One of the most striking nonclassical features of quantum mechanics is in the correlations it predicts between spatially separated measurements. In local hidden variable theories, correlations are constrained by Bell inequalities, but quantum correlations violate these. However, experimental imperfections lead to loopholes whereby LHV correlations are no longer constrained by Bell inequalities, and violations can be described by LHV theories. For example, loopholes can emerge through selective detection of events. In this Letter, we introduce a clean, operational picture of multiparty Bell tests, and show that there exists a nontrivial form of loophole-free postselection. Surprisingly, the same postselection can enhance quantum correlations, and unlock a connection between nonclassical correlations and nonclassical computation.

We propose an experimental scheme to probe the Berry curvature of solids. Our method is sensitive to arbitrary regions of the Brillouin zone and employs only basic optical and terahertz techniques to yield a background-free signal. Using semiconductor quantum wells as a prototypical system, we discuss how to inject Berry curvature macroscopically and probe it in a way that provides information about the underlying microscopic Berry curvature.

We show that the time evolution of an open quantum system, described by a possibly time dependent Liouvillian, can be simulated by a unitary quantum circuit of a size scaling polynomially in the simulation time and the size of the system. An immediate consequence is that dissipative quantum computing is no more powerful than the unitary circuit model. Our result can be seen as a dissipative Church-Turing theorem, since it implies that under natural assumptions, such as weak coupling to an environment, the dynamics of an open quantum system can be simulated efficiently on a quantum computer. Formally, we introduce a Trotter decomposition for Liouvillian dynamics and give explicit error bounds. This constitutes a practical tool for numerical simulations, e.g., using matrix-product operators. We also demonstrate that most quantum states cannot be prepared efficiently.

Characterizing the physical channel and calibrating the cryptosystem hardware are prerequisites for establishing a quantum channel for quantum key distribution (QKD). Moreover, an inappropriately implemented calibration routine can open a fatal security loophole. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a method to induce a large temporal detector efficiency mismatch in a commercial QKD system by deceiving a channel length calibration routine. We then devise an optimal and realistic strategy using faked states to break the security of the cryptosystem. A fix for this loophole is also suggested.

In quasi-two dimensions (quasi-2D), where excitations are frozen in one direction, the scattering amplitudes exhibit 2D features of the particle motion and a 3D to 2D dimensional crossover emerges in the behavior of scattering. We explore its physical consequences, capitalizing on a hidden connection between the Pitaevskii-Rosch dynamical symmetry and breathing modes. We find broken Pitaevskii-Rosch symmetry by arbitrarily small 2D effects, inducing a frequency shift in breathing modes. The predicted shift rises significantly from the order of 0.5% to more than 5% in transiting from the 3D-scattering to the 2D-scattering regime. Comparisons with other relevant effects suggest our results are observable within current experimental capabilities.

We calculate the off-diagonal density matrix of the homogeneous electron gas at zero temperature using unbiased reptation Monte Carlo calculations for various densities and extrapolate the momentum distribution and the kinetic and potential energies to the thermodynamic limit. Our results on the renormalization factor allow us to validate approximate $G_0{W}_0$ calculations concerning quasiparticle properties over a broad density region ($1\le r_s\lesssim 10$) and show that, near the Fermi surface, vertex corrections and self-consistency aspects almost cancel each other out.

Many statistical mechanics problems can be framed in terms of random curves; we consider a class of three-dimensional loop models that are prototypes for such ensembles. The models show transitions between phases with infinite loops and short-loop phases. We map them to ${\mathrm{CP}}^{n-1}$ sigma models, where $n$ is the loop fugacity. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we find continuous transitions for $n=1$, 2, 3, and first order transitions for $n\ge 5$. The results are relevant to line defects in random media, as well as to Anderson localization and ($2+1$)-dimensional quantum magnets.

Several methods, known as quantum process tomography, are available to characterize the evolution of quantum systems, a task of crucial importance. However, their complexity dramatically increases with the size of the system. Here we present a new method for quantum process tomography. We describe a new algorithm that can be used to selectively estimate any parameter characterizing a quantum process. Unlike any of its predecessors this new quantum tomographer combines two virtues: it requires investing a number of physical resources scaling polynomially with the number of qubits and at the same time it does not require any ancillary resources. We present the results of the first implementation of this quantum device, characterizing quantum processes affecting two qubits encoded in heralded single photons. Even for this small system our method displays clear advantages over the other existing ones.

We verify the validity of the Cohen-Gallavotti fluctuation theorem for the strongly correlated problem of charge transfer through an impurity in a chiral Luttinger liquid, which is realizable experimentally as a quantum point contact in a fractional quantum Hall edge state device. This is accomplished via the development of an analytical method to calculate the full counting statistics of the problem in all the parameter regimes involving the temperature, the Hall voltage, and the gate voltage.

We show a transitivity property of nonlocal correlations: There exist tripartite nonsignaling correlations of which the bipartite marginals between $A$ and $B$ as well as $B$ and $C$ are nonlocal and any tripartite nonsignaling system between $A$, $B$, and $C$ consistent with them must be such that the bipartite marginal between $A$ and $C$ is also nonlocal. This property represents a step towards ruling out certain alternative models for the explanation of quantum correlations such as hidden communication at finite speed. Whereas it is not possible to rule out this model experimentally, it is the goal of our approach to demonstrate this explanation to be logically inconsistent: either the communication cannot remain hidden, or its speed has to be infinite. The existence of a three-party system that is pairwise nonlocal is of independent interest in the light of the monogamy property of nonlocality.

The dynamics of an ensemble of identically prepared two-qubit systems is investigated which is subjected to the iteratively applied measurements and conditional selection of a typical entanglement purification protocol. The resulting dynamics exhibits strong sensitivity to initial conditions. For one class of initial states two types of islands characterize the asymptotic limit. They correspond to a separable and a fully entangled two-qubit state, respectively, and their boundaries form fractal-like structures. In the presence of incoherent noise an additional stable asymptotic cycle appears.

The Hilbert-Pólya conjecture states that the imaginary parts of the zeros of the Riemann zeta function are eigenvalues of a quantum Hamiltonian. If so, conjectures by Katz and Sarnak put this Hamiltonian in the Altland-Zirnbauer universality class $C$. This implies that the system must have a nonclassical two-valued degree of freedom. In such a system, the dominant primitive periodic orbits contribute to the density of states with a phase factor of $-1$. This resolves a previously mysterious sign problem with the oscillatory contributions to the density of the Riemann zeros.

The Rabi model is a paradigm for interacting quantum systems. It couples a bosonic mode to the smallest possible quantum model, a two-level system. I present the analytical solution which allows us to consider the question of integrability for quantum systems that do not possess a classical limit. A criterion for quantum integrability is proposed which shows that the Rabi model is integrable due to the presence of a discrete symmetry. Moreover, I introduce a generalization with no symmetries; the generalized Rabi model is the first example of a nonintegrable but exactly solvable system.

A significant decrease in the magnitude of the Casimir force (from 21% to 35%) was observed after an indium tin oxide sample interacting with an Au sphere was subjected to the UV treatment. Measurements were performed by using an atomic force microscope in high vacuum. The experimental results are compared with theory and a hypothetical explanation for the observed phenomenon is proposed.

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is often, more correctly, called key growing. Given a short key as a seed, QKD enables two parties, connected by an insecure quantum channel, to generate a secret key of arbitrary length. Conversely, no key agreement is possible without access to an initial key. Here, we consider another fundamental cryptographic task, commitments. While, similar to key agreement, commitments cannot be realized from scratch, we ask whether they may be grown. That is, given the ability to commit to a fixed number of bits, is there a way to augment this to commitments to strings of arbitrary length? Using recently developed information-theoretic techniques, we answer this question in the negative.

Electron-positron pair annihilation into a single photon is studied when a second free electron is present. Focussing on the relativistic regime, we show that the photon emitted in the three-lepton interaction may exhibit distinct angular distributions and polarization properties. Moreover, the process can dominate over two-photon annihilation in relativistic electron-positron plasmas of few-MeV temperature. An analogy with three-body recombination of electrons with ions is drawn.

Quantum nonlocality has been experimentally investigated by testing different forms of Bell’s inequality, yet a loophole-free realization has not been achieved up to now. Much less explored are temporal Bell inequalities, which are not subject to the locality assumption, but impose a constraint on the system’s time correlations. In this Letter, we report on the experimental violation of a temporal Bell’s inequality using a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect in diamond and provide a novel quantitative test of quantum coherence. Such a test requires strong control over the system, and we present a new technique to initialize the electronic state of the NV with high fidelity, a necessary requirement also for reliable quantum information processing and/or the implementation of protocols for quantum metrology.

Superfluids can transport heat via simultaneous opposite flows of their spatially interpenetrating condensate and noncondensate components. While this internal convection is usually described within Landau’s phenomenological two-fluid hydrodynamics, we apply quantum kinetic theory to a dilute Bose gas held between thermal reservoirs at different temperatures and show that the phenomenon also appears in collisionless kinetic regimes and should be directly observable in currently feasible experiments on trapped ultracold vapors.

The destruction of entanglement of open quantum systems by decoherence is investigated in the asymptotic long-time limit. For this purpose a general and analytically solvable decoherence model is presented which does not involve any weak-coupling or Markovian assumption. It is shown that two fundamentally different classes of entangled states can be distinguished and that they can be influenced significantly by two important environmental properties, namely, its initially prepared state and its size. Quantum states of the first class are fragile against decoherence so that they can be disentangled asymptotically even if coherences between pointer states are still present. Quantum states of the second type are robust against decoherence. Asymptotically they can be disentangled only if also decoherence is perfect. A simple criterion for identifying these two classes on the basis of two-qubit entanglement is presented.

We experimentally demonstrate a general criterion to identify entangled states useful for the estimation of an unknown phase shift with a sensitivity higher than the shot-noise limit. We show how to exploit this entanglement on the examples of a maximum likelihood as well as of a Bayesian phase estimation protocol. Using an entangled four-photon state we achieve a phase sensitivity clearly beyond the shot-noise limit. Our detailed comparison of methods and quantum states for entanglement enhanced metrology reveals the connection between multiparticle entanglement and sub-shot-noise uncertainty, both in a frequentist and in a Bayesian phase estimation setting.