Topological phases of parafermions: a model with exactly-solvable ground states

Parafermions are emergent excitations that generalize Majorana fermions and can also realize topological order. In this paper we present a non-trivial and quasi-exactly-solvable model for a chain of parafermions in a topological phase. We compute and characterize the ground-state wave-functions, which are matrix-product states and have a particularly elegant interpretation in terms of Fock parafermions, reflecting the factorized nature of the ground states. Using these wavefunctions, we demonstrate analytically several signatures of topological order. Our study provides a starting point for the non-approximate study of topological one-dimensional parafermionic chains with spatial-inversion and time-reversal symmetry in the absence of strong edge modes.Comment: 6 + 9 pages, 3 figure

Detecting two-site spin-entanglement in many-body systems with local particle-number fluctuations

We derive experimentally measurable lower bounds for the two-site entanglement of the spin-degrees of freedom of many-body systems with local particle-number fluctuations. Our method aims at enabling the spatially resolved detection of spin-entanglement in Hubbard systems using high-resolution imaging in optical lattices. A possible application is the observation of entanglement generation and spreading during spin impurity dynamics, for which we provide numerical simulations. More generally, the scheme can simplify the entanglement detection in ion chains, Rydberg atoms, or similar atomic systems

Non-topological parafermions in a one-dimensional fermionic model with even multiplet pairing

We discuss a one-dimensional fermionic model with a generalized $\mathbb{Z}_{N}$ even multiplet pairing extending Kitaev $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ chain. The system shares many features with models believed to host localized edge parafermions, the most prominent being a similar bosonized Hamiltonian and a $\mathbb{Z}_{N}$ symmetry enforcing an $N$-fold degenerate ground state robust to certain disorder. Interestingly, we show that the system supports a pair of parafermions but they are non-local instead of being boundary operators. As a result, the degeneracy of the ground state is only partly topological and coexists with spontaneous symmetry breaking by a (two-particle) pairing field. Each symmetry-breaking sector is shown to possess a pair of Majorana edge modes encoding the topological twofold degeneracy. Surrounded by two band insulators, the model exhibits for $N=4$ the dual of an $8 \pi$ fractional Josephson effect highlighting the presence of parafermions.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Quantum memories with zero-energy Majorana modes and experimental constraints

In this work we address the problem of realizing a reliable quantum memory based on zero-energy Majorana modes in the presence of experimental constraints on the operations aimed at recovering the information. In particular, we characterize the best recovery operation acting only on the zero-energy Majorana modes and the memory fidelity that can be therewith achieved. In order to understand the effect of such restriction, we discuss two examples of noise models acting on the topological system and compare the amount of information that can be recovered by accessing either the whole system, or the zero-modes only, with particular attention to the scaling with the size of the system and the energy gap. We explicitly discuss the case of a thermal bosonic environment inducing a parity-preserving Markovian dynamics in which the introduced memory fidelity decays exponentially in time, independent from system size, thus showing the impossibility to retrieve the information by acting on the zero-modes only. We argue, however, that even in the presence of experimental limitations, the Hamiltonian gap is still beneficial to the storage of information.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures. Updated to published versio

Energy transport in Heisenberg chains beyond the Luttinger liquid paradigm

We study the energy transport between two interacting spin chains which are initially separated, held at different temperatures and subsequently put in contact. We consider the spin-1/2 XXZ model in the gapless regime and exploit its integrability properties to formulate an analytical Ansatz for the non-equilibrium steady state even at temperatures where the low-energy Luttinger liquid description is not accurate. We apply our method to compute the steady energy current and benchmark it both with the known low-energy limit and at higher temperatures with numerical simulations. We find an excellent agreement even at high temperatures, where the Luttinger liquid prediction is shown to fail.Comment: 5 pages + 3 suppl. mat., 5 figure

Anyonic tight-binding models of parafermions and of fractionalized fermions

Parafermions are emergent quasi-particles which generalize Majorana fermions and possess intriguing anyonic properties. The theoretical investigation of effective models hosting them is gaining considerable importance in view of present-day condensed-matter realizations where they have been predicted to appear. Here we study the simplest number-conserving model of particle-like Fock parafermions, namely a one-dimensional tight-binding model. By means of numerical simulations based on exact diagonalization and on the density-matrix renormalization group, we prove that this quadratic model is nonintegrable and displays bound states in the spectrum, due to its peculiar anyonic properties. Moreover, we discuss its many-body physics, characterizing anyonic correlation functions and discussing the underlying Luttinger-liquid theory at low energies. In the case when Fock parafermions behave as fractionalized fermions, we are able to unveil interesting similarities with two counter-propagating edge modes of two neighboring Laughlin states at filling 1/3.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures. Updated version after publication in PR

Photon transport in a dissipative chain of nonlinear cavities

We analyze a chain of coupled nonlinear optical cavities driven by a coherent source of light localized at one end and subject to uniform dissipation. We characterize photon transport by studying the populations and the photon correlations as a function of position. When complemented with input-output theory, these quantities provide direct information about photon transmission through the system. The position of single- and multi-photon resonances directly reflect the structure of the many-body energy levels. This shows how a study of transport along a coupled cavity array can provide rich information about the strongly correlated (many-body) states of light even in presence of dissipation. By means of a numerical algorithm based on the time-evolving block decimation scheme adapted to mixed states, we are able to simulate arrays up to sixty cavities.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figure

Destruction of string order after a quantum quench

We investigate the evolution of string order in a spin-1 chain following a quantum quench. After initializing the chain in the Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki state, we analyze in detail how string order evolves as a function of time at different length scales. The Hamiltonian after the quench is chosen either to preserve or to suddenly break the symmetry which ensures the presence of string order. Depending on which of these two situations arises, string order is either preserved or lost even at infinitesimal times in the thermodynamic limit. The fact that non-local order may be abruptly destroyed, what we call string-order melting, makes it qualitatively different from typical order parameters in the manner of Landau. This situation is thoroughly characterized by means of numerical simulations based on matrix product states algorithms and analytical studies based on a short-time expansion for several simplified models.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures. Changes after publication on PR

Dissemination activity and impact of maternal and newborn health projects in Ethiopia, India and Nigeria

This study aimed to document the key messages, dissemination activities and impacts of selected projects within the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health strategy portfolio, and consider how these might contribute toward the learning agenda for the strategy

The XYZ chain with Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interactions: from spin-orbit-coupled lattice bosons to interacting Kitaev chains

Using the density-matrix renormalization-group algorithm (DMRG) and a finite-size scaling analysis, we study the properties of the one-dimensional completely-anisotropic spin-1/2 XYZ model with Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya (DM) interactions. The model shows a rich phase diagram: depending on the value of the coupling constants, the system can display different kinds of ferromagnetic order and Luttinger-liquid behavior. Transitions from ferromagnetic to Luttinger-liquid phases are first order. We thoroughly discuss the transition between different ferromagnetic phases, which, in the absence of DM interactions, belongs to the XX universality class. We provide evidence that the DM exchange term turns out to split this critical line into two separated Ising-like transitions and that in between a disordered phase may appear. Our study sheds light on the general problem of strongly-interacting spin-orbit-coupled bosonic gases trapped in an optical lattice and can be used to characterize the topological properties of superconducting nanowires in the presence of an imposed supercurrent and of interactions.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure