6,251 research outputs found
Measuring work and heat in ultracold quantum gases
We propose a feasible experimental scheme to direct measure heat and work in
cold atomic setups. The method is based on a recent proposal which shows that
work is a positive operator valued measure (POVM). In the present contribution,
we demonstrate that the interaction between the atoms and the light
polarisation of a probe laser allows us to implement such POVM. In this way the
work done on or extracted from the atoms after a given process is encoded in
the light quadrature that can be measured with a standard homodyne detection.
The protocol allows one to verify fluctuation theorems and study properties of
the non-unitary dynamics of a given thermodynamic process.Comment: Published version in the Focus Issue on "Quantum Thermodynamics
Dynamics and Asymptotics of Correlations in a Many-Body Localized System
We examine the dynamics of nearest-neighbor bipartite concurrence and total
correlations in the spin-1/2 model with random fields. We show, starting
from factorized random initial states, that the concurrence can suffer
entanglement sudden death in the long time limit and therefore may not be a
useful indicator of the properties of the system. In contrast, we show that the
total correlations capture the dynamics more succinctly, and further reveal a
fundamental difference in the dynamics governed by the ergodic versus many-body
localized phases, with the latter exhibiting dynamical oscillations. Finally,
we consider an initial state composed of several singlet pairs and show that by
fixing the correlation properties, while the dynamics do not reveal noticeable
differences between the phases, the long-time values of the correlation
measures appear to indicate the critical region.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Close to published versio
Non-Gaussian distribution of collective operators in quantum spin chains
We numerically analyse the behavior of the full distribution of collective
observables in quantum spin chains. While most of previous studies of quantum
critical phenomena are limited to the first moments, here we demonstrate how
quantum fluctuations at criticality lead to highly non-Gaussian distributions
thus violating the central limit theorem. Interestingly, we show that the
distributions for different system sizes collapse after scaling on the same
curve for a wide range of transitions: first and second order quantum
transitions and transitions of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type. We
propose and carefully analyse the feasibility of an experimental reconstruction
of the distribution using light-matter interfaces for atoms in optical lattices
or in optical resonators.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures; last version close to published versio
Characterization of Bose-Hubbard Models with Quantum Non-demolition Measurements
We propose a scheme for the detection of quantum phase transitions in the 1D
Bose-Hubbard (BH) and 1D Extended Bose-Hubbard (EBH) models, using the
non-demolition measurement technique of quantum polarization spectroscopy. We
use collective measurements of the effective total angular momentum of a
particular spatial mode to characterise the Mott insulator to superfluid phase
transition in the BH model, and the transition to a density wave state in the
EBH model. We extend the application of collective measurements to the ground
states at various deformations of a super-lattice potential.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures; published version in PRA, Editors' Suggestio
Nonclassicality and criticality in symmetry-protected magnetic phases
Quantum and global discord in a spin-1 Heisenberg chain subject to single-ion
anisotropy (uniaxial field) are studied using exact diagonalisation and the
density matrix renormalisation group (DMRG). We find that these measures of
quantum nonclassicality are able to detect the quantum phase transitions
confining the symmetry protected Haldane phase and show critical scaling with
universal exponents. Moreover, in the case of thermal states, we find that
quantum discord can increase with increasing temperature.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, Close to published version. Includes a link to
data used for the figure
Cloning transformations in spin networks without external control
In this paper we present an approach to quantum cloning with unmodulated spin
networks. The cloner is realized by a proper design of the network and a choice
of the coupling between the qubits. We show that in the case of phase covariant
cloner the XY coupling gives the best results. In the 1->2 cloning we find that
the value for the fidelity of the optimal cloner is achieved, and values
comparable to the optimal ones in the general N->M case can be attained. If a
suitable set of network symmetries are satisfied, the output fidelity of the
clones does not depend on the specific choice of the graph. We show that spin
network cloning is robust against the presence of static imperfections.
Moreover, in the presence of noise, it outperforms the conventional approach.
In this case the fidelity exceeds the corresponding value obtained by quantum
gates even for a very small amount of noise. Furthermore we show how to use
this method to clone qutrits and qudits. By means of the Heisenberg coupling it
is also possible to implement the universal cloner although in this case the
fidelity is 10% off that of the optimal cloner.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, published versio
Cavity-aided quantum parameter estimation in a bosonic double-well Josephson junction
We describe an apparatus designed to make non-demolition measurements on a
Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) trapped in a double-well optical cavity. This
apparatus contains, as well as the bosonic gas and the trap, an optical cavity.
We show how the interaction between the light and the atoms, under appropriate
conditions, can allow for a weakly disturbing yet highly precise measurement of
the population imbalance between the two wells and its variance. We show that
the setting is well suited for the implementation of quantum-limited estimation
strategies for the inference of the key parameters defining the evolution of
the atomic system and based on measurements performed on the cavity field. This
would enable {\it de facto} Hamiltonian diagnosis via a highly controllable
quantum probe.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, RevTeX4; Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Is efficiency of classical simulations of quantum dynamics related to integrability?
Efficiency of time-evolution of quantum observables, and thermal states of
quenched hamiltonians, is studied using time-dependent density matrix
renormalization group method in a family of generic quantum spin chains which
undergo a transition from integrable to non-integrable - quantum chaotic case
as control parameters are varied. Quantum states (observables) are represented
in terms of matrix-product-operators with rank D_\epsilon(t), such that
evolution of a long chain is accurate within fidelity error \epsilon up to time
t. We find that rank generally increases exponentially, D_\epsilon(t) \propto
\exp(const t), unless the system is integrable in which case we find polynomial
increase.Comment: 4 pages; v2. added paragraph discussing pure state
Nonequilibrium critical scaling from quantum thermodynamics
The emerging field of quantum thermodynamics is contributing important
results and insights into archetypal many-body problems, including quantum
phase transitions. Still, the question whether out-of-equilibrium quantities,
such as fluctuations of work, exhibit critical scaling after a sudden quench in
a closed system has remained elusive. Here, we take a novel approach to the
problem by studying a quench across an impurity quantum critical point. By
performing density matrix renormalization group computations on the
two-impurity Kondo model, we are able to establish that the irreversible work
produced in a quench exhibits finite-size scaling at quantum criticality. This
scaling faithfully predicts the equilibrium critical exponents for the
crossover length and the order parameter of the model, and, moreover, implies a
new exponent for the rescaled irreversible work. By connecting the irreversible
work to the two-impurity spin correlation function, our findings can be tested
experimentally.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Area law and vacuum reordering in harmonic networks
We review a number of ideas related to area law scaling of the geometric
entropy from the point of view of condensed matter, quantum field theory and
quantum information. An explicit computation in arbitrary dimensions of the
geometric entropy of the ground state of a discretized scalar free field theory
shows the expected area law result. In this case, area law scaling is a
manifestation of a deeper reordering of the vacuum produced by majorization
relations. Furthermore, the explicit control on all the eigenvalues of the
reduced density matrix allows for a verification of entropy loss along the
renormalization group trajectory driven by the mass term. A further result of
our computation shows that single-copy entanglement also obeys area law
scaling, majorization relations and decreases along renormalization group
flows.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures; typos correcte
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