Presence Of Long-range Interactions Research Articles

Many-body localization in the presence of long-range interactions and long-range hopping

We study many-body localization (MBL) in a one-dimensional system of spinless fermions with a deterministic aperiodic potential in the presence of long-range interactions or long-range hopping. Based on perturbative arguments there is a common belief that MBL can exist only in systems with short-range interactions and short-range hopping. We analyze effects of power-law interactions and power-law hopping, separately, on a system which has all the single particle states localized in the absence of interactions. Since delocalization is driven by proliferation of resonances in the Fock space, we mapped this model to an effective Anderson model on a complex graph in the Fock space, and calculated the probability distribution of the number of resonances up to third order. Though the most-probable value of the number of resonances diverge for the system with long-range hopping ($t(r) \sim t_0/r^\alpha$ with $\alpha < 2$), there is no enhancement of the number of resonances as the range of power-law interactions increases. This indicates that the long-range hopping delocalizes the many-body localized system but in contrast to this, there is no signature of delocalization in the presence of long-range interactions. We further provide support in favor of this analysis based on dynamics of the system after a quench starting from a charge density wave ordered state, level spacing statistics, return probability, participation ratio and Shannon entropy in the Fock space. We demonstrate that MBL persists in the presence of long-range interactions though long-range hopping with $1<\alpha <2$ delocalizes the system partially, with all the states extended for $\alpha <1$. Even in a system which has single-particle mobility edges in the non-interacting limit, turning on long-range interactions does not cause delocalization.

Ultrafast variational simulation of nontrivial quantum states with long-range interactions

State preparation protocols ideally require as minimal operations as possible, in order to be implemented in near-term, potentially noisy quantum devices. Motivated by long range interactions (LRIs) intrinsic to many present-day experimental platforms (trapped ions, Rydberg atom arrays, etc.), we investigate the efficacy of variationally simulating non-trivial quantum states using the Variational Quantum-Classical Simulation (VQCS) protocol explored recently in [SciPost Phys. 6, 029 (2019)], in the presence of LRIs. We show that this approach leads to extremely efficient state preparation: for example, Greene-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states can be prepared with O(1) iterations of the protocol, and a quantum critical point of the long range transverse field Ising model (TFIM) can be prepared with > 99% fidelity on a 100 qubit system with only one iteration. Furthermore, we show that VQCS with LRIs is a promising route for exploring generic points in the phase diagram of the long-range TFIM. Our approach thus provides concrete, ultrafast protocols for quantum simulators equipped with long range interactions.

Higgs-mediated bound states in dark-matter models

It has been recently demonstrated that the 125 GeV Higgs boson can mediate a long-range force between TeV-scale particles, that can impact considerably their annihilation due to the Sommerfeld effect, and hence the density of thermal relic dark matter. In the presence of long-range interactions, the formation and decay of particle-antiparticle bound states can also deplete dark matter significantly. We consider the Higgs boson as mediator in the formation of bound states, and compute the effect on the dark matter abundance. To this end, we consider a simplified model in which dark matter co-annihilates with coloured particles that have a sizeable coupling to the Higgs. The Higgs-mediated force affects the dark matter depletion via bound state formation in several ways. It enhances the capture cross-sections due to the attraction it mediates between the incoming particles, it increases the binding energy of the bound states, hence rendering their ionisation inefficient sooner in the early universe, and for large enough couplings, it can overcome the gluon repulsion of certain colour representations and give rise to additional bound states. Because it alters the momentum exchange in the bound states, the Higgs-mediated force also affects the gluon-mediated potential via the running of the strong coupling. We comment on the experimental implications and conclude that the Higgs-mediated potential must be taken into account when circumscribing the viable parameter space of related models.

Macroscopic coherence as an emergent property in molecular nanotubes

Nanotubular molecular self-aggregates are characterized by a high degree of symmetry and they are fundamental systems for light-harvesting and energy transport. While coherent effects are thought to be at the basis of their high efficiency, the relationship between structure, coherence and functionality is still an open problem. We analyse natural nanotubes present in Green Sulphur Bacteria. We show that they have the ability to support macroscopic coherent states, i.e. delocalized excitonic states coherently spread over many molecules, even at room temperature. Specifically, assuming a canonical thermal state we find, in natural structures, a large thermal coherence length, of the order of 1000 molecules. By comparing natural structures with other mathematical models, we show that this macroscopic coherence cannot be explained either by the magnitude of the nearest-neighbour coupling between the molecules, which would induce a thermal coherence length of the order of 10 molecules, nor by the presence of long-range interactions between the molecules. Indeed we prove that the existence of macroscopic coherent states is an emergent property of such structures due to the interplay between geometry and cooperativity (superradiance and super-transfer). In order to prove that, we give evidence that the lowest part of the spectrum of natural systems is determined by a cooperatively enhanced coupling (super-transfer) between the eigenstates of modular sub-units of the whole structure. Due to this enhanced coupling strength, the density of states is lowered close to the ground state, thus boosting the thermal coherence length. As a striking consequence of the lower density of states, an energy gap between the excitonic ground state and the first excited state emerges. Such energy gap increases with the length of the nanotube (instead of decreasing as one would expect), up to a critical system size which is close to the length of the natural complexes considered.

Probing quantum effects in lithium

In periodic table lithium is the first element immediately after helium and the lightest metal. While fascinating quantum nature of condensed helium is suppressed at high densities, lithium is expected to adapt more quantum solid behavior under compression. This is due to the presence of long range interactions in metallic systems for which an increase in the de-Boer parameter (λσ, where σ is the minimum interatomic distance and λ is the de-Broglie wavelength) is predicted at higher densities [1,2]. Physics of dense lithium offers a rich playground to look for new emergent quantum phenomena in condensed matter and has been subject of many theoretical and experimental investigations. In this article recent progress in studying the quantum nature of dense lithium will be discussed.

Topological Edge States in Periodically Driven Trapped-Ion Chains.

Topological insulating phases are primarily associated with condensed-matter systems, which typically feature short-range interactions. Nevertheless, many realizations of quantum matter can exhibit long-range interactions, and it is still largely unknown the effect that these latter may exert upon the topological phases. In this Letter, we investigate the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger topological insulator in the presence of long-range interactions. We show that this model can be readily realized in quantum simulators with trapped ions by means of a periodic driving. Our results indicate that the localization of the associated edge states is enhanced by the long-range interactions, and that the localized components survive within the ground state of the model. These effects could be easily confirmed in current state-of-the-art experimental implementations.

Energy transport in the presence of long-range interactions.

We study energy transport in the paradigmatic Hamiltonian mean-field (HMF) model and other related long-range interacting models using molecular dynamics simulations. We show that energy diffusion in the HMF model is subdiffusive in nature, which confirms a recently obtained intriguing result that, despite being globally interacting, this model is a thermal insulator in the thermodynamic limit. Surprisingly, when additional nearest-neighbor interactions are introduced to the HMF model, an energy superdiffusion is observed. We show that these results can be consistently explained by studying energy localization due to thermally generated intrinsic localized excitation modes (discrete breathers) in nonlinear discrete systems. Our analysis for the HMF model can also be readily extended to more generic long-range interacting models where the interaction strength decays algebraically with the (shortest) distance between two lattice sites. This reconciles many of the apparently counterintuitive results presented recently [C. Olivares and C. Anteneodo, Phys. Rev. E 94, 042117 (2016)2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.94.042117; D. Bagchi, Phys. Rev. E 95, 032102 (2017)2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.95.032102] concerning energy transport in two such long-range interacting models.

Sampling Long- versus Short-Range Interactions Defines the Ability of Force Fields To Reproduce the Dynamics of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have valuably complemented experiments describing the dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), particularly since the proposal of models to solve the artificial collapse of IDPs in silico. Such models suggest redefining nonbonded interactions, by either increasing water dispersion forces or adopting the Kirkwood-Buff force field. These approaches yield extended conformers that better comply with experiments, but it is unclear if they all sample the same intrachain dynamics of IDPs. We have tested this by employing MD simulations and single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer spectroscopy to sample the dimensions of systems with different sequence compositions, namely strong and weak polyelectrolytes. For strong polyelectrolytes in which charge effects dominate, all the proposed solutions equally reproduce the expected ensemble's dimensions. For weak polyelectrolytes, at lower cutoffs, force fields abnormally alter intrachain dynamics, overestimating excluded volume over chain flexibility or reporting no difference between the dynamics of different chains. The TIP4PD water model alone can reproduce experimentally observed changes in extensions (dimensions), but not quantitatively and with only weak statistical significance. Force field limitations are reversed with increased interaction cutoffs, showing that chain dynamics are critically defined by the presence of long-range interactions. Force field analysis aside, our study provides the first insights into how long-range interactions critically define IDP dimensions and raises the question of which length range is crucial to correctly sample the overall dimensions and internal dynamics of the large group of weakly charged yet highly polar IDPs.

Entanglement Area Laws for Long-Range Interacting Systems.

We prove that the entanglement entropy of any state evolved under an arbitrary 1/r^{α} long-range-interacting D-dimensional lattice spin Hamiltonian cannot change faster than a rate proportional to the boundary area for any α>D+1. We also prove that for any α>2D+2, the ground state of such a Hamiltonian satisfies the entanglement area law if it can be transformed along a gapped adiabatic path into a ground state known to satisfy the area law. These results significantly generalize their existing counterparts for short-range interacting systems, and are useful for identifying dynamical phase transitions and quantum phase transitions in the presence of long-range interactions.

Critical Time Crystals in Dipolar Systems.

We analyze the quantum dynamics of periodically driven, disordered systems in the presence of long-range interactions. Focusing on the stability of discrete time crystalline (DTC) order in such systems, we use a perturbative procedure to evaluate its lifetime. For 3D systems with dipolar interactions, we show that the corresponding decay is parametrically slow, implying that robust, long-lived DTC order can be obtained. We further predict a sharp crossover from the stable DTC regime into a regime where DTC order is lost, reminiscent of a phase transition. These results are in good agreement with the recent experiments utilizing a dense, dipolar spin ensemble in diamond [Nature (London) 543, 221 (2017)NATUAS0028-083610.1038/nature21426]. They demonstrate the existence of a novel, critical DTC regime that is stabilized not by many-body localization but rather by slow, critical dynamics. Our analysis shows that the DTC response can be used as a sensitive probe of nonequilibrium quantum matter.

Survival and extinction results for a patch model with sexual reproduction

We consider a version of the contact process with sexual reproduction on a graph with two levels of interactions modeling metapopulations. The population is spatially distributed into patches and offspring are produced in each patch at a rate proportional to the number of pairs of individuals in the patch (sexual reproduction) rather than simply the number of individuals as in the basic contact process. Offspring produced at a given patch either stay in their parents' patch or are sent to a nearby patch with some fixed probabilities. As the patch size tends to infinity, we identify a mean-field limit consisting of an infinite set of coupled differential equations. For the mean-field equations, we find explicit conditions for survival and extinction that we call expansion and retreat. Using duality techniques to compare the stochastic model to its mean-field limit, we find that expansion and retreat are also precisely the conditions needed to ensure survival and extinction of the stochastic model when the patch size is large. In addition, we study the dependence of survival on the dispersal range. We find that, with probability close to one and for a certain set of parameters, the metapopulation survives in the presence of nearest neighbor interactions while it dies out in the presence of long range interactions, suggesting that the best strategy for the population to spread in space is to use intermediate dispersal ranges.

Sensitivity to initial conditions of a d-dimensional long-range-interacting quartic Fermi-Pasta-Ulam model: Universal scaling.

We introduce a generalized d-dimensional Fermi-Pasta-Ulam model in the presence of long-range interactions, and perform a first-principle study of its chaos for d=1,2,3 through large-scale numerical simulations. The nonlinear interaction is assumed to decay algebraically as d_{ij}^{-α} (α≥0), {d_{ij}} being the distances between N oscillator sites. Starting from random initial conditions we compute the maximal Lyapunov exponent λ_{max} as a function of N. Our N≫1 results strongly indicate that λ_{max} remains constant and positive for α/d>1 (implying strong chaos, mixing, and ergodicity), and that it vanishes like N^{-κ} for 0≤α/d<1 (thus approaching weak chaos and opening the possibility of breakdown of ergodicity). The suitably rescaled exponent κ exhibits universal scaling, namely that (d+2)κ depends only on α/d and, when α/d increases from zero to unity, it monotonically decreases from unity to zero, remaining so for all α/d>1. The value α/d=1 can therefore be seen as a critical point separating the ergodic regime from the anomalous one, κ playing a role analogous to that of an order parameter. This scaling law is consistent with Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics for α/d>1, and possibly with q statistics for 0≤α/d<1.

Decoherence of interacting Majorana modes.

We study the decoherence of Majorana modes of a fermion chain, where the fermions interact with their nearest neighbours. We investigate the effect of dissipation and dephasing on the Majorana modes of a fermionic chain. The dissipative and dephasing noises induce the non-parity- and parity-preserving transitions between the eigenstates of the system, respectively. Therefore, these two types of noises lead to the different decoherence mechanisms. In each type of noise, we discuss the low- and high-frequency regimes to describe the different environments. We numerically calculate the dissipation and dephasing rates in the presence of long-range interactions. We find that the decoherence rate of interacting Majorana modes is different to that of non-interacting modes. We show the examples that the long-range interactions can reduce the decoherence rate. It is advantageous to the potential applications of quantum information processing.

Supersolid phases of light in extended Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard systems

Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard lattices provide unique properties for the study of correlated phases as they exhibit convenient state preparation and measurement, as well as "in situ" tuning of parameters. We show how to realize charge density and supersolid phases in Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard lattices in the presence of long-range interactions. The long-range interactions are realized by the consideration of Rydberg states in coupled atom-cavity systems and the introduction of additional capacitive couplings in quantum-electrodynamics circuits. We demonstrate the emergence of supersolid and checkerboard solid phases, for calculations which take into account nearest neighbour couplings, through a mean-field decoupling.

Nanostructural scaling effect in fracturing homogeneous solids

The scaling effect (power law dependence of number of newly-formed damages on damage size) during fracturing is inherent in heterogeneous materials, such as composites, concrete, rocks, etc., in which multi-site damaging takes place. Fracturing brittle homogeneous materials do not exhibit this phenomenon due to the lack of pre-failure damage accumulation at the microscopic scale level. This work is to determine the role of structural heterogeneity in the process of primary defect nucleation occurring in conventional homogeneous materials. We present highly resolved time series of fractoluminescence (FL) emitted during multiple chemical bond breakage in shock-damaged silica glass and single crystals \(\upalpha \hbox {-SiO}_{2}\) and \(\upalpha \hbox {-SiC}\). The statistical analysis of the time series has shown that the energy distributions of FL pulses followed the power law indicative of long-range interactions between primary damage events. This scaling phenomenon is caused by the multiplicity of newly formed damaged sites at the level of structural heterogeneity. At the same time, the microscopic and larger damage formation reflected in the acoustic emission time series did not exhibit the presence of long-range interactions between growing brittle cracks.

Parallel kinetic Monte Carlo simulation framework incorporating accurate models of adsorbate lateral interactions

Ab initio kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations have been successfully applied for over two decades to elucidate the underlying physico-chemical phenomena on the surfaces of heterogeneous catalysts. These simulations necessitate detailed knowledge of the kinetics of elementary reactions constituting the reaction mechanism, and the energetics of the species participating in the chemistry. The information about the energetics is encoded in the formation energies of gas and surface-bound species, and the lateral interactions between adsorbates on the catalytic surface, which can be modeled at different levels of detail. The majority of previous works accounted for only pairwise-additive first nearest-neighbor interactions. More recently, cluster-expansion Hamiltonians incorporating long-range interactions and many-body terms have been used for detailed estimations of catalytic rate [C. Wu, D. J. Schmidt, C. Wolverton, and W. F. Schneider, J. Catal. 286, 88 (2012)]. In view of the increasing interest in accurate predictions of catalytic performance, there is a need for general-purpose KMC approaches incorporating detailed cluster expansion models for the adlayer energetics. We have addressed this need by building on the previously introduced graph-theoretical KMC framework, and we have developed Zacros, a FORTRAN2003 KMC package for simulating catalytic chemistries. To tackle the high computational cost in the presence of long-range interactions we introduce parallelization with OpenMP. We further benchmark our framework by simulating a KMC analogue of the NO oxidation system established by Schneider and co-workers [J. Catal. 286, 88 (2012)]. We show that taking into account only first nearest-neighbor interactions may lead to large errors in the prediction of the catalytic rate, whereas for accurate estimates thereof, one needs to include long-range terms in the cluster expansion.

Solutions of the Vlasov–Maxwell–Boltzmann system with long-range interactions

We establish the existence of renormalized solutions of the Vlasov–Maxwell–Boltzmann system with a defect measure in the presence of long-range interactions. We also present a control of the defect measure by the entropy dissipation only, which turns out to be crucial in the study of hydrodynamic limits.

ELASTIC CURVES AND SURFACES UNDER LONG-RANGE FORCES: A GEOMETRIC APPROACH

Using classical differential geometry, the problem of elastic curves and surfaces in the presence of long-range interactions Φ, is posed. Starting from a variational principle, the balance of elastic forces and the corresponding projections ni⋅∇Φ, are found. In the case of elastic surfaces, a force coupling the mean curvature with the external potential, KΦ, appears; it is also present in the shape equation along the normal principal in the case of curves. The potential Φ contributes to the effective tension of curves and surfaces and also to the orbital torque. The confinement of a curve on a surface is also addressed, in such a case, the potential contributes to the normal force through the terms -κΦ-n⋅∇Φ. In general, the equation of motion becomes integro-differential that must be numerically solved.

One-dimensional heterogeneous solids with uncertain elastic modulus in presence of long-range interactions: Interval versus stochastic analysis

The analysis of one-dimensional non-local elastic solids with uncertain Young’s modulus is addressed. Non-local effects are represented as long-range central body forces between non-adjacent volume elements. For comparison purpose, the fluctuating elastic modulus of the material is modeled following both a probabilistic and a non-probabilistic approach. To this aim, a novel definition of the interval field concept, able to limit the overestimation affecting ordinary interval analysis, is introduced. Approximate closed-form expressions are derived for the bounds of the interval displacement field as well as for the mean-value and variance of the stochastic response.

From Boltzmann’s Equation to the Incompressible Navier–Stokes–Fourier System with Long-Range Interactions

We establish a rigorous demonstration of the hydrodynamic convergence of the Boltzmann equation towards a Navier–Stokes–Fourier system under the presence of long-range interactions. This convergence is obtained by letting the Knudsen number tend to zero and has been known to hold, at least formally, for decades. It is only more recently that a fully rigorous mathematical derivation of this hydrodynamic limit was discovered. However, these results failed to encompass almost all physically relevant collision kernels due to a cutoff assumption, which requires that the cross sections be integrable. Indeed, as soon as long-range intermolecular forces are present, non-integrable collision kernels have to be considered because of the enormous number of grazing collisions in the gas. In this long-range setting, the Boltzmann operator becomes a singular integral operator and the known rigorous proofs of hydrodynamic convergence simply do not carry over to that case. In fact, the DiPerna–Lions renormalized solutions do not even make sense in this situation and the relevant global solutions to the Boltzmann equation are the so-called renormalized solutions with a defect measure developed by Alexandre and Villani. Our work overcomes the new mathematical difficulties coming from the consideration of long-range interactions by proving the hydrodynamic convergence of the Alexandre–Villani solutions towards the Leray solutions.