Fermion Exchange Research Articles

I-PI 3.0: A flexible and efficient framework for advanced atomistic simulations.

Atomic-scale simulations have progressed tremendously over the past decade, largely thanks to the availability of machine-learning interatomic potentials. These potentials combine the accuracy of electronic structure calculations with the ability to reach extensive length and time scales. The i-PI package facilitates integrating the latest developments in this field with advanced modeling techniques thanks to a modular software architecture based on inter-process communication through a socket interface. The choice of Python for implementation facilitates rapid prototyping but can add computational overhead. In this new release, we carefully benchmarked and optimized i-PI for several common simulation scenarios, making such overhead negligible when i-PI is used to model systems up to tens of thousands of atoms using widely adopted machine learning interatomic potentials, such as Behler-Parinello, DeePMD, and MACE neural networks. We also present the implementation of several new features, including an efficient algorithm to model bosonic and fermionic exchange, a framework for uncertainty quantification to be used in conjunction with machine-learning potentials, a communication infrastructure that allows for deeper integration with electronic-driven simulations, and an approach to simulate coupled photon-nuclear dynamics in optical or plasmonic cavities.

Spectral flow of fermions in the ℂP2 (anti-)instanton, and the sphaleron with vanishing topological charge

The spectral flow is ubiquitous in the physics of soliton-fermion interacting systems. We study the spectral flows related to a continuous deformation of background soliton solutions, which enable us to develop insight into the emergence of fermionic zero modes and the localization mechanism of fermion densities. We investigate a ℂP2 nonlinear sigma model in which there are the (anti-) instantons and also the sphalerons with vanishing topological charge. The standard Yukawa coupling of the fermion successfully generates infinite towers of the spectra and the spectral flow is observed when increasing the size of such solitons. At that moment, the localization of the fermions on the solitons emerges. The avoided crossings are also observed in several stages of the exchange of the flows, they are indicating a manifestation of the fermion exchange of the localizing nature.

Resonant exchange of chiral Majorana Fermions modulated by two parallel quantum dots

Resonant exchange of the chiral Majorana fermions (MFs) that is coupled to two parallel Majorana zero modes (MZMs) or two parallel quantum dots (QDs) is investigated. We find that, in the two QDs coupling case, the resonant exchange for the chiral MFs is analogous to that in the MZM coupling case. We further propose a circuit based on topological superconductor, which is formed by the proximity coupling of a quantum anomalous Hall insulator and a s-wave superconductor, to observe the resonant exchange of chiral MFs pairs. The numerical calculations show that the resonant transmission of the chiral MFs can be adjusted by varying the coupling parameters at superconductor phase difference Δφ=π . It is particularly noteworthy that, by only modulating the coupling strength between the two QDs, the resonant exchange may be switched on or off. By adding another MZM, the non-Abelian braiding like operation can be realized. Therefore, our design scheme may provide another way for non-Abelian braiding operation of MFs and the findings may have potential application value in the realization of topological quantum computers.

Fermion exchange in ring polymer quantum theory

Fermion exchange in ring polymer quantum theory

Refining and relating fundamentals of functional theory.

To advance the foundation of one-particle reduced density matrix functional theory (1RDMFT), we refine and relate some of its fundamental features and underlying concepts. We define by concise means the scope of a 1RDMFT, identify its possible natural variables, and explain how symmetries could be exploited. In particular, for systems with time-reversal symmetry, we explain why there exist six equivalent universal functionals, prove concise relations among them, and conclude that the important notion of v-representability is relative to the scope and choice of variable. All these fundamental concepts are then comprehensively discussed and illustrated for the Hubbard dimer and its generalization to arbitrary pair interactions W. For this, we derive by analytical means the pure and ensemble functionals with respect to both the real- and complex-valued Hilbert space. The comparison of various functionals allows us to solve the underlying v-representability problems analytically, and the dependence of its solution on the pair interaction is demonstrated. Intriguingly, the gradient of each universal functional is found to always diverge repulsively on the boundary of the domain. In that sense, this key finding emphasizes the universal character of the fermionic exchange force, recently discovered and proven in the context of translationally invariant one-band lattice models.

Time-resolved Coulomb collision of single electrons.

A series of recent experiments have shown that collision of ballistic electrons in semiconductors can be used to probe the indistinguishability of single-electron wavepackets. Perhaps surprisingly, their Coulomb interaction has not been seen due to screening. Here we show Coulomb-dominated collision of high-energy single electrons in counter-propagating ballistic edge states, probed by measuring partition statistics while adjusting the collision timing. Although some experimental data suggest antibunching behaviour, we show that this is not due to quantum statistics but to strong repulsive Coulomb interactions. This prevents the wavepacket overlap needed for fermionic exchange statistics but suggests new ways to utilize Coulomb interactions: microscopically isolated and time-resolved interactions between ballistic electrons can enable the use of the Coulomb interaction for high-speed sensing or gate operations on flying electron qubits.

Supersimetrija

Introduction/purpose: Supersymmetry is a symmetry of the Lagrangian that goes beyond Lie groups. It allows the exchange of bosons and fermions. The most important model is the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, or MSSM. Methods: Supercharge algebra, superfields, Grassmann numbers, Berezin integral. Results: Supersymmetric transformations are global, they do not depend on spacetime coordinates. In the case of Supergravity, they are local. Conclusion: Supersymmetric models, and MSSM in particular, could describe more physics and more particles beyond the Standard Model.

Tree level Majorana neutrino mass from Type-1 × Type-2 Seesaw mechanism with Dark Matter

We propose a type of hybrid Seesaw model that combines Type-1 and Type-2 Seesaw mechanism in multiplicative way to generate tree level Majorana neutrino mass and provides a Dark Matter candidate. The model extends the Standard Model by extra gauge symmetry U(1)D and hidden sector consisted of chiral fermions and additional scalar fields. After spontaneous symmetry breaking, light neutrino masses are generated not only by exchange of the new heavy fermions as Type-1 Seesaw, but also by coupling to the naturally small induced vacuum expectation value of new heavy scalar as Type-2 Seesaw. An unbroken residue of U(1)D protects the lightest Dirac fermion required by anomaly cancellation in hidden sector from decaying, therefore giving rise to a Dark Matter candidate. Due to strong enough Seesaw suppression from our hybridization, new physics scale can be as low as TeV in this model and discovering signal from LHC data is possible in near future.

Exciton-exciton and exciton–charge carrier interaction and exciton collisional broadening in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

Wave functions of heavy-hole excitons in GaAs/Al$_{0.3}$Ga$_{0.7}$As square quantum wells (QWs) of various widths are calculated by the direct numerical solution of a three-dimensional Schr\"odinger equation using a finite-difference scheme. These wave functions are then used to determine the exciton-exciton, exciton-electron and exciton-hole fermion exchange constants in a wide range of QW widths (5-150 nm). Additionally, the spin-dependent matrix elements of elastic exciton-exciton, exciton-electron and exciton-hole scattering are calculated. From these matrix elements, the collisional broadening of the exciton resonance is obtained within the Born approximation as a function of the areal density of excitons, electrons and holes respectively for QW widths of 5, 15, 30 and 50 nm. The obtained numerical results are compared with other theoretical works.

Holographic unitary renormalization group for correlated electrons - I: A tensor network approach

We present a unified framework for the renormalisation of the Hamiltonian and eigenbasis of a system of correlated electrons, unveiling thereby the interplay between electronic correlations and many-particle entanglement. For this, we extend substantially the unitary renormalization group (URG) scheme introduced in Refs. [1–3]. We recast the RG as a discrete flow of the Hamiltonian tensor network, i.e., the collection of various 2n-point scattering vertex tensors comprising the Hamiltonian. The renormalisation progresses via unitary transformations that block diagonalizes the Hamiltonian iteratively via the disentanglement of single-particle eigenstates. This procedure incorporates naturally the role of quantum fluctuations. The RG flow equations possess a non-trivial structure, displaying a feedback mechanism through frequency-dependent dynamical self-energies and correlation energies. The interplay between various UV energy scales enables the coupled RG equations to flow towards a stable fixed point in the IR. The effective Hamiltonian at the IR fixed point generically has a reduced parameter space, as well as number of degrees of freedom, compared to the microscopic Hamiltonian. Importantly, the vertex RG flows are observed to govern the RG flow of the tensor network that denotes the coefficients of the many-particle eigenstates. The RG evolution of various many-particle entanglement features of the eigenbasis are, in turn, quantified through the coefficient tensor network. In this way, we show that the URG framework provides a microscopic understanding of holographic renormalisation: the RG flow of the vertex tensor network generates a eigenstate coefficient tensor network possessing a many-particle entanglement metric. We find that the eigenstate tensor network accommodates sign factors arising from fermion exchanges, and that the IR fixed point reached generically involves a trivialisation of the fermion sign factor. Several results are presented for the emergence of composite excitations in the neighbourhood of a gapless Fermi surface, as well as for the condensation phenomenon involving the gapping of the Fermi surface.

Uniform electron gas at finite temperature by fermionic-path-integral Monte Carlo simulations

In this paper we study thermodynamic properties of uniform electron gas (UEG) over wide density and temperature range, using the improved fermionic-path-integral Monte Carlo (FPIMC) method. This method demonstrates a significant reduction of the "fermionic sign problem," which takes place in standard path-integral Monte Carlo simulations of degenerate fermionic systems. We introduce three basic improvements. The first one is the improved treatment of exchange interaction, achieved by the proper change of variables in the path-integral measure. The second improvement is the inclusion of long-range Coulomb effects into an angle-averaged effective potential, as proposed by Yakub and Ronchi [J. Chem. Phys. 119, 11556 (2003)JCPSA60021-960610.1063/1.1624364]. The third improvement is the angle-averaging of an exchange determinant, describing the fermionic exchange interaction not only between particles in the main Monte Carlo cell, but also with electrons in the nearest periodic images. The FPIMC shows very good agreement with analytical data for ideal Fermi gas. For strongly coupled UEG under warm dense matter conditions we compare our total and exchange-correlation energy results with other Monte Carlo approaches.

Symmetries and Their Breaking in the Fundamental Laws of Physics

Symmetries in the Physical Laws of Nature lead to observable effects. Beyond the regularities and conserved magnitudes, the last few decades in particle physics have seen the identification of symmetries, and their well-defined breaking, as the guiding principle for the elementary constituents of matter and their interactions. Flavour SU(3) symmetry of hadrons led to the Quark Model and the antisymmetric requirement under exchange of identical fermions led to the colour degree of freedom. Colour became the generating charge for flavour-independent strong interactions of quarks and gluons in the exact colour SU(3) local gauge symmetry. Parity Violation in weak interactions led us to consider the chiral fields of fermions as the objects with definite transformation properties under the weak isospin SU(2) gauge group of the Unifying Electro-Weak SU(2) × U(1) symmetry, which predicted novel weak neutral current interactions. CP-Violation led to three families of quarks opening the field of Flavour Physics. Time-reversal violation has recently been observed with entangled neutral mesons, compatible with CPT-invariance. The cancellation of gauge anomalies, which would invalidate the gauge symmetry of the quantum field theory, led to Quark–Lepton Symmetry. Neutrinos were postulated in order to save the conservation laws of energy and angular momentum in nuclear beta decay. After the ups and downs of their mass, neutrino oscillations were discovered in 1998, opening a new era about their origin of mass, mixing, discrete symmetries and the possibility of global lepton-number violation through Majorana mass terms and Leptogenesis as the source of the matter–antimatter asymmetry in the universe. The experimental discovery of quarks and leptons and the mediators of their interactions, with physical observables in spectacular agreement with this Standard Theory, is the triumph of Symmetries. The gauge symmetry is exact only when the particles are massless. One needs a subtle breaking of the symmetry, providing the origin of mass without affecting the excellent description of the interactions. This is the Brout–Englert–Higgs Mechanism, which produces the Higgs Boson as a remnant, discovered at CERN in 2012. Open present problems are addressed with by searching the New Physics Beyond-the-Standard-Model.

Path integral molecular dynamics for fermions: Alleviating the sign problem with the Bogoliubov inequality.

We present a method for performing path integral molecular dynamics (PIMD) simulations for fermions and address its sign problem. PIMD simulations are widely used for studying many-body quantum systems at thermal equilibrium. However, they assume that the particles are distinguishable and neglect bosonic and fermionic exchange effects. Interacting fermions play a key role in many chemical and physical systems, such as electrons in quantum dots and ultracold trapped atoms. A direct sampling of the fermionic partition function is impossible using PIMD since its integrand is not positive definite. We show that PIMD simulations for fermions are feasible by employing our recently developed method for bosonic PIMD and reweighting the results to obtain fermionic expectation values. The approach is tested against path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations for up to seven electrons in a two-dimensional quantum dot for a range of interaction strengths. However, like PIMC, the method suffers from the sign problem at low temperatures. We propose a simple approach for alleviating it by simulating an auxiliary system with a larger average sign and obtaining an upper bound to the energy of the original system using the Bogoliubov inequality. This allows fermions to be studied at temperatures lower than would otherwise have been feasible using PIMD, as demonstrated in the case of a three-electron quantum dot. Our results extend the boundaries of PIMD simulations of fermions and will hopefully stimulate the development of new approaches for tackling the sign problem.

Kinks bounded by fermions

We present and study new mechanism of interaction between the solitons based on the exchange interaction mediated by the localized fermion states. As particular examples, we consider solutions of simple 1+1 dimensional scalar field theories with self-interaction potentials, including sine-Gordon model and the polynomial $\phi^4$, $\phi^6$ models, coupled to the Dirac fermions with back-reaction. We discover that there is an additional fermion exchange interaction between the solitons, it leads to the formation of static multi-soliton bound states. Further, we argue that similar mechanisms of formation of stable coupled multi-soliton configurations can be observed for a wide class of physical systems.

Molecular interferometers: effects of Pauli principle on entangled-enhanced precision measurements

Feshbach molecules forming a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) behave as non-ideal bosonic particles due to their underlying fermionic structure. We study the observable consequences of the fermion exchange interactions in the interference of molecular BECs for entangled-enhanced precision measurements. Our many-body treatment of the molecular condensate is based on an ansatz of composite two-fermion bosons which accounts for all possible fermion exchange correlations present in the system. The Pauli principle acts prohibitively on the particle fluctuations during the interference process leading to a loss of precision in phase estimations. However, we find that, in the regime where molecular dissociations do not jeopardize the interference dynamics, measurements of the phase can still be performed with a precision beyond the classical limit comparable to atomic interferometers. We also show that the effects of Pauli principle increases with the noise of the particle detectors such that molecular interferometers would require more efficient detectors.

Is the fermionic exchange phase also acquired locally?

We argue that the fermionic exchange phase could be detected by local means. We propose a simple experiment to test our idea. This leads us to speculate that there might be a deeper mechanism behind the notion of particle statistics in quantum physics that goes beyond the conventional argument based on the spin-statistics connections.

Optical Signature of Quantum Coherence in Fully Dark Exciton Condensates.

We predict that the collision of two fully dark exciton condensates produces bright interference fringes. So, quite surprisingly, the collision of coherent dark states makes light. This remarkable effect, which is many body in essence, comes from the composite boson nature of excitons, through the fermion exchanges they can have which transform dark states into bright states. The possibility of optically detecting quantum coherence in a regime where the system is hidden by its total darkness was up to now considered as hopeless.

Entanglement between two spatially separated ultracold interacting Fermi gases

Multiparticle entangled states, essential ingredients for modern quantum technologies, are routinely generated in experiments of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). However, the entanglement in ultracold interacting Fermi gases has not been yet exploited. In this work, by using an ansatz of composite bosons, we show that many-particle entanglement between two fermionic ensembles localized in spatially separated modes can be generated by splitting an ultracold interacting Fermi gas in the (molecular) BEC regime. This entanglement relies on the fundamental fermion exchange symmetry of molecular constituents and might be used for implementing Bell test of quantum nonlocality in oncoming experiments.

Fermion exchange interaction between magnetic Skyrmions

We propose a new mechanism of exchange interaction between the solitons related with the presence of localized fermions. Since the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index theorem implies that such modes always exist for any topological soliton, their appearance may significantly alter the usual pattern of interaction. We elaborate this possibility considering, as a particular example, the chiral magnetic skyrmions coupled to spin-isospin fermions. It is shown that there are sequences of fermionic modes localized on the skyrmions. We investigate the additional effect of exchange interaction between the soltions with localized fermionic modes and demonstrate the existence of a stable system of magnetic skyrmions bounded by the strong attractive interaction mediated by the chargeless fermions.

Non-Abelian operation on chiral Majorana fermions by quantum dots

The non-Abelian braiding of Majorana fermions is one of the most promising operations providing a key building block for the realization of topological quantum computation. Recently, the chiral Majorana fermions were observed in a hybrid junction btween a quantum anomalous Hall insulator and an s-wave superconductor. Here we show that if a quantum dot or Majorana zero mode couples to the chiral Majorana fermions, the resulting resonant exchange of chiral Majorana fermions can lead to the non-Abelian braiding. Remarkably, any operation in the braid group can be achieved by this scheme. We further propose electrical transport experiments to observe the braiding of four chiral Majorana fermions and demonstrate the non-Abelian braiding statistics in four-terminal devices of the hybrid junctions. Both a conductance peak due to the braiding and the braiding-order dependent conductance are predicted. These findings pave a way to perform any braiding operation of chiral Majorana fermions by electrically controllable quantum dots.