Condensed Matter Theory

Abstract:

We set out a general protocol for steering the state of a quantum system from an arbitrary initial state towards a chosen target state by coupling it to auxiliary quantum degrees of freedom. The protocol requires multiple repetitions of an elementary step: during each step the system evolves for a fixed time while coupled to auxiliary degrees of freedom (which we term 'detector qubits') that have been prepared in a specified initial state. The detectors are discarded at the end of the step, or equivalently, their state is determined by a projective measurement with an unbiased average over all outcomes. The steering harnesses back-action of the detector qubits on the system, arising from entanglement generated during the coupled evolution. We establish principles for the design of the system-detector coupling that ensure steering of a desired form. We illustrate our general ideas using both few-body examples (including a pair of spins-1/2 steered to the singlet state) and a many-body example (a spin-1 chain steered to the Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki state). We study the continuous time limit in our approach and discuss similarities to (and differences from) drive-and-dissipation protocols for quantum state engineering. Our protocols are amenable to implementations using present-day technology. Obvious extensions of our analysis include engineering of other many-body phases in one and higher spatial dimensions, adiabatic manipulations of the target states, and the incorporation of active error correction steps.

Abstract:

Collective chemotaxis plays a key role in the navigation of cell clusters in e.g. embryogenesis and cancer metastasis. Using the active nematic continuum equations, coupled to a chemical field that regulates activity, we demonstrate and explain a physical mechanism that results in collective chemotaxis. The activity naturally leads to cell polarisation at the cluster interface which induces outwards flows. The chemical gradient then breaks the symmetry of the flow field, leading to a net motion. The velocity is independent of the cluster size in agreement with experiment.

Abstract:

We consider a model of two tunnel-coupled one-dimensional Bose gases with hard-wall boundary conditions. Bosonizing the model and retaining only the most relevant interactions leads to a decoupled theory consisting of a quantum sine-Gordon model and a free boson, describing respectively the antisymmetric and symmetric combinations of the phase fields. We go beyond this description by retaining the perturbation with the next smallest scaling dimension. This perturbation carries conformal spin and couples the two sectors. We carry out a detailed investigation of the effects of this coupling on the non-equilibrium dynamics of the model. We focus in particular on the role played by spatial inhomogeneities in the initial state in a quantum quench setup.

Abstract:

For an interacting spatio-temporal lattice system we introduce a formal way of expressing multi-time correlation functions of local observables located at the same spatial point with a time state, i.e. a statistical distribution of configurations observed along a time lattice. Such a time state is defined with respect to a particular equilibrium state that is invariant under space and time translations. The concept is developed within the rule 54 reversible cellular automaton, for which we explicitly construct a matrix product form of the time state, with matrices that act on the three-dimensional auxiliary space. We use the matrix-product state to express equal-space time-dependent density-density correlation function, which, for special maximum-entropy values of equilibrium parameters, agrees with the previous results. Additionally, we obtain an explicit expression for the probabilities of observing all multi-time configurations, which enables us to study distributions of times between consecutive excitations and prove the absence of decoupling of timescales in the rule 54 model.