Quantum mechanics predicts that measurements of incompatible observables carry a minimum uncertainty which is independent of technical deficiencies of the measurement apparatus or incomplete knowledge of the state of the system. Nothing yet seems to prevent a single physical quantity, such as one spin component, from being measured with arbitrary precision. Here, we show that an intrinsic quantum uncertainty on a single observable is ineludible in a number of physical situations. When revealed on local observables of a bipartite system, such uncertainty defines an entire class of bona fide measures of nonclassical correlations. For the case of $2\times d$ systems, we find that a unique measure is defined, which we evaluate in closed form. We then discuss the role that these correlations, which are of the “discord” type, can play in the context of quantum metrology. We show in particular that the amount of discord present in a bipartite mixed probe state guarantees a minimum precision, as quantified by the quantum Fisher information, in the optimal phase estimation protocol.

A general framework is proposed to tackle analytically local quantum quenches in integrable impurity systems, combining a mapping onto a boundary problem with the form factor approach to boundary-condition-changing operators introduced by Lesage and Saleur [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 4370 (1998)]. We discuss how to compute exactly the following two central quantities of interest: the Loschmidt echo and the distribution of the work done during the quantum quench. Our results display an interesting crossover physics characterized by the energy scale $T_b$ of the impurity corresponding to the Kondo temperature. We discuss in detail the noninteracting case as a paradigm and benchmark for more complicated integrable impurity models and check our results using numerical methods.

We introduce a method for obtaining analytic approximations to the evolution of Markovian open quantum systems. It is based on resumming a generalized Dyson series in a way that ensures optimal convergence even in the absence of a small parameter. The power of this approach is demonstrated by two benchmark examples: the spatial detection of a free particle and the Landau-Zener problem in the presence of dephasing. The derived approximations are asymptotically exact and exhibit errors on the per mill level over the entire parameter range.

Quantum adiabatic passages can be greatly accelerated by a suitable control field, called a counter-diabatic field, which varies during the scan through resonance. Here, we implement this technique on the electron spin of a single nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond. We demonstrate two versions of this scheme. The first follows closely the procedure originally proposed by Demirplak and Rice [J. Phys. Chem. A 107, 9937 (2003)]. In the second scheme, we use a control field whose amplitude is constant but whose phase varies with time. This version, which we call the rapid-scan approach, allows an even faster passage through resonance and therefore makes it applicable also for systems with shorter decoherence times.

We propose an experimental scheme to verify the quantum nonequilibrium fluctuation relations using current technology. Specifically, we show that the characteristic function of the work distribution for a nonequilibrium quench of a general quantum system can be extracted by Ramsey interferometry of a single probe qubit. Our scheme paves the way for the full characterization of nonequilibrium processes in a variety of quantum systems, ranging from single particles to many-body atomic systems and spin chains. We demonstrate our idea using a time-dependent quench of the motional state of a trapped ion, where the internal pseudospin provides a convenient probe qubit.

We propose an interferometric setting for the ancilla-assisted measurement of the characteristic function of the work distribution following a time-dependent process experienced by a quantum system. We identify how the configuration of the effective interferometer is linked to the symmetries enjoyed by the Hamiltonian ruling the process and provide the explicit form of the operations to implement in order to accomplish our task. We finally discuss two physical settings, based on hybrid optomechanical-electromechanical devices, where the theoretical proposals discussed in our work could find an experimental demonstration.

We present a stochastic model for amplifying, diffusive media such as, for instance, random lasers. Starting from a simple random-walk model, we derive a stochastic partial differential equation for the energy field which contains a multiplicative random-advection term yielding intermittency and power-law distributions of the field itself. A dimensional analysis indicates that such features are more likely to be observed for small enough samples and in lower spatial dimensions.

Solving linear systems of equations is ubiquitous in all areas of science and engineering. With rapidly growing data sets, such a task can be intractable for classical computers, as the best known classical algorithms require a time proportional to the number of variables $N$. A recently proposed quantum algorithm shows that quantum computers could solve linear systems in a time scale of order $\log (N)$, giving an exponential speedup over classical computers. Here we realize the simplest instance of this algorithm, solving $2\times 2$ linear equations for various input vectors on a quantum computer. We use four quantum bits and four controlled logic gates to implement every subroutine required, demonstrating the working principle of this algorithm.

We have measured the frequency of the extremely narrow $1S\mathrm{\text{−}}2S$ two-photon transition in atomic hydrogen using a remote cesium fountain clock with the help of a 920 km stabilized optical fiber. With an improved detection method we obtain $f_{1S\mathrm{\text{−}}2S}=2466061413187018(11)\mathrm{Hz}$ with a relative uncertainty of $4.5\times {10}^{-15}$, confirming our previous measurement obtained with a local cesium clock [C. G. Parthey et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 203001 (2011)]. Combining these results with older measurements, we constrain the linear combinations of Lorentz boost symmetry violation parameters $c_{(TX)}=(3.1\pm 1.9)\times {10}^{-11}$ and $0.92c_{(TY)}+0.40c_{(TZ)}=(2.6\pm 5.3)\times {10}^{-11}$ in the standard model extension framework [D. Colladay, V. A. Kostelecký, Phys. Rev. D. 58, 116002 (1998)].

We analyze when a repulsively interacting two-component Fermi gas becomes thermodynamically unstable against phase separation. We focus on the strongly polarized limit, where the free energy of the homogeneous mixture can be calculated accurately in terms of well-defined quasiparticles, the repulsive polarons. Phase diagrams as a function of polarization, temperature, mass imbalance, and repulsive polaron energy, as well as scattering length and range parameter, are provided. We show that the lifetime of the repulsive polaron increases significantly with the interaction range and the mass of the minority atoms, raising the prospects of detecting the transition to the elusive itinerant ferromagnetic state with ultracold atoms.

In a system of interacting $f=1$ bosons (in the subspace where the total spin in the $z$ direction is vanishing), we prove inequalities for the ground state expectation value of the density of spin-0 bosons. The inequalities imply that the ground state possesses “polar” or “antiferromagnetic” order when the quadratic Zeeman term $q$ is large enough. In the low density limit, the inequalities establish the existence of a sharp transition at $q=0$ when $q$ is varied.

Exploration and trapping properties of random walkers that may evanesce at any time as they walk have seen very little treatment in the literature, and yet a finite lifetime is a frequent occurrence, and its effects on a number of random walk properties may be profound. For instance, whereas the average number of distinct sites visited by an immortal walker grows with time without bound, that of a mortal walker may, depending on dimensionality and rate of evanescence, remain finite or keep growing with the passage of time. This number can in turn be used to calculate other classic quantities such as the survival probability of a target surrounded by diffusing traps. If the traps are immortal, the survival probability will vanish with increasing time. However, if the traps are evanescent, the target may be spared a certain death. We analytically calculate a number of basic and broadly used quantities for evanescent random walkers.

We investigate the thermodynamic properties of a half-filled $\mathrm{SU}(2N)$ Hubbard model in the two-dimensional square lattice by the method of the determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulation, which is free of the fermion “sign problem.” The large number of hyperfine-spin components enhances spin fluctuations, which facilitates the Pomeranchuk cooling to temperatures comparable to the superexchange energy scale in the case of SU(6). Various physical quantities including entropy, charge fluctuations, and spin correlations are calculated.

Complementarity restricts the accuracy with which incompatible quantum observables can be jointly measured. Despite popular conception, the Heisenberg uncertainty relation does not quantify this principle. We report the experimental verification of universally valid complementarity relations, including an improved relation derived here. We exploit Einstein-Poldolsky-Rosen correlations between two photonic qubits to jointly measure incompatible observables of one. The product of our measurement inaccuracies is low enough to violate the widely used, but not universally valid, Arthurs-Kelly relation.

We propose a method for Hamiltonian engineering that requires no local control but only relies on collective qubit rotations and field gradients. The technique achieves a spatial modulation of the coupling strengths via a dynamical construction of a weighting function combined with a Bragg grating. As an example, we demonstrate how to generate the ideal Hamiltonian for perfect quantum information transport between two separated nodes of a large spin network. We engineer a spin chain with optimal couplings starting from a large spin network, such as one naturally occurring in crystals, while decoupling all unwanted interactions. For realistic experimental parameters, our method can be used to drive almost perfect quantum information transport at room temperature. The Hamiltonian engineering method can be made more robust under decoherence and coupling disorder by a novel apodization scheme. Thus, the method is quite general and can be used to engineer the Hamiltonian of many complex spin lattices with different topologies and interactions.

We design a random walk to explore fractal landscapes such as those describing chaotic transients in dynamical systems. We show that the random walk moves efficiently only when its step length depends on the height of the landscape via the largest Lyapunov exponent of the chaotic system. We propose a generalization of the Wang-Landau algorithm which constructs not only the density of states (transient time distribution) but also the correct step length. As a result, we obtain a flat-histogram Monte Carlo method which samples fractal landscapes in polynomial time, a dramatic improvement over the exponential scaling of traditional uniform-sampling methods. Our results are not limited by the dimensionality of the landscape and are confirmed numerically in chaotic systems with up to 30 dimensions.

We study the number of distinct sites $S_N(t)$ and common sites $W_N(t)$ visited by $N$ independent one dimensional random walkers, all starting at the origin, after $t$ time steps. We show that these two random variables can be mapped onto extreme value quantities associated with $N$ independent random walkers. Using this mapping, we compute exactly their probability distributions $P_N^d(S,t)$ and $P_N^c(W,t)$ for any value of $N$ in the limit of large time $t$, where the random walkers can be described by Brownian motions. In the large $N$ limit one finds that $S_N(t)/\sqrt{t}\propto 2\sqrt{\log \hspace{0.17em}N}+\tilde{s}/(2\sqrt{\log \hspace{0.17em}N})$ and $W_N(t)/\sqrt{t}\propto \tilde{w}/N$ where $\tilde{s}$ and $\tilde{w}$ are random variables whose probability density functions are computed exactly and are found to be nontrivial. We verify our results through direct numerical simulations.

We devise powerful algorithms based on differential evolution for adaptive many-particle quantum metrology. Our new approach delivers adaptive quantum metrology policies for feedback control that are orders-of-magnitude more efficient and surpass the few-dozen-particle limitation arising in methods based on particle-swarm optimization. We apply our method to the binary-decision-tree model for quantum-enhanced phase estimation as well as to a new problem: a decision tree for adaptive estimation of the unknown bias of a quantum coin in a quantum walk and show how this latter case can be realized experimentally.

We report on a source of ultranarrow-band photon pairs generated by widely nondegenerate cavity-enhanced spontaneous down-conversion. The source is designed to be compatible with ${\mathrm{Pr}}^{3+}$ solid state quantum memories and telecommunication optical fibers, with signal and idler photons close to 606 nm and 1436 nm, respectively. Both photons have a spectral bandwidth around 2 MHz, matching the bandwidth of ${\mathrm{Pr}}^{3+}$ doped quantum memories. This source is ideally suited for long distance quantum communication architectures involving solid state quantum memories.

This Letter reports on how the interfaces in the ($1+1$)-dimensional Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) class undergo, in the course of time, a transition from the flat, growing regime to the stationary one. Simulations of the polynuclear growth model and experiments on turbulent liquid crystal reveal universal functions of the KPZ class governing this transition, which connect the distribution and correlation functions for the growing and stationary regimes. This in particular shows how interfaces realized in experiments and simulations actually approach the stationary regime, which is never attained unless a stationary interface is artificially given as an initial condition.