Quantum many-body scarring (QMBS) is an intriguing mechanism of weak ergodicity breaking that has recently spurred significant attention. Particularly prominent in Abelian lattice gauge theories (LGTs), an open question is whether QMBS nontrivially arises in non-Abelian LGTs. Here, we present evidence of robust QMBS in a non-Abelian $\mathrm{SU}\left(2\right)$ LGT with dynamical matter. Starting in product states that require little experimental overhead, we show that prominent QMBS arises for certain quenches, facilitated through meson and baryon-antibaryon excitations, highlighting its non-Abelian nature. The uncovered scarred dynamics manifests as long-lived coherent oscillations in experimentally accessible local observables as well as prominent revivals in the state fidelity. Our findings bring QMBS to the realm of non-Abelian LGTs, highlighting the intimate connection between scarring and gauge symmetry, and are amenable for observation in a recently proposed trapped-ion qudit quantum computer.

We propose a scheme for constructing versatile quantum simulators using ultracold Rydberg atoms in long-lived circular and elliptical states. By exciting different subspaces of internal atomic states, the atoms can be used to simulate two effective spin species with different spin-spin interactions. The strengths of transverse and longitudinal spin-spin interactions, both intra- and interspecies, can be controlled within a wide range of values. This setup can be used to simulate two-species spin models or lattice models with two sublattices. We show examples of specific models which can be realized.

The neutral divacancy and the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy defects in 4H-silicon carbide (SiC) are two of the most prominent candidates for functioning as room-temperature quantum bits (qubits) with telecommunication-wavelength emission. Nonetheless, the pivotal role of electron-phonon coupling in the spin-polarization loop is still unrevealed. In this work, we theoretically investigate the microscopic magneto-optical properties and spin-dependent optical loops utilizing the first-principles calculations. First, we quantitatively demonstrate the electronic level structure, assisted by symmetry analysis. Moreover, the fine interactions, including spin-orbit coupling and spin-spin interaction, are fully characterized to provide versatile qubit functional parameters. Subsequently, we explore the electron-phonon coupling, encompassing dynamics- and pseudo-Jahn-Teller effects in the intersystem crossing transition. In addition, we analyze the photoluminescence lifetime based on the major transition rates in the optical spin-polarization loop. We compare two promising qubits with similar electronic properties, but their respective rates differ substantially. Finally, we detail the threshold of the optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) contrast for further optimization of the qubit operation. This work not only reveals the mechanism underlying the optical spin-polarization but also proposes productive avenues for optimizing quantum information processing tasks based on the ODMR protocol.

Cell motility is fundamental to many biological processes, and cells exhibit a variety of migration patterns. Many motile cell types follow a universal law that connects their speed and persistency, a property that can originate from the intracellular transport of polarity cues due to the global actin retrograde flow. This mechanism was termed the “Universal Coupling between cell Speed and Persistency”(UCSP). Here we implement a simplified version of the UCSP mechanism in a coarse-grained “minimal-cell” model, which is composed of a three-dimensional vesicle that contains curved active proteins. This model spontaneously forms a lamellipodia-like motile cell shape, which is, however, sensitive and can depolarize into a nonmotile form due to random fluctuations or when interacting with external obstacles. The UCSP implementation introduces long-range inhibition, which stabilizes the motile phenotype. This allows our model to describe the robust polarity observed in cells and explain a large variety of cellular dynamics, such as the relation between cell speed and aspect ratio, cell-barrier scattering, and cellular oscillations in different types of geometric confinements.

Motivated by recent studies of the projected dice lattice Hamiltonian [K. Swaminathan et al., Phys. Rev. Res. 5, 043215 (2023)], we introduce the on-site/bond singlet (OBS) model, a one-dimensional model of a flat band superconductor, in order to better understand the quasiparticle localization and interesting coexistence of ergodic and nonergodic behavior present in the former model. The OBS model is the sum of terms that have direct counterparts in the projected dice lattice Hamiltonian, each of which is parameterized by a coupling constant. Exact diagonalization reveals that the energy spectrum and nonequilibrium dynamics of the OBS model are essentially the same as that of the dice lattice for some values of the coupling constants. The quasiparticle localization and breaking of ergodicity manifest in a striking manner in the level spacing distribution. Its near Poissonian form provides evidence for the existence of local integrals of motion and establishes the OBS model as a nontrivial integrable generalization of the projected Creutz ladder Hamiltonian. These results show that level spacing statistics is a promising tool to study quasiparticle excitations in flat band superconductors.

We introduce a numerically exact and computationally feasible nonlinear-response theory developed for lossy superconducting quantum circuits based on a framework of quantum dissipation in a minimally extended state space. Starting from the Feynman-Vernon path-integral formalism for open quantum systems with the system degrees of freedom being the nonlinear elements of the circuit, we eliminate the temporally nonlocal influence functional of all linear elements by introducing auxiliary harmonic modes with complex-valued frequencies coupled to the nonlinear elements. In our work, we propose a concept of time-averaged observables, inspired by experiment, and provide an explicit formula for producing their quasiprobability distribution. We illustrate the consistency of our formalism with the well-established Markovian input-output theory by applying them the dispersive readout of a superconducting transmon qubit. For an important demonstration of our approach beyond weak coupling, we analyze the low-frequency linear response of a capacitively and resistively shunted Josephson junction and observe signatures of a much-debated quantum phase transition at a finite temperature. The developed framework enables a comprehensive fully quantum-mechanical treatment of nonlinear quantum circuits coupled to their environment, without the limitations of typical approaches to weak dissipation, high temperature, and weak drive. This versatile tool paves the way for accurate models of quantum devices and increased fundamental understanding of quanutm mechanics such as that of the quantum measurement.

We study high-quality factor (high $Q$) resonances in periodic and disordered arrays of Mie resonators from the perspectives of both Bloch wave theory and multiple scattering theory. We reveal that, unlike a common belief, the bound states in the continuum (BICs) derived by the Bloch-wave theory do not directly determine the resonance with the highest $Q$ value in large but finite arrays. Higher $Q$ factors appear to be associated with collective resonances formed by nominally guided modes below the light line associated with strong-coupling effect of both electric and magnetic multipoles. Our findings offer valuable insights into accessing the modes with higher $Q$ resonances via bonding modes within finite metastructures. Our results underpin the pivotal significance of magnetic and electric multipoles in the design of resonant metadevices and nonlocal flat-band optics. Moreover, our demonstrations reveal that coupled arrays of high-$Q$ microcavities do not inherently result in a stronger light-matter interaction when compared to coupled low-$Q$ nanoresonators. This result emphasizes the critical importance of multiple light-scattering effects in cavity-based systems.

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center ensembles have the potential to improve a wide range of applications, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy at the microscale and nanoscale, wide-field magnetometry, and hyperpolarization of nuclear spins via the transfer of optically induced NV polarization to nearby nuclear spin clusters. These NV ensembles can be coherently manipulated with microwave cavities, that deliver strong and homogeneous drivings over large volumes. However, the pulse shaping for microwave cavities presents the challenge that the external controls and intracavity field amplitudes are not identical, leading to adverse effects on the accuracy of operations on the NV ensemble. In this paper, we introduce a method based on gradient ascent pulse engineering (GRAPE) to optimize external controls, resulting in robust pulses within the cavity while minimizing the effects of cavity ringings. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated by designing both $\pi$ and $\pi /2$ pulses. These optimized controls are then integrated into a PulsePol sequence, where numerical simulations reveal a resilience to detunings five times larger than those tolerated by the sequence constructed using standard controls.

Creating photonic quantum networks by distributing entangled photon pairs through low Earth orbit satellites is a promising technological advance. A recent work has studied a model of such networks and reported the presence of a heavy-tailed degree distribution. This heterogeneous structure is highly undesirable when it comes to the quantum memory utilization efficiency and network robustness under malicious attack. In this work, however, we show that such a topology is not necessarily inherent to satellite-based quantum networks. We theoretically analyze factors that determine the connection probability between two nodes and propose a principled design methodology to control both the topology and density of the resulting network. We present numerical evidence that our method can continuously transform the heterogeneous heavy-tailed network into a more homogeneous Erdős-Rényi-like random network with the prescribed level of density as characterized by the average or maximal degree. Such results are in good agreement with our theoretical analysis, which not only predicts the qualitative structural transition but also provides a quantitative way to estimate important network features during the process. Under our control strategies, the resulting network can achieve various desirable properties, such as a short path length and diameter, high quantum memory utilization efficiency, and enhanced robustness against attack. We believe the design principle proposed in this work represents an important step towards building and controlling functionally efficient satellite-photonic quantum networks in the future.

We analyze the use of photonic links to enable large-scale fault-tolerant connectivity of locally error-corrected modules based on neutral atom arrays. Our approach makes use of recent theoretical results showing the robustness of surface codes to boundary noise and combines recent experimental advances in atom-array quantum computing with logical qubits with optical quantum networking techniques. We find the conditions for fault tolerance can be achieved with local two-qubit Rydberg gate and nonlocal Bell-pair errors below 1% and 10%, respectively, without requiring distillation or space-time overheads. Realizing the interconnects with a lens, a single optical cavity, or an array of cavities enables—with sufficient multiplexing—a Bell-pair generation rate in the 1–50 MHz range. When directly interfacing logical qubits, this rate translates to error-correction cycles in the 25–2000 kHz range, satisfying all requirements for fault tolerance and in the upper range fast enough for 100 kHz logical clock cycles.

Interactions between actin filaments (F-actin) and myosin are critically important for a wide range of biological processes, including cell migration, cytokinesis, and morphogenesis. The motility assay with myosin motors fixed on a surface has been utilized for understanding various phenomena emerging from the interactions between F-actin and myosin. For example, F-actin in the motility assay exhibited distinct collective behaviors when actin concentration was above a critical threshold. Recent studies have performed the myosin motility assay on a lipid bilayer, meaning that myosin motors anchored on the fluidlike membrane have mobility. Interestingly, mobile motors led to very different collective behaviors of F-actin compared to those induced by stationary motors. However, the dynamics and mechanism of the unique collective behaviors have remained elusive. In this study, we employed our cutting-edge computational model to simulate the motility assay with mobile myosin motors. We reproduced the formation of actin clusters observed in experiments and showed that F-actin within clusters exhibits strong polar ordering and leads to phase separation between myosin motors and F-actin. The cluster formation was highly dependent on the average length and concentration of F-actin. Our study provides insights into understanding the collective behaviors of F-actins that could emerge under more physiological conditions.

Quantum simulation of synthetic dynamic gauge field has attracted much attentions in recent years. There are two traditional ways to simulate gauge theories. One is to directly simulate the full Hamiltonian of gauge theories with local gauge symmetries. And the other is to engineer the projected Hamiltonian in one gauge subsector. In this work, we provide the third way towards the simulation of gauge theories based on gauge fixing. To demonstrate this concept, we fix the gauge of an Ising lattice gauge field coupled with spinless fermions on a ladder geometry. After the gauge fixing, this gauge theory is reduced to a simpler model, in which fermions hop on a ladder with a fluctuating dynamical ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ flux. Then we show that this model can be realized via Floquet engineering in ultracold atomic gases. By analytical and numerical studies of this dynamical flux model, we deduce that there is a confinement-to-deconfinement phase transition in the original unfixed gauge theory. This work paves the way to quantum simulate lattice gauge theory using the concept of gauge fixing, relevant both for condensed-matter and high-energy physics.

Reservoir computing (RC) is a computational framework that utilizes a nonlinear, memory-based kernel to map time series inputs into a high-dimensional space for information processing. Most hardware-based RC systems treat their physical reservoirs as black boxes, with the roles of their complex nonlinear dynamics empirically understood and adjusted by tuning physical conditions. However, theoretically understanding the reservoir's nonlinearity in relation to its computational capabilities is crucial for ensuring consistent performance and adaptive system design. In this paper, we propose a magnetization-saturation-based physical reservoir with interpretable nonlinearity, where spin dynamics follows a hyperbolic tangent function and its nonlinear scaling is analytically governed by the damping constant of the magnetic material. Our spin reservoir consists of a magnetic thin film segmented into multiple subregions with different damping constants. This design enables not only nonlinearity diversity through a variety of nonlinear scaling but also short-term memory through hysteresis interactions of neighboring spins. We numerically validate our spin RC by demonstrating its high performance in nonlinear waveform transformation and temporal exclusive-OR (XOR) tasks, which aligns with our theoretical understanding of the system. We expect this work to contribute to the advancement of reliable and configurable spintronic RC systems.

The remarkable sensitivity of non-Hermitian systems has been extensively studied and stimulated ideas about developing new types of sensors. In this paper, we examine a chain of parametrically driven coupled resonators governed by the squeezed Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. We emphasize the qualitative difference in sensor performance between configurations depending on bulk topology and boundary modes, specifically for detecting both on-site and non-Hermitian skin effect perturbations. Our analysis goes beyond the scenario of infinitesimal perturbations, extending to arbitrary perturbation strengths beyond the linear response regime. We stress the importance of optimizing the system's parameters to achieve quantum enhancement while avoiding fine-tuned regimes that could limit the practical applicability of this system for real-world quantum sensing.

Classically, endemic infectious diseases are expected to display relatively stable, predictable infection dynamics. Accordingly, basic disease models such as the susceptible-infected-recovered-susceptible model display stable endemic states or recurrent seasonal waves. However, if the human population reacts to high infection numbers by mitigating the spread of the disease, then this delayed behavioral feedback loop can generate infection waves itself, driven by periodic mitigation and subsequent relaxation. We show that such behavioral reactions, together with a seasonal effect of comparable impact, can cause complex and unpredictable infection dynamics, including Arnold tongues, coexisting attractors, and chaos. Importantly, these arise in epidemiologically relevant parameter regions where the costs associated to infections and mitigation are jointly minimized. By comparing our model to data, we find signs that COVID-19 was mitigated in a way that favored complex infection dynamics. Our results challenge the intuition that endemic disease dynamics necessarily implies predictability and seasonal waves and show the emergence of complex infection dynamics when humans optimize their reaction to increasing infection numbers.