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Twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) provides a unique framework to elucidate the interplay between strong correlations and topological phenomena in two-dimensional systems. The existence of multiple electronic degrees of freedom—charge, spin, and valley—gives rise to a plethora of possible ordered states and instabilities. Identifying which of them are realized in the regime of strong correlations is fundamental to shed light on the nature of the superconducting and correlated insulating states observed in the TBG experiments. Here, we use unbiased, sign-problem-free quantum Monte Carlo simulations to solve an effective interacting lattice model for TBG at charge neutrality. Besides the usual cluster Hubbard-like repulsion, this model also contains an assisted-hopping interaction that emerges due to the nontrivial topological properties of TBG. Such a nonlocal interaction fundamentally alters the phase diagram at charge neutrality, gapping the Dirac cones even for infinitesimally small interactions. As the interaction strength increases, a sequence of different correlated insulating phases emerge, including a quantum valley Hall state with topological edge states, an intervalley-coherent insulator, and a valence bond solid. The charge-neutrality correlated insulating phases discovered here provide the sought-after reference states needed for a comprehensive understanding of the insulating states at integer fillings and the proximate superconducting states of TBG.

We study the ultimate bounds on the estimation of temperature for an interacting quantum system. We consider two coupled bosonic modes that are assumed to be thermal and using quantum estimation theory establish the role the Hamiltonian parameters play in thermometry. We show that in the case of a conserved particle number the interaction between the modes leads to a decrease in the overall sensitivity to temperature, while interestingly, if particle exchange is allowed with the thermal bath the converse is true. We explain this dichotomy by examining the energy spectra. Finally, we devise experimentally implementable thermometry schemes that rely only on locally accessible information from the total system, showing that almost Heisenberg limited precision can still be achieved, and we address the (im)possibility for multiparameter estimation in the system.

The Ince-Gauss beams, separable in elliptic coordinates, are studied through a ray-optical approach. Their ray structure can be represented over a Poincaré sphere by generalized Viviani curves (intersections of a cylinder and a sphere). This representation shows two topologically different regimes, in which the curve is composed of one or two loops. The overall beam shape is described by the ray caustics that delimit the beams’ bright regions. These caustics are inferred from the generalized Viviani curve through a geometric procedure that reveals connections with other physical systems and geometrical constructions. Depending on the regime, the caustics are composed either of two confocal ellipses or of segments of an ellipse and a hyperbola that are confocal. The weighting of the rays is shown to follow the two-mode meanfield Gross–Pitaevskii equations, which can be mapped to the equation of a simple pendulum. Finally, it is shown that the wave field can be accurately estimated from the ray description.

In recent years, there has been considerable focus on exploring driven-dissipative quantum systems, as they exhibit distinctive dissipation-stabilized phases. Among them dissipative time crystal is a unique phase emerging as a shift from disorder or stationary states to periodic behaviors. However, understanding the resilience of these non-equilibrium phases against quantum fluctuations remains unclear. This study addresses this query within a canonical parametric quantum optical system, specifically, a multi-mode cavity with self- and cross-Kerr non-linearity. Using mean-field (MF) theory we obtain the phase diagram and delimit the parameter ranges that stabilize a non-stationary limit-cycle phase. Leveraging the Keldysh formalism, we study the unique spectral features of each phase. Further, we extend our analyses beyond the MF theory by explicitly accounting for higher-order correlations through cumulant expansions. Our findings unveil insights into the modifications of the open quantum systems phases, underscoring the significance of quantum correlations in non-equilibrium steady states. Importantly, our results conclusively demonstrate the resilience of the non-stationary phase against quantum fluctuations, rendering it a dissipation-induced genuine quantum synchronous phase.

We investigate the quantum phases and phase transitions for spin–orbit coupled two-species bosons with nearest-neighbor (NN) interaction in a two-dimensional square lattice using inhomogeneous dynamical Guztwiller mean-field method. Under the effect of spin–orbit coupling and NN interaction, we uncover a rich variety of different magnetic supersolid (SS) phases. In the presence of intraspecies NN interaction, the phase diagram exhibits the phase-twisted double-checkerboard SS (PT-DCSS) and phase-striped double-checkerboard SS (PS-DCSS) phases. For both intra- and interspecies NN interactions, apart from the phase-twisted lattice SS (PT-LSS) and phase-striped lattice SS (PS-LSS) phases, some nontrivial SS phases with interesting properties occur. More importantly, we find that the emergences of these nontrivial SS phases are dependent of the interspecies on-site interaction. To further characterize the SS phases, we also discuss the spin-dependent momentum distributions and magnetic textures. The magnetic textures, such as antiferromagnetic, spiral and stripe orders are shown. Finally, we give the fully analytical insights into the numerical results.

We study effects of lattice imperfections on high-harmonic generation from correlated systems using the Fermi–Hubbard model. We simulate such imperfections by randomly modifying the chemical potential across the individual lattice sites. We control the degree of electron–electron interaction by varying the Hubbard U . In the limit of vanishing U , this approach results in Anderson localization. For nonvanishing U , we rationalize the spectral observations in terms of qualitative k -space and real-space pictures. When the interaction and imperfection terms are of comparable magnitude, they may balance each other out, causing Bloch-like transitions. If the terms differ significantly, each electron transition requires a relatively large amount of energy and the current is reduced. We find that imperfections result in increased high-harmonic gain. The spectral gain is mainly in high harmonic orders for low U and low orders for high U .

Using the Anyon-Hubbard Hamiltonian, we analyze the ground-state properties of anyons in a one-dimensional lattice. To this end we map the hopping dynamics of correlated anyons to an occupation-dependent hopping Bose-Hubbard model using the fractional Jordan-Wigner transformation. In particular, we calculate the quasi-momentum distribution of anyons, which interpolates between Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics. Analytically, we apply a modified Gutzwiller mean-field approach, which goes beyond a classical one by including the influence of the fractional phase of anyons within the many-body wavefunction. Numerically, we use the density-matrix renormalization group by relying on the ansatz of matrix product states. As a result it turns out that the anyonic quasi-momentum distribution reveals both a peak-shift and an asymmetry which mainly originates from the nonlocal string property. In addition, we determine the corresponding quasi-momentum distribution of the Jordan-Wigner transformed bosons, where, in contrast to the hard-core case, we also observe an asymmetry for the soft-core case, which strongly depends on the particle number density.

Dynamic structure factor (DSF) is important for understanding excitations in many-body physics; it reveals information about the spectral and spatial correlations of fluctuations in quantum systems. Collective phenomena like quantum phase transitions of ultracold atoms are addressed by harnessing density fluctuations. Here, we calculate the DSF of a nonequilibrium spinless Bose–Hubbard model from the perspective of dissipative phase transition (DPT) in a steady state. Our methodology uses a homogeneous mean-field approximation to make the single-site hierarchy simpler and applies the Lindbladian perturbation method (LPM) to go beyond the single site, limited by the ratio of the inter-site hopping term to the Liouvillian gap as a small parameter. Our results show that the DSF near a DPT point is characteristically different from that away from the transition point, providing a clear density spectral signature of the DPT. In addition to comparing the two numerical frameworks, the mean-field results serve as a benchmark for proof-of-principle robustness of LPM. Despite the numerical difficulty, our methodology provides a computationally accessible route for studying density fluctuations in an open lattice quantum system without requiring large-scale computation.

Ultra-cold atomic gases are unique in terms of the degree of controllability, both for internal and external degrees of freedom. This makes it possible to use them for the study of complex quantum many-body phenomena. However in many scenarios, the prerequisite condition of faithfully preparing a desired quantum state despite decoherence and system imperfections is not always adequately met. To pave the way to a specific target state, we implement quantum optimal control based on Bayesian optimization. The probabilistic modeling and broad exploration aspects of Bayesian optimization are particularly suitable for quantum experiments where data acquisition can be expensive. Using numerical simulations for the superfluid to Mott-insulator transition for bosons in a lattice as well as for the formation of Rydberg crystals as explicit examples, we demonstrate that Bayesian optimization is capable of finding better control solutions with regards to finite and noisy data compared to existing methods of optimal control.

We consider a Bose-Hubbard ladder subject to an artificial magnetic flux and discuss its different ground states, their physical properties, and the quantum phase transitions between them. A low-energy effective field theory is derived, in the two distinct regimes of a small and large magnetic flux, using a bosonization technique starting from the weak-coupling limit. Based on this effective field theory, the ground-state phase diagram at a filling of one particle per site is investigated for a small flux and for a flux equal to π per plaquette. For π-flux, this analysis reveals a tricritical point, which has been overlooked in previous studies. In addition, the Mott insulating state at a small magnetic flux is found to display Meissner currents.