Interactions between dynamics on different temporal scales of about a century long record of data of the daily mean surface air temperature from various European locations have been detected using a form of the conditional mutual information, statistically tested using the Fourier-transform and multifractal surrogate data methods. An information transfer from larger to smaller time scales has been observed as the influence of the phase of slow oscillatory phenomena with the periods around 6–11 yr on the amplitudes of the variability characterized by the smaller temporal scales from a few months to 4–5 yr. The overall effect of the slow oscillations on the interannual temperature variability within the range $1–2°\mathrm{C}$ has been observed in large areas of Europe.

The inverse square potential arises in a variety of different quantum phenomena, yet notoriously it must be handled with care: it suffers from pathologies rooted in the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics. We show that its recently studied conformality breaking corresponds to an infinitely smooth winding-unwinding topological transition for the classical statistical mechanics of a one-dimensional system: this describes the tangling or untangling of floppy polymers under a biasing torque. When the ratio between torque and temperature exceeds a critical value the polymer undergoes tangled oscillations, with an extensive winding number. At lower torque or higher temperature the winding number per unit length is zero. Approaching criticality, the correlation length of the order parameter—the extensive winding number—follows a Kosterlitz-Thouless-type law. The model is described by the Wilson line of a ($0+1$) $U(1)$ gauge theory, and applies to the tangling or untangling of floppy polymers and to the winding or diffusing kinetics in diffusion-convection reactions.

We experimentally demonstrate entanglement distillation of the two-mode squeezed state obtained by parametric down-conversion. Applying the photon annihilation operator to both modes, we raise the fraction of the photon-pair component in the state, resulting in the increase of both squeezing and entanglement by about 50%. Because of the low amount of initial squeezing, the distilled state does not experience significant loss of Gaussian character.

We investigate theoretically the suppression of two-body losses when the on-site loss rate is larger than all other energy scales in a lattice. This work quantitatively explains the recently observed suppression of chemical reactions between two rotational states of fermionic KRb molecules confined in one-dimensional tubes with a weak lattice along the tubes [Yan et al., Nature (London) 501, 521 (2013)]. New loss rate measurements performed for different lattice parameters but under controlled initial conditions allow us to show that the loss suppression is a consequence of the combined effects of lattice confinement and the continuous quantum Zeno effect. A key finding, relevant for generic strongly reactive systems, is that while a single-band theory can qualitatively describe the data, a quantitative analysis must include multiband effects. Accounting for these effects reduces the inferred molecule filling fraction by a factor of 5. A rate equation can describe much of the data, but to properly reproduce the loss dynamics with a fixed filling fraction for all lattice parameters we develop a mean-field model and benchmark it with numerically exact time-dependent density matrix renormalization group calculations.

We analyze several high dimensional generalizations of the toric code at a nonzero temperature. We find that in a large enough dimension, there can be a distinct separation between the critical temperature $T_c$, given by thermodynamic singularities, and the percolation temperature $T_p$, given by the percolation of defects. We argue that the regime $T_p<T<T_c$ is a range of temperatures where a self-correcting quantum memory can operate despite having percolating defects. We present analytic arguments and numerical evidence in support of this scenario, including a mean-field treatment and Monte Carlo simulations. Near $T_c$, simulations observe a large hysteretic behavior, which may have applications by allowing the self-correcting phase to survive in a “superheated” regime.

We present an indirect two-qubit parity meter in planar circuit quantum electrodynamics, realized by discrete interaction with an ancilla and a subsequent projective ancilla measurement with a dedicated, dispersively coupled resonator. Quantum process tomography and successful entanglement by measurement demonstrate that the meter is intrinsically quantum nondemolition. Separate interaction and measurement steps allow the execution of subsequent data-qubit operations in parallel with ancilla measurement, offering time savings over continuous schemes.

Hamiltonian systems with long-range interactions give rise to long-lived out-of-equilibrium macroscopic states, so-called quasistationary states. We show here that, in a suitably generalized form, this result remains valid for many such systems in the presence of dissipation. Using an appropriate mean-field kinetic description, we show that models with dissipation due to a viscous damping or due to inelastic collisions admit “scaling quasistationary states,” i.e., states that are quasistationary in rescaled variables. A numerical study of one-dimensional self-gravitating systems confirms the relevance of these solutions and gives indications of their regime of validity in line with theoretical predictions. We underline that the velocity distributions never show any tendency to evolve towards a Maxwell-Boltzmann form.

In this Letter we propose a new method to infer the topology of the interaction network in pairwise models with Ising variables. By using the pseudolikelihood method (PLM) at high temperature, it is generally possible to distinguish between zero and nonzero couplings because a clear gap separate the two groups. However at lower temperatures the PLM is much less effective and the result depends on subjective choices, such as the value of the ${\ell }_1$ regularizer and that of the threshold to separate nonzero couplings from null ones. We introduce a decimation procedure based on the PLM that recursively sets to zero the less significant couplings, until the variation of the pseudolikelihood signals that relevant couplings are being removed. The new method is fully automated and does not require any subjective choice by the user. Numerical tests have been performed on a wide class of Ising models, having different topologies (from random graphs to finite dimensional lattices) and different couplings (both diluted ferromagnets in a field and spin glasses). These numerical results show that the new algorithm performs better than standard PLM.

The single-particle excitations of a superconductor are coherent superpositions of electrons and holes near the Fermi level, called Bogoliubov quasiparticles. They are Majorana fermions, meaning that pairs of quasiparticles can annihilate. We calculate the annihilation probability at a beam splitter for chiral quantum Hall edge states, obtaining a $1\pm \cos \varphi$ dependence on the phase difference $\varphi$ of the superconductors from which the excitations originated (with the $\pm$ sign distinguishing singlet and triplet pairing). This provides for a nonlocal measurement of the superconducting phase in the absence of any supercurrent.

We present a new approach to computing energy-energy correlations in gauge theories that exploits their relation to correlation functions and bypasses the use of scattering amplitudes. We illustrate its power by calculating energy-energy correlations in the maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in the next-to-leading order approximation.

We discuss the dc conductivity of holographic theories with translational invariance broken by a background lattice. We show that the presence of the lattice induces an effective mass for the graviton via a gravitational version of the Higgs mechanism. This allows us to obtain, at leading order in the lattice strength, an analytic expression for the dc conductivity in terms of the size of the lattice at the horizon. In locally critical theories this leads to a power law resistivity that is in agreement with an earlier field theory analysis of Hartnoll and Hofman.

We compute the Coulomb correction to the total and diffractive cross sections for virtual photon scattering off a heavy nucleus at low $x$. We show that it violates the geometric scaling in a wide range of photon virtualities and is weakly $x$ independent. In heavy nuclei at low $Q^2$, the Coulomb correction to the total and diffractive cross sections is about 20% and 40%, correspondingly.

So far, nonsequential double ionization (NSDI) of atoms can be well understood within a semiclassical or even classical picture. No quantum effect appears to be required to explain the data observed. We theoretically study electron correlation resulting from NSDI of argon in a low-intensity laser field using a quantum-mechanical $S$-matrix theory. We show that quantum interference between the contributions of different intermediate excited states of the singly charged argon ion produces a transition from back-to-back to side-by-side emission with increasing laser intensity, which is in close agreement with the experimental data. For higher intensities, this transition is enhanced by the consequences of depletion of the excited states.

We report evidence for two previously unidentified effects in the ionization of rare-gas clusters by intense extreme-ultraviolet pulses. First, electron spectra indicate multistep photoemission with increasing isotropy for larger clusters due to electron-atom collisions. Second, very slow (meV) electrons are interpreted as the first experimental evidence for Rydberg-like atomic state formation in the nanoplasma expansion. Only small fractions of ${\mathrm{Xe}}^{2+}$ ions were found, in sharp contrast to previous results recorded under comparable conditions [Murphy et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 203401 (2008)].

The semiclassical and quantum dynamics of two ultrastrongly coupled nonlinear resonators cannot be explained using the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation or the Bose-Hubbard model, respectively. Instead, a model beyond the rotating wave approximation must be studied. In the semiclassical limit this model is not integrable and becomes chaotic for a finite window of parameters. For the quantum dimer we find corresponding regions of stability and chaos. The more striking consequence for both semiclassical and quantum chaos is that the tunneling time between the sites becomes unpredictable. These results, including the transition to chaos, can be tested in experiments with superconducting microwave resonators.

We describe, for the first time, an experiment devoted to the study of the spatial conformation of a flexible fiber in a turbulent flow. We propose a model for the transition from rigid to flexible regimes as the intensity of turbulence is increased or the elastic energy of the fiber is decreased. This transition occurs for a fiber typical length which is observed experimentally and recovered by our analysis. We also demonstrate that the conformations of flexible fibers in a turbulent flow are analog to conformations of flexible polymers in a good solvent. This last result opens some new and creative ways to model flexible fiber distortions in turbulent flows while addressing fundamental problems in polymer dynamics.

Cu-Au is the prototypical alloy system used to exemplify ordering and compound formation, and it serves as a testbed for all new alloy theory methods. Yet, despite the importance of this system, conventional density functional theory (DFT) calculations with semilocal approximations have two dramatic failures in describing the energies of this system: (1) DFT formation energies of the observed ${\mathrm{Cu}}_3\mathrm{Au}$ and CuAu compounds are nearly a factor of 2 smaller in magnitude than experimental values, and (2) DFT predicts incorrect ordered ground states ground states for Au-rich compositions. Here, we show how modern extensions of DFT based on nonlocal interactions can rectify both of these failures. Our corrections shed light on improving the theoretical predictions for alloy systems to determine accurate formation energies, order-disorder critical temperatures, phase diagrams, and high-throughput computations.