Condensed Matter Theory

Abstract:

We numerically investigate the morphology and disclination line dynamics of active nematic droplets in three dimensions. Although our model incorporates only the simplest possible form of achiral active stress, active nematic droplets display an unprecedented range of complex morphologies. For extensile activity, fingerlike protrusions grow at points where disclination lines intersect the droplet surface. For contractile activity, however, the activity field drives cup-shaped droplet invagination, run-and-tumble motion, or the formation of surface wrinkles. This diversity of behavior is explained in terms of an interplay between active anchoring, active flows, and the dynamics of the motile disclination lines. We discuss our findings in the light of biological processes such as morphogenesis, collective cancer invasion, and the shape control of biomembranes, suggesting that some biological systems may share the same underlying mechanisms as active nematic droplets.

Abstract:

We uncover topological features of neutral particle-hole pair excitations of correlated quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) insulators whose approximately flat conduction and valence bands have equal and opposite nonzero Chern number. Using an exactly solvable model we show that the underlying band topology affects both the center-of-mass and relative motion of particle-hole bound states. This leads to the formation of topological exciton bands whose features are robust to nonuniformity of both the dispersion and the Berry curvature. We apply these ideas to recently reported broken-symmetry spontaneous QAH insulators in substrate aligned magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene.

Abstract:

A quantum many-body system whose dynamics includes local measurements at a nonzero rate can be in distinct dynamical phases, with differing entanglement properties. We introduce theoretical approaches to measurement-induced phase transitions (MPTs) and also to entanglement transitions in random tensor networks. Many of our results are for “all-to-all” quantum circuits with unitaries and measurements, in which any qubit can couple to any other, and related settings where some of the complications of low-dimensional models are reduced. We also propose field-theory descriptions for spatially local systems of any finite dimensionality. To build intuition, we first solve the simplest “minimal cut” toy model for entanglement dynamics in all-to-all circuits, finding scaling forms and exponents within this approximation. We then show that certain all-to-all measurement circuits allow exact results by exploiting local treelike structure in the circuit geometry. For this reason, we make a detour to give general universal results for entanglement phase transitions in a class of random tree tensor networks with bond dimension 2, making a connection with the classical theory of directed polymers on a tree. We then compare these results with numerics in all-to-all circuits, both for the MPT and for the simpler “forced-measurement phase transition” (FMPT). We characterize the two different phases in all-to-all circuits using observables that are sensitive to the amount of information that is propagated between the initial and final time. We demonstrate signatures of the two phases that can be understood from simple models. Finally we propose Landau-Ginsburg-Wilson-like field theories for the measurement phase transition, the forced-measurement phase transition, and for entanglement transitions in random tensor networks. This analysis shows a surprising difference between the measurement phase transition and the other cases. We discuss variants of the measurement problem with additional structure (for example free-fermion structure), and questions for the future.