Quantum Matter

Motivated by the question about reconstructing a Conformal field theory from the data of a subfactor of finite index, Jones studied the continuous limit of the periodic quantum spin chain which Thompson group acts on. Based on planar algebras, the topological axiomatization of subfactors, we will illustrate the idea of the correspondence between the skein theory of planar algebras and presentation of Thompson groups.

Bosonic symmetric protected topological (BSPT) phases are bosonic anagolue of electron topological insulators and superconductors. Despite the theoretical progresses of classifying these states, little attention has been paid to experimental realization of BSPT states in dimensions higher than 1. We propose bilayer graphene system in a out-of-plane magnetic field with Coulomb interaction is a natural platform for BSPT states with $U(1)\times U(1)$ symmetry. We also propose that the quantum phase transition between the BSPT state and the trivial state, which may be tuned by an out-of-plane electric field, could be a novel transition with only gapless bosonic degrees of freedom. In the second part of the talk we will discuss the out-of-time-order correlation (OTOC) and its application in many-body localized and marginal MBL systems. We demonstrate, in marginal MBL systems, the scrambling time follows a stretched exponential scaling with the distance between the operators, which demonstrates Sinai diffusion of quantum information and the enhanced scrambling by the quantum criticality in non-chaotic systems.

The matrix product state (MPS) ansatz makes possible computationally-efficient representations of weakly entangled many-body quantum systems with gapped Hamiltonians near their ground states, notably including massive, relativistic quantum fields on the lattice. No Wick rotation is required to apply the time evolution operator, enabling study of time-dependent Hamiltonians. Using free massive scalar field theory on the 1+1 Robertson-Walker metric as a toy example, I present early efforts to exploit this fact to model quantum fields in curved spacetime. We use the ADM formalism to write the appropriate Hamiltonian witnessed by a particular class of normal observers. Possible applications include simulations of gravitational particle production in the presence of interactions, studies of the slicing-dependence of entanglement production, and inclusion of the expectation of the stress-energy tensor as a matter source in a numerical relativity simulation.

Unlike entanglement entropy and mutual information which may mix both classical and quantum correlations, entanglement negativity received extensive interest recently, for its merit of measuring the pure quantum entanglement in the system. In this talk, I will introduce the entanglement negativity in 2+1 dimensional topologically ordered phases. For a bipartitioned or tripartitioned spatial manifold, we show how the universal part of entanglement negativity depends on the presence of quasiparticles and the choice of ground states. Besides interpreting recent results in exactly solvable lattice models, we give new results on non-Abelian topologically ordered phases.

Condensed matter realizations of Majorana zero modes constitute potential building blocks of a topological quantum computer and thus have recently been the subject of intense theoretical and experimental investigation.  In the first part of this talk, I will introduce a new scheme for preparation, manipulation, and readout of these zero modes in semiconducting wires coated with mesoscopic superconducting islands.  This approach synthesizes recent materials growth breakthroughs with tools long successfully deployed in quantum-dot research, notably gate-tunable island couplings, charge-sensing readout, and charge pumping.  Guided by these capabilities, we map out numerous milestones that progressively bridge the gap between Majorana zero-mode detection and long-term quantum computing applications.  These include (1) detecting non-Abelian anyon ‘fusion rules’ in two complementary schemes, one based on charge sensing, the other using a novel Majorana-mediated charge pump, (2) validation of a prototype topological qubit, (3) braiding to demonstrate non-Abelian statistics, and (4) observing the elusive topological phase transition accompanying the onset of Majorana modes.  With the exception of braiding, these proposed experiments require only a single wire with as few as two islands, a setup already available in the laboratory.  In the second part of the talk, I will introduce a new class of 2D microscopic models---termed ‘Majorana-dimer models’---which generalize well-known quantum dimer models by dressing the bosonic dimers with pairs of Majorana modes.  These models host a novel interacting topological phase of matter which has the same bulk anyonic content as the chiral Ising theory, albeit with a fully gapped edge.  These seemingly contradictory statements can be reconciled by noting that our phase is inherently fermionic:  it can be understood as the product of an Ising phase with a topological p-ip superconductor.  Potential physical realizations of this exotic state via a lattice of strongly interacting Majorana modes will be discussed.

In this talk, I would introduce spontaneous nematicity in the background of fractional quantum Hall fluids where symmetry breaking phenomenon intertwined with topological phase of matter. The resulting nematic FQH state is characterized by an order parameter that represents these quadrupolar fluctuations, which play the role of fluctuations of the local geometry of the quantum fluid. We demonstrate that the low-energy effective theory of the nematic order parameter has z=2 dynamical scaling exponent, due to a Berry phase term of the order parameter, which is related to the nondissipative Hall viscosity. By investigating the spectrum of collective excitations, we demonstrate that the mass gap of the Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman mode collapses at the isotropic-nematic quantum phase transition. An interesting feature of the nematic phase is that it has topological defects carrying nontrivial braiding statistics and fractional charge inherited from the topological fluid nature. In addition, I would also mention the decorated nodal line condensation in pair density wave SC, where the topological phase emerges concurrently with symmetry recovery by decorated defect condensation.

Quantum phase transitions arise at zero temperature when ground state energy meets non-analyticity upon tuning a non-thermal parameter.

Physical properties around quantum critical points (QCPs) are of extensive current interests because the fierce competition between critical quantum and thermal fluctuations near the QCPs can strongly affect dynamics and thermodynamics, leading to unconventional physics.

Despite of its great interests, however, it remains challenge to analytically understand such real frequency dynamics in strongly-correlated quantum systems, even for the dynamics in the quantum systems of one spatial dimension.

In the talk, motivated by recent experimental progresses, we shall take the challenge via analytically exploring finite temperature dynamics at the QCP of 3(space)+1(time) quantum φ^4 model, and zero-temperature spin dynamics in the quantum critical regime of XXZ Heisenberg model.

During the exciting excursion, sophisticated but powerful theoretical tools were introduced, and a bunch of new physics beyond conventional pictures were discovered. At the end we shall also discuss the implication of our results for experiments in relevant materials and suggest proper future experimental setups to test our theoretical findings.

How does thermalization in quantum systems work? Naively, the unitary time evolution prevents thermalization, but one can easily show that in general quantum systems thermalize when brought into contact with a thermal bath. In noninteracting systems, the approach to the thermal value can be either ballistic or diffusive depending on particle statistics and bath temperature.

However, many systems cannot be thermalized when placed in a bath: glasses.

I will discuss a disorderfree model of an organic electronic glass that is formed through rapid supercooling. Geometric frustration and long-range interactions cause the Arrhenius-type freezing.

Quenched disorder can also lead to glassiness, a phenomenon known as many-body localization. In this case, thermalization is prevented by the existence of extensively many local integrals of motion. I will show how to compute these integrals of motion and their properties.

The frequency-dependent longitudinal and Hall conductivities — σ_xx and σ_xy — are dimensionless functions of ω/T in 2+1 dimensional CFTs at nonzero temperature. These functions characterize the spectrum of charged excitations of the theory and are basic experimental observables. We compute these conductivities for large N Chern-Simons theory with fermion matter. The computation is exact in the ’t Hooft coupling λ at N = ∞. We describe various physical features of the conductivity, including an explicit relation between the weight of the delta function at ω = 0 in σ_xx and the existence of infinitely many higher spin conserved currents in the theory. We also compute the conductivities perturbatively in Chern-Simons theory with scalar matter and show that the resulting functions of ω/T agree with the strong coupling fermionic result. This provides a new test of the conjectured 3d bosonization duality. In matching the Hall conductivities we resolve an outstanding puzzle by carefully treating an extra anomaly that arises in the regularization scheme used.  

When the wavefunction of a macroscopic system unitarily evolves from a low-entropy initial state, there is good circumstantial evidence it develops "branches", i.e., a decomposition into orthogonal components that can't be distinguished from the corresponding incoherent mixture by feasible observations, with each component a simultaneous eigenstate of preferred macroscopic observables.  Is this decomposition unique?  Can the number of branches decrease in time?

Answering these questions is hard because branches are defined only intuitively, much like early investigations of algorithms prior to the Church–Turing thesis.  A rigorous definition could give a speed up to certain non-stationary matrix-product state numerical simulations, as well as solve Kent's Set Selection problem in the consistent histories formalism, a 20-year-old open challenge in the foundations of quantum mechanics. I introduce some tentative definitions based on the idea of redundant information, and establishing a uniqueness theorems. A key counterexample is provided by the Shor error-correction code, which demonstrates that branch structure with robust, redundant records on macroscopic scales can hide incompatible (noncommuting) structure on microscopic scales.

We consider d=2 fermions at finite density coupled to a critical boson. In the quenched or Bloch-Nordsieck approximation, where one takes the limit of fermion flavors N_f→0, the fermion spectral function can be determined {exactly}. We show that one can obtain this non-perturbative answer thanks to a specific identity of fermionic two-point functions in the planar local patch approximation. The resulting spectrum is that of a non-Fermi liquid: quasiparticles are not part of the exact fermionic excitation spectrum of the theory. Instead one finds continuous spectral weight with power law scaling excitations. Moreover, at low energies there are three such excitations at three different Fermi surfaces, two with a low energy Green's function G∼(ω−v k)^−1/2 and one with G∼|ω+k|^−1/3. We proceed to study this model with a finite N_f but still neglecting fermionic loops with 3 or more vertices, motivated by multiloop cancellations at large k_F. We still find a non-Fermi liquid but with a different IR spectrum.