Hybrid quantum magnetism in circuit-QED: from spin-photon waves to many-body spectroscopy

We introduce a model of quantum magnetism induced by the non-perturbative exchange of microwave photons between distant superconducting qubits. By interconnecting qubits and cavities, we obtain a spin-boson lattice model that exhibits a quantum phase transition where both qubits and cavities spontaneously polarise. We present a many-body ansatz that captures this phenomenon all the way, from a the perturbative dispersive regime where photons can be traced out, to the non-perturbative ultra-strong coupling regime where photons must be treated on the same footing as qubits. Our ansatz also reproduces the low-energy excitations, which are described by hybridised spin-photon quasiparticles, and can be probed spectroscopically from transmission experiments in circuit-QED, as shown by simulating a possible experiment by Matrix-Product-State methods.Comment: closer to published versio

Driven Spin-Boson Luttinger Liquids

We introduce a lattice model of interacting spins and bosons that leads to Luttinger-liquid physics, and allows for quantitative tests of the theory of bosonization by means of trapped-ion or superconducting-circuit experiments. By using a variational bosonization ansatz, we calculate the power-law decay of spin and boson correlation functions, and study their dependence on a single tunable parameter, namely a bosonic driving. For small drivings, Matrix-Product-States (MPS) numerical methods are shown to be efficient and validate our ansatz. Conversely, even static MPS become inefficient for large-driving regimes, such that the experiment can potentially outperform classical numerics, achieving one of the goals of quantum simulations

Differential expression of three galaxin-related genes during settlement and metamorphosis in the scleractinian coral Acropora millepora

BACKGROUND: The coral skeleton consists of CaCO3 deposited upon an organic matrix primarily as aragonite. Currently galaxin, from Galaxea fascicularis, is the only soluble protein component of the organic matrix that has been characterized from a coral. Three genes related to galaxin were identified in the coral Acropora millepora. RESULTS: One of the Acropora genes (Amgalaxin) encodes a clear galaxin ortholog, while the others (Amgalaxin-like 1 and Amgalaxin-like 2) encode larger and more divergent proteins. All three proteins are predicted to be extracellular and share common structural features, most notably the presence of repetitive motifs containing dicysteine residues. In situ hybridization reveals distinct, but partially overlapping, spatial expression of the genes in patterns consistent with distinct roles in calcification. Both of the Amgalaxin-like genes are expressed exclusively in the early stages of calcification, while Amgalaxin continues to be expressed in the adult, consistent with the situation in the coral Galaxea. CONCLUSION: Comparisons with molluscs suggest functional convergence in the two groups; lustrin A/pearlin proteins may be the mollusc counterparts of galaxin, whereas the galaxin-like proteins combine characteristics of two distinct proteins involved in mollusc calcification. Database searches indicate that, although sequences with high similarity to the galaxins are restricted to the Scleractinia, more divergent members of this protein family are present in other cnidarians and some other metazoans. We suggest that ancestral galaxins may have been secondarily recruited to roles in calcification in the Triassic, when the Scleractinia first appeared. Understanding the evolution of the broader galaxin family will require wider sampling and expression analysis in a range of cnidarians and other animals

Photon-Assisted-Tunneling Toolbox for Quantum Simulations in Ion Traps

We describe a versatile toolbox for the quantum simulation of many-body lattice models, capable of exploring the combined effects of background Abelian and non-Abelian gauge fields, bond and site disorder, and strong on-site interactions. We show how to control the quantum dynamics of particles trapped in lattice potentials by the photon-assisted tunneling induced by periodic drivings. This scheme is general enough to be applied to either bosons or fermions with the additional advantage of being non-perturbative. It finds an ideal application in microfabricated ion trap arrays, where the quantized vibrational modes of the ions can be described by a quantum lattice model. We present a detailed theoretical proposal for a quantum simulator in that experimental setup, and show that it is possible to explore phases of matter that range from the fractional quantum Hall effect, to exotic strongly-correlated glasses, or flux-lattice models decorated with arbitrary patterns of localized defects

The Bulletpen

For more than 50 years Colombia has been immersed in an endless war. In 2016, a peace treaty between FARC guerrilla and the government was underway. In the middle of the political debate, we needed the media, and the world to be on our side and start talking about the good things that would come with the peace. This challenge led to the creative outcome of McCann Colombia, the case “Bulletpen”

El Balígrafo

Por más de 50 años, Colombia se ha visto inmersa en una guerra interminable. Pero en el 2016, se estaba negociando un tratado de paz entre el grupo guerrillero FARC y el gobierno. En medio del debate político que esto implica, necesitábamos que los medios de comunicación nos ayudarán a apoyar el tratado, contándole al mundo acerca de las cosas buenas que venían con un país en paz. Este desafío llevó al resultado creativo de la agencia de publicidad McCann Colombia, el caso “El Balígrafo”

Synthetic Gauge Fields for Vibrational Excitations of Trapped ions

The vibrations of a collection of ions in a microtrap array can be described in terms of hopping phonons. We show theoretically that the vibrational couplings may be tailored by using a gradient of the microtrap frequencies, together with a periodic driving of the trapping potential. These ingredients allow us to induce effective gauge fields on the vibrational excitations, such that phonons mimic the behavior of charged particles in a magnetic field. In particular, microtrap arrays are ideally suited to realize the famous Aharonov-Bohm effect, and observe the paradigmatic edge states typical from quantum-Hall samples and topological insulators.Comment: replaced with published versio