Inspired by the success of Boltzmann machines based on classical Boltzmann distribution, we propose a new machine-learning approach based on quantum Boltzmann distribution of a quantum Hamiltonian. Because of the noncommutative nature of quantum mechanics, the training process of the quantum Boltzmann machine (QBM) can become nontrivial. We circumvent the problem by introducing bounds on the quantum probabilities. This allows us to train the QBM efficiently by sampling. We show examples of QBM training with and without the bound, using exact diagonalization, and compare the results with classical Boltzmann training. We also discuss the possibility of using quantum annealing processors for QBM training and application.

Despite much theoretical effort, there is no complete theory of the “strange” metal state of the high temperature superconductors, and its linear-in-temperature $T$ resistivity. Recent experiments showing an unexpected linear-in-field $B$ magnetoresistivity have deepened the puzzle. We propose a simple model of itinerant electrons, interacting via random couplings, with electrons localized on a lattice of “quantum dots” or “islands.” This model is solvable in a particular large-$N$ limit and can reproduce observed behavior. The key feature of our model is that the electrons in each quantum dot are described by a Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model describing electrons without quasiparticle excitations. For a particular choice of the interaction between the itinerant and localized electrons, this model realizes a controlled description of a diffusive marginal-Fermi liquid (MFL) without momentum conservation, which has a linear-in-$T$ resistivity and a $T\ln T$ specific heat as $T\to 0$. By tuning the strength of this interaction relative to the bandwidth of the itinerant electrons, we can additionally obtain a finite-$T$ crossover to a fully incoherent regime that also has a linear-in-$T$ resistivity. We describe the magnetotransport properties of this model and show that the MFL regime has conductivities that scale as a function of $B/T$; however, the magnetoresistance saturates at large $B$. We then consider a macroscopically disordered sample with domains of such MFLs with varying densities of electrons and islands. Using an effective-medium approximation, we obtain a macroscopic electrical resistance that scales linearly in the magnetic field $B$ applied perpendicular to the plane of the sample, at large $B$. The resistance also scales linearly in $T$ at small $B$, and as $Tf(B/T)$ at intermediate $B$. We consider implications for recent experiments reporting linear transverse magnetoresistance in the strange metal phases of the pnictides and cuprates.

One of the distinctive features of hole-doped cuprate superconductors is the onset of a “pseudogap” below a temperature $T^{*}$. Recent experiments suggest that there may be a connection between the existence of the pseudogap and the topology of the Fermi surface. Here, we address this issue by studying the two-dimensional Hubbard model with two distinct numerical methods. We find that the pseudogap only exists when the Fermi surface is holelike and that, for a broad range of parameters, its opening is concomitant with a Fermi-surface topology change from electronlike to holelike. We identify a common link between these observations: The polelike feature of the electronic self-energy associated with the formation of the pseudogap is found to also control the degree of particle-hole asymmetry, and hence the Fermi-surface topology transition. We interpret our results in the framework of an SU(2) gauge theory of fluctuating antiferromagnetism. We show that a mean-field treatment of this theory in a metallic state with U(1) topological order provides an explanation of this polelike feature and a good description of our numerical results. We discuss the relevance of our results to experiments on cuprates.

Stabilizer codes are among the most successful quantum error-correcting codes, yet they have important limitations on their ability to fault tolerantly compute. Here, we introduce a new quantity, the disjointness of the stabilizer code, which, roughly speaking, is the number of mostly nonoverlapping representations of any given nontrivial logical Pauli operator. The notion of disjointness proves useful in limiting transversal gates on any error-detecting stabilizer code to a finite level of the Clifford hierarchy. For code families, we can similarly restrict logical operators implemented by constant-depth circuits. For instance, we show that it is impossible, with a constant-depth but possibly geometrically nonlocal circuit, to implement a logical non-Clifford gate on the standard two-dimensional surface code.

The readout of semiconductor spin qubits based on spin blockade is fast but suffers from a small charge signal. Previous work suggested large benefits from additional charge mapping processes; however, uncertainties remain about the underlying mechanisms and achievable fidelity. In this work, we study the single-shot fidelity and limiting mechanisms for two variations of an enhanced latching readout. We achieve average single-shot readout fidelities greater than 99.3% and 99.86% for the conventional and enhanced readout, respectively, the latter being the highest to date for spin blockade. The signal amplitude is enhanced to a full one-electron signal while preserving the readout speed. Furthermore, layout constraints are relaxed because the charge sensor signal is no longer dependent on being aligned with the conventional (2,0)–(1,1) charge dipole. Silicon donor-quantum-dot qubits are used for this study, for which the dipole insensitivity substantially relaxes donor placement requirements. One of the readout variations also benefits from a parametric lifetime enhancement by replacing the spin-relaxation process with a charge-metastable one. This provides opportunities to further increase the fidelity. The relaxation mechanisms in the different regimes are investigated. This work demonstrates a readout that is fast, has a one-electron signal, and results in higher fidelity. It further predicts that going beyond 99.9% fidelity in a few microseconds of measurement time is within reach.

In polycrystals, faceted grains may become round and rough at high temperatures. Such a roughening phenomenon remains poorly understood, partly because of the lack of experimental observations. Here, we directly visualize the roughening dynamics of grain boundaries inside thin-film colloidal crystals at the single-particle level using video microscopy. The thermal fluctuations of grain boundaries appear to exhibit both static and dynamic critical-like behaviors, in contrast to the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in typical free surface roughening. The roughening point shifts towards the melting point as the grain boundary’s mismatch angle $\theta$ decreases and is preempted by melting when $\theta <18°$. Counterintuitively, the amplitude of grain-boundary fluctuations decreases above the roughening point. This could be attributed to the observed widening of the grain boundary. The roughening strongly affects the mobility of the grain boundary but not the stiffness. These results provide new guidance for the control of microstructures in polycrystals and further development of roughening theory.

Modeling matter across large length scales and timescales using molecular dynamics simulations poses significant challenges. These challenges are typically addressed through the use of precomputed pair potentials that depend on thermodynamic properties like temperature and density; however, many scenarios of interest involve spatiotemporal variations in these properties, and such variations can violate assumptions made in constructing these potentials, thus precluding their use. In particular, when a system is strongly heterogeneous, most of the usual simplifying assumptions (e.g., spherical potentials) do not apply. Here, we present a multiscale approach to orbital-free density functional theory molecular dynamics (OFDFT-MD) simulations that bridges atomic, interionic, and continuum length scales to allow for variations in hydrodynamic quantities in a consistent way. Our multiscale approach enables simulations on the order of micron length scales and 10’s of picosecond timescales, which exceeds current OFDFT-MD simulations by many orders of magnitude. This new capability is then used to study the heterogeneous, nonequilibrium dynamics of a heated interface characteristic of an inertial-confinement-fusion capsule containing a plastic ablator near a fuel layer composed of deuterium-tritium ice. At these scales, fundamental assumptions of continuum models are explored; features such as the separation of the momentum fields among the species and strong hydrogen jetting from the plastic into the fuel region are observed, which had previously not been seen in hydrodynamic simulations.

Modern electronic structure theories can predict and simulate a wealth of phenomena in surface science and solid-state physics. In order to allow for a direct comparison with experiment, such ab initio predictions have to be made in the thermodynamic limit, substantially increasing the computational cost of many-electron wave-function theories. Here, we present a method that achieves thermodynamic limit results for solids and surfaces using the “gold standard” coupled cluster ansatz of quantum chemistry with unprecedented efficiency. We study the energy difference between carbon diamond and graphite crystals, adsorption energies of water on $h$-BN, as well as the cohesive energy of the Ne solid, demonstrating the increased efficiency and accuracy of coupled cluster theory for solids and surfaces.

When a beam of light is laterally confined, its field distribution can exhibit points where the local magnetic and electric field vectors spin in a plane containing the propagation direction of the electromagnetic wave. The phenomenon indicates the presence of a nonzero transverse spin density. Here, we experimentally investigate this transverse spin density of both magnetic and electric fields, occurring in highly confined structured fields of light. Our scheme relies on the utilization of a high-refractive-index nanoparticle as a local field probe, exhibiting magnetic and electric dipole resonances in the visible spectral range. Because of the directional emission of dipole moments that spin around an axis parallel to a nearby dielectric interface, such a probe particle is capable of locally sensing the magnetic and electric transverse spin density of a tightly focused beam impinging under normal incidence with respect to said interface. We exploit the achieved experimental results to emphasize the difference between magnetic and electric transverse spin densities.

The propagation of monochromatic light through a scattering medium produces speckle patterns in reflection and transmission, and the apparent randomness of these patterns prevents direct imaging through thick turbid media. Yet, since elastic multiple scattering is fundamentally a linear and deterministic process, information is not lost but distributed among many degrees of freedom that can be resolved and manipulated. Here, we demonstrate experimentally that the reflected and transmitted speckle patterns are robustly correlated, and we unravel all the complex and unexpected features of this fundamentally non-Gaussian and long-range correlation. In particular, we show that it is preserved even for opaque media with thickness much larger than the scattering mean free path, proving that information survives the multiple scattering process and can be recovered. The existence of correlations between the two sides of a scattering medium opens up new possibilities for the control of transmitted light without any feedback from the target side, but using only information gathered from the reflected speckle.

Some liquids, if cooled rapidly enough to avoid crystallization, can be frozen into a nonergodic glassy state. The tendency for a material to form a glass when quenched is called “glass-forming ability,” and it is of key significance both fundamentally and for materials science applications. Here, we consider liquids with competing orderings, where an increase in the glass-forming ability is signaled by a depression of the melting temperature towards its minimum at triple or eutectic points. With simulations of two model systems where glass-forming ability can be tuned by an external parameter, we are able to interpolate between crystal-forming and glass-forming behavior. We find that the enhancement of the glass-forming ability is caused by an increase in the structural difference between liquid and crystal: stronger competition in orderings towards the melting point minimum makes a liquid structure more disordered (more complex). This increase in the liquid-crystal structure difference can be described by a single adimensional parameter, i.e., the interface energy cost scaled by the thermal energy, which we call the “thermodynamic interface penalty.” Our finding may provide a general physical principle for not only controlling the glass-forming ability but also the emergence of glassy behavior of various systems with competing orderings, including orderings of structural, magnetic, electronic, charge, and dipolar origin.

Similarly to laser or x-ray beams, the interaction of sufficiently intense particle beams with neutral gases will result in the creation of plasma. In contrast to photon-based ionization, the strong unipolar field of a particle beam can generate a plasma where the electron population receives a large initial momentum kick and escapes, leaving behind unshielded ions. Measuring the properties of the ensuing Coulomb exploding ions—such as their kinetic energy distribution, yield, and spatial distribution—can provide information about the peak electric fields that are achieved in the electron beams. Particle-in-cell simulations and analytical models are presented for high-brightness electron beams of a few femtoseconds or even hundreds of attoseconds, and transverse beam sizes on the micron scale, as generated by today’s free electron lasers. Different density regimes for the utilization as a potential diagnostics are explored, and the fundamental differences in plasma dynamical behavior for e-beam or photon-based ionization are highlighted. By measuring the dynamics of field-induced ions for different gas and beam densities, a lower bound on the beam charge density can be obtained in a single shot and in a noninvasive way. The exponential dependency of the ionization yield on the beam properties can provide unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution, at the submicrometer and subfemtosecond scales, respectively, offering a practical and powerful approach to characterizing beams from accelerators at the frontiers of performance.

High temperature superconductivity has been found in many kinds of compounds built from planes of Cu and O, separated by spacer layers. Understanding why critical temperatures are so high has been the subject of numerous investigations and extensive controversy. To realize high temperature superconductivity, parent compounds are either hole doped, such as ${\mathrm{La}}_2{\mathrm{CuO}}_4$ (LCO) with Sr (LSCO), or electron doped, such as ${\mathrm{Nd}}_2{\mathrm{CuO}}_4$ (NCO) with Ce (NCCO). In the electron-doped cuprates, the antiferromagnetic phase is much more robust than the superconducting phase. However, it was recently found that the reduction of residual out-of-plane apical oxygen dramatically affects the phase diagram, driving those compounds to a superconducting phase. Here we use a recently developed first-principles method to explore how displacement of the apical oxygen (AO) in LCO affects the optical gap, spin and charge susceptibilities, and superconducting order parameter. By combining quasiparticle self-consistent GW (QS GW) and dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT), we show that LCO is a Mott insulator, but small displacements of the apical oxygen drive the compound to a metallic state through a localization-delocalization transition, with a concomitant maximum in $d$-wave order parameter at the transition. We address the question of whether NCO can be seen as the limit of LCO with large apical displacements, and we elucidate the deep physical reasons why the behavior of NCO is so different from the hole-doped materials. We shed new light on the recent correlation observed between $T_c$ and the charge transfer gap, while also providing a guide towards the design of optimized high-$T_c$ superconductors. Further, our results suggest that strong correlation, enough to induce a Mott gap, may not be a prerequisite for high-$T_c$ superconductivity.

We investigate the response of colloidal flocks to external fields. We first show that individual colloidal rollers align with external flows, as would a classical spin with magnetic fields. Assembling polar active liquids from colloidal rollers, we experimentally demonstrate their hysteretic response: Confined colloidal flocks can proceed against external flows. We theoretically explain this collective robustness, using an active hydrodynamic description, and show how orientational elasticity and confinement protect the direction of collective motion. Finally, we exploit the intrinsic bistability of confined active flows to devise self-sustained microfluidic oscillators.

We present the first characterization of the spectral properties of superradiant light emitted from the ultranarrow, 1-mHz-linewidth optical clock transition in an ensemble of cold ${}^{87}\mathrm{Sr}$ atoms. Such a light source has been proposed as a next-generation active atomic frequency reference, with the potential to enable high-precision optical frequency references to be used outside laboratory environments. By comparing the frequency of our superradiant source to that of a state-of-the-art cavity-stabilized laser and optical lattice clock, we observe a fractional Allan deviation of $6.7(1)\times {10}^{-16}$ at 1 s of averaging, establish absolute accuracy at the 2-Hz ($4\times {10}^{-15}$ fractional frequency) level, and demonstrate insensitivity to key environmental perturbations.

Periodic forcing of nonlinear oscillators leads to a large number of dynamic behaviors. The coupling of the cell cycle to the circadian clock provides a biological realization of such forcing. A previous model of forcing leads to nontrivial relations between correlations along cell lineages. Here, we present a simplified two-dimensional nonlinear map for the periodic forcing of the cell cycle. Using high-throughput single-cell microscopy, we have studied the correlations between cell-cycle duration in discrete lineages of several different organisms, including those with known coupling to a circadian clock and those without known coupling to a circadian clock. The model reproduces the paradoxical correlations and predicts new features that can be compared with the experimental data. By fitting the model to the data, we extract the important parameters that govern the dynamics. Interestingly, the model reproduces bimodal distributions for cell-cycle duration, as well as the gating of cell division by the phase of the clock, without having been explicitly fed into the model. In addition, the model predicts that circadian coupling may increase cell-to-cell variability in a clonal population of cells. In agreement with this prediction, deletion of the circadian clock reduces variability. Our results show that simple correlations can identify systems under periodic forcing and that studies of nonlinear coupling of biological oscillators provide insight into basic cellular processes of growth.

Hybrid inorganic-organic perovskites have recently attracted much interest because of both rich fundamental sciences and potential applications such as the primary energy-harvesting material in solar cells. However, an understanding of electronic and optical properties, particularly the complex dielectric function, of these materials is still lacking. Here, we report on the electronic and optical properties of selective perovskites using temperature-dependent spectroscopic ellipsometry, x-ray absorption spectroscopy supported by first-principles calculations. Surprisingly, the perovskite ${\mathrm{FA}}_{0.85}{\mathrm{Cs}}_{0.15}{\mathrm{PbI}}_{2.9}{\mathrm{Br}}_{0.1}$ has a very high density of low-energy excitons that increases with increasing temperature even at room temperature, which is not seen in any other material. This is found to be due to the strong, unscreened electron-electron and partially screened electron-hole interactions, which then tightly connect low- and high-energy bands caused by doping.

We provide a complete set of game-theoretic conditions equivalent to the existence of a transformation from one quantum channel into another one, by means of classically correlated preprocessing and postprocessing maps only. Such conditions naturally induce tests to certify that a quantum memory is capable of storing quantum information, as opposed to memories that can be simulated by measurement and state preparation (corresponding to entanglement-breaking channels). These results are formulated as a resource theory of genuine quantum memories (correlated in time), mirroring the resource theory of entanglement in quantum states (correlated spatially). As the set of conditions is complete, the corresponding tests are faithful, in the sense that any non-entanglement-breaking channel can be certified. Moreover, they only require the assumption of trusted inputs, known to be unavoidable for quantum channel verification. As such, the tests we propose are intrinsically different from the usual process tomography, for which the probes of both the input and the output of the channel must be trusted. An explicit construction is provided and shown to be experimentally realizable, even in the presence of arbitrarily strong losses in the memory or detectors.

We study the interaction of thermal rubidium atoms with the guided mode of slot waveguides integrated in a vapor cell. Slot waveguides provide strong confinement of the light field in an area that overlaps with the atomic vapor. We investigate the transmission of the atomic cladding waveguides depending on the slot width, which determines the fraction of transmitted light power interacting with the atomic vapor. An elaborate simulation method has been developed to understand the behavior of the measured spectra. This model is based on individual trajectories of the atoms and includes both line shifts and decay rates due to atom-surface interactions that we have calculated for our specific geometries using the discrete dipole approximation. Furthermore, we investigate density-dependent effects on the line widths and line shifts of the rubidium atoms in the subwavelength interaction region of a slot waveguide.

We study the solid-to-liquid transition in a two-dimensional fully periodic soft-glassy model with an imposed spatially heterogeneous stress. The model we consider consists of droplets of a dispersed phase jammed together in a continuous phase. When the peak value of the stress gets close to the yield stress of the material, we find that the whole system intermittently tunnels to a metastable “fluidized” state, which relaxes back to a metastable “solid” state by means of an elastic-wave dissipation. This macroscopic scenario is studied through the microscopic displacement field of the droplets, whose time statistics displays a remarkable bimodality. Metastability is rooted in the existence, in a given stress range, of two distinct stable rheological branches, as well as long-range correlations (e.g., large dynamic heterogeneity) developed in the system. Finally, we show that a similar behavior holds for a pressure-driven flow, thus suggesting possible experimental tests.