Noise in gene expression is one of the hallmarks of life at the molecular scale. Here we derive analytical solutions to a set of models describing the molecular mechanisms underlying transcription of DNA into RNA. Our ansatz allows us to incorporate the effects of extrinsic noise—encompassing factors external to the transcription of the individual gene—and discuss the ramifications for heterogeneity in gene product abundance that has been widely observed in single cell data. Crucially, we are able to show that heavy-tailed distributions of RNA copy numbers cannot result from the intrinsic stochasticity in gene expression alone, but must instead reflect extrinsic sources of variability.

It is now experimentally possible to entangle thousands of qubits, and efficiently measure each qubit in parallel in a distinct basis. To fully characterize an unknown entangled state of $n$ qubits, one requires an exponential number of measurements in $n$, which is experimentally unfeasible even for modest system sizes. By leveraging (i) that single-qubit measurements can be made in parallel, and (ii) the theory of perfect hash families, we show that all $k$-qubit reduced density matrices of an $n$ qubit state can be determined with at most $e^{\mathcal{O}(k)}{\log }^2(n)$ rounds of parallel measurements. We provide concrete measurement protocols which realize this bound. As an example, we argue that with near-term experiments, every two-point correlator in a system of 1024 qubits could be measured and completely characterized in a few days. This corresponds to determining nearly 4.5 million correlators.

The chain rule for the classical relative entropy ensures that the relative entropy between probability distributions on multipartite systems can be decomposed into a sum of relative entropies of suitably chosen conditional distributions on the individual systems. Here, we prove a chain rule inequality for the quantum relative entropy. The new chain rule allows us to solve an open problem in the context of asymptotic quantum channel discrimination: surprisingly, adaptive protocols cannot improve the error rate for asymmetric channel discrimination compared to nonadaptive strategies.

We consider current-current deformations that generalize $T\overline{T}$ ones, and show that they may be also introduced for integrable spin chains. In analogy with the integrable QFT setup, we define the deformation as a modification of the $S$ matrix in the Bethe equations. Using results by Bargheer, Beisert and Loebbert we show that the deforming operator is composite and constructed out of two currents on the lattice; its expectation value factorizes like for $T\overline{T}$. Such a deformation may be considered for any combination of charges that preserve the model’s integrable structure.

We combine matrix product operator techniques with Chebyshev polynomial expansions and present a method that is able to explore spectral properties of quantum many-body Hamiltonians. In particular, we show how this method can be used to probe thermalization of large spin chains without explicitly simulating their time evolution, as well as to compute full and local densities of states. The performance is illustrated with the examples of the Ising and PXP spin chains. For the nonintegrable Ising chain, our findings corroborate the presence of thermalization for several initial states, well beyond what direct time-dependent simulations have been able to achieve so far.

We discuss a self-contained spin-boson model for a measurement-driven engine, in which a demon generates work from thermal excitations of a quantum spin via measurement and feedback control. Instead of granting it full direct access to the spin state and to Landauer’s erasure strokes for optimal performance, we restrict this demon’s action to pointer measurements, i.e., random or continuous interrogations of a damped mechanical oscillator that assumes macroscopically distinct positions depending on the spin state. The engine can reach simultaneously the power and efficiency benchmarks and operate in temperature regimes where quantum Otto engines would fail.

We tested the gravitational $1/r^2$ law using a stationary torsion-balance detector and a rotating attractor containing test bodies with both 18-fold and 120-fold azimuthal symmetries that simultaneously tests the $1/r^2$ law at two different length scales. We took data at detector-attractor separations between $52\mu \mathrm{m}$ and 3.0 mm. Newtonian gravity gave an excellent fit to our data, limiting with 95% confidence any gravitational-strength Yukawa interactions to ranges $<38.6\mu \mathrm{m}$.

Chiral symmetry is maximally violated in weak interactions [1], and such microscopic asymmetries in the early Universe might leave observable imprints on astrophysical scales without violating the cosmological principle. In this Letter, we propose a helicity measurement to detect primordial chiral violation. We point out that observations of halo-galaxy angular momentum directions (spins), which are frozen in during the galaxy formation process, provide a fossil chiral observable. From the clustering mode of large scale structure of the Universe, we construct a spin mode in Lagrangian space and show in simulations that it is a good probe of halo-galaxy spins. In the standard model, a strong symmetric correlation between the left and right helical components of this spin mode and galaxy spins is expected. Measurements of these correlations will be sensitive to chiral breaking, providing a direct test of chiral symmetry breaking in the early Universe.

Exceptional field theories yield duality covariant formulations of supergravity. We show that they provide a highly efficient tool to compute the Kaluza-Klein mass spectra associated with compactifications around various background geometries relevant for string theory and holographic applications. This includes geometries with little to no remaining symmetries, hardly accessible to standard methods. As an illustration, we determine the masses of some higher Kaluza-Klein multiplets around warped geometries corresponding to some prominent $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric anti–de Sitter vacua in maximal supergravity.

We propose a modification to Nielsen’s circuit complexity for Hamiltonian simulation using the Suzuki-Trotter (ST) method, which provides a network like structure for the quantum circuit. This leads to an optimized gate counting linear in the geodesic distance and spatial volume, unlike in the original proposal. The optimized ST iteration order is correlated with the error tolerance and plays the role of an anti–de Sitter radial coordinate. The density of gates is shown to be monotonic with the tolerance and a holographic interpretation using path-integral optimization is given.

Whether, how, and to what extent solutions of Bjorken-expanding systems become insensitive to aspects of their initial conditions is of importance for heavy-ion collisions. Here we study $1+1\mathrm{D}$ and phenomenologically relevant boost-invariant $3+1\mathrm{D}$ systems in which initial conditions approach a universal attractor. In Israel-Stewart theory (IS) and kinetic theory where the universal attractor extends to arbitrarily early times, we show that all initial conditions approach the attractor at early times by a power law while their approach is exponential at late times. In these theories, the physical mechanisms of hydrodynamization operational at late times do not drive the approach to the attractor at early times, and the early-time attractor is reached prior to hydrodynamization. In marked contrast, the attractor in strongly coupled systems is realized concurrent with hydrodynamization. This qualitative difference may offer a basis for discriminating weakly and strongly coupled scenarios of heavy-ion collisions.

We describe the zero-temperature phase diagram of a model of a two-dimensional square-lattice array of neutral atoms, excited into Rydberg states and interacting via strong van der Waals interactions. Using the density-matrix renormalization group algorithm, we map out the phase diagram and obtain a rich variety of phases featuring complex density wave orderings, upon varying lattice spacing and laser detuning. While some of these phases result from the classical optimization of the van der Waals energy, we also find intrinsically quantum-ordered phases stabilized by quantum fluctuations. These phases are surrounded by novel quantum phase transitions, which we analyze by finite-size scaling numerics and Landau theories. Our work highlights Rydberg quantum simulators in higher dimensions as promising platforms to realize exotic many-body phenomena.

Optomechanical couplings involve both beam splitter and two-mode-squeezing types of interactions. While the former underlies the utility of many applications, the latter creates unwanted excitations and is usually detrimental. In this Letter, we propose a simple but powerful method based on cavity parametric driving to suppress the unwanted excitation that does not require working with a deeply sideband-resolved cavity. Our approach is based on a simple observation: as both the optomechanical two-mode-squeezing interaction and the cavity parametric drive induce squeezing transformations of the relevant photonic bath modes, they can be made to cancel one another. We illustrate how our method can cool a mechanical oscillator below the quantum backaction limit, and significantly suppress the output noise of a sideband-unresolved optomechanical transducer.

An intrinsic feature of turbulent flows is an enhanced rate of mixing and kinetic energy dissipation due to the rapid generation of small-scale motions from large-scale excitation. The transfer of kinetic energy from large to small scales is commonly attributed to the stretching of vorticity by the strain rate, but strain self-amplification also plays a role. Previous treatments of this connection are phenomenological or inexact, or cannot distinguish the contribution of vorticity stretching from that of strain self-amplification. In this Letter, an exact relationship is derived which quantitatively establishes how intuitive multiscale mechanisms such as vorticity stretching and strain self-amplification together actuate the interscale transfer of energy in turbulence. Numerical evidence verifies this result and uses it to demonstrate that the contribution of strain self-amplification to energy transfer is higher than that of vorticity stretching, but not overwhelmingly so.

We use the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) to probe the dynamics of the stepping process of negatively charged plasma channels (negative leaders) in a lightning discharge. We observe that at each step of a leader, multiple pulses of vhf (30–80 MHz) radiation are emitted in short-duration bursts ($<10\mu \mathrm{s}$). This is evidence for streamer formation during corona flashes that occur with each leader step, which has not been observed before in natural lightning and it could help explain x-ray emission from lightning leaders, as x rays from laboratory leaders tend to be associated with corona flashes. Surprisingly, we find that the stepping length is very similar to what was observed near the ground, however with a stepping time that is considerably larger, which as yet is not understood. These results will help to improve lightning propagation models, and eventually lightning protection models.

When rotating classical fluid drops merge together, angular momentum can be advected from one to another due to the viscous shear flow at the drop interface. It remains elusive what the corresponding mechanism is in inviscid quantum fluids such as Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). Here we report our theoretical study of an initially static BEC merging with a rotating BEC in three-dimensional space along the rotational axis. We show that a solitonlike sheet, resembling a corkscrew, spontaneously emerges at the interface. Rapid angular-momentum transfer at a constant rate universally proportional to the initial angular-momentum density is observed. Strikingly, this transfer does not necessarily involve fluid advection or drifting of the quantized vortices. We reveal that the corkscrew structure can exert a torque that directly creates angular momentum in the static BEC and annihilates angular momentum in the rotating BEC. Uncovering this intriguing angular-momentum transport mechanism may benefit our understanding of various coherent matter-wave systems, spanning from atomtronics on chips to dark matter BECs at cosmic scales.

Weyl points are often believed to appear in pairs with opposite chirality. In this work, we show by first-principles calculations and symmetry analysis that single Weyl phonons with linear dispersion and double Weyl phonons with quadratic dispersion are simultaneously present between two specific phonon branches in realistic materials with trigonal or hexagonal lattices. These phonon Weyl points are guaranteed to locate at high-symmetry points due to the screw rotational symmetry, forming a unique triangular Weyl complex. In sharp contrast to conventional Weyl systems with surface arcs terminated at the projections of a pair of Weyl points with opposite chirality, the phonon surface arcs of the unconventional triangular Weyl complex connect the projections of one double Weyl point and two single Weyl points. Importantly, the phonon surface arcs originating from the triangular Weyl complex are extremely long and span the entire surface Brillouin zone. Furthermore, there are only nontrivial phonon surface states across the isofrequency surface, which facilitates their detection in experiments and further applications. Our work not only offers the promising triangular phonon Weyl complex but also provides guidance for exploring triangular Weyl bosons in both phononic and photonic systems.

Viscosities $\eta$ and diffusion coefficients $D_s$ of linear and branched alkanes at pressure $0<P<0.7\mathrm{GPa}$ and temperature $T=500–600\mathrm{K}$ are calculated from molecular dynamics simulations. Combining Stokes-Einstein, free volume, and random walk concepts results in an accurate viscosity model for the considered $P$ and $T$. All model parameters (hydrodynamic radius, random walk step size, and step frequency) are extracted from equilibrium molecular dynamics via microscopic ensemble averages rendering $\eta (P,T)$ a parameter-free predictor for lubrication simulations.