1$, we provide an exact solution to the equations in the thermodynamic limit of many qubits that is valid for all times, all non-vanishing perturbation strengths $p\gtrsim 1/\sqrt{N}$, and all decoherence strengths. We also show that a generic initial condition $w_0 >1$ leads to a metastable state that eventually collapses to the $w_0=1$ case after a lifetime $\sim \log(N/w_0)$. Our results highlight situations where it is still possible to extract the unperturbed chaos exponent even in the presence of imperfections, and we comment on the applications of our results to existing experiments with nuclear spins and to future scrambling experiments.

FOS: Physical sciences↗

Dynamic-local-field approximation for the quantum solids

A local-molecular-field description for the ground-state properties of the quantum solids is presented. The dynamical behavior of atoms contributing to the local field, which acts on an arbitrary pair of test particles, is incorporated by decoupling the pair correlations between these field atoms. The energy, pressure, compressibility, single-particle-distribution function, and the rms atomic deviations about the equilibrium lattice sites are calculated for H2, He-3, and He-4 over the volume range from 5 to 24.5 cu cm/mole. The results are in close agreement with existing Monte Carlo calculations wherever comparisons are possible. At very high pressure, the results agree with simplified descriptions which depend on negligible overlap of the system wave function between neighboring lattice sites.

Etters, R. D.↗

Assessing VQLS for Fluid Dynamics on a Hybrid Quantum-HPC Stack

Recent advances in quantum linear solvers offer a promising direction for accelerating extreme scientific computations such as fluid dynamics. However, the deep and complex circuits required by many quantum algorithms limit their practical use on current quantum hardware. The Variational Quantum Linear Solver (VQLS) presents a viable alternative for near-term quantum devices (NISQ), and initial efforts have explored its application to select fluid dynamics problems. In this work, we evaluate the use of VQLS for canonical fluid dynamics problems, aiming to identify pathways for generalizing its implementation across a broader class of systems. We analyze the impact of various circuit ansatz and classical optimizers on solution quality and convergence behavior. Furthermore, we assess the algorithm's feasibility within a hybrid quantum–high-performance computing (HPC) framework by porting it to QFw, a state-of-the-art quantum-HPC software stack. 11This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan. This research used resources of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is supported by the Office of Science of the US DOE under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725.

Gopalakrishnan Meena, Murali [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000↗

Determination of Quantum Chemistry Based Force Fields for Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Aromatic Polymers

Ab initio quantum chemistry calculations for model molecules can be used to parameterize force fields for molecular dynamics simulations of polymers. Emphasis in our research group is on using quantum chemistry-based force fields for molecular dynamics simulations of organic polymers in the melt and glassy states, but the methodology is applicable to simulations of small molecules, multicomponent systems and solutions. Special attention is paid to deriving reliable descriptions of the non-bonded and electrostatic interactions. Several procedures have been developed for deriving and calibrating these parameters. Our force fields for aromatic polyimide simulations will be described. In this application, the intermolecular interactions are the critical factor in determining many properties of the polymer (including its color).

Jaffe, Richard↗

A theoretical study on quasifission and fusion–fission processes in heavy-ion collisions

Despite recent advances and focus on rigorous uncertainty quantification for microscopic models of quantum many-body systems, the uncertainty on the dynamics of those systems has been underexplored. To address this, we have used time-dependent Hartree-Fock to examine the model uncertainty for a collection of low-energy, heavy-ion fusion reactions. Fusion reactions at near-barrier energies represent a rich test-bed for the dynamics of quantum many-body systems owing to the complex interplay of collective excitation, transfer, and static effects that determine the fusion probability of a given system. The model uncertainty is sizable for many of the systems studied and the primary contribution arises from static properties that are ill-constrained, such as the neutron radius of neutron-rich nuclei. These large uncertainties motivate the use of information from reactions to better constrain existing models and to infer static properties from reaction data.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Computational Nanotechnology of Materials, Devices, and Machines: Carbon Nanotubes

The mechanics and chemistry of carbon nanotubes have relevance for their numerous electronic applications. Mechanical deformations such as bending and twisting affect the nanotube's conductive properties, and at the same time they possess high strength and elasticity. Two principal techniques were utilized including the analysis of large scale classical molecular dynamics on a shared memory architecture machine and a quantum molecular dynamics methodology. In carbon based electronics, nanotubes are used as molecular wires with topological defects which are mediated through various means. Nanotubes can be connected to form junctions.

Srivastava, Deepak↗

Computational Nanotechnology of Materials, Electronics and Machines: Carbon Nanotubes

This report presents the goals and research of the Integrated Product Team (IPT) on Devices and Nanotechnology. NASA's needs for this technology are discussed and then related to the research focus of the team. The two areas of focus for technique development are: 1) large scale classical molecular dynamics on a shared memory architecture machine; and 2) quantum molecular dynamics methodology. The areas of focus for research are: 1) nanomechanics/materials; 2) carbon based electronics; 3) BxCyNz composite nanotubes and junctions; 4) nano mechano-electronics; and 5) nano mechano-chemistry.

Srivastava, Deepak↗

Coherent control in simple quantum systems

Coherent dynamics of two, three, and four-level quantum systems, simultaneously driven by concurrent laser pulses of arbitrary and different forms, is treated by using a nonperturbative, group-theoretical approach. The respective evolution matrices are calculated in an explicit form. General aspects of controllability of few-level atoms by using laser fields are treated analytically.

Prants, Sergey V.↗

Lyapunov exponent as a signature of dissipative many-body quantum chaos

A distinct feature of Hermitian quantum chaotic dynamics is the exponential increase of certain out-of-time-order correlation (OTOC) functions around the Ehrenfest time with a rate given by a Lyapunov exponent. Physically, the OTOCs describe the growth of quantum uncertainty that crucially depends on the nature of the quantum motion. Here, we employ the OTOC in order to provide a precise definition of dissipative quantum chaos. For this purpose, we compute analytically the Lyapunov exponent for the vectorized formulation of the large- q limit of a q -body Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model coupled to a Markovian bath. These analytic results are confirmed by an explicit numerical calculation of the Lyapunov exponent for several values of q ≥ 4 based on the solutions of the Schwinger-Dyson and Bethe-Salpeter equations. We show that the Lyapunov exponent decreases monotonically as the coupling to the bath increases and eventually becomes negative at a critical value of the coupling signaling a transition to a dynamics which is no longer quantum chaotic. Therefore, a positive Lyapunov exponent is a defining feature of dissipative many-body quantum chaos. The observation of the breaking of the exponential growth for sufficiently strong coupling suggests that dissipative quantum chaos may require in certain cases a sufficiently weak coupling to the environment. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

García-García, Antonio M.↗

Real-time dynamics of the Schwinger model as an open quantum system with Neural Density Operators

Ab-initio simulations of multiple heavy quarks propagating in a Quark-Gluon Plasma are computationally difficult to perform due to the large dimension of the space of density matrices. This work develops machine learning algorithms to overcome this difficulty by approximating exact quantum states with neural network parametrisations, specifically Neural Density Operators. As a proof of principle demonstration in a QCD-like theory, the approach is applied to solve the Lindblad master equation in the 1 + 1d lattice Schwinger Model as an open quantum system. Neural Density Operators enable the study of in-medium dynamics on large lattice volumes, where multiple-string interactions and their effects on string-breaking and recombination phenomena can be studied. Thermal properties of the system at equilibrium can also be probed with these methods by variationally constructing the steady state of the Lindblad master equation. Scaling of this approach with system size is studied, and numerical demonstrations on up to 32 spatial lattice sites and with up to 3 interacting strings are performed.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗