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Photonic topological insulators provide a route for disorder-immune light transport, which holds promise for practical applications. Flexible reconfiguration of topological light pathways can enable high-density photonics routing, thus sustaining the growing demand for data capacity. By strategically interfacing non-Hermitian and topological physics, we demonstrate arbitrary, robust light steering in reconfigurable non-Hermitian junctions, in which chiral topological states can propagate at an interface of the gain and loss domains. Our non-Hermitian–controlled topological state can enable the dynamic control of robust transmission links of light inside the bulk, fully using the entire footprint of a photonic topological insulator.

Big data can easily be contaminated by outliers or contain variables with heavy-tailed distributions, which makes many conventional methods inadequate. To address this challenge, we propose the adaptive Huber regression for robust estimation and inference. The key observation is that the robustification parameter should adapt to the sample size, dimension and moments for optimal tradeoff between bias and robustness. Our theoretical framework deals with heavy-tailed distributions with bounded th moment for any . We establish a sharp phase transition for robust estimation of regression parameters in both low and high dimensions: when , the estimator admits a sub-Gaussian-type deviation bound without sub-Gaussian assumptions on the data, while only a slower rate is available in the regime and the transition is smooth and optimal. In addition, we extend the methodology to allow both heavy-tailed predictors and observation noise. Simulation studies lend further support to the theory. In a genetic study of cancer cell lines that exhibit heavy-tailedness, the proposed methods are shown to be more robust and predictive. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

Despite its rapid development, Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN)-based computational solid mechanics is still in its infancy. In PINN, the loss function plays a critical role that significantly influences the performance of the predictions. In this paper, by using the Least Squares Weighted Residual (LSWR) method, we proposed a modified loss function, namely the LSWR loss function, which is tailored to a dimensionless form with only one manually determined parameter. Based on the LSWR loss function, an advanced PINN technique is developed for computational 2D and 3D solid mechanics. The performance of the proposed PINN technique with the LSWR loss function is tested through 2D and 3D (geometrically nonlinear) problems. Thoroughly studies and comparisons are conducted between the two existing loss functions, the energy-based loss function and the collocation loss function, and the proposed LSWR loss function. Through numerical experiments, we show that the PINN based on the LSWR loss function is effective, robust, and accurate for predicting both the displacement and stress fields. The source codes for the numerical examples in this work are available at https://github.com/JinshuaiBai/LSWR_loss_function_PINN/ .

Terahertz (THz) radiation is poised to have an essential role in many imaging applications, from industrial inspections to medical diagnosis. However, commercialization is prevented by impractical and expensive THz instrumentation. Single-pixel cameras have emerged as alternatives to multi-pixel cameras due to reduced costs and superior durability. Here, by optimizing the modulation geometry and post-processing algorithms, we demonstrate the acquisition of a THz-video (32 × 32 pixels at 6 frames-per-second), shown in real-time, using a single-pixel fiber-coupled photoconductive THz detector. A laser diode with a digital micromirror device shining visible light onto silicon acts as the spatial THz modulator. We mathematically account for the temporal response of the system, reduce noise with a lock-in free carrier-wave modulation and realize quick, noise-robust image undersampling. Since our modifications do not impose intricate manufacturing, require long post-processing, nor sacrifice the time-resolving capabilities of THz-spectrometers, their greatest asset, this work has the potential to serve as a foundation for all future single-pixel THz imaging systems. Terahertz imaging is promising in many applications, but still relies on complex equipment. Here, the authors develop a simplified solution that enables terahertz real-time imaging using a single-pixel detector and rapid reconstruction methods.

Ideas based on topology, initially developed in mathematics to describe the properties of geometric space under deformations, are now finding application in materials, electronics, and optics. The main driver is topological protection, a property that provides stability to a system even in the presence of defects. Harari et al. outline a theoretical proposal that carries such ideas over to geometrically designed laser cavities. The lasing mode is confined to the topological edge state of the cavity structure. Bandres et al. implemented those ideas to fabricate a topological insulator laser with an array of ring resonators. The results demonstrate a powerful platform for developing new laser systems. Science , this issue p. eaar4003 , p. eaar4005 Lasing is observed in an edge mode of a designed optical topological insulator. Topological insulators are phases of matter characterized by topological edge states that propagate in a unidirectional manner that is robust to imperfections and disorder. These attributes make topological insulator systems ideal candidates for enabling applications in quantum computation and spintronics. We propose a concept that exploits topological effects in a unique way: the topological insulator laser. These are lasers whose lasing mode exhibits topologically protected transport without magnetic fields. The underlying topological properties lead to a highly efficient laser, robust to defects and disorder, with single-mode lasing even at very high gain values. The topological insulator laser alters current understanding of the interplay between disorder and lasing, and at the same time opens exciting possibilities in topological physics, such as topologically protected transport in systems with gain. On the technological side, the topological insulator laser provides a route to arrays of semiconductor lasers that operate as one single-mode high-power laser coupled efficiently into an output port.

Sample average approximation (SAA) is a widely popular approach to data-driven decision-making under uncertainty. Under mild assumptions, SAA is both tractable and enjoys strong asymptotic performance guarantees. Similar guarantees, however, do not typically hold in finite samples. In this paper, we propose a modification of SAA, which we term Robust SAA, which retains SAA’s tractability and asymptotic properties and, additionally, enjoys strong finite-sample performance guarantees. The key to our method is linking SAA, distributionally robust optimization, and hypothesis testing of goodness-of-fit. Beyond Robust SAA, this connection provides a unified perspective enabling us to characterize the finite sample and asymptotic guarantees of various other data-driven procedures that are based upon distributionally robust optimization. This analysis provides insight into the practical performance of these various methods in real applications. We present examples from inventory management and portfolio allocation, and demonstrate numerically that our approach outperforms other data-driven approaches in these applications.

Continuously monitoring the environment of a quantum many-body system reduces the entropy of (purifies) the reduced density matrix of the system, conditional on the outcomes of the measurements. We show that, for mixed initial states, a balanced competition between measurements and entangling interactions within the system can result in a dynamical purification phase transition between (i) a phase that locally purifies at a constant system-size-independent rate and (ii) a “mixed” phase where the purification time diverges exponentially in the system size. The residual entropy density in the mixed phase implies the existence of a quantum error-protected subspace, where quantum information is reliably encoded against the future nonunitary evolution of the system. We show that these codes are of potential relevance to fault-tolerant quantum computation as they are often highly degenerate and satisfy optimal trade-offs between encoded information densities and error thresholds. In spatially local models in1+1dimensions, this phase transition for mixed initial states occurs concurrently with a recently identified class of entanglement phase transitions for pure initial states. The purification transition studied here also generalizes to systems with long-range interactions, where conventional notions of entanglement transitions have to be reformulated. We numerically explore this transition for monitored random quantum circuits in1+1dimensions and all-to-all models. Unlike in pure initial states, the mutual information of an initially completely mixed state in1+1dimensions grows sublinearly in time due to the formation of the error-protected subspace. Purification dynamics is likely a more robust probe of the transition in experiments, where imperfections generically reduce entanglement and drive the system towards mixed states. We describe the motivations for studying this novel class of nonequilibrium quantum dynamics in the context of advanced quantum computing platforms and fault-tolerant quantum computation.

We present an effective field theory approach to the fracton phases. The approach is based on the notion of a multipole algebra. It is an extension of space(time) symmetries of a charge-conserving matter that includes global symmetries responsible for the conservation of various components of the multipole moments of the charge density. We explain how to construct field theories invariant under the action of the algebra. These field theories generally break rotational invariance and exhibit anisotropic scaling. We further explain how to partially gauge the multipole algebra. Such gauging makes the symmetries responsible for the conservation of multipole moments local, while keeping rotation and translations symmetries global. It is shown that upon such gauging one finds the symmetric tensor gauge theories, as well as the generalized gauge theories discussed recently in the literature. We refer to all such theories as multipole gauge theories. The outcome of the gauging procedure depends on the choice of the multipole algebra. In particular, we show how to construct an effective theory for the U(1) version of the Haah code based on the principles of symmetry and provide a two-dimensional example with operators supported on a Sierpinski triangle. We show that upon condensation of charged excitations, fracton phases of both types as well as various Symmetry-protected topological phases emerge. Finally, the relation between the present approach and the formalism based on polynomials over finite fields is discussed.

We consider convex optimization problems with uncertain, probabilistically described, constraints. In this context, scenario optimization is a well recognized methodology where a sample of the constraints is used to describe uncertainty. One says that the scenario solution generalizes well, or has a high robustness level, if it satisfies most of the other constraints besides those in the sample. Over the past 10 years, the main theoretical investigations on the scenario approach have related the robustness level of the scenario solution to the number of optimization variables. This paper breaks into the new paradigm that the robustness level is a-posteriori evaluated after the solution is computed and the actual number of the so-called support constraints is assessed (wait-and-judge). A new theory is presented which shows that a-posteriori observing k support constraints in dimension d>k allows one to draw conclusions close to those obtainable when the problem is from the outset in dimension k. This new theory provides evaluations of the robustness that largely outperform those carried out based on the number of optimization variables.

We establish an operational characterization of general convex resource theories—describing the resource content of not only states but also measurements and channels, both within quantum mechanics and in general probabilistic theories (GPTs)—in the context of state and channel discrimination. We find that discrimination tasks provide a unified operational description for quantification and manipulation of resources by showing that the family of robustness measures can be understood as the maximum advantage provided by any physical resource in several different discrimination tasks, as well as establishing that such discrimination problems can fully characterize the allowed transformations within the given resource theory. Specifically, we introduce a quantifier of resourcefulness of a measurement in any GPT, the generalized robustness of measurement, and show that it admits an operational interpretation as the maximum advantage that a given measurement provides over resourceless measurements in all state discrimination tasks. In the special case of quantum mechanics, we connect discrimination problems with single-shot information theory by showing that the generalized robustness of any measurement can be alternatively understood as the maximal increase in one-shot accessible information when compared to free measurements. We introduce two different approaches to quantifying the resource content of a physical channel based on the generalized robustness measures and show that they quantify the maximum advantage that a resourceful channel can provide in several classes of state and channel discrimination tasks. Furthermore, we endow another measure of resourcefulness of states, the standard robustness, with an operational meaning in general GPTs as the exact quantifier of the maximum advantage that a state can provide in binary channel discrimination tasks. Finally, we establish that several classes of channel and state discrimination tasks form complete families of monotones fully characterizing the transformations of states and measurements, respectively, under general classes of free operations. Our results establish a fundamental connection between the operational tasks of discrimination and core concepts of resource theories—the geometric quantification of resources and resource manipulation—valid for all physical theories beyond quantum mechanics with no additional assumptions about the structure of the GPT required.