Universal geometric classification of armchair honeycomb nanoribbons by their properties in a staggered sublattice potential

We demonstrate the topological band-gap dependence of armchair honeycomb nanoribbons in a staggered sublattice potential. A scaling law is presented to quantify the band gap variation with potential strength. All armchair nanoribbons are described by one of three distinct classes depending on their width, consistent with previous classifications, namely, the well known massless Dirac condition, potentially gapless, and gapless-superlattice. The ability to tune and, in all cases close, the band-gap via external probes makes our classification particularly relevant experimentally. We propose several systems in which these results should shed considerable light, which have all already been experimentally realized

Superconductivity provides access to the chiral magnetic effect of an unpaired Weyl cone

Article / Letter to editorLeids Instituut Onderzoek Natuurkund

Applications of topology to Weyl semimetals and quantum computing

This thesis covers various applications of topology in condensed matter physics and quantum information. It studies how the topology of the electronic structure of a Weyl semimetal affects the transport behaviour of electrons in an applied magnetic field, and how one may employ similar ideas in materials containing Majorana modes to speed up chemistry calculations on a quantum computer. It develops and tests new techniques for decoding topological quantum error correcting codes, in particular for detailed simulation on near-term devices. Finally, it looks towards improving quantum algorithms for future applications in quantum simulation; in particular the classical post-processing of data taken during quantum phase estimation experiments.European Research Council; Netherlands Organization for Scientific ResearchQuantum Matter and Optic

Heisenberg-limited quantum phase estimation of multiple eigenvalues with few control qubits

Quantum phase estimation is a corner-stone in quantum algorithm design, al-lowing for the inference of eigenvalues of exponentially-large sparse matrices. The maximum rate at which these eigenvalues may be learned, -known as the Heisen-berg limit-, is constrained by bounds on the circuit complexity required to simulate an arbitrary Hamiltonian. Single-control qubit variants of quantum phase estima-tion that do not require coherence between experiments have garnered interest in re-cent years due to lower circuit depth and minimal qubit overhead. In this work we show that these methods can achieve the Heisenberg limit, also when one is un-able to prepare eigenstates of the system. Given a quantum subroutine which pro-vides samples of a 'phase function' g(k) = sigma(j) A(j)e(i Phi)j(k) with unknown eigenphases phi(j )and overlaps A(j )at quantum cost O(k), we show how to estimate the phases {phi(j}) with (root-mean-square) error delta for total quantum cost T = O(delta(-1)). Our scheme com-bines the idea of Heisenberg-limited multi -order quantum phase estimation for a single eigenvalue phase [1, 2] with subroutines with so-called dense quantum phase estimation which uses classical processing via time-series analysis for the QEEP problem [3] or the matrix pencil method. For our algorithm which adaptively fixes the choice for k in g(k) we prove Heisenberg -limited scaling when we use the time-series/QEEP subroutine. We present numerical evidence that using the matrix pencil technique the algorithm can achieve Heisenberg-limited scaling as well.Theoretical Physic

Quantum digital cooling

Theoretical Physic

Machine-learning-assisted correction of correlated qubit errors in a topological code

Theoretical Physic

Virtual distillation for quantum error mitigation

Theoretical Physic

A multi-species synthesis of physiological mechanisms in drought-induced tree mortality

Widespread tree mortality associated with drought 92 has been observed on all forested continents, and global change is expected to exacerbate vegetation vulnerability. Forest mortality has implications for future biosphere-atmosphere interactions of carbon, water, and energy balance, and is poorly represented in dynamic vegetation models. Reducing uncertainty requires improved mortality projections founded on robust physiological processes. However, the proposed mechanisms of drought-induced mortality, including hydraulic failure and carbon starvation, are unresolved. A growing number of empirical studies have investigated these mechanisms, but data have not been consistently analyzed across species and biomes using a standardized physiological framework. Here we show that xylem hydraulic failure was ubiquitous across multiple tree taxa at drought induced mortality. All species assessed had 60% or higher loss of xylem hydraulic conductivity, consistent with proposed theoretical and modelled survival thresholds. We found diverse responses in non-structural carbohydrate reserves at mortality, indicating that evidence supporting carbon starvation was not universal. Reduced non-structural carbohydrates were more common for gymnosperms than angiosperms, associated with xylem hydraulic vulnerability, and may have a role in reducing hydraulic function. Our finding that hydraulic failure at drought-induced mortality was persistent across species indicates that substantial improvement in vegetation modelling can be achieved using thresholds in hydraulic function

A multi-species synthesis of physiological mechanisms in drought-induced tree mortality

Widespread tree mortality associated with drought 92 has been observed on all forested continents, and global change is expected to exacerbate vegetation vulnerability. Forest mortality has implications for future biosphere-atmosphere interactions of carbon, water, and energy balance, and is poorly represented in dynamic vegetation models. Reducing uncertainty requires improved mortality projections founded on robust physiological processes. However, the proposed mechanisms of drought-induced mortality, including hydraulic failure and carbon starvation, are unresolved. A growing number of empirical studies have investigated these mechanisms, but data have not been consistently analyzed across species and biomes using a standardized physiological framework. Here we show that xylem hydraulic failure was ubiquitous across multiple tree taxa at drought induced mortality. All species assessed had 60% or higher loss of xylem hydraulic conductivity, consistent with proposed theoretical and modelled survival thresholds. We found diverse responses in non-structural carbohydrate reserves at mortality, indicating that evidence supporting carbon starvation was not universal. Reduced non-structural carbohydrates were more common for gymnosperms than angiosperms, associated with xylem hydraulic vulnerability, and may have a role in reducing hydraulic function. Our finding that hydraulic failure at drought-induced mortality was persistent across species indicates that substantial improvement in vegetation modelling can be achieved using thresholds in hydraulic function

Proximity effect at superconducting Sn-Bi2Se3 interface

We have investigated the conductance spectra of Sn-Bi2Se3 interface junctions down to 250 mK and in different magnetic fields. A number of conductance anomalies were observed below the superconducting transition temperature of Sn, including a small gap different from that of Sn, and a zero-bias conductance peak growing up at lower temperatures. We discussed the possible origins of the smaller gap and the zero-bias conductance peak. These phenomena support that a proximity-effect-induced chiral superconducting phase is formed at the interface between the superconducting Sn and the strong spin-orbit coupling material Bi2Se3.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure