The cavity electromechanical devices with radiation-pressure interaction induced Kerr-like nonlinearity are promising candidates to generate microwave frequency combs. We construct a silicon-nitride membrane based superconducting cavity electromechanical device and study two mechanical modes synergistic frequency combs. Around the threshold of intracavity field instability, we first show independent frequency combs with tooth spacing equal to each mechanical mode frequency. At the overlap boundaries of these two individual mechanical mode mediated instability thresholds, we observe hybridization of frequency combs based on the cavity field mediated indirect coupling between these two mechanical modes. The spectrum lines turn out to be unequally spaced, but can be recognized in combinations of the coexisting frequency combs. Beyond the boundary, the comb reverts to the single mode case, and which mechanical mode frequency will the tooth spacing be depends on the mode competition. Our work demonstrates mechanical mode competition enabled switchability of frequency comb tooth spacing and can be extended to other devices with multiple nonlinearities.

We investigate the full doping and strain-dependent phase diagram of the normal state of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (TBG). Using comprehensive Hartree-Fock calculations, we show that at temperatures where superconductivity is absent the global phase structure can be understood based on the competition and coexistence between three types of intertwined orders: a fully symmetric phase, spatially uniform flavor-symmetry-breaking states, and an incommensurate Kekulé spiral (IKS) order. For small strain, the IKS phase, recently proposed as a candidate order at all nonzero integer fillings of the moiré unit cell, is found to be ubiquitous for noninteger doping as well. We demonstrate that the corresponding electronic compressibility and Fermi surface structure are consistent with the “cascade” physics and Landau fans observed experimentally. This suggests a unified picture of the phase diagram of TBG in terms of IKS order.

We introduce a simple approach to how an electromagnetic environment can be efficiently embedded into state-of-the-art electronic structure methods, taking the form of radiation-reaction forces. We demonstrate that this self-consistently provides access to radiative emission, natural linewidth, Lamb shifts, strong coupling, electromagnetically induced transparency, Purcell-enhanced and superradiant emission. As an example, we illustrate its seamless integration into time-dependent density-functional theory with virtually no additional cost, presenting a convenient shortcut to light-matter interactions.

We consider $s$-wave pairing in a double layer of two chiral metals due to interlayer Coulomb interaction and study the Josephson effect near a domain wall, where the sign of the order parameter jumps. The domain wall creates two evanescent modes at the exceptional zero-energy point, whose superposition is associated with currents flowing in different directions in the two layers. Assuming a toroidal geometry, the effective Josephson current winds around the domain walls, whose direction is determined by the phase difference of the complex coefficients of the superimposed zero-energy modes. Thus, the zero-energy mode is directly linked to a macroscopic current. This result can be understood as an interplay of the conventional Josephson current perpendicular and the edge current parallel to a domain wall in a double layer of two chiral metals. As a realization we suggest the surface of a ring-shaped topological insulator. The duality between electron-electron and electron-hole double layers indicates that this effect should also be observable in excitonic double layers.

A topological Mott insulator (TMI) with spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking and nonzero Chern number has been discovered in a real-space effective model for twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) at $3/4$ filling in the strong coupling limit [1]. However, the finite temperature properties of such a TMI state remain illusive. In this work, employing the state-of-the-art thermal tensor network and the perturbative field-theoretical approaches, we obtain the finite-$T$ phase diagram and the dynamical properties of the TBG model. The phase diagram includes the quantum anomalous Hall and charge density wave phases at low $T$, and an Ising transition separating them from the high-$T$ symmetric phases. Because of the proliferation of excitons—particle-hole bound states—the transitions take place at a significantly reduced temperature than the mean-field estimation. The exciton phase is accompanied with distinctive experimental signatures in such as in charge compressibilities and optical conductivities close to the transition. Our work explains the smearing of the many-electron state topology by proliferating excitons and opens an avenue for controlled many-body investigations on finite-temperature states in the TBG and other quantum moiré systems.

We use ${}^{79}\mathrm{Br}$ nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) to demonstrate that ultraslow lattice dynamics set in below the temperature scale set by the Cu-Cu superexchange interaction $J$ ($\simeq 160\mathrm{K}$) in the kagome lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet Zn-barlowite. The lattice completely freezes below 50 K, and ${}^{79}\mathrm{Br}$ NQR line shapes become twice broader due to increased lattice distortions. Moreover, the frozen lattice exhibits an oscillatory component in the transverse spin echo decay, a typical signature of pairing of nuclear spins by indirect nuclear spin-spin interaction. This indicates that some Br sites form structural dimers via a pair of kagome Cu sites prior to the gradual emergence of spin singlets below $\sim 30\mathrm{K}$. Our findings underscore the significant roles played by subtle structural distortions in determining the nature of the disordered magnetic ground state of the kagome lattice.

We investigate nematic quantum phase transitions in two different Dirac fermion models. The models feature twofold and fourfold, respectively, lattice rotational symmetries that are spontaneously broken in the ordered phase. Using negative-sign-free quantum Monte Carlo simulations and an $\epsilon$-expansion renormalization group analysis, we show that both models exhibit continuous phase transitions. In contrast to generic Gross-Neveu dynamical mass generation, the quantum critical regime is characterized by large velocity anisotropies, with fixed-point values being approached very slowly. Both experimental and numerical investigations will not be representative of the infrared fixed point, but of a quasiuniversal regime where the drift of the exponents tracks the velocity anisotropy.

Helimagnets realize an effective lamellar ordering that supports disclination and dislocation defects. Here, we investigate the micromagnetic structure of screw dislocation lines in cubic chiral magnets using analytical and numerical methods. The far field of these dislocations is universal and classified by an integer strength $\nu$ that quantifies its Burgers vector. We demonstrate that a rich variety of dislocation-core structures can be realized even for the same strength $\nu$. In particular, the magnetization at the core can be either smooth or singular. We present a specific example with $\nu =1$ for which the core is composed of a chain of singular Bloch points. In general, screw dislocations carry a noninteger but finite skyrmion charge so that they can be efficiently manipulated by spin currents and should contribute to the topological Hall effect.

The functionality of phonon-based quantum devices largely depends on the efficiency of the interaction of phonons with other excitations. For phonon frequencies above 20 GHz, generation and detection of the phonon quanta can be monitored through photons. The photon-phonon interaction can be enormously strengthened by involving an intermediate resonant quasiparticle, e.g., an exciton, with which a photon forms a polariton. In this work, we discover a giant photoelasticity of exciton-polaritons in a short-period superlattice and exploit it to detect propagating acoustic phonons. We demonstrate that 42 GHz coherent phonons can be detected with extremely high sensitivity in the time domain Brillouin oscillations by probing with photons in the spectral vicinity of the polariton resonance.

Electronic interactions play a fundamental role in atoms, molecular structure and reactivity. We introduce a general concept to control the effective electronic exchange interaction with intense laser fields via coupling to excited states. As an experimental proof of principle, we study the ${\mathrm{SF}}_6$ molecule using a combination of soft x-ray and infrared (IR) laser pulses. Increasing the IR intensity increases the effective exchange energy of the core hole with the excited electron by 50%, as observed by a characteristic spin-orbit branching ratio change. This work demonstrates altering electronic interactions by targeting many-particle quantum properties.

Three-level atomic systems coupled to light have the capacity to host dark states. We study a system of $V$-shaped three-level atoms coherently coupled to the two quadratures of a dissipative cavity. The interplay between the atomic level structure and dissipation makes the phase diagram of the open system drastically different from the closed one. In particular, it leads to the stabilization of a continuous family of dark and nearly dark excited many-body states with inverted atomic populations as the steady states. The multistability of these states can be probed via their distinct fluctuations and excitation spectra, as well as the system’s Liouvillian dynamics which are highly sensitive to ramp protocols. Our model can be implemented experimentally by encoding the two higher-energy modes in orthogonal density-modulated states in a bosonic quantum gas. This implementation offers prospects for potential applications like the realization of quantum optical random walks and microscopy with subwavelength spatial resolution.

Figuring out the physical rationale behind natural selection of quantum theory is one of the most acclaimed quests in quantum foundational research. This pursuit has inspired several axiomatic initiatives to derive a mathematical formulation of the theory by identifying the general structure of state and effect space of individual systems as well as specifying their composition rules. This generic framework can allow several consistent composition rules for a multipartite system even when state and effect cones of individual subsystems are assumed to be quantum. Nevertheless, for any bipartite system, none of these compositions allows beyond quantum spacelike correlations. In this Letter, we show that such bipartite compositions can admit stronger-than-quantum correlations in the timelike domain and, hence, indicates pragmatically distinct roles carried out by state and effect cones. We discuss consequences of such correlations in a communication task, which accordingly opens up a possibility of testing the actual composition between elementary quanta.

The thermodynamic and kinetic uncertainty relations indicate trade-offs between the relative fluctuation of observables and thermodynamic quantities such as dissipation and dynamical activity. Although these relations have been well studied for classical systems, they remain largely unexplored in the quantum regime. In this Letter, we investigate such trade-off relations for Markovian open quantum systems whose underlying dynamics are quantum jumps, such as thermal processes and quantum measurement processes. Specifically, we derive finite-time lower bounds on the relative fluctuation of both dynamical observables and their first passage times for arbitrary initial states. The bounds imply that the precision of observables is constrained not only by thermodynamic quantities but also by quantum coherence. We find that the product of the relative fluctuation and entropy production or dynamical activity is enhanced by quantum coherence in a generic class of dissipative processes of systems with nondegenerate energy levels. Our findings provide insights into the survival of the classical uncertainty relations in quantum cases.

The axion solution to the strong $CP$ problem is delicately sensitive to Peccei-Quinn breaking contributions that are misaligned with respect to QCD instantons. Heavy QCD axion models are appealing because they avoid this so-called quality problem. We show that generic realizations of this framework can be probed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA interferometers, through the stochastic gravitational wave (GW) signal sourced by the long-lived axionic string-domain wall network and by upcoming measurements of the neutron and proton electric dipole moments. Additionally, we provide predictions for searches at future GW observatories, which will further explore the parameter space of heavy QCD axion models.

Using the spinning worldline quantum field theory formalism we calculate the quadratic-in-spin momentum impulse $\mathrm{\Delta }{p}_i^{\mu }$ and spin kick $\mathrm{\Delta }{a}_i^{\mu }$ from a scattering of two arbitrarily oriented spinning massive bodies (black holes or neutron stars) in a weak gravitational background up to third post-Minkowskian (PM) order ($G^3$). Two-loop Feynman integrals are performed in the potential region, yielding conservative results. For spins aligned to the orbital angular momentum we find a conservative scattering angle that is fully consistent with state-of-the-art post-Newtonian results. Using the 2PM radiated angular momentum previously obtained by Plefka, Steinhoff, and the present authors, we generalize the angle to include radiation-reaction effects, in which case it avoids divergences in the high-energy limit.

The long-standing $4.2\sigma$ muon $g-2$ anomaly may be the result of a new particle species which could also couple to dark matter and mediate its annihilations in the early Universe. In models where both muons and dark matter carry equal charges under a $U(1{)}_{L_{\mu }-L_{\tau }}$ gauge symmetry, the corresponding $Z^{\prime }$ can both resolve the observed $g-2$ anomaly and yield an acceptable dark matter relic abundance, relying on annihilations which take place through the $Z^{\prime }$ resonance. Once the value of $(g-2{)}_{\mu }$ and the dark matter abundance are each fixed, there is very little remaining freedom in this model, making it highly predictive. We provide a comprehensive analysis of this scenario, identifying a viable range of dark matter masses between approximately 10 and 100 MeV, which falls entirely within the projected sensitivity of several accelerator-based experiments, including NA62, $\mathrm{NA}64\mu$, $M^3$, and DUNE. Furthermore, portions of this mass range predict contributions to $\mathrm{\Delta }{N}_{\mathrm{eff}}$ which could ameliorate the tension between early and late time measurements of the Hubble constant, and which could be tested by stage 4 CMB experiments.

The measurement of two-particle angular correlation functions in high-multiplicity $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=10.52\mathrm{GeV}$ is reported. In this study, the $89.5{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ of hadronic $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ annihilation data collected by the Belle detector at KEKB are used. Two-particle angular correlation functions are measured in the full relative azimuthal angle ($\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi$) and three units of pseudorapidity ($\mathrm{\Delta }\eta$), defined by either the electron beam axis or the event-shape thrust axis, and are studied as a function of charged-particle multiplicity. The measurement in the thrust axis analysis, with mostly outgoing quark pairs determining the reference axis, is sensitive to the region of additional soft gluon emissions. No significant anisotropic collective behavior is observed with either coordinate analyses. Near-side jet correlations appear to be absent in the thrust axis analysis. The measurements are compared to predictions from various event generators and are expected to provide new constraints to the phenomenological models in the low-energy regime.