We study topologically stable defect structures in systems where the defect line classification in three dimensions and associated algebra of interactions (the fundamental group) are governed by the non-Abelian eight-element group, the quaternions $Q_8$. The non-Abelian character of the defect algebra leads to a topological rigidity of bound defect pairs, and trivalent junctions which are the building blocks of multijunction trivalent networks. We realize such structures in laboratory chiral nematics and analyze their behavior analytically, along with numerical modeling.

Systems of spins with strong dipolar interactions and controlled dimensionality enable new explorations in quantum sensing and simulation. In this work, we investigate the creation of strong dipolar interactions in a two-dimensional ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers generated via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition on (111)-oriented diamond substrates. We find that diamond growth on the (111) plane yields high incorporation of spins, both nitrogen and NV centers, where the density of the latter is tunable via the miscut of the diamond substrate. Our process allows us to form dense, preferentially aligned, 2D NV ensembles with volume-normalized ac sensitivity down to ${\eta }_{\mathrm{ac}}=810\mathrm{pT}\mathrm{\mu }{\mathrm{m}}^{3/2}{\mathrm{Hz}}^{-1/2}$. Furthermore, we show that (111) affords maximally positive dipolar interactions among a 2D NV ensemble, which is crucial for leveraging dipolar-driven entanglement schemes and exploring new interacting spin physics.

Arrays of gate-defined semiconductor quantum dots are among the leading candidates for building scalable quantum processors. High-fidelity initialization, control, and readout of spin qubit registers require exquisite and targeted control over key Hamiltonian parameters that define the electrostatic environment. However, due to the tight gate pitch, capacitive crosstalk between gates hinders independent tuning of chemical potentials and interdot couplings. While virtual gates offer a practical solution, determining all the required cross-capacitance matrices accurately and efficiently in large quantum dot registers is an open challenge. Here, we establish a modular automated virtualization system (MAViS)—a general and modular framework for autonomously constructing a complete stack of multilayer virtual gates in real time. Our method employs machine learning techniques to rapidly extract features from two-dimensional charge stability diagrams. We then utilize computer vision and regression models to self-consistently determine all relative capacitive couplings necessary for virtualizing plunger and barrier gates in both low- and high-tunnel-coupling regimes. Using MAViS, we successfully demonstrate accurate virtualization of a dense two-dimensional array comprising ten quantum dots defined in a high-quality $\mathrm{Ge}/\mathrm{SiGe}$ heterostructure. Our work offers an elegant and practical solution for the efficient control of large-scale semiconductor quantum dot systems.

The insulating magnetic pyrochlore ${\mathrm{Ce}}_2{\mathrm{Zr}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$ has gained attention as a quantum spin-ice candidate with dipole-octupole character that arises from the crystal-electric-field ground-state doublet for the ${\mathrm{Ce}}^{3+}$ Kramers ion. This dipole-octupole character permits both spin-ice phases based on magnetic dipoles and those based on more-exotic octupoles. This work reports low-temperature neutron diffraction measurements on single-crystal ${\mathrm{Ce}}_2{\mathrm{Zr}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$ with $Q$ coverage both at low $Q$, where the magnetic form factor for dipoles is near maximal, and at high $Q$, covering the region where the magnetic form factor for ${\mathrm{Ce}}^{3+}$ octupoles is near maximal. This study was motivated by recent powder neutron diffraction studies of other Ce-based dipole-octupole pyrochlores, ${\mathrm{Ce}}_2{\mathrm{Sn}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$ and ${\mathrm{Ce}}_2{\mathrm{Hf}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$, which each showed temperature-dependent diffuse diffraction at high $Q$, interpreted as arising from octupolar correlations. Our measurements use an optimized single-crystal diffuse scattering instrument that allows us to screen against strong Bragg scattering from ${\mathrm{Ce}}_2{\mathrm{Zr}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$. The temperature-difference neutron diffraction reveals a low-$Q$ peak consistent with dipolar spin-ice correlations reported in previous work, and an alternation between positive and negative net intensity at higher $Q$. These features are consistent with our numerical-linked-cluster calculations using pseudospin interaction parameters previously reported for ${\mathrm{Ce}}_2{\mathrm{Zr}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$, ${\mathrm{Ce}}_2{\mathrm{Sn}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$, and ${\mathrm{Ce}}_2{\mathrm{Hf}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$. Importantly, neither the measured data nor any of the NLC calculations show evidence for increased scattering at high $Q$ resulting from octupolar correlations. We conclude that at the lowest attainable temperature for our measurements ($T=0.05\mathrm{K}$), scattering from octupolar correlations in ${\mathrm{Ce}}_2{\mathrm{Zr}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$ is not present in the neutron diffraction signal on the level of our observation threshold of around 0.1% of the low-$Q$ dipole scattering. We compare these results to those obtained earlier on powder ${\mathrm{Ce}}_2{\mathrm{Sn}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$ and ${\mathrm{Ce}}_2{\mathrm{Hf}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$, and to low-energy inelastic neutron scattering from single-crystal ${\mathrm{Ce}}_2{\mathrm{Zr}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$.

Magnetic skyrmions are emerging as promising candidates for next-generation information technologies, while the realization of scalable skyrmion lattices with tailored configurations is essential for advancing fundamental skyrmion physics and developing future applications. Here we achieved the controllable generation and regulation of a large-area, highly oriented skyrmion track array (STA) in ferromagnet ${\mathrm{Fe}}_3{\mathrm{GaTe}}_2$ using a vector-magnetic-field manipulation technique. The orientation and ordering of STA, along with the types and density of skyrmions, are precisely controlled by modulating parameters during the manipulation. The critical roles of in-plane magnetic fields and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in STA generation is further confirmed by micromagnetic simulation. Our findings develop a strategy for engineering large-area and highly oriented skyrmion configurations, offering a new pathway for the future application of next-generation spintronic and information technologies.

We report an axion dark matter search with a haloscope equipped with a microwave photon counter. The haloscope is a tunable high quality factor three-dimensional microwave cavity placed in a magnetic field. The photon counter, operated cyclically, maps an incoming microwave photon onto the state of a superconducting transmon qubit. The measurement protocol continuously monitors the power emitted by the haloscope cavity as well as the dark count background and enables tuning of the cavity frequency to probe different axion masses. With this apparatus, we enhance by a factor of 20 the search speed that can be reached with quantum-limited linear amplifiers and set a new standard for probing the existence of axions with resonant detectors above 5 GHz.

An emerging application of resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) is the study of lattice excitations and electron-phonon ($e$-ph) interactions in quantum materials. Despite the growing importance of this area of research, the community lacks a complete understanding of how the RIXS process excites the lattice and how these excitations encode information about the $e$-ph interactions. Here, we present a detailed study of the RIXS spectra of the Hubbard-Holstein model defined on extended one-dimensional lattices. Using the density matrix renormalization group method, we compute the RIXS response while treating the electron mobility, many-body interactions, and core-hole interactions on an equal footing. The predicted spectra exhibit notable differences from those obtained using the commonly adopted Lang-Firsov models, with important implications for analyzing past and future experiments. Our results provide a deeper understanding of how RIXS probes $e$-ph interactions and set the stage for a more realistic analysis of future experiments.

The superconducting state of the heavy-fermion metal ${\mathrm{UTe}}_2$ has attracted considerable interest because of evidence of spin-triplet Cooper pairing and nontrivial topology. Progress on these questions requires identifying the presence or absence of nodes in the superconducting gap function and their dimension. In this article, we report a comprehensive study of the influence of disorder on the thermal transport in the superconducting state of ${\mathrm{UTe}}_2$. Through detailed measurements of the magnetic-field dependence of the thermal conductivity in the zero-temperature limit, we obtain clear evidence of the presence of point nodes in the superconducting gap for all samples with transition temperatures ranging from 1.6 to 2.1 K obtained by different synthesis methods, including a refined self-flux method. This robustness implies the presence of symmetry-imposed nodes throughout the range studied, further confirmed via disorder-dependent calculations of the thermal transport in a model with a single pair of nodes. In addition to capturing the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity up to $T_c$, this model provides some information about the locations of the nodes, suggesting a $B_{1u}$ or $B_{2u}$ symmetry for the superconducting order parameter. Additionally, comparing the new, ultrahigh conductivity samples to older samples reveals a crossover between a low-field and a high-field regime at a single value of the magnetic field in all samples. In the high-field regime, the thermal conductivity at different disorder levels differs from each other by a simple offset, suggesting that some simple principle determines the physics of the mixed state, a fact which may illuminate trends observed in other clean nodal superconductors.

Song and Bernevig (SB) have recently proposed a topological heavy-fermion description of the physics of magic angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG), involving the hybridization of flat-band electrons with a relativistic conduction sea. Here, we explore the consequences of this model, seeking a synthesis of understanding drawn from heavy-fermion physics and MATBG experiments. Our work identifies a key discrepancy between measured and calculated on-site Coulomb interactions, implicating renormalization effects that are not contained in the current model. With these considerations in mind, we consider a SB model with a single, renormalized on-site interaction between the $f$ electrons, containing a phenomenological heavy-fermion binding potential on the moiré $AA$ sites. This feature allows the simplified model to capture the periodic reset of the chemical potential with filling and the observed stability of local moment behavior. We argue that a two-stage Kondo effect will develop in MATBG as a consequence of the relativistic conduction band: Kondo I occurs at high temperatures, establishing a coherent hybridization at the $\mathrm{\Gamma }$ points and a non-Fermi liquid of incoherent fermions at the moiré $K$ points; at much lower temperatures, Kondo II leads to a Fermi liquid in the flat band. Utilizing an auxiliary-rotor approach, we formulate a mean-field treatment of MATBG that captures this physics, describing the evolution of the normal state across a full range of filling factors. By contrasting the relative timescales of phonons and valence fluctuations in bulk heavy-fermion materials with that of MATBG, we are led to propose a valley-polaron origin to the Coulomb renormalization and the heavy-fermion binding potential identified from experiment. We also discuss the possibility that the two-fluid, non-Fermi liquid physics of the relativistic Kondo lattice is responsible for the strange-metal physics observed in MATBG.

Recent breakthrough experiments have demonstrated how it is now possible to explore the dynamics of quantum Hall states interacting with quantum electromagnetic cavity fields. While the impact of strongly coupled nonlocal cavity modes on integer quantum Hall physics has been recently addressed, the effects on fractional quantum Hall (FQH) liquids—and, more generally, fractionalized states of matter—remain largely unexplored. In this work, we develop a theoretical framework for the understanding of FQH states coupled to quantum light. In particular, combining analytical arguments with tensor network simulations, we study the dynamics of a $\nu =1/3$ Laughlin state in a single-mode cavity with finite electric field gradients. We find that the topological signatures of the FQH state remain robust against the nonlocal cavity vacuum fluctuations, as indicated by the endurance of the quantized Hall resistivity. The entanglement spectra, however, carry direct fingerprints of light-matter entanglement and topology, revealing peculiar polaritonic replicas of the U(1) counting. As a further response to cavity fluctuations, we also find a squeezed FQH geometry, encoded in long-wavelength correlations. By exploring the low-energy excited spectrum inside the FQH phase, we identify a new neutral quasiparticle, the graviton polariton, arising from the hybridization between quadrupolar FQH collective excitations (known as gravitons) and light. Pushing the light-matter interaction to ultrastrong-coupling regimes, we find other two important effects, a cavity vacuum-induced Stark shift for charged quasiparticles and a potential instability toward a density modulated stripe phase, competing against the phase separation driven by the Stark shift. Finally, we discuss the experimental implications of our findings and possible extension of our results to more complex scenarios.

Understanding nanoscale electronic and thermal transport of two-dimensional (2D) electron systems in the quantum Hall regime, particularly in the bulk insulating state, poses considerable challenges. One of the primary difficulties arises from the presence of chiral edge channels, whose transport behavior obscures the investigation of the insulating bulk. Using near-field optical and photocurrent nanoscopy, we probe real-space variations of the optical and thermal dynamics of graphene in the quantum Hall regime without relying on complex sample or electrode geometries. Near the charge-neutrality point, we detect strong optical and photothermal signals from resonant inter-Landau-level (LL) magnetoexciton excitations between the zeroth and $\pm 1$ st LLs, which gradually weaken with increasing doping due to Pauli blocking. Interestingly, at higher doping levels and full-integer LL fillings, photothermal signals reappear across the entire sample over an approximately $10\text{−}\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{m}$ scale, indicating unexpectedly long cooling lengths and nonlocal photothermal heating through the insulating bulk. This observation suggests that thermal conductivity persists for the localized states even as electronic transport is suppressed—a clear violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law. Our experiments provide novel insights into nanoscale thermal and electronic transport in incompressible 2D gases, highlighting the roles of magnetoexcitons and chiral edge states in the thermo-optoelectric dynamics of the Dirac quantum Hall state.

The self-thinning of liquid bridges under the action of capillarity occurs in widespread processes like jetting, dripping, and spraying and gives rise to a strong extensional flow capable of stretching dissolved polymers. If the resulting elastic stress exceeds the viscous stress, an exponential “elastocapillary” (EC) thinning regime arises, yielding a timescale ${\tau }_{\mathrm{EC}}$ that is commonly considered equivalent to the longest relaxation time of the polymer $\lambda$. A long-standing question is why ${\tau }_{\mathrm{EC}}$ depends strongly on the polymer concentration, even at high dilutions where $\lambda$ should be constant in theory. To date, this is understood in terms of intermolecular interactions that arise due to “self-concentration” effects as polymers stretch. However, $\lambda$ depends on the polymer molecular weight $M$, and we show how the concentration dependence of ${\tau }_{\mathrm{EC}}$ can be explained by considering the molecular weight distribution (MWD) inherent in real polymer samples, without the need to invoke self-concentration. We demonstrate this by blending low-$M$ and high-$M$ polymer samples with narrow MWDs at dilute concentrations and in different proportions and by measuring ${\tau }_{\mathrm{EC}}$ for each blend in capillary thinning experiments. Through a simple model that qualitatively reproduces the experimental results, we show how elastic stresses generated by the polymer build up prior to the EC regime due to the sequential stretching of progressively decreasing molecular weight species in the MWD. Since the elastic stress generated by each species depends on its concentration, the fraction of the MWD that is required to stretch in order to induce the EC regime depends on the total polymer concentration $c$ in the solution. For higher $c$, the EC regime is induced by stretching of a higher-$M$ (longer $\lambda$) fraction of the MWD and results in a longer measurement of ${\tau }_{\mathrm{EC}}$. Our results have significant implications for the application of capillary thinning measurements to extensional rheometry, for the interpretation of such measurements, and for the understanding of elastocapillary thinning dynamics in general.

Quantum nonlocality describes a stronger form of quantum correlation than that of entanglement. It refutes Einstein’s belief of local realism and is among the most distinctive and enigmatic features of quantum mechanics. It is a crucial resource for achieving quantum advantages in a variety of practical applications, ranging from cryptography and certified random number generation via self-testing to machine learning. Nevertheless, the detection of nonlocality, especially in quantum many-body systems, is notoriously challenging. Here, we report an experimental certification of genuine multipartite Bell-operator correlations, which signal nonlocality in quantum many-body systems, up to 24 qubits with a fully programmable superconducting quantum processor. In particular, we employ energy as a Bell-operator correlation witness and variationally decrease the energy of a many-body system across a hierarchy of thresholds, below which an increasing Bell-operator correlation depth can be certified from experimental data. We variationally prepare the low-energy state of a two-dimensional honeycomb model with 73 qubits and certify its Bell-operator correlations by measuring an energy that surpasses the corresponding classical bound with up to 48 standard deviations. In addition, we variationally prepare a sequence of low-energy states and certify their genuine multipartite Bell-operator correlations up to 24 qubits via energies measured efficiently by parity oscillation and multiple quantum coherence techniques. Our results establish a viable approach for preparing and certifying multipartite Bell-operator correlations, which provide not only a finer benchmark beyond entanglement for quantum devices, but also a valuable guide toward exploiting multipartite Bell correlations in a wide spectrum of practical applications.

Local random circuits scramble efficiently and, accordingly, have a range of applications in quantum information and quantum dynamics. With a global U(1) charge, however, the scrambling ability is reduced; for example, such random circuits do not generate the entire group of number-conserving unitaries. We establish two results using the statistical mechanics of $k$-fold replicated circuits. First, we show that finite moments cannot distinguish the ensemble that local random circuits generate from the Haar ensemble on the entire group of number-conserving unitaries. Specifically, the circuits form a $k_c$-design with $k_c=O(L^d)$ for a system in $d$ spatial dimensions with linear dimension $L$. Second, for $k<k_c$, we derive bounds on the depth $\tau$ required for the circuit to converge to an approximate $k$-design. The depth is lower bounded by diffusion $k{L}^2\ln (L)\lesssim \tau$. In contrast, without number conservation $\tau \sim \mathrm{poly}(k)L$. The convergence of the circuit ensemble is controlled by the low-energy properties of a frustration-free quantum statistical model which spontaneously breaks $k$ U(1) symmetries. We conjecture that the associated Goldstone modes set the spectral gap for arbitrary spatial and qudit dimensions, leading to an upper bound $\tau \lesssim k{L}^{d+2}$.

Competing interactions in frustrated magnets can give rise to highly degenerate ground states from which correlated liquidlike states of matter often emerge. The scaling of this degeneracy influences the ultimate ground state, with extensive degeneracies potentially yielding quantum spin liquids, while subextensive or smaller degeneracies yield static orders. A long-standing problem is to understand how ordered states precipitate from this degenerate manifold and what echoes of the degeneracy survive ordering. Here, we use neutron scattering to experimentally demonstrate a new “nodal-line” spin liquid, where spins collectively fluctuate within a subextensive manifold spanning one-dimensional lines in reciprocal space. Realized in the spin-orbit-coupled, face-centered-cubic iridate ${\mathrm{K}}_2{\mathrm{IrCl}}_6$, we show that the subextensive degeneracy is robust, but remains susceptible to fluctuations or longer-range interactions which cooperate to select a magnetic order at low temperatures. Proximity to the nodal-line spin liquid influences the ordered state, enhancing the effects of quantum fluctuations that in turn act to stabilize the sublattice magnetization through the self-consistent opening of a large spin-wave gap. Our results demonstrate how quantum fluctuations can act counterintuitively in frustrated materials: Even in a case where fluctuations are ineffective at selecting an ordered state from a degenerate manifold, at the brink of the nodal spin liquid, they can act to protect the ordered state and dictate its low-energy physics.

Monitored quantum systems undergo measurement-induced phase transitions (MiPTs) stemming from the interplay between measurements and unitary dynamics. When the detector readout is postselected to match a given value, the dynamics is generated by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian with MiPTs characterized by different universal features. Here, we derive a partial postselected stochastic Schrödinger equation based on a microscopic description of continuous weak measurement. This formalism connects the monitored and postselected dynamics to a broader family of stochastic evolution. We apply the formalism to a chain of free fermions subject to partial postselected monitoring of local fermion parities. Within a two-replica approach, we obtain an effective bosonized Hamiltonian in the strong postselected limit. Using a renormalization group analysis, we find that the universality of the non-Hermitian MiPT is stable against a finite (weak) amount of stochasticity. We further show that the passage to the monitored universality occurs abruptly at finite partial postselection, which we confirm from the numerical finite size scaling of the MiPT. Our approach establishes a way to study MiPTs for arbitrary subsets of quantum trajectories and provides a potential route to tackle the experimental postselected problem.

Quantum critical phenomena are widely studied across various materials families, from high-temperature superconductors to magnetic insulators. They occur when a thermodynamic phase transition is suppressed to zero temperature as a function of some tuning parameter such as pressure or magnetic field. This generally yields a point of instability—a so-called quantum critical point—at which the phase transition is driven exclusively by quantum fluctuations. Here, we show that the heavy fermion metamagnet ${\mathrm{UTe}}_2$ possesses a quantum phase transition at extreme magnetic field strengths of over 70 T. Rather than terminating at one singular point, we find that the phase boundary is sensitive to magnetic field components in each of the three Cartesian axes of magnetic field space. This results in the transition surface being bounded by a continuous ring of quantum critical points, the locus of which forms an extended line of quantum criticality—a novel form of quantum critical phase boundary. Within this quantum critical line sits a magnetic field-induced superconducting state in a toroidal shape, which persists to fields over 70 T. We model our data by a phenomenological free energy expansion and show how a quantum critical line—rather than a more conventional singular point of instability—anchors the remarkable high magnetic field phase landscape of ${\mathrm{UTe}}_2$.

The symmetry of superconducting and normal states is at the core of superconductivity research. Emergent electronic nematicity, which spontaneously breaks the rotational symmetry, has been found in the normal state of various types of unconventional superconductors. Here, we exploit the angle-resolved resistivity method to systematically measure the nematicity of the interface superconducting ${\mathrm{LaAlO}}_3/{\mathrm{KTaO}}_3(111)$ ($\mathrm{LAO}/\mathrm{KTO}$). Compared to the normal state, electronic nematicity is enhanced substantially by superconducting fluctuations around the superconducting temperature $T_{\mathrm{c}}$. More importantly, $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ is also anisotropic in plane and angle dependent. The nematicity consists of a dominant ${\mathrm{C}}_2$ component and a ${\mathrm{C}}_4$ component, which can be explained by the presence of nematic domains. After the superconductivity is suppressed by a magnetic field, the uncovered quantum metal state manifests significant nematicity that is contributed by residual nematic superconducting fluctuations. A coherent picture of nematic interface superconductivity can be retrieved from the measured nematicity phase diagram that is crucial for the understanding of quantum metal state, electronic nematicity, and interface superconductivity.

Many-body open quantum systems, described by Lindbladian master equations, are a rich class of physical models that display complex equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium phenomena which remain to be understood. In this paper, we theoretically analyze noisy analog quantum simulation of geometrically local open quantum systems and provide evidence that this problem both is hard to simulate on classical computers and could be approximately solved on near-term quantum devices. First, given a noiseless quantum simulator, we show that the dynamics of local observables and the fixed-point expectation values of rapidly mixing local observables in geometrically local Lindbladians can be obtained to a precision of $ϵ$ in time that is $\mathrm{poly}({ϵ}^{-1})$ and uniform in system size. Furthermore, we establish that the quantum simulator would provide a superpolynomial advantage, in run-time scaling with respect to the target precision and either the evolution time (when simulating dynamics) or the Lindbladian’s decay rate (when simulating fixed points), over any classical algorithm for these problems, assuming $\mathrm{BQP}\ne \mathrm{BPP}$. We then consider the presence of noise in the quantum simulator in the form of additional geometrically local Lindbladian terms. We show that the simulation tasks considered in this paper are stable to errors; i.e., they can be solved to a noise-limited, but system-size independent, precision. Finally, we establish that, assuming $\mathrm{BQP}\ne \mathrm{BPP}$, there are stable geometrically local Lindbladian simulation problems such that, as the noise rate on the simulator is reduced, classical algorithms must take time superpolynomially longer in the inverse noise rate to attain the same precision as the analog quantum simulator.

A general framework for analyzing the topology of quantum channels of single-particle systems is developed to find a class of genuinely dynamical topological phases that can be realized by means of discrete quantum feedback control. We provide a symmetry classification of quantum channels by identifying ten symmetry classes of discrete quantum feedback control with projective measurements. We construct various types of topological feedback control by using topological Maxwell demons that achieve robust feedback-controlled chiral or helical transport against noise and decoherence. Topological feedback control thus offers a versatile tool for creating and controlling nonequilibrium topological phases in open quantum systems that are distinct from non-Hermitian and Lindbladian systems and should provide a guiding principle for topology-based design of quantum feedback control.