We study the dynamics of a bipartite quantum system in a way such that its formal description keeps holding even if one of its parts becomes macroscopic; the problem is related to the analysis of the quantum-to-classical crossover, but our approach implies that the whole system stays genuinely quantum. The aim of the work is to understand (1) if, (2) to what extent, and possibly (3) how the evolution of a macroscopic environment testifies to the coupling with its microscopic quantum companion. To this purpose we consider a magnetic environment made of a large number of spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ particles, coupled with a quantum mechanical oscillator, possibly in the presence of an external magnetic field. We take the value of the total environmental spin $S$ constant and large, which allows us to consider the environment as one single macroscopic system, and further deal with the hurdles of the spin-algebra via approximations that are valid in the large-$S$ limit. We find an insightful expression for the propagator of the whole system, where we identify an effective “back-action” term, i.e., an operator acting on the magnetic environment only, and yet missing in the absence of the quantum principal system. This operator emerges as a time-dependent magnetic anisotropy whose character, whether uniaxial or planar, also depends on the detuning between the frequency of the oscillator and the level splitting in the spectrum of the free magnetic system, induced by the possible presence of the external field. The time dependence of the anisotropy is analyzed, and its effects on the dynamics of the magnet, as well as its relation to the entangling evolution of the overall system, are discussed.

In quantum information processing, it is important to witness the entropy of the message in the device-independent way which was proposed recently [R. Chaves, J. B. Brask, and N. Brunner, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 110501 (2015)]. In this paper, we theoretically obtain the minimal quantum entropy for three widely used linear dimension witnesses, which is considered “a difficult question.” Then we experimentally test the classical and quantum entropy in a device-independent manner. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical analysis, demonstrating that entropy is needed in quantum systems that is lower than the entropy needed in classical systems with the given value of the dimension witness.

We study a three-body system, formed by a light particle and two identical heavy dipoles, in two dimensions in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. We present the analytic light-particle wave function resulting from an attractive zero-range potential between the light and each of the heavy particles. It expresses the large-distance universal properties which must be reproduced by all realistic short-range interactions. We calculate the three-body spectrum for zero heavy-heavy interaction as a function of light to heavy mass ratio. We discuss the relatively small deviations from Coulomb estimates and the degeneracies related to radial nodes and angular momentum quantum numbers. We include a repulsive dipole-dipole interaction and investigate the three-body solutions as functions of strength and dipole direction. Avoided crossings occur between levels localized in the emerging small and large-distance minima, respectively. The characteristic exchange of properties such as mean-square radii are calculated. Simulation of quantum information transfer is suggested. For large heavy-heavy-particle repulsion all bound states have disappeared into the continuum. The corresponding critical strength is inversely proportional to the square of the mass ratio, far from the linear dependence from the Landau criterion.

Superfluid currents in the boson condensate with a source and sink of particles are modeled by the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a complex potential. We demonstrate the existence of through-flows of the condensate—stationary states with the asymptotically nonvanishing flux. The through-flows come in two broad varieties determined by the form of their number density distribution. One variety is described by diplike solutions featuring a localized density depression; the other one comprises humplike structures with a density spike in their core. We exemplify each class by exact closed-form solutions. For a fixed set of parameters of the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric potential, stationary through-flows form continuous families parametrized by the strength of the background flux. All humplike and some diplike members of the family are found to be stable. We show that the through-flows can be controlled by varying the gain-and-loss amplitude of the complex potential and that these amplitude variations may produce an anomalous response of the flux across the gain-loss interface.

We study odd-wave interacting identical fermions in one dimension with finite effective range. We show that to fully describe the high-momentum distribution $\rho \left(k\right)$ up to $k^{-4}$, one needs four parameters characterizing the properties when two particles contact each other. Two parameters are related to the variation of energy with respect to the odd-wave scattering length and the effective range, respectively, determining the $k^{-2}$ tail and part of the $k^{-4}$ tail in $\rho \left(k\right)$. The other two parameters are related to the center-of-mass motion of the system, respectively determining the $k^{-3}$ tail and the other part of the $k^{-4}$ tail. We point out that the unusual $k^{-3}$ tail, which has not been discovered before in atomic systems, is an intrinsic component to complete the general form of $\rho \left(k\right)$ and also is realistically detectable under certain experimental conditions. Various other universal relations are also derived in terms of those contact parameters, and finally the results are confirmed through the exact solution of a two-body problem.

We present a derivation of the adiabatic energy relations as well as the large momentum distribution of a polarized Fermi gas near $p$-wave Feshbach resonances. The leading asymptotic behavior $k^{-2}$ and subleading behavior $k^{-4}$ of the large momentum distribution have recently been predicted by Z. Yu et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 135304 (2015)] and by M. Y. He et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 045301 (2016)] using two different approaches. Here, we show that the subleading asymptotic behavior ($\sim k^{-4}$) cannot fully be captured by the contact defined from the adiabatic energy relation related to the $p$-wave effective range, and there should be an extra term resulting from the center-of-mass motion of the pairs. The omission of this extra term is perhaps a reasonable approximation at zero temperature. However, it should be taken into account at finite temperature and should have significant importance to understand the recently measured momentum distribution in a resonant $p$-wave Fermi gas of ultracold ${}^{40}\mathrm{K}$ atoms [C. Luciuk et al., Nat. Phys. 12, 599 (2016)].

We report on the measurement of the spin-dipole (SD) polarizability and of the frequency of the SD oscillation of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate of sodium atoms occupying the $|3{}^2{S}_{1/2},F=1,m_F=\pm 1\rangle$ hyperfine states. This binary spin mixture presents the important properties of being, at the same time, fully miscible and rid of the limit set by buoyancy. It is also characterized by a huge enhancement of the SD polarizability and by the consequent softening of the frequency of the SD oscillation, due to the vicinity to the transition to the immiscible phase. The experimental data are successfully compared with the predictions of theory.

We present an experimental and theoretical study of type I, frequency-degenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) with a Bessel-Gauss pump in which we include both paraxial and nonparaxial pump beam configurations. We present measurements of the SPDC angular spectrum (AS), of the conditional angular spectrum (CAS) of signal-mode single photons as heralded by the detection of an idler photon, and of the transverse wave-vector signal-idler correlations (TWC). We show that as the pump is made increasingly nonparaxial, the AS acquires a nonconcentric double-cone structure, with the CAS shape depending on the azimuthal location of the heralding detector, while the signal-idler wave-vector correlation region splits into characteristic doublet stripes, representing as yet unexplored nontrivial, nonlocal quantum correlations between the signal and idler photons. Our work provides further understanding of SPDC with a particular class of structured pump beams, and we believe that the controlled presence of double wave-vector correlations represents an interesting resource for photon-pair quantum-state engineering.

Nanomechanical systems can support highly coherent microwave-frequency excitations at cryogenic temperatures. However, generating sufficient coupling between these devices and superconducting quantum circuits is challenging due to the vastly different length scales of acoustic and electromagnetic excitations. Here we demonstrate a general method for calculating piezoelectric interactions between quantum circuits and arbitrary phononic nanostructures. We illustrate our technique by studying the coupling between a transmon qubit and bulk acoustic-wave, Lamb-wave, and phononic crystal resonators, and show that very large coupling rates are possible in all three cases. Our results suggest a route to phononic circuits and systems that are nonlinear at the single-phonon level.

We consider Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering in the regime where the parties can perform collective measurements on many copies of a given shared entangled state. We derive a simple and efficient condition for guaranteeing that an entangled state is $k$-copy steerable. In particular, we show that any two-qubit and qubit-qutrit entangled state is $k$-copy steerable. This allows us to discuss the effect of superactivation of steering, whereby an entangled state that is unsteerable (i.e., admits a local hidden state model) in the one-copy regime becomes $k$-copy steerable. We provide examples with few copies and low dimensions. Our results give evidence that entanglement and steering could become equivalent in the multicopy regime.

An experimental test of the quantum complementarity principle based on single neutral atoms trapped in a blue detuned bottle trap was here performed. A Ramsey interferometer was used to assess the wavelike behavior or particlelike behavior with second $\pi /2$ rotation on or off. The wavelike behavior or particlelike behavior is characterized by the visibility $V$ of the interference or the predictability $P$ of which-path information, respectively. The measured results fulfill the complementarity relation $P^2+V^2\le 1$. Imbalance losses were deliberately introduced to the system and we find the complementarity relation is then formally “violated.” All the experimental results can be completely explained theoretically by quantum mechanics without considering the interference between wave and particle behaviors. This observation complements existing information concerning Bohr's complementarity principle based on wave-particle duality of a massive quantum system.

We examine how to signify and quantify the mesoscopic quantum coherence of approximate two-mode NOON states and spin-squeezed two-mode Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC). We identify two criteria that verify a nonzero quantum coherence between states with quantum number different by $n$. These criteria negate certain mixtures of quantum states, thereby signifying a generalized $n$-scopic Schrödinger cat-type paradox. The first criterion is the correlation $\langle {\widehat{a}}^{†n}{\widehat{b}}^n\rangle \ne 0$ (here $\widehat{a}$ and $\widehat{b}$ are the boson operators for each mode). The correlation manifests as interference fringes in $n$-particle detection probabilities and is also measurable via quadrature phase amplitude and spin-squeezing measurements. Measurement of $\langle {\widehat{a}}^{†n}{\widehat{b}}^n\rangle$ enables a quantification of the overall $n\text{th}$ order quantum coherence, thus providing an avenue for high efficiency verification of high-fidelity photonic NOON states. The second criterion is based on a quantification of the measurable spin-squeezing parameter ${\xi }_N$. We apply the criteria to theoretical models of NOON states in lossy interferometers and double-well trapped BECs. By analyzing existing BEC experiments, we demonstrate generalized atomic “kitten” states and atomic quantum coherence with $n⪆10$ atoms.

Since quantum coherence is an undoubted characteristic trait of quantum physics, the quantification and application of quantum coherence has been one of the long-standing central topics in quantum information science. Within the framework of a resource theory of quantum coherence proposed recently, a fiducial basis should be preselected for characterizing the quantum coherence in specific circumstances, namely, the quantum coherence is a basis-dependent quantity. Therefore, a natural question is raised: what are the maximum and minimum coherences contained in a certain quantum state with respect to a generic basis? While the minimum case is trivial, it is not so intuitive to verify in which basis the quantum coherence is maximal. Based on the coherence measure of relative entropy, we indicate the particular basis in which the quantum coherence is maximal for a given state, where the Fourier matrix (or more generally, complex Hadamard matrices) plays a critical role in determining the basis. Intriguingly, though we can prove that the basis associated with the Fourier matrix is a stationary point for optimizing the $l_1$ norm of coherence, numerical simulation shows that it is not a global optimal choice.

The classical dynamics of a cold atom trapped inside a vertical rotating helical optical tube (HOT) is investigated by taking also into account the gravitational field. The resulting equations of motion are solved numerically. The rotation of the HOT induces a vertical motion for an atom initially at rest. The motion is a result of the action of two inertial forces, namely, the centrifugal force and the Coriolis force. Both inertial forces force the atom to rotate in a direction opposite to that of the angular velocity of the HOT. The frequency and the turning points of the atom's global oscillation can be controlled by the value and the direction of the angular velocity of the HOT. However, at large values of the angular velocity of the HOT the atom can escape from the global oscillation and be transported along the axis of the HOT. In this case, the rotating HOT operates as an optical Archimedes’ screw for atoms.

Motivated by the striking dependence of the valence electronic structure of transition metal surfaces on their crystallographic orientation, and by emerging experiments on laser-assisted extended ultraviolet (XUV) photoemission from solid surfaces, we calculate photoemission spectra from Cu(100) and Cu(111) surfaces as a function of the photoelectron final kinetic energy and the delay between the ionizing attosecond XUV pulse train and assisting infrared (IR) laser pulse. Our numerical simulations predict distinct differences in delay-dependent photoelectron energy distributions and photoemission time delays for Cu(100) and Cu(111) surfaces. These differences can be scrutinized experimentally with existing technology in a suggested in situ comparative RABBITT (reconstruction of attosecond beating by interference of two-photon transitions) configuration by placing the two surfaces on a sliding platform while keeping all optical components and pathlengths fixed. Our calculations also show that the inclusion of the Fresnel-reflected incident IR pulse at the metal-vacuum interface modifies photoelectron spectra and photoemission time delays in a characteristic way that reveals the degree of spatial location of the initial electronic states.

We study the domain walls which form when Bose condensates acquire a double-well dispersion. Experiments have observed such domain walls in condensates driven across a ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ symmetry-breaking phase transition in a shaken optical lattice. We derive a generic model to describe the dispersion and to compute the wave functions and energies of the domain walls. We find two distinct regimes which demand different physical pictures. In the weak-coupling regime, where interactions are weak compared to the kinetic-energy barrier, “density-wave domain walls” form that support an extended density wave and a series of phase steps. These features can be understood as the quantum interference between domains with distinct momenta. In the strong-coupling regime where interaction dominates, the system forms “phase domain walls” which have the minimum width allowed by the uncertainty principle and suppressed density modulation. Analytic results for the domain-wall wave functions are obtained in the two regimes. The energy of domain walls behaves similarly to that of topological defects in paradigmatic field theories.

We study the nonequilibrium dynamics of a periodically driven anisotropic Kondo impurity model. The periodic time dependence is introduced for a local magnetic field which couples to the impurity spin and also for an in-plane exchange interaction. We obtain the exact results on the time evolution for arbitrary periodic time dependence at the special point in the parameter space known as the Toulouse limit. We first consider a specific case where the local magnetic field is periodically switched on and off. When the driving period is much shorter than the inverse of the Kondo temperature, an intriguing oscillating behavior (resonance phenomenon) emerges in the time average of the impurity spin polarization with increasing the local magnetic field intensity. By taking the high-frequency limit of the external driving, we elucidate that the system recovers the translational invariance in time and can be described by a mixture of the zero-temperature and infinite-temperature properties. In certain cases, the system is governed by either zero-temperature or infinite-temperature properties and, therefore, can be properly described by the corresponding equilibrium state.

It has been proven theoretically for bosons with two-body repulsive interaction potentials in the dilute limit that the Gross-Pitaevskii equation provides the exact energy and density per particle as does the basic many-particle Schrödinger equation [E. H. Lieb and R. Seiringer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 170409 (2002)]. Here, we investigate the overlap of the Gross-Pitaevskii and exact ground-state wave functions. It is found that this overlap is always smaller than unity and may even vanish despite the fact that both wave functions provide the same energy and density per particle. Consequences are discussed.

We study the classical dynamics of a membrane inside a cavity in the situation where this optomechanical system possesses a reflection symmetry. Symmetry breaking occurs through supercritical and subcritical pitchfork bifurcations of the static fixed-point solutions. Both bifurcations can be observed through variation of the laser-cavity detuning, which gives rise to a boomerang-like fixed-point pattern with hysteresis. The symmetry-breaking fixed points evolve into self-sustained oscillations when the laser intensity is increased. In addition to the analysis of the accompanying Hopf bifurcations we describe these oscillations at finite amplitudes with an ansatz that fully accounts for the frequency shift relative to the natural membrane frequency. We complete our study by following the route to chaos for the membrane dynamics.