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One of the core challenges of research in quantum computing is concerned with the question whether quantum advantages can be found for near-term quantum circuits that have implications for practical applications. Motivated by this mindset, in this work, we prove an unconditional quantum advantage in the probably approximately correct (PAC) distribution learning framework with shallow quantum circuit hypotheses. We identify a meaningful generative distribution learning problem where constant-depth quantum circuits using one and two qubit gates (QNC^0) are superior compared to constant-depth bounded fan-in classical circuits (NC^0) as a choice for hypothesis classes. We hence prove a PAC distribution learning separation for shallow quantum circuits over shallow classical circuits. We do so by building on recent results by Bene Watts and Parham on unconditional quantum advantages for sampling tasks with shallow circuits, which we technically uplift to a hyperplane learning problem, identifying non-local correlations as the origin of the quantum advantage., Comment: 7 + 5 pages, 2 figures, added an acknowledgement

Randomized measurements are increasingly appreciated as powerful tools to estimate properties of quantum systems, e.g., in the characterization of hybrid classical-quantum computation. On many platforms they constitute natively accessible measurements, serving as the building block of prominent schemes like shadow estimation. In the real world, however, the implementation of the random gates at the core of these schemes is susceptible to various sources of noise and imperfections, strongly limiting the applicability of protocols. To attenuate the impact of this shortcoming, in this work we introduce an error-mitigated method of randomized measurements, giving rise to a robust shadow estimation procedure. On the practical side, we show that error mitigation and shadow estimation can be carried out using the same session of quantum experiments, hence ensuring that we can address and mitigate the noise affecting the randomization measurements. Mathematically, we develop a picture derived from Fourier-transforms to connect randomized benchmarking and shadow estimation. We prove rigorous performance guarantees and show the functioning using comprehensive numerics. More conceptually, we demonstrate that, if properly used, easily accessible data from randomized benchmarking schemes already provide such valuable diagnostic information to inform about the noise dynamics and to assist in quantum learning procedures., Comment: 6+20 pages, 6 figures

The ground state of the toric code, that of the two-dimensional class D superconductor, and the partition sum of the two-dimensional Ising model are dual to each other. This duality is remarkable inasmuch as it connects systems commonly associated to different areas of physics -- that of long range entangled topological order, (topological) band insulators, and classical statistical mechanics, respectively. Connecting fermionic and bosonic systems, the duality construction is intrinsically non-local, a complication that has been addressed in a plethora of different approaches, including dimensional reduction to one dimension, conformal field theory methods, and operator algebra. In this work, we propose a unified approach to this duality, whose main protagonist is a tensor network (TN) assuming the role of an intermediate translator. Introducing a fourth node into the net of dualities offers several advantages: the formulation is integrative in that all links of the duality are treated on an equal footing, (unlike in field theoretical approaches) it is formulated with lattice precision, a feature that becomes key in the mapping of correlation functions, and their possible numerical implementation. Finally, the passage from bosons to fermions is formulated entirely within the two-dimensional TN framework where it assumes an intuitive and technically convenient form. We illustrate the predictive potential of the formalism by exploring the fate of phase transitions, point and line defects, topological boundary modes, and other structures under the mapping between system classes. Having condensed matter readerships in mind, we introduce the construction pedagogically in a manner assuming only minimal familiarity with the concept of TNs., Comment: 19 pages, 19 figures; v2 - added references

The study of many-body quantum dynamics in strongly-correlated systems is extremely challenging. To date few numerical methods exist which are capable of simulating the non-equilibrium dynamics of two-dimensional quantum systems, in part reflecting complexity theoretic obstructions. In this work, we present a new technique able to overcome this obstacle, by combining continuous unitary flow techniques with the newly developed method of scrambling transforms. We overcome the prejudice that approximately diagonalizing the Hamiltonian cannot lead to reliable predictions for relatively long times. To the contrary, we show that the method works well in both localized and delocalized phases, and makes reliable predictions for a number of quantities including infinite-temperature autocorrelation functions. We complement our findings with rigorous incremental bounds on the truncation error. This approach shows that in practice, the exploration of intermediate-scale time evolution may be more feasible than is commonly assumed, challenging near-term quantum simulators., Comment: 7+8 pages; 5+4 figures

Variational methods play an important role in the study of quantum many body problems, both in the flavour of classical variational principles based on tensor networks as well as of quantum variational principles in near-term quantum computing. This brief pedagogical note stresses that for translationally invariant lattice Hamiltonians, one can easily derive efficiently computable lower bounds to ground state energies that can and should be compared with variational principles providing upper bounds. As small technical results, it is shown that (i) the Anderson bound and a (ii) common hierarchy of semi-definite relaxations both provide approximations with performance guarantees that scale like a constant in the energy density for cubic lattices. (iii) Also, the Anderson bound is systematically improved as a hierarchy of semi-definite relaxations inspired by the marginal problem., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, typos corrected, reference added, funding information added

Quasi-local integrals of motion are a key concept underpinning the modern understanding of many-body localisation, an intriguing phenomenon in which interactions and disorder come together. Despite the existence of several numerical ways to compute them - and astoundingly in the light of the observation that much of the phenomenology of many properties can be derived from them - it is not obvious how to directly measure aspects of them in real quantum simulations; in fact, the smoking gun of their experimental observation is arguably still missing. In this work, we propose a way to extract the real-space properties of such quasi-local integrals of motion based on a spatially-resolved entanglement probe able to distinguish Anderson from many-body localisation from non-equilibrium dynamics. We complement these findings with a new rigorous entanglement bound and compute the relevant quantities using tensor networks. We demonstrate that the entanglement gives rise to a well-defined length scale that can be measured in experiments., Comment: 6+12 pages, 13 figures, substantial detail added

Many-body localisation in disordered systems in one spatial dimension is typically understood in terms of the existence of an extensive number of (quasi)-local integrals of motion (LIOMs) which are thought to decay exponentially with distance and interact only weakly with one another. By contrast, little is known about the form of the integrals of motion in disorder-free systems which exhibit localisation. Here, we explicitly compute the LIOMs for disorder-free localised systems, focusing on the case of a linearly increasing potential. We show that while in the absence of interactions, the LIOMs decay faster than exponentially, the addition of interactions leads to the formation of a slow-decaying plateau at short distances. We study how the localisation properties of the LIOMs depend on the linear slope, finding that there is a significant finite-size dependence, and present evidence that adding a weak harmonic potential does not result in typical many-body localisation phenomenology. By contrast, the addition of disorder has a qualitatively different effect, dramatically modifying the properties of the LIOMS., Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, replaced with final version

Recent years have witnessed an increased interest in recovering dynamical laws of complex systems in a largely data-driven fashion under meaningful hypotheses. In this work, we propose a scalable and numerically robust method for this task, utilizing efficient block-sparse tensor train representations of dynamical laws, inspired by similar approaches in quantum many-body systems. Low-rank tensor train representations have been previously derived for dynamical laws of one-dimensional systems. We extend this result to efficient representations of systems with $K$-mode interactions and controlled approximations of systems with decaying interactions. We further argue that natural structure assumptions on dynamical laws, such as bounded polynomial degrees, can be exploited in the form of block-sparse support patterns of tensor-train cores. Additional structural similarities between interactions of certain modes can be accounted for by weight sharing within the ansatz. To make use of these structure assumptions, we propose a novel optimization algorithm, block-sparsity restricted alternating least squares with gauge-mediated weight sharing. The algorithm is inspired by similar notions in machine learning and achieves a significant improvement in performance over previous approaches. We demonstrate the performance of the method numerically on three one-dimensional systems -- the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou system, rotating magnetic dipoles and point particles interacting via modified Lennard-Jones potentials, observing a highly accurate and noise-robust recovery., Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures. New analytical results added, block sparsity proof included, major revisions of the text

Quantum thermodynamics is aimed at grasping thermodynamic laws as they apply to thermal machines operating in the deep quantum regime, a regime in which coherences and entanglement are expected to matter. Despite substantial progress, however, it has remained difficult to develop thermal machines in which such quantum effects are observed to be of pivotal importance. In this work, we report an experimental measurement of the genuine quantum correction to the classical work fluctuation-dissipation relation (FDR). We employ a single trapped ion qubit, realizing thermalization and coherent drive via laser pulses, to implement a quantum coherent work protocol. The results from a sequence of two-time work measurements display agreement with the recently proven quantum work FDR, violating the classical FDR by more than $10.9$ standard deviations. We furthermore determine that our results are incompatible with any SPAM error-induced correction to the FDR by more than 10 standard deviations. Finally, we show that the quantum correction vanishes in the high-temperature limit, again in agreement with theoretical predictions., Comment: 5+4 pages, 3 figures

The interplay of interactions and disorder in a quantum many body system may lead to the elusive phenomenon of many body localization (MBL). It has been observed under precisely controlled conditions in synthetic quantum many-body systems, but to detect it in actual quantum materials seems challenging. In this work, we present a path to synthesize real materials that show signatures of many body localization by mixing different species of materials in the laboratory. To provide evidence for the functioning of our approach, we perform a detailed tensor-network based numerical analysis to study the effects of various doping ratios of the constituting materials. Moreover, in order to provide guidance to experiments, we investigate different choices of actual candidate materials. To address the challenge of how to achieve stability under heating, we study the effect of the electron-phonon coupling, focusing on effectively one dimensional materials embedded in one, two and three dimensional lattices. We analyze how this coupling affects the MBL and provide an intuitive microscopic description of the interplay between the electronic degrees of freedom and the lattice vibrations. Our work provides a guideline for the necessary conditions on the properties of the ingredient materials and, as such, serves as a road map to experimentally synthesizing real quantum materials exhibiting signatures of MBL., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures

One of the core questions of quantum physics is how to reconcile the unitary evolution of quantum states, which is information-preserving and time-reversible, with evolution following the second law of thermodynamics, which, in general, is neither. The resolution to this paradox is to recognize that global unitary evolution of a multi-partite quantum state causes the state of local subsystems to evolve towards maximum-entropy states. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate this effect in linear quantum optics by simultaneously showing the convergence of local quantum states to a generalized Gibbs ensemble constituting a maximum-entropy state under precisely controlled conditions, while introducing an efficient certification method to demonstrate that the state retains global purity. Our quantum states are manipulated by a programmable integrated quantum photonic processor, which simulates arbitrary non-interacting Hamiltonians, demonstrating the universality of this phenomenon. Our results show the potential of photonic devices for quantum simulations involving non-Gaussian states., Comment: 9+12 pages, 12 figures, replaced with final version

With quantum computing devices increasing in scale and complexity, there is a growing need for tools that obtain precise diagnostic information about quantum operations. However, current quantum devices are only capable of short unstructured gate sequences followed by native measurements. We accept this limitation and turn it into a new paradigm for characterizing quantum gate-sets. A single experiment - random sequence estimation - solves a wealth of estimation problems, with all complexity moved to classical post-processing. We derive robust channel variants of shadow estimation with close-to-optimal performance guarantees and use these as a primitive for partial, compressive and full process tomography as well as the learning of Pauli noise. We discuss applications to the quantum gate engineering cycle, and propose novel methods for the optimization of quantum gates and diagnosing cross-talk., Comment: 10+17 pages, 3 figures, replaced with final version

Notions of circuit complexity and cost play a key role in quantum computing and simulation where they capture the (weighted) minimal number of gates that is required to implement a unitary. Similar notions also become increasingly prominent in high energy physics in the study of holography. While notions of entanglement have in general little implications for the quantum circuit complexity and the cost of a unitary, in this note, we discuss a simple such relationship when both the entanglement of a state and the cost of a unitary take small values, building on ideas on how values of entangling power of quantum gates add up. This bound implies that if entanglement entropies grow linearly in time, so does the cost. The implications are two-fold: It provides insights into complexity growth for short times. In the context of quantum simulation, it allows to compare digital and analog quantum simulators. The main technical contribution is a continuous-variable small incremental entangling bound., Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, typos corrected

We introduce a systematic mathematical language for describing fixed point models and apply it to the study to topological phases of matter. The framework is reminiscent of state-sum models and lattice topological quantum field theories, but is formalised and unified in terms of tensor networks. In contrast to existing tensor network ansatzes for the study of ground states of topologically ordered phases, the tensor networks in our formalism represent discrete path integrals in Euclidean space-time. This language is more directly related to the Hamiltonian defining the model than other approaches, via a Trotterization of the respective imaginary time evolution. We introduce our formalism by simple examples, and demonstrate its full power by expressing known families of models in 2+1 dimensions in their most general form, namely string-net models and Kitaev quantum doubles based on weak Hopf algebras. To elucidate the versatility of our formalism, we also show how fermionic phases of matter can be described and provide a framework for topological fixed point models in 3+1 dimensions., Comment: Added one section ("non-triangle liquid"), and more discussion on non-fixed-point path integrals

The compelling original idea of a time crystal has referred to a structure that repeats in time as well as in space, an idea that has attracted significant interest recently. While obstructions to realize such structures became apparent early on, focus has shifted to seeing a symmetry breaking in time in periodically driven systems, a property of systems referred to as discrete time crystals. In this work, we introduce Stark time crystals based on a type of localization that is created in the absence of any spatial disorder. We argue that Stark time crystals constitute a phase of matter coming very close to the original idea and exhibit a symmetry breaking in space and time. Complementing a comprehensive discussion of the physics of the problem, we move on to elaborating on possible practical applications and argue that the physical demands of witnessing genuine signatures of many-body localization in large systems may be lessened in such physical systems., Comment: 8 pages, 13 figures, replaced with final version

Recent years have enjoyed an overwhelming interest in quantum thermodynamics, a field of research aimed at understanding thermodynamic tasks performed in the quantum regime. Further progress, however, seems to be obstructed by the lack of experimental implementations of thermal machines in which quantum effects play a decisive role. In this work, we introduce a blueprint of quantum field machines, which - once experimentally realized - would fill this gap. Even though the concept of the QFM presented here is very general and can be implemented in any many body quantum system that can be described by a quantum field theory. We provide here a detailed proposal how to realize a quantum machine in one-dimensional ultra-cold atomic gases, which consists of a set of modular operations giving rise to a piston. These can then be coupled sequentially to thermal baths, with the innovation that a quantum field takes up the role of the working fluid. In particular, we propose models for compression on the system to use it as a piston, and coupling to a bath that gives rise to a valve controlling heat flow. These models are derived within Bogoliubov theory, which allows us to study the operational primitives numerically in an efficient way. By composing the numerically modelled operational primitives we design complete quantum thermodynamic cycles that are shown to enable cooling and hence giving rise to a quantum field refrigerator. The active cooling achieved in this way can operate in regimes where existing cooling methods become ineffective. We describe the consequences of operating the machine at the quantum level and give an outlook of how this work serves as a road map to explore open questions in quantum information, quantum thermodynamic and the study of non-Markovian quantum dynamics., Comment: 48 pages, 18 figures, replaced by published version

Quantum simulations with ultra-cold atoms in optical lattices open up an exciting path towards understanding strongly interacting quantum systems. Atom gas microscopes are crucial for this as they offer single-site density resolution, unparalleled in other quantum many-body systems. However, currently a direct measurement of local coherent currents is out of reach. In this work, we show how to achieve that by measuring densities that are altered in response to quenches to non-interacting dynamics, e.g., after tilting the optical lattice. For this, we establish a data analysis method solving the closed set of equations relating tunnelling currents and atom number dynamics, allowing to reliably recover the full covariance matrix, including off-diagonal terms representing coherent currents. The signal processing builds upon semi-definite optimization, providing bona fide covariance matrices optimally matching the observed data. We demonstrate how the obtained information about non-commuting observables allows to lower bound entanglement at finite temperature which opens up the possibility to study quantum correlations in quantum simulations going beyond classical capabilities., Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures. Scheme simplified, substantial material added

We present fresh evidence for the presence of discrete quantum time crystals in two spatial dimensions. Discrete time crystals are intricate quantum systems that break discrete time translation symmetry in driven quantum many-body systems undergoing non-equilibrium dynamics. They are stabilized by many-body localization arising from disorder. We directly target the thermodynamic limit using instances of infinite tensor network states and implement disorder in a translationally invariant setting by introducing auxiliary systems at each site. We discuss how such disorder can be realized in programmable quantum simulators: This gives rise to the interesting situation in which a classical tensor network simulation can contribute to devising a blueprint of a quantum simulator featuring pre-thermal time crystalline dynamics, one that will yet ultimately have to be built in order to explore the stability of this phase of matter for long times., Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, replaced by final version

Tensor network states provide an efficient class of states that faithfully capture strongly correlated quantum models and systems in classical statistical mechanics. While tensor networks can now be seen as becoming standard tools in the description of such complex many-body systems, close to optimal variational principles based on such states are less obvious to come by. In this work, we generalize a recently proposed variational uniform matrix product state algorithm for capturing one-dimensional quantum lattices in the thermodynamic limit, to the study of regular two-dimensional tensor networks with a non-trivial unit cell. A key property of the algorithm is a computational effort that scales linearly rather than exponentially in the size of the unit cell. We demonstrate the performance of our approach on the computation of the classical partition functions of the antiferromagnetic Ising model and interacting dimers on the square lattice, as well as of a quantum doped resonating valence bond state., Comment: 23 pages, 8 Figures; Corrected eq. (41); Revised argument in A.2

Given observations of a physical system, identifying the underlying non-linear governing equation is a fundamental task, necessary both for gaining understanding and generating deterministic future predictions. Of most practical relevance are automated approaches to theory building that scale efficiently for complex systems with many degrees of freedom. To date, available scalable methods aim at a data-driven interpolation, without exploiting or offering insight into fundamental underlying physical principles, such as locality of interactions. In this work, we show that various physical constraints can be captured via tensor network based parameterizations for the governing equation, which naturally ensures scalability. In addition to providing analytic results motivating the use of such models for realistic physical systems, we demonstrate that efficient rank-adaptive optimization algorithms can be used to learn optimal tensor network models without requiring a~priori knowledge of the exact tensor ranks. As such, we provide a physics-informed approach to recovering structured dynamical laws from data, which adaptively balances the need for expressivity and scalability., Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures

We provide an argument to infer stationary entanglement between light and a mechanical oscillator based on continuous measurement of light only. We propose an experimentally realizable scheme involving an optomechanical cavity driven by a resonant, continuous-wave field operating in the non-sideband-resolved regime. This corresponds to the conventional configuration of an optomechanical position or force sensor. We show analytically that entanglement between the mechanical oscillator and the output field of the optomechanical cavity can be inferred from the measurement of squeezing in (generalized) Einstein-Podolski-Rosen quadratures of suitable temporal modes of the stationary light field. Squeezing can reach levels of up to 50% of noise reduction below shot noise in the limit of large quantum cooperativity. Remarkably, entanglement persists even in the opposite limit of small cooperativity. Viewing the optomechanical device as a position sensor, entanglement between mechanics and light is an instance of object-apparatus entanglement predicted by quantum measurement theory., Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures

Concomitant with the rapid development of quantum technologies, challenging demands arise concerning the certification and characterization of devices. The promises of the field can only be achieved if stringent levels of precision of components can be reached and their functioning guaranteed. This review provides a brief overview of the known characterization methods of certification, benchmarking, and tomographic recovery of quantum states and processes, as well as their applications in quantum computing, simulation, and communication., Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, 5 text boxes, 1 table, invited review for Nature Reviews, v2 extended and updated

Tensor network methods have progressed from variational techniques based on matrix-product states able to compute properties of one-dimensional condensed-matter lattice models into methods rooted in more elaborate states such as projected entangled pair states aimed at simulating the physics of two-dimensional models. In this work, we advocate the paradigm that for two-dimensional fermionic models, matrix-product states are still applicable to significantly higher accuracy levels than direct embeddings into one-dimensional systems allow for. To do so, we exploit schemes of fermionic mode transformations and overcome the prejudice that one-dimensional embeddings need to be local. This approach takes the insight seriously that the suitable exploitation of both the manifold of matrix-product states and the unitary manifold of mode transformations can more accurately capture the natural correlation structure. By demonstrating the residual low levels of entanglement in emerging modes, we show that matrix-product states can describe ground states strikingly well. The power of the approach is exemplified by investigating a phase transition of spin-less fermions for lattice sizes up to 10x10., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, new material presented

Quantum many-body systems out of equilibrium pose some of the most intriguing questions in physics. Unfortunately, numerically keeping track of time evolution of states under Hamiltonian dynamics constitutes a severe challenge for all known methods. Prominently, tensor network methods are marred by an entanglement blowup, which allows to simulate systems following global quenches only to constant time. In this work, we present a scheme that allows to significantly extend the simulation time for interacting fermionic or equivalent spin systems. In the past when keeping track of evolution in one-dimensional real space, the subspace parametrised by real-space matrix product states satisfying area laws - often dubbed the "physical corner" of Hilbert space - was chosen as variational set. In contrast, if the manifold containing both tensor network states and fermionic mode transformations is chosen, significantly longer times can be achieved. We argue and our results suggest that in many cases it is genuine correlations between modes that is the actual limiting factor: The system at hand is for intermediate times contained in the "physical corner", but a different one than what is commonly assumed., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures

Quantum spin liquids are exotic quantum phases of matter that do not order even at zero temperature. While there are several toy models and simple Hamiltonians that could host a quantum spin liquid as their ground state, it is very rare to find actual, realistic materials that exhibits their properties. At the same time, the classical simulation of such instances of strongly correlated systems is intricate and reliable methods are scarce. In this work, we investigate the quantum magnet Ca$_{10}$Cr$_7$O$_{28}$ that has recently been discovered to exhibit properties of a quantum spin liquid in inelastic neutron scattering experiments. This compound has a distorted bilayer Kagome lattice crystal structure consisting of Cr$^{5+}$ ions with spin-$1/2$ moments. Coincidentally, the lattice structure renders a tensor network algorithm in 2D applicable that can be seen as a new variant of a projected entangled simplex state algorithm in the thermodynamic limit. In this first numerical investigation of this material that takes into account genuine quantum correlations, good agreement with the experimental findings is found. We argue that this is one of the very first studies of physical materials in the laboratory with tensor network methods, contributing to uplifting tensor networks from conceptual tools to methods to describe real two-dimensional quantum materials., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, extended and experimental data added

Many-body localized systems in which interactions and disorder come together defy the expectations of quantum statistical mechanics: In contrast to ergodic systems, they do not thermalize when undergoing nonequilibrium dynamics. What is less clear, however, is how topological features interplay with many-body localized phases as well as the nature of the transition between a topological and a trivial state within the latter. In this work, we numerically address these questions, using a combination of extensive tensor network calculations, specifically DMRG-X, as well as exact diagonalization, leading to a comprehensive characterization of Hamiltonian spectra and eigenstate entanglement properties., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, submitted to PRB

Any technology requires precise benchmarking of its components, and the quantum technologies are no exception. Randomized benchmarking allows for the relatively resource economical estimation of the average gate fidelity of quantum gates from the Clifford group, assuming identical noise levels for all gates, making use of suitable sequences of randomly chosen Clifford gates. In this work, we report significant progress on randomized benchmarking, by showing that it can be done for individual quantum gates outside the Clifford group, even for varying noise levels per quantum gate. This is possible at little overhead of quantum resources, but at the expense of a significant classical computational cost. At the heart of our analysis is a representation-theoretic framework that we develop here which is brought into contact with classical estimation techniques based on bootstrapping and matrix pencils. We demonstrate the functioning of the scheme at hand of benchmarking tensor powers of T-gates. Apart from its practical relevance, we expect this insight to be relevant as it highlights the role of assumptions made on unknown noise processes when characterizing quantum gates at high precision., Comment: 4+13 pages, 4 figures, small changes, references added

Tensor network methods have become a powerful class of tools to capture strongly correlated matter, but methods to capture the experimentally ubiquitous family of models at finite temperature beyond one spatial dimension are largely lacking. We introduce a tensor network algorithm able to simulate thermal states of two-dimensional quantum lattice systems in the thermodynamic limit. The method develops instances of projected entangled pair states and projected entangled pair operators for this purpose. It is the key feature of this algorithm to resemble the cooling down of the system from an infinite temperature state until it reaches the desired finite-temperature regime. As a benchmark we study the finite-temperature phase transition of the Ising model on an infinite square lattice, for which we obtain remarkable agreement with the exact solution. We then turn to study the finite-temperature Bose-Hubbard model in the limits of two (hard-core) and three bosonic modes per site. Our technique can be used to support the experimental study of actual effectively two-dimensional materials in the laboratory, as well as to benchmark optical lattice quantum simulators with ultra-cold atoms., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, small changes, reference added

The realization of topological quantum phases of matter remains a key challenge to condensed matter physics and quantum information science. In this work, we demonstrate that progress in this direction can be made by combining concepts of tensor network theory with Majorana device technology. Considering the topological double semion string-net phase as an example, we exploit the fact that the representation of topological phases by tensor networks can be significantly simpler than their description by lattice Hamiltonians. The building blocks defining the tensor network are tailored to realization via simple units of capacitively coupled Majorana bound states. In the case under consideration, this yields a remarkably simple blueprint of a synthetic double semion string-net, and one may be optimistic that the required device technology will be available soon. Our results indicate that the implementation of tensor network structures via mesoscopic quantum devices opens up a powerful novel avenue toward the realization and quantum simulation of synthetic topological quantum matter., Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, replaced by final version

The von Neumann entropy is a key quantity in quantum information theory and, roughly speaking, quantifies the amount of quantum information contained in a state when many identical and independent i.i.d. copies of the state are available, in a regime that is often referred to as being asymptotic. In this work, we provide a new operational characterization of the von Neumann entropy which neither requires an i.i.d. limit nor any explicit randomness. We do so by showing that the von Neumann entropy fully characterizes single-shot state transitions in unitary quantum mechanics, as long as one has access to a catalyst - an ancillary system that can be re-used after the transition - and an environment which has the effect of dephasing in a preferred basis. Building upon these insights, we formulate and provide evidence for the catalytic entropy conjecture, which states that the above result holds true even in the absence of decoherence. If true, this would prove an intimate connection between single-shot state transitions in unitary quantum mechanics and the von Neumann entropy. Our results add significant support to recent insights that, contrary to common wisdom, the standard von Neumann entropy also characterizes single-shot situations and opens up the possibility for operational single-shot interpretations of other standard entropic quantities. We discuss implications of these insights to readings of the third law of quantum thermodynamics and hint at potentially profound implications to holography., Comment: 4+5 pages, 1 figure

Quantum simulators allow to explore static and dynamical properties of otherwise intractable quantum many-body systems. In many instances, however, it is the read-out that limits such quantum simulations. In this work, we introduce a new paradigm of experimental read-out exploiting coherent non-interacting dynamics in order to extract otherwise inaccessible observables. Specifically, we present a novel tomographic recovery method allowing to indirectly measure second moments of relative density fluctuations in one-dimensional superfluids which until now eluded direct measurements. We achieve this by relating second moments of relative phase fluctuations which are measured at different evolution times through known dynamical equations arising from unitary non-interacting multi-mode dynamics. Applying methods from signal processing we reconstruct the full matrix of second moments, including the relative density fluctuations. We employ the method to investigate equilibrium states, the dynamics of phonon occupation numbers and even to predict recurrences. The method opens a new window for quantum simulations with one-dimensional superfluids, enabling a deeper analysis of their equilibration and thermalization dynamics., Comment: 7+13 pages, 15 figures, substantially extended and revised, material added

For a quantum system to be captured by a stationary statistical ensemble, as is common in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, it is necessary that it reaches some apparently stationary state in the first place. In this book chapter, we discuss the problem of equilibration and specifically provide insights into how long it takes to reach equilibrium in closed quantum systems. We first briefly discuss the connection of this problem with recent experiments and forthcoming quantum simulators. Then we provide a comprehensive discussion of equilibration from a heuristic point of view, with a focus on providing an intuitive understanding and connecting the problem with general properties of interacting many-body systems. Finally, we provide a concise review of the rigorous results on equilibration times that are known in the literature., Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, contribution to "Thermodynamics in the quantum regime - recent progress and outlook", F. Binder, L. A. Correa, C. Gogolin, J. Anders, and G. Adesso (eds.) (Springer, Berlin, 2018)

Quantum communication between distant parties is based on suitable instances of shared entanglement. For efficiency reasons, in an anticipated quantum network beyond point-to-point communication, it is preferable that many parties can communicate simultaneously over the underlying infrastructure; however, bottlenecks in the network may cause delays. Sharing of multi-partite entangled states between parties offers a solution, allowing for parallel quantum communication. Specifically for the two-pair problem, the butterfly network provides the first instance of such an advantage in a bottleneck scenario. The underlying method differs from standard repeater network approaches in that it uses a graph state instead of maximally entangled pairs to achieve long-distance simultaneous communication. We will demonstrate how graph theoretic tools, and specifically local complementation, help decrease the number of required measurements compared to usual methods applied in repeater schemes. We will examine other examples of network architectures, where deploying local complementation techniques provides an advantage. We will finally consider the problem of extracting graph states for quantum communication via local Clifford operations and Pauli measurements, and discuss that while the general problem is known to be NP-complete, interestingly, for specific classes of structured resources, polynomial time algorithms can be identified., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, small changes, some material added. For related work see also A. Dahlberg et al (arxiv:1805.05305, arXiv:1805.05306)

The work performed on or extracted from a non-autonomous quantum system described by means of a two-point projective-measurement approach takes the form of a stochastic variable. We show that the cumulant generating function of work can be recast in the form of quantum Renyi divergences, and by exploiting convexity of this cumulant generating function, derive a single-parameter family of bounds for the first moment of work. Higher order moments of work can also be obtained from this result. In this way, we establish a link between quantum work statistics in stochastic approaches on the one hand and resource theories for quantum thermodynamics on the other hand, a theory in which Renyi divergences take a central role. To explore this connection further, we consider an extended framework involving a control switch and an auxiliary battery, which is instrumental to reconstruct the work statistics of the system. We compare and discuss our bounds on the work distribution to findings on deterministic work studied in resource theoretic settings., Comment: 8 pages, minor changes, references added

Randomness is a defining element of mixing processes in nature and an essential ingredient to many protocols in quantum information. In this work, we investigate how much randomness is required to transform a given quantum state into another one. Specifically, we ask whether there is a gap between the power of a classical source of randomness compared to that of a quantum one. We provide a complete answer to these questions, by identifying provably optimal protocols for both classical and quantum sources of randomness, based on a dephasing construction. We find that in order to implement any noisy transition on a $d$-dimensional quantum system it is necessary and sufficient to have a quantum source of randomness of dimension $\sqrt{d}$ or a classical one of dimension $d$. Interestingly, coherences provided by quantum states in a source of randomness offer a quadratic advantage. The process we construct has the additional features to be robust and catalytic, i.e., the source of randomness can be re-used. Building upon this formal framework, we illustrate that this dephasing construction can serve as a useful primitive in both equilibration and quantum information theory: We discuss applications describing the smallest measurement device, capturing the smallest equilibrating environment allowed by quantum mechanics, or forming the basis for a cryptographic private quantum channel. We complement the exact analysis with a discussion of approximate protocols based on quantum expanders deriving from discrete Weyl systems. This gives rise to equilibrating environments of remarkably small dimension. Our results highlight the curious feature of randomness that residual correlations and dimension can be traded against each other., Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures; Fixed typo in expander theorem

Hierarchically sparse signals and Kronecker product structured measurements arise naturally in a variety of applications. The simplest example of a hierarchical sparsity structure is two-level $(s,\sigma)$-hierarchical sparsity which features $s$-block-sparse signals with $\sigma$-sparse blocks. For a large class of algorithms recovery guarantees can be derived based on the restricted isometry property (RIP) of the measurement matrix and model-based variants thereof. We show that given two matrices $\mathbf{A}$ and $\mathbf{B}$ having the standard $s$-sparse and $\sigma$-sparse RIP their Kronecker product $\mathbf{A}\otimes\mathbf{B}$ has two-level $(s,\sigma)$-hierarchically sparse RIP (HiRIP). This result can be recursively generalized to signals with multiple hierarchical sparsity levels and measurements with multiple Kronecker product factors. As a corollary we establish the efficient reconstruction of hierarchical sparse signals from Kronecker product measurements using the HiHTP algorithm. We argue that Kronecker product measurement matrices allow to design large practical compressed sensing systems that are deterministically certified to reliably recover signals in a stable fashion. We elaborate on their motivation from the perspective of applications., Comment: 5 pages

Numerous works have shown that under mild assumptions unitary dynamics inevitably leads to equilibration of physical expectation values if many energy eigenstates contribute to the initial state. Here, we consider systems driven by arbitrary time-dependent Hamiltonians as a protocol to prepare systems that do not equilibrate. We introduce a measure of the resilience against equilibration of such states and show, under natural assumptions, that in order to increase the resilience against equilibration of a given system, one needs to possess a resource system which itself has a large resilience. In this way, we establish a new link between the theory of equilibration and resource theories by quantifying the resilience against equilibration and the resources that are needed to produce it. We connect these findings with insights into local quantum quenches and investigate the (im-)possibility of formulating a second law of equilibration, by studying how resilience can be either only redistributed among subsystems, if these remain completely uncorrelated, or in turn created in a catalytic process if subsystems are allowed to build up some correlations., Comment: 6 pages + 4 pages of Supplemental Material

The theory of the asymptotic manipulation of pure bipartite quantum systems can be considered completely understood: The rates at which bipartite entangled states can be asymptotically transformed into each other are fully determined by a single number each, the respective entanglement entropy. In the multi-partite setting, similar questions of the optimally achievable rates of transforming one pure state into another are notoriously open. This seems particularly unfortunate in the light of the revived interest in such questions due to the perspective of experimentally realizing multi-partite quantum networks. In this work, we report substantial progress by deriving surprisingly simple upper and lower bounds on the rates that can be achieved in asymptotic multi-partite entanglement transformations. These bounds are based on ideas of entanglement combing and state merging. We identify cases where the bounds coincide and hence provide the exact rates. As an example, we bound rates at which resource states for the cryptographic scheme of quantum secret sharing can be distilled from arbitrary pure tripartite quantum states, providing further scope for quantum internet applications beyond point-to-point., Comment: 4+7 pages, 1 figure, v2 is significantly extended in its results and presents a general statement providing bounds for achievable asymptotic rates for an arbitrary number of parties

Quantum versions of de Finetti's theorem are powerful tools, yielding conceptually important insights into the security of key distribution protocols or tomography schemes and allowing to bound the error made by mean-field approaches. Such theorems link the symmetry of a quantum state under the exchange of subsystems to negligible quantum correlations and are well understood and established in the context of distinguishable particles. In this work, we derive a de Finetti theorem for finite sized Majorana fermionic systems. It is shown, much reflecting the spirit of other quantum de Finetti theorems, that a state which is invariant under certain permutations of modes loses most of its anti-symmetric character and is locally well described by a mode separable state. We discuss the structure of the resulting mode separable states and establish in specific instances a quantitative link to the quality of Hartree-Fock approximation of quantum systems. We hint at a link to generalized Pauli principles for one-body reduced density operators. Finally, building upon the obtained de Finetti theorem, we generalize and extend the applicability of Hudson's fermionic central limit theorem., Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, tiny changes

One of the defining features of many-body localization is the presence of extensively many quasi-local conserved quantities. These constants of motion constitute a corner-stone to an intuitive understanding of much of the phenomenology of many-body localized systems arising from effective Hamiltonians. They may be seen as local magnetization operators smeared out by a quasi-local unitary. However, accurately identifying such constants of motion remains a challenging problem. Current numerical constructions often capture the conserved operators only approximately restricting a conclusive understanding of many-body localization. In this work, we use methods from the theory of quantum many-body systems out of equilibrium to establish a new approach for finding a complete set of exact constants of motion which are in addition guaranteed to represent Pauli-$z$ operators. By this we are able to construct and investigate the proposed effective Hamiltonian using exact diagonalization. Hence, our work provides an important tool expected to further boost inquiries into the breakdown of transport due to quenched disorder., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, replaced with published version

One of the main questions of research on quantum many-body systems following unitary out of equilibrium dynamics is to find out how local expectation values equilibrate in time. For non-interacting models, this question is rather well understood. However, the best known bounds for general quantum systems are vastly crude, scaling unfavorable with the system size. Nevertheless, empirical and numerical evidence suggests that for generic interacting many-body systems, generic local observables, and sufficiently well-behaved states, the equilibration time does not depend strongly on the system size, but only the precision with which this occurs does. In this discussion paper, we aim at giving very simple and plausible arguments for why this happens. While our discussion does not yield rigorous results about equilibration time scales, we believe that it helps to clarify the essential underlying mechanisms, the intuition and important figure of merits behind equilibration. We then connect our arguments to common assumptions and numerical results in the field of equilibration and thermalization of closed quantum systems, such as the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis as well as rigorous results on interacting quantum many-body systems. Finally, we complement our discussions with numerical results - both in the case of examples and counter-examples of equilibrating systems., Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures

Quantum systems strongly coupled to many-body systems equilibrate to the reduced state of a global thermal state, deviating from the local thermal state of the system as it occurs in the weak-coupling limit. Taking this insight as a starting point, we study the thermodynamics of systems strongly coupled to thermal baths. First, we provide strong-coupling corrections to the second law applicable to general systems in three of its different readings: As a statement of maximal extractable work, on heat dissipation, and bound to the Carnot efficiency. These corrections become relevant for small quantum systems and always vanish in first order in the interaction strength. We then move to the question of power of heat engines, obtaining a bound on the power enhancement due to strong coupling. Our results are exemplified on the paradigmatic situation of non-Markovian quantum Brownian motion., Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, version two is substantially revised and contains new results

Strongly correlated quantum many-body systems at low dimension exhibit a wealth of phenomena, ranging from features of geometric frustration to signatures of symmetry-protected topological order. In suitable descriptions of such systems, it can be helpful to resort to effective models which focus on the essential degrees of freedom of the given model. In this work, we analyze how to determine the validity of an effective model by demanding it to be in the same phase as the original model. We focus our study on one-dimensional spin-1/2 systems and explain how non-trivial symmetry protected topologically ordered (SPT) phases of an effective spin 1 model can arise depending on the couplings in the original Hamiltonian. In this analysis, tensor network methods feature in two ways: On the one hand, we make use of recent techniques for the classification of SPT phases using matrix product states in order to identify the phases in the effective model with those in the underlying physical system, employing Kuenneth's theorem for cohomology. As an intuitive paradigmatic model we exemplify the developed methodology by investigating the bi-layered delta-chain. For strong ferromagnetic inter-layer couplings, we find the system to transit into exactly the same phase as an effective spin 1 model. However, for weak but finite coupling strength, we identify a symmetry broken phase differing from this effective spin-1 description. On the other hand, we underpin our argument with a numerical analysis making use of matrix product states., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures

The experimental interest and developments in quantum spin-1/2-chains has increased uninterruptedly over the last decade. In many instances, the target quantum simulation belongs to the broader class of non-interacting fermionic models, constituting an important benchmark. In spite of this class being analytically efficiently tractable, no direct certification tool has yet been reported for it. In fact, in experiments, certification has almost exclusively relied on notions of quantum state tomography scaling very unfavorably with the system size. Here, we develop experimentally-friendly fidelity witnesses for all pure fermionic Gaussian target states. Their expectation value yields a tight lower bound to the fidelity and can be measured efficiently. We derive witnesses in full generality in the Majorana-fermion representation and apply them to experimentally relevant spin-1/2 chains. Among others, we show how to efficiently certify strongly out-of-equilibrium dynamics in critical Ising chains. At the heart of the measurement scheme is a variant of importance sampling specially tailored to overlaps between covariance matrices. The method is shown to be robust against finite experimental-state infidelities., Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, replaced with final version

One of the main aims in the field of quantum simulation is to achieve a quantum speedup, often referred to as "quantum computational supremacy", referring to the experimental realization of a quantum device that computationally outperforms classical computers. In this work, we show that one can devise versatile and feasible schemes of two-dimensional dynamical quantum simulators showing such a quantum speedup, building on intermediate problems involving non-adaptive measurement-based quantum computation. In each of the schemes, an initial product state is prepared, potentially involving an element of randomness as in disordered models, followed by a short-time evolution under a basic translationally invariant Hamiltonian with simple nearest-neighbor interactions and a mere sampling measurement in a fixed basis. The correctness of the final state preparation in each scheme is fully efficiently certifiable. We discuss experimental necessities and possible physical architectures, inspired by platforms of cold atoms in optical lattices and a number of others, as well as specific assumptions that enter the complexity-theoretic arguments. This work shows that benchmark settings exhibiting a quantum speedup may require little control in contrast to universal quantum computing. Thus, our proposal puts a convincing experimental demonstration of a quantum speedup within reach in the near term., Comment: 13+9 pages, 9 figures, emphasized feasibility, added material on the verification step