Higher index focus-focus singularities in the Jayne-Cummings-Gaudin model : symplectic invariants and monodromy

We study the symplectic geometry of the Jaynes-Cummings-Gaudin model with $n=2m-1$ spins. We show that there are focus-focus singularities of maximal Williamson type $(0,0,m)$. We construct the linearized normal flows in the vicinity of such a point and show that soliton type solutions extend them globally on the critical torus. This allows us to compute the leading term in the Taylor expansion of the symplectic invariants and the monodromy associated to this singularity.Comment: 39 page

Voltage-Current curves for small Josephson junction arrays

We compute the current voltage characteristic of a chain of identical Josephson circuits characterized by a large ratio of Josephson to charging energy that are envisioned as the implementation of topologically protected qubits. We show that in the limit of small coupling to the environment it exhibits a non-monotonous behavior with a maximum voltage followed by a parametrically large region where $V\propto 1/I$. We argue that its experimental measurement provides a direct probe of the amplitude of the quantum transitions in constituting Josephson circuits and thus allows their full characterization.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Density response and collective modes of semi-holographic non-Fermi liquids

Semi-holographic models of non-Fermi liquids have been shown to have generically stable generalised quasi-particles on the Fermi surface. Although these excitations are broad and exhibit particle-hole asymmetry, they were argued to be stable from interactions at the Fermi surface. In this work, we use this observation to compute the density response and collective behaviour in these systems. Compared to the Fermi liquid case, we find that the boundaries of the particle-hole continuum are blurred by incoherent contributions. However, there is a region inside this continuum, that we call inner core, within which salient features of the Fermi liquid case are preserved. A particularly striking prediction of our work is that these systems support a plasmonic collective excitation which is well-defined at large momenta, has an approximately linear dispersion relation and is located in the low-energy tail of the particle-hole continuum. Furthermore, the dynamic screening potential shows deep attractive regions as a function of the distance at higher frequencies which might lead to long-lived pair formation depending on the behaviour of the pair susceptibility. We also find that Friedel oscillations are present in these systems but are highly suppressed.Comment: 45 pages; 24 figures; published versio

Riemann meets Goldstone: magnon scattering off quantum Hall skyrmion crystals probes interplay of symmetry breaking and topology

We introduce a model to study magnon scattering in skyrmion crystals, sandwiched between ferromagnets which act as the source of magnons. Skyrmions are topological objects while skyrmion crystals break internal and translational symmetries, thus our setup allows us to study the interplay of topology and symmetry breaking. Starting from a basis of holomorphic theta functions, we construct an analytical ansatz for such a junction with finite spatially modulating topological charge density in the central region and vanishing in the leads. We then construct a suitably defined energy functional for the junction and derive the resulting equations of motion, which resemble a Bogoliubov-de Gennes-like equation. Using analytical techniques, field theory, heuristic models and microscopic recursive transfer-matrix numerics, we calculate the spectra and magnon transmission properties of the skyrmion crystal. We find that magnon transmission can be understood via a combination of low-energy Goldstone modes and effective emergent Landau levels at higher energies. The former manifests in discrete low-energy peaks in the transmission spectrum which reflect the nature of the Goldstone modes arising from symmetry breaking. The latter, which reflect the topology, lead to band-like transmission features, from the structure of which further details of the excitation spectrum of the skyrmion crystal can be inferred. Such characteristic transmission features are absent in competing phases of the quantum Hall phase diagram, and hence provide direct signatures of skyrmion crystal phases and their spectra. Our results directly apply to quantum Hall heterojunction experiments in monolayer graphene with the central region doped slightly away from unit filling, a $\nu = 1:1 \pm \delta \nu: 1$ junction and are also relevant to junctions formed by metallic magnets or in junctions with artificial gauge fields.Comment: 20+6 pages, 9+2 figures, comments welcom

Berry phase in superconducting multiterminal quantum dots

We report on the study of the non-trivial Berry phase in superconducting multiterminal quantum dots biased at commensurate voltages. Starting with the time-periodic Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations, we obtain a tight binding model in the Floquet space, and we solve these equations in the semiclassical limit. We observe that the parameter space defined by the contact transparencies and quartet phase splits into two components with a non-trivial Berry phase. We use the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization to calculate the Berry phase. We find that if the quantum dot level sits at zero energy, then the Berry phase takes the values $\varphi_B=0$ or $\varphi_B=\pi$. We demonstrate that this non-trivial Berry phase can be observed by tunneling spectroscopy in the Floquet spectra. Consequently, the Floquet-Wannier-Stark ladder spectra of superconducting multiterminal quantum dots are shifted by half-a-period if $\varphi_B=\pi$. Our numerical calculations based on Keldysh Green's functions show that this Berry phase spectral shift can be observed from the quantum dot tunneling density of states.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures. Supplemental Material as ancillary file (3 pages, 5 figures), manuscript in final for

Robust preparation and manipulation of protected qubits using time--varying Hamiltonians

We show that it is possible to initialize and manipulate in a deterministic manner protected qubits using time varying Hamiltonians. Taking advantage of the symmetries of the system, we predict the effect of the noise during the initialization and manipulation. These predictions are in good agreement with numerical simulations. Our study shows that the topological protection remains efficient under realistic experimental conditions.Comment: To be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Superconducting Nanocircuits for Topologically Protected Qubits

For successful realization of a quantum computer, its building blocks (qubits) should be simultaneously scalable and sufficiently protected from environmental noise. Recently, a novel approach to the protection of superconducting qubits has been proposed. The idea is to prevent errors at the "hardware" level, by building a fault-free (topologically protected) logical qubit from "faulty" physical qubits with properly engineered interactions between them. It has been predicted that the decoupling of a protected logical qubit from local noises would grow exponentially with the number of physical qubits. Here we report on the proof-of-concept experiments with a prototype device which consists of twelve physical qubits made of nanoscale Josephson junctions. We observed that due to properly tuned quantum fluctuations, this qubit is protected against magnetic flux variations well beyond linear order, in agreement with theoretical predictions. These results demonstrate the feasibility of topologically protected superconducting qubits.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure

Effets coherents dans les systemes desordonnes : oscillations de magnetoresistance dans des reseaux de metaux normaux; influence d'une non-linearite du milieu

SIGLECNRS T 59523 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

Effets coherents dans les systemes desordonnes : oscillations de magnetoresistance dans des reseaux de metaux normaux; influence d'une non-linearite du milieu

SIGLECNRS T 59523 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc