No-signaling theories, which can contain nonlocal correlations stronger than quantum correlations but limited by the no-signaling condition, have deepened our understanding of the quantum theory. In practice, Bell tests are powerful tools to certify nonlocality, but their effectiveness is limited by the detector efficiency. In this work, we provide almost tight detection efficiency bounds for showing the nonlocality of no-signaling theories, by introducing a general class of Bell inequalities. In particular, we provide a tight bound for the bipartite case and an asymptotic tight bound for the multipartite case. The tightness of these bounds shows that they well characterize the structure of no-signaling theories. The bounds also imply that the detector efficiency requirement can be made arbitrarily low in both bipartite and multipartite cases by increasing the number of measurement settings. Furthermore, our work sheds light on the detector efficiency requirement for showing the nonlocality of the quantum theory.

We provide further nontrivial solutions to the recently proposed time-dependent Dyson and quasi-Hermiticity relation. Here, we solve them for the generalized version of the non-Hermitian Swanson Hamiltonian with time-dependent coefficients. We construct time-dependent solutions by employing the Lewis-Riesenfeld method of invariants and discuss concrete physical applications of our results.

We address the characterization of qubit chains and assess the performances of local measurements compared to those provided by Feynman probes, i.e., nonlocal measurements realized by coupling a single-qubit register to the chain. We show that local measurements are suitable to estimate small values of the coupling and that a Bayesian strategy may be successfully exploited to achieve optimal precision. For larger values of the coupling Bayesian local strategies do not lead to a consistent estimate. In this regime, Feynman probes may be exploited to build a consistent Bayesian estimator that saturates the Cramér-Rao bound, thus providing an effective characterization of the chain. Finally, we show that ultimate bounds to precision, i.e., saturation of the quantum Cramér-Rao bound, may be achieved by a two-step scheme employing Feynman probes followed by local measurements.

Presently, classical optical communication systems employing strong laser pulses and quantum key distribution (QKD) systems working at single-photon levels are very different communication modalities. Dedicated devices are commonly required to implement QKD. In this paper, we propose a scheme which allows classical communication and QKD to be implemented simultaneously using the same communication infrastructure. More specially, we propose a coherent communication scheme where both the bits for classical communication and the Gaussian distributed random numbers for QKD are encoded on the same weak coherent pulse and decoded by the same coherent receiver. Simulation results based on practical system parameters show that both deterministic classical communication with a bit error rate of ${10}^{-9}$ and secure key distribution could be achieved over tens of kilometers of single-mode fibers. It is conceivable that in the future coherent optical communication network, QKD will be operated in the background of classical communication at a minimal cost.

The exchange contribution to the energy of the hydrogen atom interacting with a proton is calculated from the polarization expansion of the wave function using the conventional surface-integral formula and two formulas involving volume integrals: the formula of the symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) and the variational formula recommended by us. At large internuclear distances $R$, all three formulas yield the correct expression $-(2/e)R{e}^{-R}$, but they approximate it with very different convergence rates. In the case of the SAPT formula, the convergence is geometric with the error falling as $3^{-K}$, where $K$ is the order of the applied polarization expansion. The error of the surface-integral formula decreases exponentially as $a^K/(K+1)!$, where $a=ln2-\frac{1}{2}$. The variational formula performs best, its error decays as $K^{1/2}{[a^K/(K+1)!]}^2$. These convergence rates are much faster than those resulting from approximating the wave function through the multipole expansion. This shows the efficiency of the partial resummation of the multipole series effected by the polarization expansion. Our results demonstrate also the benefits of incorporating the variational principle into the perturbation theory of molecular interactions.

Modern x-ray sources enable the production of coherent x-ray pulses with a pulse duration in the same order as the characteristic lifetimes of core-hole states of atoms and molecules. These pulses enable the manipulation of the core-hole population during Auger-decay processes, modifying the line shape of the electron spectra. In this work, we present a theoretical model to study those effects in neon. We identify effects in the Auger-electron–photoelectron coincidence spectrum due to the duration and intensity of the pulses. The normal Auger line shape is recovered in Auger-electron spectra integrated over all photoelectron energies.

We study the dynamics of an interacting classical gas trapped in a double-well potential at finite temperature. Two model potentials are considered: a cubic box with a square barrier in the middle, and a harmonic trap with a Gaussian barrier along one direction. The study is performed using the Boltzmann equation, solved numerically via the test-particle method. We introduce and discuss a simple analytical model that allows one to provide estimates of the relaxation time, which are compared with numerical results. Finally, we use our findings to make numerical and analytical predictions for the case of a fermionic mixture in the normal-fluid phase in a realistic double-well potential relevant for experiments with cold atoms.

We propose to use spin hydrodynamics, a two-fluid model of spin propagation, as a generalization of the diffusion equation. We show that in the dense limit spin hydrodynamics reduces to Fick's law and the diffusion equation. In the opposite limit spin hydrodynamics is equivalent to a collisionless Boltzmann treatment of spin propagation. Spin hydrodynamics avoids unphysical effects that arise when the diffusion equation is used to describe to a strongly interacting gas with a dilute corona. We apply spin hydrodynamics to the problem of spin diffusion in a trapped atomic gas. We find that the observed spin relaxation rate in the high-temperature limit [Sommer et al., Nature (London) 472, 201 (2011)] is consistent with the diffusion constant predicted by kinetic theory.

In an article by Dubertrand et al. [Phys. Rev. A 77, 013804 (2008)] the perturbation theory for slightly deformed optical microcavities with a mirror-reflection symmetry was developed. However, in real experiments such a mirror-reflection symmetry is often not present either intended or unintended via production tolerances. In this paper we therefore extended the perturbation theory to asymmetric boundary deformations. Consequently, we are able to describe interesting non-Hermitian phenomena like copropagation of optical modes in the (counter-)clockwise direction inside the cavity. The derived analytic formulas are demonstrated at two generic boundary shapes, the spiral and the double-notched circle where a good agreement to the numerical boundary element method is observed.

We derived the Berry connection of vector vortex states (VVSs) from the “true” Hamiltonian obtained through the Maxwell-Schrödinger equation for an inhomogeneous anisotropic (IA) medium, and we experimentally demonstrated measurement of the corresponding Pancharatnam-Berry (PB) geometrical phase of VVSs. The PB phase (PBP) of VVSs can be divided into two phases: homogeneous and inhomogeneous PBPs. Homogeneous and inhomogeneous PBPs are related to the conventional PBP and the spatially dependent geometric phase given by an IA medium such as a polarization converter, respectively. We theoretically detected that inhomogeneous PBP accumulation originates from the gauge dependence of the index of the hybrid-order Poincaré sphere, which provides an alternate method for understanding optical spin-orbital angular momentum conversion. The homogeneous PBP, which is explicitly observed, has implications for quantum-state manipulation and information processing.

We provide a general protocol to measure out-of-time-order correlation functions. These correlation functions are of broad theoretical interest for diagnosing the scrambling of quantum information in interacting quantum systems and have recently received particular attention in the study of chaos and black holes within holographic duality. Measuring them requires an echo-type sequence in which the sign of a many-body Hamiltonian is reversed. We illustrate our protocol by detailing an implementation employing cold atoms and cavity quantum electrodynamics to probe spin models with nonlocal interactions. To verify the feasibility of the scheme with current technology, we analyze the effects of dissipation in a chaotic kicked-top model. Finally, we propose a number of other experimental platforms where similar out-of-time-order correlation functions can be measured.

Analyzing the dimension of an unknown quantum system in a device-independent manner, i.e., using only the measurement statistics, is a fundamental task in quantum physics and quantum information theory. In this paper, we consider this problem in the prepare-and-measure scenario. Specifically, we provide a lower bound on the dimension of the prepared quantum systems, which is a function that only depends on the measurement statistics. Furthermore, we show that our bound performs well in several examples. In particular, we show that our bound provides insights into the notion of dimension witness, and we also use it to show that the sets of restricted-dimensional prepare-and-measure correlations are not always convex.

We investigate the possibility of distinguishing among different causal relations starting from a limited set of marginals. Our main tool is the notion of adhesivity, that is, the extension of probability or entropies defined only on subsets of variables, which provides additional independence constraints among them. Our results provide a criterion for recognizing which causal structures are indistinguishable when only limited marginal information is accessible. Furthermore, the existence of such extensions greatly simplifies the characterization of a marginal scenario, a result that facilitates the derivation of Bell inequalities both in the probabilistic and entropic frameworks, and the identification of marginal scenarios where classical, quantum, and postquantum probabilities coincide.

We study strongly correlated ground states of dipolar fermions in a honeycomb optical lattice with spatial variations in hopping amplitudes. Similar to strained graphene, such nonuniform hopping amplitudes produce valley-dependent pseudomagnetic fields for fermions near the two Dirac points, resulting in the formation of Landau levels. The dipole moments aligned perpendicular to the honeycomb plane yield a long-range repulsive interaction. By exact diagonalization in the zeroth-Landau-level basis, we show that this repulsive interaction stabilizes a variety of valley-polarized fractional quantum Hall states such as Laughlin and composite-fermion states. The present system thus offers an intriguing platform for emulating fractional quantum Hall physics in a static optical lattice. We calculate the energy gaps above these incompressible states and discuss the temperature scales required for their experimental realization.

We study the relaxation of a two-dimensional (2D) ultracold Bose gas from a nonequilibrium initial state containing vortex excitations in experimentally realizable square and rectangular traps. We show that the subsystem of vortex gas excitations results in the spontaneous emergence of a coherent superfluid flow with a nonzero coarse-grained vorticity field. The stream function of this emergent quasiclassical 2D flow is governed by a Poisson-Boltzmann equation. This equation reveals that maximum entropy states of a neutral vortex gas that describe the spectral condensation of energy can be classified into types of flow depending on whether or not the flow spontaneously acquires angular momentum. Numerical simulations of a neutral point vortex model and a Bose gas governed by the 2D Gross-Pitaevskii equation in a square reveal that a large-scale monopole flow field with net angular momentum emerges that is consistent with predictions of the Poisson-Boltzmann equation. The results allow us to characterize the spectral energy condensate in a 2D quantum fluid that bears striking similarity to similar flows observed in experiments of 2D classical turbulence. By deforming the square into a rectangular region, the resulting maximum entropy state switches to a dipolar flow field with zero net angular momentum.

Brillouin scattering is a fundamental nonlinear interaction between two optical waves and an acoustic wave mediated by electrostriction and photoelasticity. In this paper, we revisit the usual theory of this inelastic scattering to get a joint system in which the acoustic wave is strongly coupled to the interference pattern between the optical waves. We show in particular that when the coupling rate exceeds the phonon damping rate, the system enters the strong-coupling regime, giving rise to anticrossing in the dispersion relation and Rabi-like splitting. We further find numerically that strong coupling can, in principle, be observed using backward Brillouin scattering in subwavelength-diameter optical waveguides.

We demonstrate numerically light-pulse combining and pulse compression using wave-collapse (self-focusing) energy-localization dynamics in a continuous-discrete nonlinear system, as implemented in a multicore fiber (MCF) using one-dimensional (1D) and 2D core distribution designs. Large-scale numerical simulations were performed to determine the conditions of the most efficient coherent combining and compression of pulses injected into the considered MCFs. We demonstrate the possibility of combining in a single core 90% of the total energy of pulses initially injected into all cores of a 7-core MCF with a hexagonal lattice. A pulse compression factor of about 720 can be obtained with a 19-core ring MCF.

High-finesse frequency combs (HFC) with large ratio of the frequency spacing to the width of the spectral components have demonstrated remarkable results in many applications such as precision spectroscopy and metrology. We found that low-finesse frequency combs having very small ratio of the frequency spacing to the width of the spectral components are more sensitive to the exact resonance with absorber than HFC. Our method is based on time domain measurements reviling oscillations of the radiation intensity after passing through an optically thick absorber. Fourier analysis of the oscillations allows to reconstruct the spectral content of the comb. If the central component of the incident comb is in exact resonance with the single line absorber, the contribution of the first sideband frequency to oscillations is exactly zero. We demonstrated this technique with $\gamma$-photon absorption by Mössbauer nuclei providing the spectral resolution beyond the natural broadening.

The theory of quantum Brownian motion describes the properties of a large class of open quantum systems. Nonetheless, its description in terms of a Born-Markov master equation, widely used in the literature, is known to violate the positivity of the density operator at very low temperatures. We study an extension of existing models, leading to an equation in the Lindblad form, which is free of this problem. We study the dynamics of the model, including the detailed properties of its stationary solution, for both constant and position-dependent coupling of the Brownian particle to the bath, focusing in particular on the correlations and the squeezing of the probability distribution induced by the environment.