The far-from-equilibrium dynamics of generic interacting quantum systems is characterized by a handful of universal guiding principles, among them the ballistic spreading of initially local operators. Here, we show that in certain constrained many-body systems the structure of conservation laws can cause a drastic modification of this universal behavior. As an example, we study operator growth characterized by out-of-time-order correlations (OTOCs) in a dipole-conserving fracton chain. We identify a critical point with sub-ballistically moving OTOC front, that separates a ballistic from a dynamically frozen phase. This critical point is tied to an underlying localization transition and we use its associated scaling properties to derive an effective description of the moving operator front via a biased random walk with long waiting times. We support our arguments numerically using classically simulable automaton circuits.

It has recently been discovered that random quantum circuits provide an avenue to realize rich entanglement phase diagrams, which are hidden to standard expectation values of operators. Here we study $(2+1)\mathrm{D}$ random circuits with random Clifford unitary gates and measurements designed to stabilize trivial area law and topologically ordered phases. With competing single qubit Pauli-Z and toric code stabilizer measurements, in addition to random Clifford unitaries, we find a phase diagram involving a tricritical point that maps to $(2+1)\mathrm{D}$ percolation, a possibly stable critical phase, topologically ordered, trivial, and volume law phases, and lines of critical points separating them. With Pauli-Y single qubit measurements instead, we find an anisotropic self-dual tricritical point, with dynamical exponent $z\approx 1.46$, exhibiting logarithmic violation of the area law and an anomalous exponent for the topological entanglement entropy, which thus appears distinct from any known percolation fixed point. The phase diagram also hosts a measurement-induced volume law entangled phase in the absence of unitary dynamics.

Quantum materials with layered kagome structures have drawn considerable attention due to their unique lattice geometry, which gives rise to flat bands together with Dirac-like dispersions. Recently, vanadium-based materials with layered kagome structures were discovered to be topological metals, which exhibit charge density wave (CDW) properties, significant anomalous Hall effect, and unusual superconductivity at low temperatures. Here, we employ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to investigate the electronic structure evolution upon the CDW transition in a vanadium-based kagome material ${\mathrm{RbV}}_3{\mathrm{Sb}}_5$. The CDW phase transition gives rise to a partial energy gap opening at the boundary of the Brillouin zone and, most importantly, the emergence of new van Hove singularities associated with large density of states, which are absent in the normal phase and might be related to the superconductivity observed at lower temperatures. Our work sheds light on the microscopic mechanisms for the formation of the CDW and superconducting states in these topological kagome metals.

The recently discovered layered kagome metals $A{\mathrm{V}}_3{\mathrm{Sb}}_5$ ($A=\mathrm{K}$, Rb, and Cs) with vanadium kagome networks provide a novel platform to explore correlated quantum states intertwined with topological band structures. Here we report the prominent effect of hole doping on both superconductivity and charge density wave (CDW) order, achieved by selective oxidation of exfoliated thin flakes. A superconducting dome is revealed as a function of the effective doping content. The superconducting transition temperature ($T_c$) and upper critical field in thin flakes are significantly enhanced compared with the bulk, which are accompanied by the suppression of CDW. Our detailed analyses establish the pivotal role of van Hove singularities in promoting correlated quantum orders in these kagome metals. Our experiments not only demonstrate the intriguing nature of superconducting and CDW orders, but also provide a novel route to tune the carrier concentration through both selective oxidation and electric gating. This establishes ${\mathrm{CsV}}_3{\mathrm{Sb}}_5$ as a tunable 2D platform for the further exploration of topology and correlation among $3d$ electrons in kagome lattices.

We present a systematic investigation of muon-stopping states in superconductors that reportedly exhibit spontaneous magnetic fields below their transition temperatures due to time-reversal symmetry breaking. These materials include elemental rhenium, several intermetallic systems, and ${\mathrm{Sr}}_2{\mathrm{RuO}}_4$. We demonstrate that the presence of the muon leads to only a limited and relatively localized perturbation to the local crystal structure, while any small changes to the electronic structure occur several electron volts below the Fermi energy, leading to only minimal changes in the charge density on ions close to the muon. Our results imply that the muon-induced perturbation alone is unlikely to lead to the observed spontaneous fields in these materials, whose origin is more likely intrinsic to the time-reversal symmetry-broken superconducting state.

The Kondo effect is a prominent quantum phenomenon describing the many-body screening of a local magnetic impurity. Here, we reveal a new type of nonmagnetic Kondo behavior generated by gauge fluctuations in strongly correlated baths. We show that a nonmagnetic bond defect not only introduces the potential scattering but also locally enhances the gauge fluctuations. The local gauge fluctuations further mediate a pseudospin exchange interaction that produces an asymmetric Kondo fixed point in low energy. The gauge-fluctuation-induced Kondo phenomena do not exhibit the characteristic resistivity behavior of the conventional Kondo effect, but display a nonmonotonous temperature dependence of thermal conductivity as well as an anisotropic pseudospin correlation. Moreover, with its origin from gauge fluctuations, the Kondo features can be regarded as promising indicators for identifying quantum spin liquids. Our work advances fundamental knowledge of novel Kondo phenomena in strongly correlated systems, which have no counterparts in thermal baths within the single-particle description.

Cooper pair splitters are promising candidates for generating spin-entangled electrons. However, the splitting of Cooper pairs is a random and noisy process, which hinders further synchronized operations on the entangled electrons. To circumvent this problem, we here propose and analyze a dynamic Cooper pair splitter that produces a noiseless and regular flow of spin-entangled electrons. The Cooper pair splitter is based on a superconductor coupled to quantum dots, whose energy levels are tuned in and out of resonance to control the splitting process. We identify the optimal operating conditions for which exactly one Cooper pair is split per period of the external drive and the flow of entangled electrons becomes noiseless. To characterize the regularity of the Cooper pair splitter in the time domain, we analyze the $g^{(2)}$ function of the output currents and the distribution of waiting times between split Cooper pairs. Our proposal is feasible using current technology, and it paves the way for dynamic quantum information processing with spin-entangled electrons.

Conflicting interpretations of experimental data preclude the understanding of the quantum magnetic state of spin-orbit coupled $d^2$ double perovskites. Whether the ground state is a Janh-Teller–distorted order of quadrupoles or the hitherto elusive octupolar order remains debated. We resolve this uncertainty through direct calculations of all-rank intersite exchange interactions and inelastic neutron scattering cross section for the $d^2$ double perovskite series ${\text{Ba}}_{2}M{\mathrm{OsO}}_6$ ($M=\mathrm{Ca}$, Mg, Zn). Using advanced many-body first-principles methods, we show that the ground state is formed by ferro-ordered octupoles coupled by superexchange interactions within the ground-state $E_g$ doublet. Computed ordering temperature of the single second-order phase transition is consistent with experimentally observed material-dependent trends. Minuscule distortions of the parent cubic structure are shown to qualitatively modify the structure of gaped magnetic excitations.

Our calculation shows that negative refractive index (NRI), which was known to exist only in metamaterials in the past, can be found in Dirac semimetals (DSM). Electrons in DSM have zero effective mass and hence the system carries no nominal energy scale. Therefore, unlike those of ordinary materials, the electromagnetic responses of the electrons in DSM will not be overwhelmed by the physical effects related to electron mass. NRI is induced by the combination of the quantum effect of vacuum polarization and its finite temperature correction, which is proportional to $T^4$ at low temperature. It is a phenomenon of resonance between the incident light and the unique structure of Dirac cones, which allows numerous states to participate in electron-hole pair production excited by the incident light with a similar dispersion relation to that of Dirac cones. The NRI phenomenon of DSM manifests in an extensive range of photon frequencies and wave numbers and can be observed around the gigahertz range at room temperature.

Second harmonic generation (SHG) spectroscopy ubiquitously enables the investigation of surface chemistry, interfacial chemistry, as well as symmetry properties in solids. Polarization-resolved SHG spectroscopy in the visible to infrared regime is regularly used to investigate electronic and magnetic order through their angular anisotropies within the crystal structure. However, the increasing complexity of novel materials and emerging phenomena hampers the interpretation of experiments solely based on the investigation of hybridized valence states. Here, polarization-resolved SHG in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV-SHG) is demonstrated for the first time, enabling element-resolved angular anisotropy investigations. In noncentrosymmetric ${\mathrm{LiNbO}}_3$, elemental contributions by lithium and niobium are clearly distinguished by energy dependent XUV-SHG measurements. This element-resolved and symmetry-sensitive experiment suggests that the displacement of Li ions in ${\mathrm{LiNbO}}_3$, which is known to lead to ferroelectricity, is accompanied by distortions to the Nb ion environment that breaks the inversion symmetry of the ${\mathrm{NbO}}_6$ octahedron as well. Our simulations show that the measured second harmonic spectrum is consistent with Li ion displacements from the centrosymmetric position while the $\mathrm{Nb}─\mathrm{O}$ bonds are elongated and contracted by displacements of the O atoms. In addition, the polarization-resolved measurement of XUV-SHG shows excellent agreement with numerical predictions based on dipole-induced SHG commonly used in the optical wavelengths. Our result constitutes the first verification of the dipole-based SHG model in the XUV regime. The findings of this work pave the way for future angle and time-resolved XUV-SHG studies with elemental specificity in condensed matter systems.

The swelling dynamics of polymer gels are characterized by the (collective) diffusion coefficient $D$ of the polymer network. Here, we measure the temperature dependence of $D$ of polymer gels with controlled homogeneous network structures using dynamic light scattering. An evaluation of the diffusion coefficient at the gelation point $D_{\mathrm{gel}}$ and the increase therein as the gelation proceeds $\mathrm{\Delta }D\equiv D-D_{\mathrm{gel}}$ indicates that $\mathrm{\Delta }D$ is a linear function of the absolute temperature with a significantly large negative constant term. This feature is formally identical to the recently discovered “negative energy elasticity” [Y. Yoshikawa et al. Phys. Rev. X 11, 011045 (2021)], demonstrating a nontrivial similarity between the statics and dynamics of polymer networks.

We investigate the susceptibility of long-range ordered phases of two-dimensional dry aligning active matter to population disorder, taken in the form of a distribution of intrinsic individual chiralities. Using a combination of particle-level models and hydrodynamic theories derived from them, we show that while in finite systems all ordered phases resist a finite amount of such chirality disorder, the homogeneous ones (polar flocks and active nematics) are unstable to any amount of disorder in the infinite-size limit. On the other hand, we find that the inhomogeneous solutions of the coexistence phase (bands) may resist a finite amount of chirality disorder even asymptotically.

We perform the first global QCD analysis of pion valence, sea quark, and gluon distributions within a Bayesian Monte Carlo framework with threshold resummation on Drell-Yan cross sections at next-to-leading log accuracy. Exploring various treatments of resummation, we find that the large-$x$ asymptotics of the valence quark distribution $\sim (1-x{)}^{{\beta }_v}$ can differ significantly, with ${\beta }_v$ ranging from $\approx 1$ to $>2.5$ at the input scale. Regardless of the specific implementation, however, the resummation induced redistribution of the momentum between valence quarks and gluons boosts the total momentum carried by gluons to $\approx 40\%$, increasing the gluon contribution to the pion mass to $\approx 40\mathrm{MeV}$.

The parity-violating asymmetry $A_{\mathrm{PV}}$ in ${}^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$, recently measured by the PREX-2 Collaboration, is studied using modern relativistic (covariant) and nonrelativistic energy density functionals. We first assess the theoretical uncertainty on $A_{\mathrm{PV}}$ which is intrinsic to the adopted approach. To this end, we use quantified functionals that are able to accommodate our previous knowledge on nuclear observables such as binding energies, charge radii, and the dipole polarizability ${\alpha }_D$ of ${}^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$. We then add the quantified value of $A_{\mathrm{PV}}$ together with ${\alpha }_D$ to our calibration dataset to optimize new functionals. Based on these results, we predict a neutron skin thickness in ${}^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$ $r_{\mathrm{skin}}=0.19\pm 0.02\mathrm{fm}$ and the symmetry-energy slope $L=54\pm 8\mathrm{MeV}$. These values are consistent with other estimates based on astrophysical data and are significantly lower than those recently reported using a particular set of relativistic energy density functionals. We also make a prediction for the $A_{\mathrm{PV}}$ value in ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}$ that will be soon available from the CREX measurement.

A chiral photonic interface is a quantum system that has different probabilities for emitting photons to the left and right. An on-chip compatible chiral interface is attractive for both fundamental studies of light-matter interactions and applications to quantum information processing. We propose such a chiral interface based on superconducting circuits, which has wide bandwidth, rich tunability, and high tolerance to fabrication variations. The proposed interface consists of a core that uses Cooper-pair boxes (CPBs) to break time-reversal symmetry, and two superconducting transmons that connect the core to a waveguide in the manner reminiscent of a “giant atom.” The transmons form a state decoupled from the core, akin to dark states of atomic physics, rendering the whole interface insensitive to the CPB charge noise. The proposed interface can be extended to realize a broadband fully passive on-chip circulator for microwave photons.

Spin-orbit photonics, involving the interaction between the spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light, plays an important role in modern optics. Here, we present the spin-orbit mapping of light in a few-mode fiber that originates from the mode degeneracy lifting (${\mathrm{TM}}_{01}$ and ${\mathrm{TE}}_{01}$) property. We demonstrate two kinds of spin-orbit mapping phenomena, i.e., mapping from intrinsic SAM to OAM and mapping from polarization direction rotation to field pattern rotation. The demonstrated spin-orbit mapping shows high efficiency, large bandwidth, availability for short pulses, and scalability to high-order OAM states.

The removal of microbubbles from substrates is crucial for the efficiency of many catalytic and electrochemical gas evolution reactions in liquids. The current work investigates the coalescence and detachment of bubbles generated from catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. Self-propelled detachment, induced by the coalescence of two bubbles, is observed at sizes much smaller than those determined by buoyancy. Upon coalescence, the released surface energy is partly dissipated by the bubble oscillations, working against viscous drag. The remaining energy is converted to the kinetic energy of the out-of-plane jumping motion of the merged bubble. The critical ratio of the parent bubble sizes for the jumping to occur is theoretically derived from an energy balance argument and found to be in agreement with the experimental results. The present results provide both physical insight for the bubble interactions and practical strategies for applications in chemical engineering and renewable energy technologies like electrolysis.