The concept of generalized Gibbs ensembles (GGEs) has been introduced to describe steady states of integrable models. Recent advances show that GGEs can also be stabilized in nearly integrable quantum systems when driven by external fields and open. Here, we present a weakly dissipative dynamics that drives towards a steady-state GGE and is realistic to implement in systems of trapped ions. We outline the engineering of the desired dissipation by a combination of couplings which can be realized with ion-trap setups and discuss the experimental observables needed to detect a deviation from a thermal state. We present a mixed-species motional mode engineering technique in an array of microtraps and demonstrate the possibility to use sympathetic cooling to construct many-body dissipators. Our paper provides a blueprint for experimental observation of GGEs in open systems and opens an avenue for quantum simulation of driven-dissipative quantum many-body problems.

We study the dependence of the vacuum Rabi splitting (VRS) on frequency disorder, vibrations, near-field effects, and density in molecular polaritonics. In the mesoscopic limit, static frequency disorder alone can already introduce a loss mechanism from polaritonic states into a dark state reservoir, which we quantitatively describe, providing an analytical scaling of the VRS with the level of disorder. Disorder additionally can split a molecular ensemble into donor-type and acceptor-type molecules and the combination of vibronic coupling, dipole-dipole interactions, and vibrational relaxation induces an incoherent FRET (Förster resonance energy transfer) migration of excitations within the collective molecular state. This is equivalent to a dissipative disorder and has the effect of saturating and even reducing the VRS in the mesoscopic, high-density limit. Overall, this analysis allows to quantify the crucial role played by dark states in cavity quantum electrodynamics with mesoscopic, disordered ensembles.

In random quantum magnets, like the random transverse Ising chain, low energy excitations are localized in rare regions and there are only weak correlations between them. It is an open question whether these correlations are relevant in the sense of the renormalization group. To answer this question, we calculate the distribution of the excitation energy of the random transverse Ising chain in the disordered Griffiths phase with high numerical precision by the strong disorder renormalization group method and—for shorter chains—by free-fermion techniques. Asymptotically, the two methods give identical results, which are well fitted by the Fréchet limit law of the extremes of independent and identically distributed random numbers. Considering the finite size corrections, the two numerical methods give very similar results, but these differ from the correction term for uncorrelated random variables, indicating that the weak correlations between low-energy excitations in random quantum magnets are relevant.

As a canonical response to the applied magnetic field, the electronic states of a metal are fundamentally reorganized into Landau levels. In Dirac metals, Landau levels can be expected without magnetic fields, provided that an inhomogeneous strain is applied to spatially modulate electron hoppings in a way similar to the Aharonov-Bohm phase. We here predict that a twisted zigzag nanoribbon of graphene exhibits strain-induced pseudo Landau levels of unexplored but analytically solvable dispersions at low energies. The presence of such dispersive pseudo Landau levels results in a negative strain resistivity characterizing the ($1+1$)-dimensional chiral anomaly if partially filled and can greatly enhance the thermopower when fully filled.

Growth of Xene, referred to as the analog of graphene made of atoms other than carbon, with higher lattice quality and more intrinsic electronic structures, is an important challenge to the development of two-dimensional (2D) materials. We report an approach using Pb-atom deposition to striped-phase (SP) germanene grown on Ag(111) to trigger it to a quasifreestanding phase (QP). Using low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we demonstrate that the 2D monatomic Pb layer, instead of being on top, grows side-by-side with QP germanene, not only driving the SP-to-QP transition but further enhancing the lattice order of QP as revealed by the dramatic evolution of LEED-spot shape and uniform STM-imaged array of moiré patterns. Originally oriented at 30°  to Ag(111), the QP germanene transits first to a narrow distribution of rotations then to two sharp domains at ±3° from 30°, while the monoatomic Pb domains twist from ±4.3° to ±9.5° with respect to Ag(111). The analysis of higher-order coincidence for both layers on Ag(111) is in complete agreement with LEED results and reveals a picture of two insoluble monatomic layers driving each other to a more optimal configuration. Moreover, the corresponding density of states measured by scanning tunneling spectroscopy for quality-enhanced QP germanene exhibits a clear V-shape distribution at the energy ∼0.4 eV above Fermi level, indicating the Fermi-Dirac cone, which agrees with our density functional theory calculation.

Van der Waals heterostructures assembled from atomically thin crystals are ideal model systems to study spin-orbital coupled transport because they exhibit a strong interplay between spin, lattice, and valley degrees of freedom that can be manipulated by strain, electric bias, and proximity effects. The recently predicted spin-helical regime in graphene on transition metal dichalcogenides, in which spin and pseudospin degrees of freedom are locked together [Offidani et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 196801 (2017)] suggests their potential application in spintronics. Here, by deriving an Eilenberger equation for the quasiclassical Green's function of two-dimensional Dirac fermions in the presence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and scalar disorder, we obtain analytical expressions for the dc spin galvanic susceptibility and spin Hall conductivity in the spin-helical regime. Our results disclose a sign change in the spin Hall angle (SHA) when the Fermi energy relative to the Dirac point matches the Bychkov-Rashba energy scale, irrespective of the magnitude of the spin-valley interaction imprinted on the graphene layer. The behavior of the SHA is connected to a reversal of the total internal angular momentum of Bloch electrons that reflects the spin-pseudospin entanglement induced by SOC. We also show that the charge-to-spin conversion efficiency reaches a maximum when the Fermi level lies at the edge of the spin-minority band in agreement with previous findings. Both features are fingerprints of spin-helical Dirac fermions and suggest a direct way to estimate the strength of proximity-induced SOC from transport data. The relevance of these findings for interpreting recent spin-charge conversion measurements in nonlocal spin-valve geometry is also discussed.

We study a system of two interacting, nonidentical quantum emitters driven by a coherent field. We focus on the particular condition of two-photon resonance and obtain analytical expressions for the stationary density matrix of the system and observables of the fluorescent emission. Importantly, our expressions are valid for the general situation of nonidentical emitters with different transition energies. Our results allow us to determine the regime of parameters in which coherent two-photon excitation, enabled by the coherent coupling between emitters, is dominant over competing, first-order processes. Using the formalism of quantum parameter estimation, we show that the features imprinted by the two-photon dynamics into the spectrum of resonance fluorescence are particularly sensitive to changes in the distance between emitters, making two-photon excitation the optimal driving regime for the estimation of interemitter distance. This can be exploited for applications such as super-resolution imaging of pointlike sources.

Entanglement constitutes a key characteristic feature of quantum matter. Its detection, however, still faces major challenges. In this paper, we formulate a framework for probing entanglement based on machine learning techniques. The central element is a protocol for the generation of statistical images from quantum many-body states, with which we perform image classification by means of convolutional neural networks. We show that the resulting quantum entanglement recognition task is accurate and can be assigned a well-controlled error across a wide range of quantum states. We discuss the potential use of our scheme to quantify quantum entanglement in experiments. Our developed scheme provides a generally applicable strategy for quantum entanglement recognition in both equilibrium and nonequilibrium quantum matter.

The nonclassicality of simple spin systems as measured by Wigner negativity is studied on a spherical phase space. Several SU(2)-covariant states with common qubit representations are analyzed: spin coherent states, spin cat (Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger or N00N) states, and Dicke ($\mathsf{\text{W}}$) states. We derive a bound on the Wigner negativity of spin cat states that rapidly approaches the true value as spin increases beyond $j\gtrsim 5$. We find that spin cat states are not significantly Wigner negative relative to their Dicke state counterparts of equal dimension. We also find, in contrast to several entanglement measures, that the most Wigner-negative Dicke basis element is spin dependent, and not the equatorial state $|j,0\rangle$ (or $|j,\pm 1/2\rangle$ for half-integer spins). These results underscore the influence that dynamical symmetry has on nonclassicality and suggest a guiding perspective for finding novel quantum computational applications.

Inversion symmetry is a key symmetry in unconventional superconductors, and even its local breaking can have profound implications. For inversion-symmetric systems, there is a competition on a microscopic level between the spin-orbit coupling associated with the local lack of inversion and hybridizing terms that “restore” inversion. Investigating a layered system with alternating mirror-symmetry breaking, we study this competition considering the spin response of different superconducting order parameters for the case of strong spin-orbit coupling. We find that signatures of the local noncentrosymmetry, such as an increased spin susceptibility in spin-singlet superconductors for $T\to 0$, persist even into the quasi-three-dimensional regime. This leads to a direction-dependent spin response that allows us to distinguish different superconducting order parameters. Furthermore, we identify several regimes with possible topological superconducting phases within a symmetry-indicator analysis. Our results may have direct relevance for the recently reported Ce-based superconductor ${\mathrm{CeRh}}_2{\mathrm{As}}_2$ and beyond.

Electronic transport in Weyl semimetals is quite extraordinary due to the topological property of the chiral anomaly generating the charge pumping between two distant Weyl nodes with opposite chiralities under parallel electric and magnetic fields. Here, we develop a full nonequilibrium quantum transport theory of the chiral anomaly, based on the fact that the chiral charge pumping is essentially nothing but the Bloch oscillation. Specifically, by using the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green function method, it is shown that there is a rich structure in the chiral anomaly transport, including the negative magnetoresistance, the non-Ohmic behavior, the Esaki-Tsu peak, and finally the resonant oscillation of the dc electric current as a function of electric field, called the electric quantum oscillation. We argue that, going beyond the usual behavior of linear response, the non-Ohmic behavior observed in BiSb alloys can be regarded as a precursor to the occurrence of electric quantum oscillation, which is both topologically and energetically protected in Weyl semimetals.

We have theoretically investigated the modulation between the opposite- and equal-spin pairings and the related transport properties in silicene-based ferromagnet/ferromagnet/superconductor hybrid structures with noncollinear magnetizations. Due to the exotic electronic properties of silicene, the exclusive fully spin-polarized equal-spin pairing state appears without any contamination from the opposite-spin pairing state in a perpendicular magnetic configuration. Furthermore, the switch effect between fully spin-polarized opposite- and equal-spin pairings can be realized by tuning the Fermi level. In addition, the fully spin-polarized equal-spin pairing correlation can be enhanced by modulation of the magnitude and orientation of the exchange field in the central region. It is also a significant finding that for the formation of the fully spin-polarized equal-spin pairing state, the length of the central layer can be taken to be large, but not for opposite-spin pairing. Our findings provide an ideal platform to explore fully spin-polarized opposite- and equal-spin pairing states separately.

The theory of constructing instantaneous equilibrium (ieq) transition under arbitrary time-dependent temperature and potential variation for a Brownian particle is developed. It is shown that it is essential to consider the underdamped dynamics for temperature-changing transitions. The ieq is maintained by a time-dependent auxiliary position and momentum potential, which can be calculated for given time-dependent transition protocols. Explicit analytic results are derived for the work and heat statistics, energy, and entropy changes for harmonic and non-harmonic trapping potential with arbitrary time-dependent potential parameters and temperature protocols. Numerical solutions of the corresponding Langevin dynamics are computed to confirm the theoretical results. Although ieq transition of the reverse process is not the time-reversal of the ieq transition of the forward process due to the odd-parity of controlling parameters, their phase-space distribution functions restore the time-reversal symmetry, and hence the energy and entropy changes of the ieq of the reverse process are simply the negative of that of the forward process. Furthermore, it is shown that it is possible to construct an ieq transition that has zero entropy change at a finite transition rate, i.e., a fast ieq isentropic process, and is further demonstrated by explicit Langevin dynamics simulations. Our theory provides fundamental building blocks for designing controlled microscopic heat engine cycles. Implications for constructing an efficient Brownian heat engine are also discussed.

Gravitational waves from neutron star binary inspirals contain information on strongly interacting matter in unexplored, extreme regimes. Extracting this requires robust theoretical models of the signatures of matter in the gravitational-wave signals due to spin and tidal effects. In fact, spins can have a significant impact on the tidal excitation of the quasinormal modes of a neutron star, which is not included in current state-of-the-art waveform models. We develop a simple approximate description that accounts for the Coriolis effect of spin on the tidal excitation of the neutron star's quadrupolar and octupolar fundamental quasinormal modes and incorporate it in the SEOBNRv4T waveform model. We show that the Coriolis effect introduces only one new interaction term in an effective action in the corotating frame of the star, and fix the coefficient by considering the spin-induced shift in the resonance frequencies that has been computed numerically for the mode frequencies of rotating neutron stars in the literature. We investigate the impact of relativistic corrections due to the gravitational redshift and frame-dragging effects, and identify important directions where more detailed theoretical developments are needed in the future. Comparisons of our model to numerical-relativity simulations of double neutron star and neutron star black-hole binaries show improved consistency in the agreement compared to current models used in data analysis.

We study how homophily of human physical interactions affects the impact of digital proximity tracing on the epidemic evolution. Analytical and numerical results show the existence of different dynamical regimes with respect to the mixing rate between adopters and nonadopters, revealing a rich phenomenology in terms of the reproduction number as well as the attack rate. We corroborate our findings with Monte Carlo simulations on different real contact networks. Our results indicate that depending on infectivity and adoption, mixing between adopters can be beneficial as well as detrimental for disease control.