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The power and expressivity of deep classical neural networks can be attributed to non-linear input-output relations. Such non-linearities are at the heart of many computational tasks, such as data classification and pattern recognition. Quantum neural networks, on the other hand, are necessarily linear as they process information via unitary operations. Here we show that effective non-linearities can be implemented in these platforms by exploiting the relationship between information processing and many-body quantum dynamics. The crucial point is that quantum many-body systems can show emergent collective behavior in the vicinity of phase transitions, which leads to an effectively non-linear dynamics in the thermodynamic limit. In the context of quantum neural networks, which are necessarily finite, this translates into metastability with transient non-ergodic behavior. By using a quantum neural network whose architecture is inspired by dissipative many-body quantum spin models, we show that this mechanism indeed allows to realize non-linear data classification, despite the underlying dynamics being local and linear. Our proof-of-principle study may pave the way for the systematic construction of quantum neural networks with emergent non-linear properties., Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures

State-of-the-art quantum simulators permit local temporal control of interactions and midcircuit readout. These capabilities open the way towards the exploration of intriguing nonequilibrium phenomena. We illustrate this with a kinetically constrained many-body quantum system that has a natural implementation on Rydberg quantum simulators. The evolution proceeds in discrete time and is generated by repeatedly entangling the system with an auxiliary environment that is monitored and reset after each time-step. Despite featuring an uncorrelated infinite-temperature average stationary state, the dynamics displays coexistence of fast and slow space-time regions in stochastic realizations of the system state. The time-record of measurement outcomes on the environment serves as natural probe for such dynamical heterogeneity, which we characterize using tools from large deviation theory. Our work establishes the large deviation framework for discrete-time open quantum many-body systems as a means to characterize complex dynamics and collective phenomena in quantum processors and simulators., Comment: 8+6 pages, 3+2 figures, comments welcome

Dissipative many-body quantum dynamics can feature strong symmetries which give rise to conserved quantities. We discuss here how a strong symmetry in conjunction with a nonequilibrium phase transition allows to devise a protocol for measuring collective many-body observables. To demonstrate this idea we consider a collective spin system whose constituents are governed by a dissipative dynamics that conserves the total angular momentum. We show that by continuously monitoring the system output the value of the total angular momentum can be inferred directly from the time-integrated emission signal, without the need of repeated projective measurements or reinitializations of the spins. This may offer a route towards the measurement of collective properties in qubit ensembles, with applications in quantum tomography, quantum computation and quantum metrology.

Enhanced experimental capabilities to control nonlocal and power-law decaying interactions are currently fuelling intense research in the domain of quantum many-body physics. Compared to their counterparts with short-ranged interactions, long-range interacting systems display novel physics, such as nonlinear light cones for the propagation of information or inequivalent thermodynamic ensembles. In this work, we consider generic long-range open quantum systems in arbitrary dimensions and focus on the so-called strong long-range regime. We prove that in the thermodynamic limit local properties, captured by reduced quantum states, are described by an emergent non-interacting theory. Here, the dynamics factorizes and the individual constituents of the system evolve independently such that no correlations are generated over time. In this sense, long-range interacting systems are locally non-interacting. This has significant implications for their relaxation behavior, for instance in relation to the emergence of long-lived quasi-stationary states or to the absence of thermalization., Comment: 6+9 pages, 3+1 figures

The competition between unitary quantum dynamics and dissipative stochastic effects, as emerging from continuous-monitoring processes, can culminate in measurement-induced phase transitions. Here, a many-body system abruptly passes, when exceeding a critical measurement rate, from a highly entangled phase to a low-entanglement one. We consider a different perspective on entanglement phase transitions and explore whether these can emerge when the measurement process itself is modified, while keeping the measurement rate fixed. To illustrate this idea, we consider a noninteracting fermionic system and focus on diffusive detection processes. Through extensive numerical simulations, we show that, upon varying a suitable \textit{unraveling parameter} -- interpolating between measurements of different quadrature operators -- the system displays a transition from a phase with area-law entanglement to one where entanglement scales logarithmically with the system size. Our findings may be relevant for tailoring quantum correlations in noisy quantum devices and for conceiving optimal classical simulation strategies., Comment: 6+2 Pages, 4 Figures

World-wide efforts aim at the realization of advanced quantum simulators and processors. However, despite the development of intricate hardware and pulse control systems, it may still not be generally known which effective quantum dynamics, or channels, are implemented on these devices. To systematically infer those, we propose a neural-network algorithm approximating generic discrete-time dynamics through the repeated action of an effective quantum channel. We test our approach considering time-periodic Lindblad dynamics as well as non-unitary subsystem dynamics in many-body unitary circuits. Moreover, we exploit it to investigate cross-talk effects on the ibmq_ehningen quantum processor, which showcases our method as a practically applicable tool for inferring quantum channels when the exact nature of the underlying dynamics on the physical device is not known a priori. While the present approach is tailored for learning Markovian dynamics, we discuss how it can be adapted to also capture generic non-Markovian discrete-time evolutions., Comment: 7+5 pages, 4+5 figures, comments welcome

Microscopic thermal machines promise to play an important role in future quantum technologies. Making such devices widely applicable will require effective strategies to channel their output into easily accessible storage systems like classical degrees of freedom. Here, we develop a self-consistent theoretical framework that makes it possible to model such quantum-classical hybrid devices in a thermodynamically consistent manner. Our approach is based on the assumption that the quantum part of the device is subject to strong decoherence and dissipation induced by a thermal reservoir. Due to the ensuing separation of time scales between slowly evolving classical and fast relaxing quantum degrees of freedom, the dynamics of the hybrid system can be described by means of adiabatic-response theory. We show that, upon including fluctuations in a minimally consistent way, the resulting equations of motion can be equipped with a first and second law, both on the ensemble level and on the level of individual trajectories of the classical part of the system, where thermodynamic quantities like heat and work become stochastic variables. As an application of our theory, we work out a physically transparent model of a quantum-classical hybrid engine, whose working system consists of a chain of Rydberg atoms, which is confined in an optical cavity and driven by periodic temperature variations. We show by means of numerical simulations that the engine can sustain periodic oscillations of a movable mirror, which acts as a classical load, against external friction and extract the full distributions of input heat and output work. By making the statistics of thermodynamic processes in quantum-classical hybrid systems accessible without the need to further specify a measurement protocol, our work contributes towards bridging the long-standing gap between classical and quantum stochastic thermodynamics., Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures

Understanding quantum many-body systems with long-range or infinite-range interactions is of relevance across a broad set of physical disciplines, including quantum optics, nuclear magnetic resonance and nuclear physics. From a theoretical viewpoint, these systems are appealing since they can be efficiently studied with numerics, and in the thermodynamic limit are expected to be governed by mean-field equations of motion. Over the past years the capabilities to experimentally create long-range interacting systems have dramatically improved permitting their control in space and time. This allows to induce and explore a plethora of nonequilibrium dynamical phases, including time-crystals and even chaotic regimes. However, establishing the emergence of these phases from numerical simulations turns out to be surprisingly challenging. This difficulty led to the assertion that mean-field theory may not be applicable to time-dependent infinite-range interacting systems. Here, we rigorously prove that mean-field theory in fact exactly captures their dynamics, in the thermodynamic limit. We further provide bounds for finite-size effects and their dependence on the evolution time., Comment: 7+6 pages, 2 figures

Quantum many-body systems near phase transitions respond collectively to externally applied perturbations. We explore this phenomenon in a laser-driven dissipative Rydberg gas that is tuned to a bistable regime. Here two metastable phases coexist, which feature a low and high density of Rydberg atoms, respectively. The ensuing collective dynamics, which we monitor in situ, is characterized by stochastic collective jumps between these two macroscopically distinct many-body phases. We show that the statistics of these jumps can be controlled using a dual-tone microwave field. In particular, we find that the distribution of jump times develops peaks corresponding to subharmonics of the relative microwave detuning. Our study demonstrates the control of collective statistical properties of dissipative quantum many-body systems without the necessity of fine-tuning or of ultra cold temperatures. Such robust phenomena may find technological applications in quantum sensing and metrology.

We develop a machine learning algorithm to infer the emergent stochastic equation governing the evolution of an order parameter of a many-body system. We train our neural network to independently learn the directed force acting on the order parameter as well as an effective diffusive noise. We illustrate our approach using the classical Ising model endowed with Glauber dynamics, and the contact process as test cases. For both models, which represent paradigmatic equilibrium and nonequilibrium scenarios, the directed force and noise can be efficiently inferred. The directed force term of the Ising model allows us to reconstruct an effective potential for the order parameter which develops the characteristic double-well shape below the critical temperature. Despite its genuine nonequilibrium nature, such an effective potential can also be obtained for the contact process and its shape signals a phase transition into an absorbing state. Also, in contrast to the equilibrium Ising model, the presence of an absorbing state renders the noise term dependent on the value of the order parameter itself., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure, 1 table

The state of an open quantum system undergoing an adiabatic process evolves by following the instantaneous stationary state of its time-dependent generator. This observation allows one to characterize, for a generic adiabatic evolution, the average dynamics of the open system. However, information about fluctuations of dynamical observables, such as the number of photons emitted or the time-integrated stochastic entropy production in single experimental runs, requires controlling the whole spectrum of the generator and not only the stationary state. Here, we show how such information can be obtained in adiabatic open quantum dynamics by exploiting tools from large deviation theory. We prove an adiabatic theorem for deformed generators, which allows us to encode, in a biased quantum state, the full counting statistics of generic time-integrated dynamical observables. We further compute the probability associated with an arbitrary "rare" time-history of the observable and derive a dynamics which realizes it in its typical behavior. Our results provide a way to characterize and engineer adiabatic open quantum dynamics and to control their fluctuations., Comment: 7 + 8 pages, 3 figures

We consider quantum jump trajectories of Markovian open quantum systems subject to stochastic in time resets of their state to an initial configuration. The reset events provide a partitioning of quantum trajectories into consecutive time intervals, defining sequences of random variables from the values of a trajectory observable within each of the intervals. For observables related to functions of the quantum state, we show that the probability of certain orderings in the sequences obeys a universal law. This law does not depend on the chosen observable and, in case of Poissonian reset processes, not even on the details of the dynamics. When considering (discrete) observables associated with the counting of quantum jumps, the probabilities in general lose their universal character. Universality is only recovered in cases when the probability of observing equal outcomes in a same sequence is vanishingly small, which we can achieve in a weak reset rate limit. Our results extend previous findings on classical stochastic processes [N.~R.~Smith et al., EPL {\bf 142}, 51002 (2023)] to the quantum domain and to state-dependent reset processes, shedding light on relevant aspects for the emergence of universal probability laws., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures

A boundary time-crystal is a quantum many-body system whose dynamics is governed by the competition between coherent driving and collective dissipation. It is composed of $N$ two-level systems and features a transition between a stationary phase and an oscillatory one. The fact that the system is open allows to continuously monitor its quantum trajectories and to analyze their dependence on parameter changes. This enables the realization of a sensing device whose performance we investigate as a function of the monitoring time $T$ and of the system size $N$. We find that the best achievable sensitivity is proportional to $\sqrt{T} N$, i.e., it follows the standard quantum limit in time and Heisenberg scaling in the particle number. This theoretical scaling can be achieved in the oscillatory time-crystal phase and it is rooted in emergent quantum correlations. The main challenge is, however, to tap this capability in a measurement protocol that is experimentally feasible. We demonstrate that the standard quantum limit can be surpassed by cascading two time-crystals, where the quantum trajectories of one time-crystal are used as input for the other one., Comment: Last version before acceptance for publication

Time-translation symmetry breaking is a mechanism for the emergence of non-stationary many-body phases, so-called time-crystals, in Markovian open quantum systems. Dynamical aspects of time-crystals have been extensively explored over the recent years. However, much less is known about their thermodynamic properties, also due to the intrinsic nonequilibrium nature of these phases. Here, we consider the paradigmatic boundary time-crystal system, in a finite-temperature environment, and demonstrate the persistence of the time-crystalline phase at any temperature. Furthermore, we analyze thermodynamic aspects of the model investigating, in particular, heat currents, power exchange and irreversible entropy production. Our work sheds light on the thermodynamic cost of sustaining nonequilibrium time-crystalline phases and provides a framework for characterizing time-crystals as possible resources for, e.g., quantum sensing. Our results may be verified in experiments, for example with trapped ions or superconducting circuits, since we connect thermodynamic quantities with mean value and covariance of collective (magnetization) operators., Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures

To characterize the dynamical behavior of many-body quantum systems, one is usually interested in the evolution of so-called order-parameters rather than in characterizing the full quantum state. In many situations, these quantities coincide with the expectation value of local observables, such as the magnetization or the particle density. In experiment, however, these expectation values can only be obtained with a finite degree of accuracy due to the effects of the projection noise. Here, we utilize a machine-learning approach to infer the dynamical generator governing the evolution of local observables in a many-body system from noisy data. To benchmark our method, we consider a variant of the quantum Ising model and generate synthetic experimental data, containing the results of $N$ projective measurements at $M$ sampling points in time, using the time-evolving block-decimation algorithm. As we show, across a wide range of parameters the dynamical generator of local observables can be approximated by a Markovian quantum master equation. Our method is not only useful for extracting effective dynamical generators from many-body systems, but may also be applied for inferring decoherence mechanisms of quantum simulation and computing platforms., Comment: 7+4 pages, 3+5 figures

Central spin systems, in which a {\it central} spin is singled out and interacts nonlocally with several {\it bath} spins, are paradigmatic models for nitrogen-vacancy centers and quantum dots. They show complex emergent dynamics and stationary phenomena which, despite the collective nature of their interaction, are still largely not understood. Here, we derive exact results on the emergent behavior of open quantum central spin systems. The latter crucially depends on the scaling of the interaction strength with the bath size. For scalings with the inverse square root of the bath size (typical of one-to-many interactions), the system behaves, in the thermodynamic limit, as an open quantum Jaynes-Cummings model, whose bosonic mode encodes the quantum fluctuations of the bath spins. In this case, non-Gaussian correlations are dynamically generated and persist at stationarity. For scalings with the inverse bath size, the emergent dynamics is instead of mean-field type. Our work provides a fundamental understanding of the different dynamical regimes of central spin systems and a simple theory for efficiently exploring their nonequilibrium behavior. Our findings may become relevant for developing fully quantum descriptions of many-body solid-state devices and their applications., Comment: 8+7 page, 2 figures

We investigate the quantum reaction-diffusion dynamics of fermionic particles which coherently hop in a one-dimensional lattice and undergo annihilation reactions. The latter are modelled as dissipative processes which involve losses of pairs $2A \to \emptyset$, triplets $3A \to \emptyset$, and quadruplets $4A \to \emptyset$ of neighbouring particles. When considering classical particles, the corresponding decay of their density in time follows an asymptotic power-law behavior. The associated exponent in one dimension is different from the mean-field prediction whenever diffusive mixing is not too strong and spatial correlations are relevant. This specifically applies to $2A\to \emptyset$, while the mean-field power-law prediction just acquires a logarithmic correction for $3A \to \emptyset$ and is exact for $4A \to \emptyset$. A mean-field approach is also valid, for all the three processes, when the diffusive mixing is strong, i.e., in the so-called reaction-limited regime. Here, we show that the picture is different for quantum systems. We consider the quantum reaction-limited regime and we show that for all the three processes power-law behavior beyond mean field is present as a consequence of quantum coherences, which are not related to space dimensionality. The decay in $3A\to \emptyset$ is further, highly intricate, since the power-law behavior therein only appears within an intermediate time window, while at long times the density decay is not power-law. Our results show that emergent critical behavior in quantum dynamics has a markedly different origin, based on quantum coherences, to that applying to classical critical phenomena, which is, instead, solely determined by the relevance of spatial correlations., Comment: 17 pages: 10 pages main text, 5 pages appendices and 2 pages bibliography. 6 figures: 4 figures in main text, 2 figures in the appendices

Classical artificial neural networks, built from perceptrons as their elementary units, possess enormous expressive power. Here we investigate a quantum neural network architecture, which follows a similar paradigm. It is structurally equivalent to so-called (1+1)D quantum cellular automata, which are two-dimensional quantum lattice systems on which dynamics takes place in discrete time. Information transfer between consecutive time slices -- or adjacent network layers -- is governed by local quantum gates, which can be regarded as the quantum counterpart of the classical perceptrons. Along the time-direction an effective dissipative evolution emerges on the level of the reduced state, and the nature of this dynamics is dictated by the structure of the elementary gates. We show how to construct the local unitary gates to yield a desired many-body dynamics, which in certain parameter regimes is governed by a Lindblad master equation. We study this for small system sizes through numerical simulations and demonstrate how collective effects within the quantum cellular automaton can be controlled parametrically. Our study constitutes a step towards the utilisation of large-scale emergent phenomena in large quantum neural networks for machine learning purposes., Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures

Open quantum systems provide a conceptually simple setting for the exploration of collective behavior stemming from the competition between quantum effects, many-body interactions, and dissipative processes. They may display dynamics distinct from that of closed quantum systems or undergo nonequilibrium phase transitions which are not possible in classical settings. However, studying open quantum many-body dynamics is challenging, in particular in the presence of critical long-range correlations or long-range interactions. Here, we make progress in this direction and introduce a numerical method for open quantum systems, based on tree tensor networks. Such a structure is expected to improve the encoding of many-body correlations and we adopt an integration scheme suited for long-range interactions and applications to dissipative dynamics. We test the method using a dissipative Ising model with power-law decaying interactions and observe signatures of a first-order phase transition for power-law exponents smaller than one., Comment: 7+3 pages, 4 figures

Trapped ions provide a platform for quantum technologies that offers long coherence times and high degrees of scalability and controllability. Here, we use this platform to develop a realistic model of a thermal device consisting of two laser-driven, strongly coupled Rydberg ions in a harmonic trap. We show that the translational degrees of freedom of this system can be utilized as a flywheel storing the work output that is generated by a cyclic thermodynamic process applied to its electronic degrees of freedom. Mimicking such a process through periodic variations of external control parameters, we use a mean-field approach underpinned by numerical and analytical calculations to identify relevant physical processes and to determine the charging rate of the flywheel. Our work paves the way for the design of microscopic thermal machines based on Rydberg ions that can be equipped with both many-body working media and universal work storages., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures

Time-crystals are nonequilibrium many-body phases in which the state of the system dynamically approaches a limit cycle. While these phases are recently in the focus of intensive research, it is still far from clear whether they can host quantum correlations. In fact, mostly classical correlations have been observed so far and time-crystals appear to be effectively classical high-entropy phases. Here, we consider the nonequilibrium behavior of an open quantum light-matter system, realizable in current experiments, which maps onto a paradigmatic time-crystal model after an adiabatic elimination of the light field. The system displays a bistable regime, with coexistent time-crystal and stationary phases, terminating at a tricritical point from which a second-order phase transition line departs. While light and matter are uncorrelated in the stationary phase, the time-crystal phase features bipartite correlations, both of quantum and classical nature. Our work unveils that time-crystal phases in collective open quantum systems can sustain quantum correlations, including entanglement, and are thus more than effectively classical many-body phases., Comment: 14 pages. Version accepted in PRA

We consider a class of open quantum many-body Lindblad dynamics characterized by an all-to-all coupling Hamiltonian and by dissipation featuring collective ``state-dependent" rates. The latter encodes local incoherent transitions that depend on average properties of the system. This type of open quantum dynamics can be seen as a generalization of classical (mean-field) stochastic Markov dynamics, in which transitions depend on the instantaneous configuration of the system, to the quantum domain. We study the time evolution in the limit of infinitely large systems, and we demonstrate the exactness of the mean-field equations for the dynamics of average operators. We further derive the effective dynamical generator governing the time evolution of (quasi-)local operators. Our results allow for a rigorous and systematic investigation of the impact of quantum effects on paradigmatic classical models, such as quantum generalized Hopfield associative memories or (mean-field) kinetically-constrained models., Comment: 43 pages,2 figures

Quantum computers have recently become available as noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices. Already these machines yield a useful environment for research on quantum systems and dynamics. Building on this opportunity, we investigate open-system dynamics that are simulated on a quantum computer by coupling a system of interest to an ancilla. After each interaction the ancilla is measured and the sequence of measurements defines a quantum trajectory. Using a thermodynamic analogy, which identifies trajectories as microstates, we show how to control the dynamics of the open system in order to enhance the probability of quantum trajectories with desired properties, e.g., particular patterns or temporal correlations. We discuss how such biased -- generally non-Markovian -- dynamics can be implemented on a unitary, gate-based quantum computer and show proof-of-principle results on the publicly accessible \texttt{ibm\_jakarta} machine. While our study is solely conducted on small systems, it highlights the challenges in controlling complex aspects of open-system dynamics on digital quantum computers., Comment: 6+4 pages, 4+2 figures

Cavity optomechanical systems are a paradigmatic setting for the conversion of electromagnetic energy into mechanical work. Experiments with atoms coupled to cavity modes are realized in nonequilibrium conditions, described by phenomenological models encoding non-thermal dissipative dynamics and falling outside the framework of weak system-bath couplings. This fact makes their interpretation as quantum engines, e.g., the derivation of a well-defined efficiency, quite challenging. Here, we present a consistent thermodynamic description of open quantum cavity-atom systems. Our approach takes advantage of their nonequilibrium nature and arrives at an energetic balance which is fully interpretable in terms of persistent dissipated heat currents. The interaction between atoms and cavity modes can further give rise to nonequilibrium phase transitions and emergent behavior and allows to assess the impact of collective many-body phenomena on the engine operation. To enable this, we define two thermodynamic limits related to a weak and to a strong optomechanical coupling, respectively. We illustrate our ideas focussing on a time-crystal engine and discuss power generation, energy-conversion efficiency, and emergence of metastable behavior in both limits., Comment: Close to published version

Recent experiments with dense laser-driven atomic gases [G. Ferioli et al., arXiv:2207.10361 (2022)] have realized a many-body system which in the thermodynamic limit yields a so-called boundary time-crystal. This state of matter is stabilized by the competition between coherent driving and collective dissipation. The aforementioned experiment in principle allows to gain in situ information on the nonequilibrium dynamics of the system by observing the state of the output light field. We show that the photon count signal as well as the homodyne current allow to identify and characterize critical behavior at the time-crystal phase transition. At the transition point the dynamics of the emission signals feature slow drifts, which are interspersed with sudden strong fluctuations. The average time between these fluctuation events shows a power-law scaling with system size, and the origin of this peculiar dynamics can be explained through a simple non-linear phase model. We furthermore show that the time-integrated homodyne current can serve as a useful dynamical order parameter. From this perspective the time-crystal can be viewed as a state of matter in which different oscillation patterns coexist.

We investigate experimentally and theoretically the collective coupling between atoms with multilevel ground state manifolds and an optical cavity mode. In our setup the cavity field optically pumps populations among the ground states. The ensuing dynamics can be conveniently described by means of an effective dynamical atom-cavity coupling strength that depends on the occupation of the individual states and their coupling strengths with the cavity mode. This leads to a dynamical backaction of the atomic populations on the atom-cavity coupling strength which results in a non-exponential relaxation dynamics. We experimentally observe this effect with laser-cooled $^{87}$Rb atoms, for which we monitor the collective normal-mode splitting in real time. Our results show that the multilevel structure of electronic ground states can significantly alter the relaxation behavior in atom-cavity settings as compared to ensembles of two-level atoms.

We consider the quantum nonequilibrium dynamics of systems where fermionic particles coherently hop on a one-dimensional lattice and are subject to dissipative processes analogous to those of classical reaction-diffusion models. Particles can either annihilate in pairs, $A+A \to \emptyset$, coagulate upon contact, $A+A \to A$, and possibly also branch, $A \to A+A$. In classical settings, the interplay between these processes and particle diffusion leads to critical dynamics as well as to absorbing-state phase transitions. Here, we analyze the impact of coherent hopping and of quantum superposition, focusing on the so-called reaction-limited regime. Here, spatial density fluctuations are quickly smoothed out due to fast hopping, which for classical systems is described by a mean-field approach. By exploiting the time-dependent generalized Gibbs ensemble method, we demonstrate that quantum coherence and destructive interference play a crucial role in these systems and are responsible for the emergence of locally protected dark states and collective behavior beyond mean-field. This can manifest both at stationarity and during the relaxation dynamics. Our results highlight fundamental differences between classical nonequilibrium dynamics and their quantum counterpart and show that quantum effects indeed change collective universal behavior., Comment: 6+11 pages, 2+2 figures for main text and supplemental material, respectively. v3: close to published version. Selected as "Editors' Suggestion" in Physical Review Letters

Central to the field of quantum machine learning is the design of quantum perceptrons and neural network architectures. A key question in this regard is the impact of quantum effects on the way in which such models process information. Here, we approach this question by establishing a connection between $(1+1)D$ quantum cellular automata, which implement a discrete nonequilibrium quantum many-body dynamics through the successive application of local quantum gates, and recurrent quantum neural networks, which process information by feeding it through perceptrons interconnecting adjacent layers. This relation allows the processing of information in quantum neural networks to be studied in terms of the properties of their equivalent cellular automaton dynamics. We exploit this by constructing a class of quantum gates (perceptrons) that allow for the introduction of quantum effects, such as those associated with a coherent Hamiltonian evolution, and establish a rigorous link to continuous-time Lindblad dynamics. We further analyse the universal properties of a specific quantum cellular automaton, and identify a change of critical behavior when quantum effects are varied, demonstrating that they can indeed affect the collective dynamical behavior underlying the processing of information in large-scale neural networks., Comment: main text: 6 pages, 3 figures; supplemental materials: 10 pages, 4 figures; additional files: 3 data files, 1 example script for data loading

We analyze the dynamics of entanglement in a paradigmatic noninteracting system subject to continuous monitoring of the local excitation densities. Recently, it was conjectured that the evolution of quantum correlations in such system is described by a semi-classical theory, based on entangled pairs of ballistically propagating quasiparticles and inspired by the hydrodynamic approach to unitary (integrable) quantum systems. Here, however, we show that this conjecture does not fully capture the complex behavior of quantum correlations emerging from the interplay between coherent dynamics and continuous monitoring. We unveil the existence of multipartite quantum correlations which are inconsistent with an entangled-pair structure and which, within a quasiparticle picture, would require the presence of larger multiplets. We also observe that quantum information is highly delocalized, as it is shared in a collective {\it nonredundant} way among adjacent regions of the many-body system. Our results shed new light onto the behavior of correlations in quantum stochastic dynamics and further show that these may be enhanced by a (weak) continuous monitoring process., Comment: 8+5 pages, 5 figures. Published in Letters of PRB

When atoms are excited to high-lying Rydberg states they interact strongly with dipolar forces. The resulting state-dependent level shifts allow to study many-body systems displaying intriguing nonequilibrium phenomena, such as constrained spin systems, and are at the heart of numerous technological applications, e.g., in quantum simulation and computation platforms. Here, we show that these interactions have also a significant impact on dissipative effects caused by the inevitable coupling of Rydberg atoms to the surrounding electromagnetic field. We demonstrate that their presence modifies the frequency of the photons emitted from the Rydberg atoms, making it dependent on the local neighborhood of the emitting atom. Interactions among Rydberg atoms thus turn spontaneous emission into a many-body process which manifests, in a thermodynamically consistent Markovian setting, in the emergence of collective jump operators in the quantum master equation governing the dynamics. We discuss how this collective dissipation - stemming from a mechanism different from the much studied super- and sub-radiance - accelerates decoherence and affects dissipative phase transitions in Rydberg ensembles., Comment: 4.5 pages, 3 figures, supplemental material; Data is available through ancillary files of arXiv submission. Code can be downloaded from Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7400824

We study the effect of spatially correlated classical noise on both Anderson and many-body localization of a disordered fermionic chain. By analyzing the evolution of the particle density imbalance following a quench from an initial charge density wave state, we find prominent signatures of localization also in the presence of the time-dependent noise, even though the system eventually relaxes to the infinite temperature state. In particular, for sufficiently strong static disorder we observe the onset of metastability, which becomes more prominent the stronger the spatial correlations of the noise. In this regime we find that the imbalance decays as a stretched-exponential - a behavior characteristic of glassy systems. We identify a simple scaling behavior of the relevant relaxation times in terms of the static disorder and of the noise correlation length. We discuss how our results could be exploited to extract information about the localization length in experimental setups., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; v2 close to published version

We consider the non-equilibrium behavior of a central spin system where the central spin is periodically reset to its ground state. The quantum mechanical evolution under this effectively dissipative dynamics is described by a discrete-time quantum map. Despite its simplicity this problem shows surprisingly complex dynamical features. In particular, we identify several metastable time-crystal resonances. Here the system does not relax rapidly to a stationary state but undergoes long-lived oscillations with a period that is an integer multiple of the reset period. At these resonances the evolution becomes restricted to a low-dimensional state space within which the system undergoes a periodic motion. Generalizing the theory of metastability in open quantum systems, we develop an effective description for the evolution within this long-lived metastable subspace and show that in the long-time limit a non-equilibrium stationary state is approached. Our study links to timely questions concerning emergent collective behavior in the 'prethermal' stage of a dissipative quantum many-body evolution and may establish an intriguing link to the phenomenon of quantum synchronization.

We derive the quasiparticle picture for the fermionic logarithmic negativity in a tight-binding chain subject to gain and loss dissipation. We focus on the dynamics after the quantum quench from the fermionic N\'eel state. We consider the negativity between both adjacent and disjoint intervals embedded in an infinite chain. Our result holds in the standard hydrodynamic limit of large subsystems and long times, with their ratio fixed. Additionally, we consider the weakly-dissipative limit, in which the dissipation rates are inversely proportional to the size of the intervals. We show that the negativity is proportional to the number of entangled pairs of quasiparticles that are shared between the two intervals, as is the case for the mutual information. Crucially, in contrast with the unitary case, the negativity content of quasiparticles is not given by the R\'enyi entropy with R\'enyi index 1/2, and it is in general not easily related to thermodynamic quantities., Comment: 35 pages, 8+1 figures, 2 appendices. Improved presentation. Added one figure and one appendix. Similar to published version

We introduce and investigate an open many-body quantum system in which kinetically constrained coherent and dissipative processes compete. The form of the incoherent dissipative dynamics is inspired by that of epidemic spreading or cellular-automaton-based computation related to the density-classification problem. It features two non-fluctuating absorbing states as well as a $\mathcal{Z}_2$-symmetric point in parameter space. The coherent evolution is governed by a kinetically constrained $\mathcal{Z}_2$-symmetric many-body Hamiltonian which is related to the quantum XOR-Fredrickson-Andersen model. We show that the quantum coherent dynamics can stabilize a fluctuating state and we characterize the transition between this active phase and the absorbing states. We also identify a rather peculiar behavior at the $\mathcal{Z}_2$-symmetric point. Here the system approaches the absorbing-state manifold with a dynamics that follows a power-law whose exponent continuously varies with the relative strength of the coherent dynamics. Our work shows how the interplay between coherent and dissipative processes as well as symmetry constraints may lead to a highly intricate non-equilibrium evolution and may stabilize phases that are absent in related classical problems., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures

We consider open quantum systems whose dynamics is governed by a time-independent Markovian Lindblad Master equation. Such systems approach their stationary state on a timescale that is determined by the spectral gap of the generator of the Master equation dynamics. In the recent paper [Carollo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 060401 (2021)] it was shown that under certain circumstances it is possible to exponentially accelerate the approach to stationarity by performing a unitary transformation of the initial state. This phenomenon can be regarded as the quantum version of the so-called Mpemba effect. The transformation of the initial state removes its overlap with the dynamical mode of the open system dynamics that possesses the slowest decay rate and thus determines the spectral gap. While this transformation can be exactly constructed in some cases, it is in practice challenging to implement. Here we show that even far simpler transformations constructed by a global unitary spin rotation allow to exponentially speed up relaxation. We demonstrate this using simple dissipative quantum spin systems, which are relevant for current quantum simulation and computation platforms based on trapped atoms and ions., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

We investigate the dynamics of a non-interacting spin system, undergoing coherent Rabi oscillations, in the presence of stochastic resetting. We show that resetting generally induces long-range quantum and classical correlations both in the emergent dissipative dynamics and in the non-equilibrium stationary state. Moreover, for the case of conditional reset protocols -- where the system is reinitialized to a state dependent on the outcome of a preceding measurement -- we show that, in the thermodynamic limit, the spin system can feature collective behavior which results in a phenomenology reminiscent of that occurring in non-equilibrium phase transitions. The discussed reset protocols can be implemented on quantum simulators and quantum devices that permit fast measurement and readout of macroscopic observables, such as the magnetisation. Our approach does not require the control of coherent interactions and may therefore highlight a route towards a simple and robust creation of quantum correlations and collective non-equilibrium states, with potential applications in quantum enhanced metrology and sensing., Comment: 6+6 pages, 3 figures

Full information about a many-body quantum system is usually out-of-reach due to the exponential growth -- with the size of the system -- of the number of parameters needed to encode its state. Nonetheless, in order to understand the complex phenomenology that can be observed in these systems, it is often sufficient to consider dynamical or stationary properties of local observables or, at most, of few-body correlation functions. These quantities are typically studied by singling out a specific subsystem of interest and regarding the remainder of the many-body system as an effective bath. In the simplest scenario, the subsystem dynamics, which is in fact an open quantum dynamics, can be approximated through Markovian quantum master equations. Here, we formulate the problem of finding the generator of the subsystem dynamics as a variational problem, which we solve using the standard toolbox of machine learning for optimization. This dynamical or ``Lindblad" generator provides the relevant dynamical parameters for the subsystem of interest. Importantly, the algorithm we develop is constructed such that the learned generator implements a physically consistent open quantum time-evolution. We exploit this to learn the generator of the dynamics of a subsystem of a many-body system subject to a unitary quantum dynamics. We explore the capability of our method to recover the time-evolution of a two-body subsystem and exploit the physical consistency of the generator to make predictions on the stationary state of the subsystem dynamics., Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures

Probabilistic cellular automata provide a simple framework for the exploration of classical nonequilibrium processes. Recently, quantum cellular automata have been proposed that rely on the propagation of a one-dimensional quantum state along a fictitious discrete time dimension via the sequential application of quantum gates. The resulting $(1+1)$-dimensional space-time structure makes these automata special cases of feed-forward quantum neural networks. Here we show how asynchronism -- introduced via non-commuting gates -- impacts on the collective nonequilibrium behavior of quantum cellular automata. We illustrate this through a simple model, whose synchronous version implements a contact process and features a nonequilibrium phase transition in the directed percolation universality class. Non-commuting quantum gates lead to an "asynchronism transition", i.e. a sudden qualitative change in the phase transition behavior once a certain degree of asynchronicity is surpassed. Our results show how quantum effects may lead to abrupt changes of non-equilibrium dynamics, which may be relevant for understanding the role of quantum correlations in neural networks., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Supplemental material of 3 pages

We consider Markovian open quantum systems subject to stochastic resetting, which means that the dissipative time evolution is reset at randomly distributed times to the initial state. We show that the ensuing dynamics is non-Markovian and has the form of a generalized Lindblad equation. Interestingly, the statistics of quantum-jumps can be exactly derived. This is achieved by combining techniques from the thermodynamics of quantum-jump trajectories with the renewal structure of the resetting dynamics. We consider as an application of our analysis a driven two-level and an intermittent three-level system. Our findings show that stochastic resetting may be exploited as a tool to tailor the statistics of the quantum-jump trajectories and the dynamical phases of open quantum systems., Comment: 37 pages and 7 Figures

In the vicinity of ground-state phase transitions quantum correlations can display non-analytic behavior and critical scaling. This signature of emergent collective effects has been widely investigated within a broad range of equilibrium settings. However, under nonequilibrium conditions, as found in open quantum many-body systems, characterizing quantum correlations near phase transitions is challenging. Moreover, the impact of local and collective dissipative processes on quantum correlations is not broadly understood. This is, however, indispensable for the exploitation of quantum effects in technological applications, such as sensing and metrology. Here we consider as a paradigmatic setting the superradiant phase transition of the open quantum Dicke model and characterize quantum and classical correlations across the phase diagram. We develop an approach to quantum fluctuations which allows us to show that local dissipation, which cannot be treated within the commonly employed Holstein-Primakoff approximation, rather unexpectedly leads to an enhancement of collective quantum correlations, and to the emergence of a nonequilibrium superradiant phase in which the bosonic and spin degrees of freedom of the Dicke model are entangled., Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures

The breaking of the continuous time-translation symmetry manifests, in Markovian open quantum systems, through the emergence of non-stationary dynamical phases. Systems that display nonequilibrium transitions into these phases are referred to as time-crystals, and they can be realized, for example, in many-body systems governed by collective dissipation and long-ranged interactions. Here, we provide a complete analytical characterization of a boundary time-crystal phase transition. This involves exact expressions for the order parameter and for the dynamics of quantum fluctuations, which, in the time-crystalline phase, remains asymptotically non-Markovian as a consequence of the time-translation symmetry breaking. We demonstrate that boundary time-crystals are intrinsically critical phases, where fluctuations exhibit a power-law divergence with time. Our results show that a dissipative time-crystal phase is far more than merely a classical non-linear and non-stationary (limit cycle) dynamics of a macroscopic order parameter. It is rather a genuine many-body phase where the properties of correlations distinctly differs from that of stationary ones., Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures

We study the dynamics of quantum information and of quantum correlations after a quantum quench, in transverse field Ising chains subject to generic linear dissipation. As we show, in the hydrodynamic limit of long times, large system sizes, and weak dissipation, entropy-related quantities -- such as the von Neumann entropy, the R\'enyi entropies, and the associated mutual information -- admit a simple description within the so-called quasiparticle picture. Specifically, we analytically derive a hydrodynamic formula, recently conjectured for generic noninteracting systems, which allows us to demonstrate a universal feature of the dynamics of correlations in such dissipative noninteracting system. For any possible dissipation, the mutual information grows up to a time scale that is proportional to the inverse dissipation rate, and then decreases, always vanishing in the long time limit. In passing, we provide analytic formulas describing the time-dependence of arbitrary functions of the fermionic covariance matrix, in the hydrodynamic limit., Comment: 33 pages, 9 figures. Invited contribution to the special issue "Hydrodynamics of Low-Dimensional Quantum Systems" of J. Phys. A. Few typos corrected. As published

We consider closed quantum many-body systems subject to stochastic resetting. This means that their unitary time evolution is interrupted by resets at randomly selected times. When a reset takes place the system is reinitialized to a state chosen from a set of reset states conditionally on the outcome of a measurement taken immediately before resetting. We construct analytically the resulting non-equilibrium stationary state, thereby establishing an explicit connection between quantum quenches in closed systems and the emergent open system dynamics induced by stochastic resetting. We discuss as an application the paradigmatic transverse-field quantum Ising chain. We show that signatures of its ground-state quantum phase transition are visible in the steady state of the reset dynamics as a sharp crossover. Our findings show that a controlled stochastic resetting dynamics allows to design non-equilibrium stationary states of quantum many-body systems, where uncontrolled dissipation and heating can be prevented. These states can thus be created on demand and exploited, e.g., as a resource for quantum enhanced sensing on quantum simulator platforms., Comment: 23 pages. 6 pages main text and 17 pages supplemental material

Correlations between different regions of a quantum many-body system can be quantified through measures based on entropies of (reduced) subsystem states. For closed systems, several analytical and numerical tools, e.g., hydrodynamic theories or tensor networks, can accurately capture the time-evolution of subsystem entropies, thus allowing for a profound understanding of the unitary dynamics of quantum correlations. However, so far, these methods either cannot be applied to open quantum systems or do not permit an efficient computation of quantum entropies for mixed states. Here, we make progress in solving this issue by formulating a dissipative quasi-particle picture -- describing the dynamics of quantum entropies in the hydrodynamic limit -- for a general class of noninteracting open quantum systems. Our results show that also in dissipative many-body systems, correlations are generically established through the propagation of quasi-particles., Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Substantial rewriting. Modified figures. As published in PRB

We introduce the concept of dark space phase transition, which may occur in open many-body quantum systems where irreversible decay, interactions and quantum interference compete. Our study is based on a quantum many-body model, that is inspired by classical nonequilibrium processes which feature phase transitions into an absorbing state, such as epidemic spreading. The possibility for different dynamical paths to interfere quantum mechanically results in collective dynamical behavior without classical counterpart. We identify two competing dark states, a trivial one corresponding to a classical absorbing state and an emergent one which is quantum coherent. We establish a nonequilibrium phase transition within this dark space that features a phenomenology which cannot be encountered in classical systems. Such emergent two-dimensional dark space may find technological applications, e.g. for the collective encoding of a quantum information., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures

We employ $(1 + 1)$-dimensional quantum cellular automata to study the evolution of entanglement and coherence near criticality in quantum systems that display non-equilibrium steady-state phase transitions. This construction permits direct access to the entire space-time structure of the underlying non-equilibrium dynamics. It contains the full ensemble of classical trajectories and also allows for the analysis of unconventional correlations, such as entanglement in the time direction between the "present" and the "past". Close to criticality, the dynamics of these correlations - which we quantify through the second-order Renyi entropy - displays power-law behavior on its approach to stationarity. Our analysis is based on quantum generalizations of classical non-equilibrium systems: the Domany-Kinzel cellular automaton and the Bagnoli-Boccara-Rechtman model, for which we provide estimates for the critical exponents related to the classical and quantum components of the entropy. Our study shows that $(1 + 1)$-dimensional quantum cellular automata permit an intriguing perspective on the nature of classical and quantum correlations in out-of-equilibrium systems., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Supplementary Material of 7 pages, 2 figures

We investigate the interplay between unitary dynamics after a quantum quench and localized dissipation in a noninteracting fermionic chain. In particular, we consider the effect of gain and loss processes, for which fermions are added and removed incoherently. We focus on the hydrodynamic limit of large distances from the source of dissipation and of long times, with their ratio being fixed. In this limit, the localized dissipation gives rise to an effective delta potential (dissipative impurity), and the time-evolution of the local correlation functions admits a simple hydrodynamic description in terms of the fermionic occupations in the initial state and the reflection and transmission amplitudes of the impurity. We derive this hydrodynamic framework from the ab initio calculation of the microscopic dynamics. This allows us to analytically characterize the effect of dissipation for several theoretically relevant initial states, such as a uniform Fermi sea, homogeneous product states, or the inhomogeneous state obtained by joining two Fermi seas. In this latter setting, when both gain and loss processes are present, we observe the emergence of exotic nonequilibrium steady states with stepwise uniform density profiles. In all instances, for strong dissipation the coherent dynamics of the system is arrested, which is a manifestation of the celebrated quantum Zeno effect., Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. Minor modifications, added one figure. As published

Ergodicity-breaking and slow relaxation are intriguing aspects of nonequilibrium dynamics both in classical and in quantum settings. These phenomena are typically associated with phase transitions, e.g. the emergence of metastable regimes near a first-order transition or scaling dynamics in the vicinity of critical points. Despite being of fundamental interest the associated divergent time scales are a hindrance when trying to explore steady-state properties. Here we show that the relaxation dynamics of Markovian open quantum systems can be accelerated exponentially by devising an optimal unitary transformation that is applied to the quantum system immediately before the actual dynamics. This initial "rotation" is engineered in such a way that the state of the quantum system becomes orthogonal to the slowest decaying dynamical mode. We illustrate our idea -- which is inspired by the so-called Mpemba effect, i.e., water freezing faster when initially heated up -- by showing how to achieve an exponential speed-up in the convergence to stationarity in Dicke models, and how to avoid metastable regimes in an all-to-all interacting spin system., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures

We investigate the creation and control of emergent collective behavior and quantum correlations using feedback in an emitter-waveguide system using a minimal model. Employing homodyne detection of photons emitted from a laser-driven emitter ensemble into the modes of a waveguide allows to generate intricate dynamical phases. In particular, we show the emergence of a time-crystal phase, the transition to which is controlled by the feedback strength. Feedback enables furthermore the control of many-body quantum correlations, which become manifest in spin squeezing in the emitter ensemble. Developing a theory for the dynamics of fluctuation operators we discuss how the feedback strength controls the squeezing and investigate its temporal dynamics and dependence on system size. The largely analytical results allow to quantify spin squeezing and fluctuations in the limit of large number of emitters, revealing critical scaling of the squeezing close to the transition to the time-crystal. Our study corroborates the potential of integrated emitter-waveguide systems -- which feature highly controllable photon emission channels -- for the exploration of collective quantum phenomena and the generation of resources, such as squeezed states, for quantum enhanced metrology., Comment: 13 pages (including Supplemental Material), 3 figures

In the study of closed many-body quantum systems one is often interested in the evolution of a subset of degrees of freedom. On many occasions it is possible to approach the problem by performing an appropriate decomposition into a bath and a system. In the simplest case the evolution of the reduced state of the system is governed by a quantum master equation with a time-independent, i.e. Markovian, generator. Such evolution is typically emerging under the assumption of a weak coupling between the system and an infinitely large bath. Here, we are interested in understanding to which extent a neural network function approximator can predict open quantum dynamics - described by time-local generators - from an underlying unitary dynamics. We investigate this question using a class of spin models, which is inspired by recent experimental setups. We find that indeed time-local generators can be learned. In certain situations they are even time-independent and allow to extrapolate the dynamics to unseen times. This might be useful for situations in which experiments or numerical simulations do not allow to capture long-time dynamics and for exploring thermalization occurring in closed quantum systems.