In the task of discriminating between nonorthogonal quantum states from multiple copies, the key parameters are the error probability and the resources (number of copies) used. Previous studies have considered the task of minimizing the average error probability for fixed resources. Here we introduce a new state discrimination task: minimizing the average resources for a fixed admissible error probability. We show that this new task is not performed optimally by previously known strategies, and derive and experimentally test a detection scheme that performs better.

Spatial states of single photons and spatially entangled photon pairs are becoming an important resource in quantum communication. This additional degree of freedom provides an almost unlimited information capacity, making the development of high-quality sources of spatial entanglement a well-motivated research direction. We report an experimental method for generation of photon pairs in a maximally entangled spatial state. In contrast to existing techniques, the method does not require postselection of a particular subspace of spatial modes and allows one to use the full photon flux from the nonlinear crystal, providing a tool for creating high-brightness sources of pure spatially entangled photons. Such sources are a prerequisite for emerging applications in free-space quantum communication.

We present general conditions for quantum error suppression for Hamiltonian-based quantum computation using subsystem codes. This involves encoding the Hamiltonian performing the computation using an error detecting subsystem code and the addition of a penalty term that commutes with the encoded Hamiltonian. The scheme is general and includes the stabilizer formalism of both subspace and subsystem codes as special cases. We derive performance bounds and show that complete error suppression results in the large penalty limit. To illustrate the power of subsystem-based error suppression, we introduce fully two-local constructions for protection against local errors of the swap gate of adiabatic gate teleportation and the Ising chain in a transverse field.

We study the off-equilibrium behavior of systems with short-range interactions, slowly driven across a thermal first-order transition, where the equilibrium dynamics is exponentially slow. We consider a dynamics that starts in the high-$T$ phase at time $t=t_i<0$ and ends at $t=t_f>0$ in the low-$T$ phase, with a time-dependent temperature $T(t)/T_c\approx 1-t/t_s$, where $t_s$ is the protocol time scale. A general off-equilibrium scaling (OS) behavior emerges in the limit of large $t_s$. We check it at the first-order transition of the two-dimensional $q$-state Potts model with $q=20$ and 10. The numerical results show evidence of a dynamic transition, where the OS functions show a spinodal-like singularity. Therefore, the general mean-field picture valid for systems with long-range interactions is qualitatively recovered, provided the time dependence is appropriately (logarithmically) rescaled.

First passage under restart has recently emerged as a conceptual framework suitable for the description of a wide range of phenomena, but the endless variety of ways in which restart mechanisms and first passage processes mix and match hindered the identification of unifying principles and general truths. Hope that these exist came from a recently discovered universality displayed by processes under optimal, constant rate, restart—but extensions and generalizations proved challenging as they marry arbitrarily complex processes and restart mechanisms. To address this challenge, we develop a generic approach to first passage under restart. Key features of diffusion under restart—the ultimate poster boy for this wide and diverse class of problems—are then shown to be completely universal.

We study the probability distribution of a current flowing through a diffusive system connected to a pair of reservoirs at its two ends. Sufficient conditions for the occurrence of a host of possible phase transitions both in and out of equilibrium are derived. These transitions manifest themselves as singularities in the large deviation function, resulting in enhanced current fluctuations. Microscopic models which implement each of the scenarios are presented, with possible experimental realizations. Depending on the model, the singularity is associated either with a particle-hole symmetry breaking, which leads to a continuous transition, or in the absence of the symmetry with a first-order phase transition. An exact Landau theory which captures the different singular behaviors is derived.

Stochastic effects in generic scenarios of inflation with multiple fields are investigated. First passage time techniques are employed to calculate the statistical moments of the number of inflationary $e$-folds, which give rise to all correlation functions of primordial curvature perturbations through the stochastic $\delta N$ formalism. The number of fields is a critical parameter. The probability of exploring arbitrarily large-field regions of the potential becomes nonvanishing when more than two fields are driving inflation. The mean number of $e$-folds can be infinite, depending on the number of fields; for plateau potentials, this occurs even with one field. In such cases, correlation functions of curvature perturbations are infinite. They can, however, be regularized if a reflecting (or absorbing) wall is added at large energy or field value. The results are found to be independent of the exact location of the wall and this procedure is, therefore, well defined for a wide range of cutoffs, above or below the Planck scale. Finally, we show that, contrary to single-field setups, multifield models can yield large stochastic corrections even at sub-Planckian energy, opening interesting prospects for probing quantum effects on cosmological fluctuations.

We propose the on-shell superfield description for tree amplitudes of $D=11$ supergravity and the Britto-Cachazo-Feng-Witten–type recurrent relations for these superamplitudes.

We search for the rare flavor-changing neutral current process $B^{+}\to K^{+}$${\tau }^{+}{\tau }^{-}$ using data from the BABAR experiment. The data sample, collected at the center-of-mass energy of the $\mathit{\Upsilon }(4S)$ resonance, corresponds to a total integrated luminosity of $424{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ and to $471\times 10^6\mathrm{B}\overline{\mathrm{B}}$ pairs. We reconstruct one $B$ meson, produced in the $\mathrm{\Upsilon }(4S)\to B^{+}{B}^{-}$ decay, in one of many hadronic decay modes and search for activity compatible with a $B^{+}\to K^{+}$${\tau }^{+}{\tau }^{-}$ decay in the rest of the event. Each $\tau$ lepton is required to decay leptonically into an electron or muon and neutrinos. Comparing the expected number of background events with the data sample after applying the selection criteria, we do not find evidence for a signal. The resulting upper limit, at the 90% confidence level, is $\mathcal{B}(B^{+}\to K^{+}{\tau }^{+}{\tau }^{-})<2.25\times {10}^{-3}$.

The direct detection of dark matter particles with mass below the GeV scale is hampered by soft nuclear recoil energies and finite detector thresholds. For a given maximum relative velocity, the kinematics of elastic dark matter nucleus scattering sets a principal limit on detectability. Here, we propose to bypass the kinematic limitations by considering the inelastic channel of photon emission from bremsstrahlung in the nuclear recoil. Our proposed method allows us to set the first limits on dark matter below 500 MeV in the plane of dark matter mass and cross section with nucleons. In situations where a dark-matter–electron coupling is suppressed, bremsstrahlung may constitute the only path to probe low-mass dark matter awaiting new detector technologies with lowered recoil energy thresholds.

Present global fits of world neutrino data hint towards nonmaximal ${\theta }_{23}$ with two nearly degenerate solutions, one in the lower octant (${\theta }_{23}<\pi /4$), and the other in the higher octant (${\theta }_{23}>\pi /4$). This octant ambiguity of ${\theta }_{23}$ is one of the fundamental issues in the neutrino sector, and its resolution is a crucial goal of next-generation long-baseline (LBL) experiments. In this Letter, we address, for the first time, the impact of a light eV-scale sterile neutrino towards such a measurement, taking the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment as a case study. In the so-called $3+1$ scheme involving three active and one sterile neutrinos, the ${\nu }_{\mu }\to {\nu }_e$ transition probability probed in the LBL experiments acquires a new interference term via active-sterile oscillations. We find that this interference term can mimic a swap of the ${\theta }_{23}$ octant, even if one uses the information from both neutrino and antineutrino channels. As a consequence, the sensitivity to the octant of ${\theta }_{23}$ can be completely lost, and this may have serious implications for our understanding of neutrinos from both the experimental and theoretical perspectives.

We present a nucleus-dependent valence-space approach for calculating ground and excited states of nuclei, which generalizes the shell-model in-medium similarity renormalization group to an ensemble reference with fractionally filled orbitals. Because the ensemble is used only as a reference, and not to represent physical states, no symmetry restoration is required. This allows us to capture three-nucleon ($3N$) forces among valence nucleons with a valence-space Hamiltonian specifically targeted to each nucleus of interest. Predicted ground-state energies from carbon through nickel agree with results of other large-space ab initio methods, generally to the 1% level. In addition, we show that this new approach is required in order to obtain convergence for nuclei in the upper $p$ and $sd$ shells. Finally, we address the $1^{+}/3^{+}$ inversion problem in ${}^{22}\mathrm{Na}$ and ${}^{46}\mathrm{V}$. This approach extends the reach of ab initio nuclear structure calculations to essentially all light- and medium-mass nuclei.

The observation of coherent quantum effects in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes prompted the question whether quantum coherence could be exploited to improve the efficiency in new energy materials. The detailed characterization of coherent effects relies on sensitive methods such as two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2D-ES). However, the interpretation of the results produced by 2D-ES is challenging due to the many possible couplings present in complex molecular structures. In this work, we demonstrate how the laser spectral profile can induce electronic coherencelike signals in monomeric chromophores, potentially leading to data misinterpretation. We argue that the laser spectrum acts as a filter for certain coherence pathways and thus propose a general method to differentiate vibrational from electronic coherences.

The modulation and multimode instabilities are the main mechanisms which drive spontaneous spatial and temporal pattern formation in a vast number of nonlinear systems ranging from biology to laser physics. Using an Er-doped fiber laser as a test bed, here for the first time we demonstrate both experimentally and theoretically a new type of a low-threshold vector-resonance-multimode instability which inherits features of multimode and modulation instabilities. The same as for the multimode instability, a large number of longitudinal modes can be excited without mode synchronization. To enable modulation instability, we modulate the state of polarization of the lasing signal with the period of the beat length by an adjustment of the in-cavity birefringence and the state of polarization of the pump wave. As a result, we show the regime’s tunability from complex oscillatory to periodic with longitudinal mode synchronization in the case of resonance matching between the beat and cavity lengths. Apart from the interest in laser physics for unlocking the tunability and stability of dynamic regimes, the proposed mechanism of the vector-resonance-multimode instability can be of fundamental interest for the nonlinear dynamics of various distributed systems.

We pattern the wave front of a high harmonic beam by intersecting the intense driving laser pulse that generates the high harmonic with a weak control pulse. To illustrate the potential of wave-front control, we imprint a Fresnel zone plate pattern on a harmonic beam, causing the harmonics to focus and defocus. The quality of the focus that we achieve is measured using the spectral wave-front optical reconstruction by diffraction method. We will show that it is possible to enhance the peak intensity by orders of magnitude without a physical optical element in the path of the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) beam. Through perturbative wave-front control, XUV beams can be created with a flexibility approaching what technology allows for visible and infrared light.

We experimentally demonstrate coherent control of a quantum system, whose dynamics is chaotic in the classical limit. Interaction of diatomic molecules with a periodic sequence of ultrashort laser pulses leads to the dynamical localization of the molecular angular momentum, a characteristic feature of the chaotic quantum kicked rotor. By changing the phases of the rotational states in the initially prepared coherent wave packet, we control the rotational distribution of the final localized state and its total energy. We demonstrate the anticipated sensitivity of control to the exact parameters of the kicking field, as well as its disappearance in the classical regime of excitation.

We present shock compression data for deuterium through the molecular-to-atomic transition along the principal Hugoniot with unprecedented precision, enabling discrimination between subtle differences in first-principle theoretical predictions. These observations, supported through reshock measurements, provide tight constraints in a regime directly relevant to planetary interiors. Our findings are in best agreement with density functional theory; however, no one exchange-correlation functional describes well both the onset of dissociation and the maximum compression along the Hugoniot.

We present a method for the precise determination of the full elasticity tensor from a single crystal diffraction experiment using monochromatic x rays. For the two benchmark systems calcite and magnesium oxide, we show that the measurement of thermal diffuse scattering in the proximity of Bragg reflections provides accurate values of the complete set of elastic constants. This approach allows for a reliable and model-free determination of the elastic properties and can be performed together with crystal structure investigation in the same experiment.