Information theory quantifies the optimal rates of resource interconversions, usually in terms of entropies. However, nonadditivity often makes evaluating entropic formulas intractable. In a few auspicious cases, additivity allows a full characterization of optimal rates. We study uniform additivity of formulas, which is easily evaluated and captures all known additive quantum formulas. Our complete characterization of uniform additivity exposes an intriguing new additive quantity and identifies a remarkable coincidence—the classical and quantum uniformly additive functions with one auxiliary variable are identical.

We introduce an intermediate quantum computing model built from translation-invariant Ising-interacting spins. Despite being nonuniversal, the model cannot be classically efficiently simulated unless the polynomial hierarchy collapses. Equipped with the intrinsic single-instance-hardness property, a single fixed unitary evolution in our model is sufficient to produce classically intractable results, compared to several other models that rely on implementation of an ensemble of different unitaries (instances). We propose a feasible experimental scheme to implement our Hamiltonian model using cold atoms trapped in a square optical lattice. We formulate a procedure to certify the correct functioning of this quantum machine. The certification requires only a polynomial number of local measurements assuming measurement imperfections are sufficiently small.

We consider generic pure $n$-qubit states and a general class of pure states of arbitrary dimensions and arbitrarily many subsystems. We characterize those states which can be reached from some other state via local operations assisted by finitely many rounds of classical communication (${\mathrm{LOCC}}_{\mathbb{N}}$). For $n$ qubits with $n>3$, we show that this set of states is of measure zero, which implies that the maximally entangled set is generically of full measure if restricted to the practical scenario of ${\mathrm{LOCC}}_{\mathbb{N}}$. Moreover, we identify a class of states for which any ${\mathrm{LOCC}}_{\mathbb{N}}$ protocol can be realized via a concatenation of deterministic steps. We show, however, that in general there exist state transformations which require a probabilistic step within the protocol, which highlights the difference between bipartite and multipartite LOCC.

Quantum metrology utilizes nonclassical resources, such as entanglement or squeezed light, to realize sensors whose performance exceeds that afforded by classical-state systems. Environmental loss and noise, however, easily destroy nonclassical resources and, thus, nullify the performance advantages of most quantum-enhanced sensors. Quantum illumination (QI) is different. It is a robust entanglement-enhanced sensing scheme whose 6 dB performance advantage over a coherent-state sensor of the same average transmitted photon number survives the initial entanglement’s eradication by loss and noise. Unfortunately, an implementation of the optimum quantum receiver that would reap QI’s full performance advantage has remained elusive, owing to its having to deal with a huge number of very noisy optical modes. We show how sum-frequency generation (SFG) can be fruitfully applied to optimum multimode Gaussian-mixed-state discrimination. Applied to QI, our analysis and numerical evaluations demonstrate that our SFG receiver saturates QI’s quantum Chernoff bound. Moreover, augmenting our SFG receiver with a feedforward (FF) mechanism pushes its performance to the Helstrom bound in the limit of low signal brightness. The FF-SFG receiver, thus, opens the door to optimum quantum-enhanced imaging, radar detection, state and channel tomography, and communication in practical Gaussian-state situations.

We test a class of holographic models for the very early Universe against cosmological observations and find that they are competitive to the standard cold dark matter model with a cosmological constant ($\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{CDM}$) of cosmology. These models are based on three-dimensional perturbative superrenormalizable quantum field theory (QFT), and, while they predict a different power spectrum from the standard power law used in $\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{CDM}$, they still provide an excellent fit to the data (within their regime of validity). By comparing the Bayesian evidence for the models, we find that $\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{CDM}$ does a better job globally, while the holographic models provide a (marginally) better fit to the data without very low multipoles (i.e., $l\lesssim 30$), where the QFT becomes nonperturbative. Observations can be used to exclude some QFT models, while we also find models satisfying all phenomenological constraints: The data rule out the dual theory being a Yang-Mills theory coupled to fermions only but allow for a Yang-Mills theory coupled to nonminimal scalars with quartic interactions. Lattice simulations of 3D QFTs can provide nonperturbative predictions for large-angle statistics of the cosmic microwave background and potentially explain its apparent anomalies.

We perform a combined analysis of recent NEOS and Daya Bay data on the reactor antineutrino spectrum. This analysis includes approximately 1.5 million antineutrino events, which is the largest neutrino event sample analyzed to date. We use a double ratio which cancels flux model dependence and related uncertainties as well as the effects of the detector response model. We find at 3–4 standard deviation significance level, that plutonium-239 and plutonium-241 are disfavored as the single source for the so-called 5 MeV bump. This analysis method has general applicability and, in particular, with higher statistics data sets, will be able to shed significant light on the issue of the bump. With some caveats, this should also allow us to improve the sensitivity for sterile neutrino searches in NEOS.

A theoretical ab initio approach for calculating bound states of small atoms is developed and implemented. The approach is based on finite-nuclear-mass [non-Born-Oppenheimer (non-BO)] nonrelativistic variational calculations performed with all-particle explicitly correlated Gaussian functions and includes the leading relativistic and quantum electrodynamics energy corrections determined using the non-BO wave functions. The approach is applied to determine the total and transition energies for the lowest four ${}^{2}S$ electronic excitations of the boron atom. The transition energies agree with the available experimental values within $0.2–0.3{\mathrm{cm}}^{-1}$. Previously, such accuracy was achieved for three- and four-electron systems.

Phase matching is a necessary condition for achieving high-efficiency optical-frequency conversion. To date, practical means of accomplishing phase matching in homogeneous crystals remain limited, despite considerable efforts. Herein, we report a new class of methods aimed at achieving quasiperfect phase matching, based on controllable birefringence produced via the linear electro-optic effect, termed “voltage-tuning phase matching.” The wave vectors of the induced polarization and the generated fields can be matched and maintained along the direction of propagation by introducing an external electric field. We analyze the validity and feasibility of this method theoretically and demonstrate it experimentally by applying the linear electro-optic effect and fourth-harmonic generation simultaneously in a partially deuterated ${\mathrm{KH}}_2{\mathrm{PO}}_4$ crystal. Quasiperfect phase matching is achieved systematically over a temperature range of the initial phase-matching temperature $\pm 2°\mathrm{C}$. Moreover, this method can overcome the limitation of the birefringence in traditional technologies and provides new functionalities for conventional nonlinear materials as well as low-birefringence and isotropic materials. This technology may significantly impact the study of optical-frequency conversion and has promise for a broad range of applications in nonlinear optics.

Solitons propagating in media with higher-order dispersion will shed radiation known as resonant radiation, with applications in frequency broadening, deep UV sources for spectroscopy, and fundamental studies of soliton physics. Using a recently proposed equation that models the behavior of ultrashort optical pulses in nonlinear media using the analytic signal, we find that the resonant radiation associated with the third-harmonic generation term of the equation is parametrically stimulated with an unprecedented gain. Resonant radiation levels, typically only a small fraction of the soliton, are now as intense as the soliton itself. The mechanism is universal and works also in normal dispersion and with harmonics higher than the third. We report experimental hints of this superresonant radiation stimulated by the fifth harmonic in diamond.

Intensity maxima and zeros of speckle patterns obtained behind a diffuser are experimentally interchanged by applying a spiral phase delay of charge $\pm 1$ to the impinging coherent beam. This transform arises from the expectation that tightly focused beams, which have a planar wave front around the focus, are so changed into vortex beams and vice versa. The statistics of extrema locations and the intensity distribution of the so-generated “complementary” patterns are characterized by numerical simulations. It is demonstrated experimentally that the incoherent superposition of the three “complementary speckle patterns” yield a synthetic speckle grain size enlarged by a factor of $\sqrt{3}$. A cyclic permutation of optical vortices and intensity maxima is unexpectedly observed and discussed.

We report on the focalization of Bogoliubov–de Gennes excitations of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation in the defocusing regime (Gross-Pitaevskii equation for repulsive Bose-Einstein condensates) with a spatially modulated periodic potential. Exploiting the modification of the dispersion relation induced by the modulation, we demonstrate the existence of localized structures of the Bogoliubov–de Gennes excitations, in both the linear and nonlinear regimes (linear and nonlinear “bullets”). These traveling Bogoliubov–de Gennes bullets, localized both spatially and temporally in the comoving reference frame, are robust and propagate remaining stable, without spreading or filamentation. The phenomena reported in this Letter could be observed in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates in the presence of a spatially periodic potential induced by an optical lattice.

We show that the dynamics of systems with a time-dependent delay is fundamentally affected by the functional form of the retarded argument. Associating with the latter an iterated map, the access map, and a corresponding Koopman operator, we identify two universality classes. Members in the first are equivalent to systems with a constant delay. The new, second class is characterized by the mode-locking behavior of their access maps and by an asymptotically linear, instead of a logarithmic, scaling of the Lyapunov spectrum. The membership depends in a fractal manner only on the parameters of the delay.

We theoretically propose an experimentally viable scheme to use an impurity atom in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, in order to realize condensed-matter analogs of quantum vacuum effects. In a suitable atomic level configuration, the collisional interaction between the impurity atom and the density fluctuations in the condensate can be tailored to closely reproduce the electric-dipole coupling of quantum electrodynamics. By virtue of this analogy, we recover and extend the paradigm of electromagnetic vacuum forces to the domain of cold atoms, showing in particular the emergence, at supersonic atomic speeds, of a novel power-law scaling of the Casimir force felt by the atomic impurity, as well as the occurrence of a quantum frictional force, accompanied by the Ginzburg emission of Bogoliubov quanta. Observable consequences of these quantum vacuum effects in realistic spectroscopic experiments are discussed.

Previous realizations of synthetic gauge fields for ultracold atoms do not allow the spatial profile of the field to evolve freely. We propose a scheme which overcomes this restriction by using the light in a multimode cavity with many nearly degenerate transverse modes, in conjunction with Raman coupling, to realize an artificial magnetic field which acts on a Bose-Einstein condensate of neutral atoms. We describe the evolution of such a system and present the results of numerical simulations which show dynamical coupling between the effective field and the matter on which it acts. Crucially, the freedom of the spatial profile of the field is sufficient to realize a close analogue of the Meissner effect, where the magnetic field is expelled from the superfluid. This backaction of the atoms on the synthetic field distinguishes the Meissner-like effect described here from the Hess-Fairbank suppression of rotation in a neutral superfluid observed elsewhere.