Hamiltonian Phase Research Articles

Phase diagram of the three-dimensional subsystem toric code

Subsystem quantum error-correcting codes typically involve measuring a sequence of noncommuting parity check operators. They can sometimes exhibit greater fault tolerance than conventional codes, which use commuting checks. However, unlike subspace codes, it is unclear if subsystem codes—in particular their advantages—can be understood in terms of ground-state properties of a physical Hamiltonian. In this paper, we address this question for the three-dimensional subsystem toric code (3D STC), as recently constructed by Kubica and Vasmer [], which exhibits single-shot error correction. Motivated by a conjectured relation between single-shot properties and thermal stability, we study the zero- and finite-temperature phases of an associated noncommuting Hamiltonian. By mapping the Hamiltonian model to a pair of 3D Z2 gauge theories coupled by a kinetic constraint, we find various phases at zero temperature, all separated by first-order transitions: There are 3D toric code-like phases with deconfined point-like excitations in the bulk, and there are phases with a confined bulk supporting a 2D toric code on the surface when appropriate boundary conditions are chosen. The latter is similar to the surface topological order present in 3D STC. However, the similarities between the single-shot correction in 3D STC and the confined phases are only partial: they share the same sets of degrees of freedom, but they are governed by different dynamical rules. Instead, we argue that the process of single-shot error correction can more suitably be associated with a path (rather than a point) in the zero-temperature phase diagram, a perspective, which inspires alternative measurement sequences enabling single-shot error correction. Moreover, since none of the above-mentioned phases survives at nonzero temperature, the single-shot error-correction property of the code does not imply thermal stability of the associated Hamiltonian phase. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Optimizing Variational Quantum Neural Networks Based on Collective Intelligence

Quantum machine learning stands out as one of the most promising applications of quantum computing, widely believed to possess potential quantum advantages. In the era of noisy intermediate-scale quantum, the scale and quality of quantum computers are limited, and quantum algorithms based on fault-tolerant quantum computing paradigms cannot be experimentally verified in the short term. The variational quantum algorithm design paradigm can better adapt to the practical characteristics of noisy quantum hardware and is currently one of the most promising solutions. However, variational quantum algorithms, due to their highly entangled nature, encounter the phenomenon known as the “barren plateau” during the optimization and training processes, making effective optimization challenging. This paper addresses this challenging issue by researching a variational quantum neural network optimization method based on collective intelligence algorithms. The aim is to overcome optimization difficulties encountered by traditional methods such as gradient descent. We study two typical applications of using quantum neural networks: random 2D Hamiltonian ground state solving and quantum phase recognition. We find that the collective intelligence algorithm shows a better optimization compared to gradient descent. The solution accuracy of ground energy and phase classification is enhanced, and the optimization iterations are also reduced. We highlight that the collective intelligence algorithm has great potential in tackling the optimization of variational quantum algorithms.

Hamiltonian phase error in resonantly driven CNOT gate above the fault-tolerant threshold

Because of their long coherence time and compatibility with industrial foundry processes, electron spin qubits are a promising platform for scalable quantum processors. A full-fledged quantum computer will need quantum error correction, which requires high-fidelity quantum gates. Analyzing and mitigating gate errors are useful to improve gate fidelity. Here, we demonstrate a simple yet reliable calibration procedure for a high-fidelity controlled-rotation gate in an exchange-always-on Silicon quantum processor, allowing operation above the fault-tolerance threshold of quantum error correction. We find that the fidelity of our uncalibrated controlled-rotation gate is limited by coherent errors in the form of controlled phases and present a method to measure and correct these phase errors. We then verify the improvement in our gate fidelities by randomized benchmark and gate-set tomography protocols. Finally, we use our phase correction protocol to implement a virtual, high-fidelity, controlled-phase gate.

Constrained evolution of Hamiltonian phase space distributions in the presence of natural, non-conservative forces

Confidence regions for spacecraft state can be constructed in phase space which encapsulate some region where there is a likelihood for the state to reside. These regions can be treated as phase space distributions or structures. Structures, such as surfaces or volumes, are constrained to preserve specific properties as they evolve in phase space under Hamiltonian dynamics. Thus, spacecraft uncertainty is then constrained by Hamiltonian flow which can provide insight into state determination. This work examines the modified constraints in the presence of non-conservative forces which relate to both probabilistic and geometric properties of the evolving uncertainty structure. The modified constraints are then derived for a Two-Body and drag environment and are shown to be valid after comparison with alternative methods. Applying the modified constraints, the constrained evolution of the confidence region is then tied to a simple physical explanation for the changing knowledge in our spacecraft state, in the atmospheric drag environment and Poynting–Robertson drag environment.

Path integrals as analysis on path space by time slicing approximation

We explain the Lagrangian (configuration space) path integrals in Section 1 and the Hamiltonian (phase space) path integrals in Section 2. The two sections are independent of each other. Readers can read from either section.

Pair-partitioned bulk localized states induced by topological band inversion

Photonic topological insulators have recently received widespread attention mainly due to their ability to provide directions in the development of photonic integration platforms. The proposal for a topological bulk cavity with a single-mode expands upon previous research works on topological cavities; thus, interest in topological edge states and corner states is beginning to shift into analysis on bulk properties and their applications. However, there remains a gap in research on a multi-mode cavity of the topological photonic crystals (PCs). In this Letter, a cavity of the topological PCs is proposed involving pair-partitioned bulk localized states (BLSs) from a two-dimensional inner and outer nested square lattice (2D IONSL), which can enable a multi-mode cavity for the topological PCs. First, the topological characteristics are described in terms of a Zak phase, and band inversions are achieved by changing the size of scatterers in the inner and outer circles that reside within the unit cell. Afterwards, analogous to the tight-binding model for electronic systems, the Hamiltonian and topological phase transition conditions of 2D IONSL PCs are derived. Furthermore, it is proposed that the demonstrated optical field reflection and confinement mechanism induced by topological band inversions due to the opposite parities of wavefunctions may lead to the phenomenon of pair-partitioned BLSs. This research increases the research works of bulk topological effects, creating a route for photonic integration platforms for near-infrared.

Ergodic and nonergodic many-body dynamics in strongly nonlinear lattices.

The study of nonlinear oscillator chains in classical many-body dynamics has a storied history going back to the seminal work of Fermi etal. [Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Report No. LA-1940, 1955 (unpublished)]. We introduce a family of such systems which consist of chains of N harmonically coupled particles with the nonlinearity introduced by confining the motion of each individual particle to a box or stadium with hard walls. The stadia are arranged on a one-dimensional lattice but they individually do not have to be one dimensional, thus permitting the introduction of chaos already at the lattice scale. For the most part we study the case where the motion is entirely one dimensional. We find that the system exhibits a mixed phase space for any finite value of N. Computations of Lyapunov spectra at randomly picked phase space locations and a direct comparison between Hamiltonian evolution and phase space averages indicate that the regular regions of phase space are not significant at large system sizes. While the continuum limit of our model is itself a singular limit of the integrable sinh Gordon theory, we do not see any evidence for the kind of nonergodicity famously seen in the work of Fermi etal. Finally, we examine the chain with particles confined to two-dimensional stadia where the individual stadium is already chaotic and find a much more chaotic phase space at small system sizes.

Topological and geometrical aspects of band theory

This paper provides a pedagogical introduction to recent developments in geometrical and topological band theory following the discovery of graphene and topological insulators. Amusingly, many of these developments have a connection to contributions in high-energy physics by Dirac. The review starts by a presentation of the Dirac magnetic monopole, goes on with the Berry phase in a two-level system and the geometrical/topological band theory for Bloch electrons in crystals. Next, specific examples of tight-binding models giving rise to lattice versions of the Dirac equation in various space dimension are presented: in 1D (Su–Schrieffer–Heeger (SSH) and Rice–Mele models), 2D (graphene, boron nitride, Haldane model) and 3D (Weyl semi-metals). The focus is on topological insulators and topological semi-metals. The latter have a Fermi surface that is characterized as a topological defect. For topological insulators, the two alternative view points of twisted fiber bundles and of topological textures are developed. The minimal mathematical background in topology (essentially on homotopy groups and fiber bundles) is provided when needed. Topics rarely reviewed include: periodic versus canonical Bloch Hamiltonian (basis I/II issue), Zak versus Berry phase, the vanishing electric polarization of the SSH model and Dirac insulators.

Stationary Shear Flows of Nematic Liquid Crystals: A Comprehensive Study via Ericksen–Leslie Model

We apply the Ericksen–Leslie dynamic model to investigate stationary solutions of planar shear flows for nematic liquid crystals. Nematic material is extremely rich and involves several parameters to characterize the basic local properties. The Ericksen–Leslie model of the nematic material includes Frank’s parameters for Oseen–Frank energy and Leslie’s dynamic parameters. Even in this simple setting of shear flows, the dynamics supported by the material exhibit quick rich behavior. With the aid of a Hamiltonian formulation and phase plane portraits, we are able to provide a rather complete picture about the possible solutions. In particular, we establish the existence of multiple solutions for the boundary value problem in many situations. We also try to explain the physical reasons for some of the results.

Addendum: Electron-cyclotron heating and kinetic instabilities of a mirror-confined plasma: the quasilinear theory revised (2020 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 62 065005)

We explain and fix a mistake of the original paper related to derivation of the Fokker–Planck kinetic equation for the distribution function in the non-canonical (not Hamiltonian) phase space.

Constrained dynamics: generalized Lie symmetries, singular Lagrangians, and the passage to Hamiltonian mechanics

Guided by the symmetries of the Euler–Lagrange equations of motion, a study of the constrained dynamics of singular Lagrangians is presented. We find that these equations of motion admit a generalized Lie symmetry, and on the Lagrangian phase space the generators of this symmetry lie in the kernel of the Lagrangian two-form. Solutions of the energy equation—called second-order, Euler–Lagrange vector fields (SOELVFs)—with integral flows that have this symmetry are determined. Importantly, while second-order, Lagrangian vector fields are not such a solution, it is always possible to construct from them a SOELVF that is. We find that all SOELVFs are projectable to the Hamiltonian phase space, as are all the dynamical structures in the Lagrangian phase space needed for their evolution. In particular, the primary Hamiltonian constraints can be constructed from vectors that lie in the kernel of the Lagrangian two-form, and with this construction, we show that the Lagrangian constraint algorithm for the SOELVF is equivalent to the stability analysis of the total Hamiltonian. Importantly, the end result of this stability analysis gives a Hamiltonian vector field that is the projection of the SOELVF obtained from the Lagrangian constraint algorithm. The Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of mechanics for singular Lagrangians are in this way equivalent.

Topological insulating phase for anti-Hermitian Hamiltonians

We study classification of anti-Hermitian topological insulators based on the discrete symmetries: time-reversal, particle-hole and chiral symmetries. Contrary to the most general form of non-Hermitian systems, bulk boundary correspondence can hold in anti-Hermitian topological systems. We map a topologically nontrivial Hermitian Hamiltonians into an anti-Hermitian system and we show that the standard table of topological insulators can be used for anti-Hermitian Hamiltonians.

State space distribution and dynamical flow for closed and open quantum systems

We present a general formalism for studying the effects of heterogeneity in open quantum systems. We develop this formalism in the state space of density operators, on which ensembles of quantum states can be conveniently represented by probability distributions. We describe how this representation reduces ambiguity in the definition of quantum ensembles by providing the ability to explicitly separate classical and quantum sources of probabilistic uncertainty. We then derive explicit equations of motion for state space distributions of both open and closed quantum systems and demonstrate that resulting dynamics take a fluid mechanical form analogous to a classical probability fluid on Hamiltonian phase space, thus enabling a straightforward quantum generalization of Liouville’s theorem. We illustrate the utility of our formalism by analyzing the dynamics of an open two-level system using the state-space formalism that is shown to be consistent with the derived analytical results.

Far-from-equilibrium noise-heating and laser-cooling dynamics in radio-frequency Paul traps

We study the stochastic dynamics of a particle in a periodically driven potential. For atomic ions trapped in radio-frequency Paul traps, noise heating and laser cooling typically act slowly in comparison with the unperturbed motion. These stochastic processes can be accounted for in terms of a probability distribution defined over the action variables, which would otherwise be conserved within the regular regions of the Hamiltonian phase space. We present a semiclassical theory of low-saturation laser cooling applicable from the limit of low-amplitude motion to large-amplitude motion, accounting fully for the time-dependent and anharmonic trap. We employ our approach to a detailed study of the stochastic dynamics of a single ion, drawing general conclusions regarding the nonequilibrium dynamics of laser-cooled trapped ions. We predict a regime of anharmonic motion in which laser cooling becomes diffusive (i.e., it is equally likely to cool the ion as it is to heat it), and can also turn into effective heating. This implies that a high-energy ion could be easily lost from the trap despite being laser cooled; however, we find that this loss can be counteracted using a laser detuning much larger than Doppler detuning.

О структуре фазового потока в окрестности симметричного периодического решения системы Гамильтона

О структуре фазового потока в окрестности симметричного периодического решения системы Гамильтона

Schwarzschild/CFT from soft black hole hair?

Recent studies of asymptotic symmetries suggest, that a Hamiltonian phase space analysis in gravitational theories might be able to account for black hole microstates. In this context we explain, why the use of conventional Bondi fall-off conditions for the gravitational field is too restrictive in the presence of an event horizon. This implies an enhancement of physical degrees of freedom ( mathcal{A} -modes). They provide new gravitational hair and are responsible for black hole microstates. Using covariant phase space methods, for the example of a Schwarzschild black hole, we give a proposal for the surface degrees of freedom and their surface charge algebra. The obtained two-dimensional dual theory is conjectured to be conformally invariant as motivated from the criticality of the black hole. Carlip’s approach to entropy counting reemerges as a Sugawara-construction of a 2D stress-tensor.

Extrapolating Quantum Observables with Machine Learning: Inferring Multiple Phase Transitions from Properties of a Single Phase.

We present a machine-learning method for predicting sharp transitions in a Hamiltonian phase diagram by extrapolating the properties of quantum systems. The method is based on Gaussian process regression with a combination of kernels chosen through an iterative procedure maximizing the predicting power of the kernels. The method is capable of extrapolating across the transition lines. The calculations within a given phase can be used to predict not only the closest sharp transition but also a transition removed from the available data by a separate phase. This makes the present method particularly valuable for searching phase transitions in the parts of the parameter space that cannot be probed experimentally or theoretically.

Ab Initio Finite Temperature Auxiliary Field Quantum Monte Carlo.

We present an ab initio auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo method for studying the electronic structure of molecules, solids, and model Hamiltonians at finite temperature. The algorithm marries the ab initio phaseless auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo algorithm known to produce high accuracy ground state energies of molecules and solids with its finite temperature variant, long used by condensed matter physicists for studying model Hamiltonian phase diagrams, to yield a phaseless, ab initio finite temperature method. We demonstrate that the method produces internal energies within chemical accuracy of exact diagonalization results across a wide range of temperatures for H2O (STO-3G), C2 (STO-6G), the one-dimensional hydrogen chain (STO-6G), and the multiorbital Hubbard model. Our method effectively controls the phase problem through importance sampling, often even without invoking the phaseless approximation, down to temperatures at which the systems studied approach their ground states and may therefore be viewed as exact over wide temperature ranges. This technique embodies a versatile tool for studying the finite temperature phase diagrams of a plethora of systems whose properties cannot be captured by a Hubbard U term alone. Our results moreover illustrate that the severity of the phase problem for model Hamiltonians far exceeds that for many molecules at all of the temperatures studied.

Testing algorithms for critical slowing down

We present the preliminary tests on two modifications of the Hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) algorithm. Both algorithms are designed to travel much farther in the Hamiltonian phase space for each trajectory and reduce the autocorrelations among physical observables thus tackling the critical slowing down towards the continuum limit. We present a comparison of costs of the new algorithms with the standard HMC evolution for pure gauge fields, studying the autocorrelation times for various quantities including the topological charge.

Implementing a distance-based classifier with a quantum interference circuit

Lately, much attention has been given to quantum algorithms that solve pattern recognition tasks in machine learning. Many of these quantum machine learning algorithms try to implement classical models on large-scale universal quantum computers that have access to non-trivial subroutines such as Hamiltonian simulation, amplitude amplification and phase estimation. We approach the problem from the opposite direction and analyse a distance-based classifier that is realised by a simple quantum interference circuit. After state preparation, the circuit only consists of a Hadamard gate as well as two single-qubit measurements, and computes the distance between data points in quantum parallel. We demonstrate the proof of principle using the IBM Quantum Experience and analyse the performance of the classifier with numerical simulations.