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We consider anyonic quasiparticles with charge e/2 described by the {\nu} = 1/2 chiral Luttinger liquid, which collide in a Hong-Ou-Mandel-like interferometer. These colliding anyonic channels can be formally viewed as hosting Laughlin-like fractional {\nu} = 1/2 quasiparticles. More specifically, two possible geometries are considered: (i) a two-edge-channel setup where anyons originate from equilibrium reservoirs; (ii) a four-edge-channel setup where nonequilibrium anyons arrive at the collider in the form of diluted beams. For both setups, we calculate the tunneling current and the current correlations. For setup (i), our results provide analytically exact expressions for the tunneling current, tunneling-current noise, and cross-correlation noise, The exact relation between conductance and noise is demonstrated. For setup (ii), we show that the tunneling current and the generalized Fano factor [defined in B. Rosenow et al. (2016)] are finite for diluted streams of {\nu} = 1/2 anyons. This is due to the processes where nonequilibrium anyons, supplied via either source edge, directly tunnel at the central QPC. Thus, to obtain meaningful results in this case, one should go beyond the so-called time-domain braiding processes, where nonequilibrium anyons do not tunnel at the collider, but rather indirectly influence the tunneling by braiding with the quasiparticle-quasihole pairs created at the collider. This suggests that the effect of direct tunneling and collisions of diluted anyons in the Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer can be important for various observables in physical quantum-Hall edges at Laughlin filling fractions., Comment: 39 pages, 10 figures

Demonstrating the non-Abelian Ising anyon statistics of Majorana zero modes in a physical platform still represents a major open challenge in physics. We here show that the linear low-frequency charge conductance of a Majorana interferometer containing a floating superconducting island can reveal the topological spin of quantum edge vortices. The latter are associated with chiral Majorana fermion edge modes and represent "flying" Ising anyons. We describe possible device implementations and outline how to detect non-Abelian anyon braiding through AC conductance measurements., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted in Physical Review Letters

We study transport through interfaces in topological nodal-line semimetals, focusing on two geometries: a single interface between two large samples, one nodal-line semimetal and one metal, and an infinite nodal-line semimetal slab in between two metallic regions. We investigate the dependence of the spectra on the boundary conditions, showing how they affect the surface states and the band dispersion. We find a set of drum states, arising from the hybridization of the drumhead states on opposite surfaces at finite slab width, and describe their signatures in the transport properties of a clean sample. Finally, we compute the electronic trajectories in the ballistic regime and show that there is a series of resonant angles that ensure perfect transmission. We also show how the current density profile acquires an inhomogeneous distribution in the radial direction., Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures. v2: Discussion of the results expanded, figure and references added. Accepted version

We use the Lindblad equation approach to investigate topological phases hosting more than one localized state at each side of a disordered SSH chain with properly tuned long range hoppings. Inducing a non equilibrium steady state across the chain, we probe the robustness of each phase and the fate of the edge modes looking at the distribution of electrons along the chain and the corresponding standard deviation in the presence of different kinds of disorder either preserving, or not, the symmetries of the Hamiltonian., Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures

We induce and study a topological dynamical phase transition between two planar superconducting phases. Using the Lindblad equation to account for the interactions of Bogoliubov quasiparticles among themselves and with the fluctuations of the superconducting order parameter, we derive the relaxation dynamics of the order parameter. To characterize the phase transition, we compute the fidelity and the spin-Hall conductance of the open system. Our approach provides crucial informations for experimental implementations, such as the dependence of the critical time on the system-bath coupling., Comment: 12 pages, 6 .eps figures. Includes Supplemental Material as a part of the Main File

We employ the Lindblad master equation method to study the nonequilibrium dynamics following a parametric quench in the Hamiltonian of an open, two-dimensional superconducting system coupled to an external bath. Within our approach we show how, in the open system, the dissipation works as an effective stabilization mechanism in the time evolution of the system after the quench. Eventually, we evidence how the mismatch between the phases corresponding to the initial and to the final state of the system determines a dynamical phase transition between the two distinct phases. Our method allows for fully characterizing the dynamical phase transition in an open system in several cases of physical relevance, by means of a combined study of the time-dependent superconducting gap and of the fidelity between density matrices., Comment: 16 pages, 7 .eps figures, to appear in Physical Review B

We compute the spin-Hall conductance in a multiband model describing the two-dimensional electron gas formed at a LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface in the presence of a finite concentration of impurities. Combining linear response theory with a systematic calculation of the impurity contributions to the self-energy, as well as to the vertex corrections of the relevant diagrams, we recover the full spin-Hall vs. sheet conductance dependence of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 as reported in Trier et al. [Nano Lett. 20, 395 (2020)], finding a very good agreement with the experimental data below and above the Lifshitz transition. In particular, we demonstrate that the multiband electronic structure leads to only a partial, instead of a complete, screening of the spin-Hall conductance, which decreases with increasing the carrier density. Our method can be generalized to other two-dimensional systems characterized by a broken inversion symmetry and multiband physics., Comment: 22 pages, 12 .eps figures

We present a theoretical study of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition of a two-dimensional superfluid in the presence of an externally imposed density modulation along a single axis. The subject is investigated in the context of the $|\psi|^4$ classical field theory, by means of analytical and numerical techniques. We show that, as the amplitude of the modulation increases, the physics of the system approaches that of the anisotropic $x$-$y$ model, with a suppressed superfluid transition temperature and an anisotropic response, but with no dimensional crossover., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

We propose a model to simulate different traffic-flow conditions in terms of quantum graphs hosting an (N+1)-level dot at each site. Our model allows us to keep track of the type and of the destination of each vehicle. The traffic flow inside the system is encoded in a proper set of Lindbladian local dissipators that describe the time evolution of the system density matrix. Taking advantage of the invariance of the Lindblad master equation under inhomogeneous transformations we derive the quantum Hamiltonian for the bulk dynamics in a proper experimental setup., Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, IQSA22 Conference Proceedings special issue of the International Journal of Theoretical Physics (Springer)

We use the Lindblad equation method to investigate the onset of a mobility edge and the topological phase transition in the disordered SSH chain connected to two external baths in the large bias limit. From the scaling properties of the nonequilibrium stationary current flowing across the system, we recover the localization/delocalization in the disordered chain. To probe the topological phase transition in the presence of disorder, we use the even-odd differential occupancy as a mean to discriminate topologically trivial from topologically nontrival phases in the out-of-equilibirum system. Eventually, we argue how to generalize our method to other systems undergoing a topological phase transition in the presence of disorder., Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures

Using the Lindblad equation approach, we study the nonequilibrium stationary state of a benzene ring connected to two reservoirs in the large bias regime, a prototype of a generic molecular electronic device. We show the emergence of an optimal working point (corresponding to a change in the monotonicity of the stationary current, as a function of the applied bias) and its robustness against chemical potential and bond disorder., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, published in Journal of Physics: Conference Series, proceedings paper from SCES 2020 conference

Low temperature structural and superfluid properties of $^4$He confined in cylindrical nanopores are theoretically investigated by means of first principle Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations. We vary the density of $^4$He inside the pore, as well as the pore diameter and the potential describing the interaction of each $^4$He atom with the pore surface. Accordingly, the $^4$He fluid inside the pore forms either a single channel along the axis, or a series of concentric cylindrical shells, with varying degrees of shell overlap. In the limit of pore length greatly exceeding its radius, the $^4$He fluid always displays markedly one-dimensional behavior, with no "dimensional crossover" above some specific pore radius and/or as multiple concentric shells form, in contrast to what recently claimed by other authors [Phys. Rev. B 101, 104505 (2020)]. Indeed, the predicted robustness of one-dimensional physics suggests that this system may offer a broadly viable pathway to the experimental observation of exotic behavior of, e.g., junctions of interacting Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids, in an appropriately designed network of nanopores., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures

We study the thermal transport through a Majorana island connected to multiple external quantum wires. In the presence of a large charging energy, we find that the Wiedemann-Franz law is nontrivially violated at low temperature, contrarily to what happens for the overscreened Kondo effect and for nontopological junctions. For three wires, we find that the Lorenz ratio is rescaled by a universal factor 2/3 and we show that this behavior is due to the presence of localized Majorana modes on the island., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Published version

We discuss under which conditions multipartite entanglement in mixed quantum states can be characterized only in terms of two-point connected correlation functions, as it is the case for pure states. In turn, the latter correlations are defined via a suitable combination of (disconnected) one- and two-point correlation functions. In contrast to the case of pure states, conditions to be satisfied turn out to be rather severe. However, we were able to identify some interesting cases, as when the point-independence is valid of the one-point correlations in each possible decomposition of the density matrix, or when the operators that enter in the correlations are (semi-)positive/negative defined.

We propose a model to implement and simulate different traffic-flow conditions in terms of quantum graphs hosting an ($N$+1)-level dot at each site, which allows us to keep track of the type and of the destination of each vehicle. By implementing proper Lindbladian local dissipators, we derive the master equations that describe the traffic flow in our system. To show the versatility and the reliability of our technique, we employ it to model different types of traffic flow (the symmetric three-way roundabout and the three-road intersection). Eventually, we successfully compare our predictions with results from classical models., Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures

Using the Lindblad equation approach, we derive the range of the parameters of an interacting one-dimensional electronic chain connected to two reservoirs in the large bias limit in which an optimal working point (corresponding to a change in the monotonicity of the stationary current as a function of the applied bias) emerges in the nonequilibrium stationary state. In the specific case of the one-dimensional spinless fermionic Hubbard chain, we prove that an optimal working point emerges in the dependence of the stationary current on the coupling between the chain and the reservoirs, both in the interacting and in the noninteracting case. We show that the optimal working point is robust against localized defects of the chain, as well as against a limited amount of quenched disorder. Eventually, we discuss the importance of our results for optimizing the performance of a quantum circuit by tuning its components as close as possible to their optimal working point., Comment: 21 pages, 22 figures

We derive the topological Kondo Hamiltonian describing a Y junction of three XX-spin chains connected to outer quantum Ising chains with different tilting angles for the Ising axis. We show that the tilting angles in the spin models play the role of the phases of the superconducting order parameters at the interfaces between bulk superconductors and one-dimensional conducting normal electronic wires. As a result, different tilting angles induce nonzero equilibrium spin (super)currents through the junction. Employing the renormalization group approach to the topological Kondo model, we derive the scaling formulas for the equilibrium spin currents. We argue that, by monitoring the crossover in the currents induced by the Kondo effect, it is possible to estimate the Kondo screening length. In particular, we prove how it is possible to tune the Kondo length by acting on the applied phases only; this enables us to map out the scaling properties by just tuning the tilting angles and the Kondo length accordingly., Comment: 43 pages, 10 .eps figures

We formulate a generalized susceptible exposed infectious recovered (SEIR) model on a graph, describing the population dynamics of an open crowded place with an arbitrary topology. As a sample calculation, we discuss three simple cases, both analytically, and numerically, by means of a cellular automata simulation of the individual dynamics in the system. As a result, we provide the infection ratio in the system as a function of controllable parameters, which allows for quantifying how acting on the human behavior may effectively lower the disease spread throughout the system., Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures

The non-local effects induced by Majorana fermions in field theories for condensed matter systems are deeply related to the fermion charge fractionalization discovered by Roman Jackiw in relativistic field theories. We show how the presence of Majorana fermions may be mimicked in pertinent networks of spin chains inducing a spin analogue of the multi-channel Kondo effect. The relevance of this spin analogue of the Kondo effect for networks of Josephson arrays and Tonks-Girardeau gases is highlighted., Comment: 29 pages, 2 .eps figures, Article to appear in "Roman Jackiw: 80th Birthday Festschrift", edited by A. Niemi, T. Tomboulis, and K. K. Phua (World Scientific, 2020)

We propose that a pertinently engineered double superconducting island connected to two spinless one-dimensional conducting leads can work as a tunable (iso)spin Kondo and charge Kondo system, with the lead index regarded as an effective isospin degree of freedom. We evidence how, by tuning a single gate voltage applied to the island, it is possible to make the system switch from the (iso)spin Kondo to the charge-Kondo phase, passing across an intermediate phase, in which the Kondo impurity is effectively irrelevant for the low-temperature behavior of the system. Eventually, we evidence how to probe the various phases by measuring the ac conductance tensor of our system, by emphasizing the features that should allow to identify the onset of the so far quite elusive "charge-2" charge-Kondo effect., Comment: 29 pages, 6 .eps figures, published version

We discuss how to extend the impurity entropy to systems with boundary interactions depending on zero-mode real fermion operators (Majorana modes as well as Klein factors). As specific applications of our method, we consider a junction between N interacting quantum wires and a topological superconductor, as well as a Y-junction of three spinless interacting quantum wires. In addition we find a remarkable correspondence between the N=2 topological superconductor junction and the Y-junction. On one hand, this allows us to determine the range of the system parameters in which a stable phase of the N=2 junction is realized as a nontrivial, finite-coupling fixed point corresponding to the M-fixed point in the phase diagram of the Y-junction. On the other hand, it enables us to show the occurrence of a novel "planar" finite-coupling fixed point in the phase diagram of the Y-junction. Eventually, we discuss how to set the system's parameters to realize the correspondence., Comment: 54 pages, 3 .eps figures. Accepted version

We analyze the crossover from Kondo to weak-link regime by means of a model of tunable bond impurities in the middle of a spin-1/2 XXZ Heisenberg chain. We study the Kondo screening cloud and estimate the Kondo length by combining perturbative renormalization group approach with the exact numerical calculation of the integrated real-space spin-spin correlation functions. We show that, when the spin impurity is symmetrically coupled to the two parts of the chain with realistic values of the Kondo coupling strengths and spin-parity symmetry is preserved, the Kondo length takes values within the reach of nowadays experimental technology in ultracold-atom setups. In the case of non-symmetric Kondo couplings and/or spin parity broken by a nonzero magnetic field applied to the impurity, we discuss how Kondo screening redistributes among the chain as a function of the asymmetry in the couplings and map out the shrinking of the Kondo length when the magnetic field induces a crossover from Kondo impurity to weak-link physics., Comment: 27 pages, 12 .eps figures, version published in PRB

We describe a method to probe the quantum phase transition between the short-range topological phase and the long-range topological phase in the superconducting Kitaev chain with long-range pairing, both exhibiting subgap modes localized at the edges. The method relies on the effects of the finite mass of the subgap edge modes in the long-range regime (which survives in the thermodynamic limit) on the single-particle scattering coefficients through the chain connected to two normal leads. Specifically, we show that, when the leads are biased at a voltage V with respect to the superconducting chain, the Fano factor is either zero (in the short-range correlated phase) or 2e (in the long-range correlated phase). As a result, we find that the Fano factor works as a directly measurable quantity to probe the quantum phase transition between the two phases. In addition, we note a remarkable "critical fractionalization effect" in the Fano factor, which is exactly equal to e along the quantum critical line. Finally, we note that a dual implementation of our proposed device makes it suitable as a generator of large-distance entangled two-particle states., Comment: 24 pages, 8 .eps figures Published version

We study finite size scaling for the magnetic observables of an impurity residing at the endpoint of an open quantum Ising chain in a transverse magnetic field, realized by locally rescaling the magnetic field by a factor $\mu \neq 1$. In the homogeneous chain limit at $\mu = 1$, we find the expected finite size scaling for the longitudinal impurity magnetization, with no specific scaling for the transverse magnetization. At variance, in the classical impurity limit, $\mu = 0$, we recover finite scaling for the longitudinal magnetization, while the transverse one basically does not scale. For this case, we provide both analytic approximate expressions for the magnetization and the susceptibility as well as numerical evidences for the scaling behavior. At intermediate values of $\mu$, finite size scaling is violated, and we provide a possible explanation of this result in terms of the appearance of a second, impurity related length scale. Finally, on going along the standard quantum-to-classical mapping between statistical models, we derive the classical counterpart of the quantum Ising chain with an impurity at its endpoint as a classical Ising model on a square lattice wrapped on a half-infinite cylinder, with the links along the first circle modified as a function of $\mu$., Comment: Update closer to published version

Motivated by the fact that the low-energy properties of the Kondo model can be effectively simulated in spin chains, we study the realization of the effect with bond impurities in ultracold bosonic lattices at half-filling. After presenting a discussion of the effective theory and of the mapping of the bosonic chain onto a lattice spin Hamiltonian, we provide estimates for the Kondo length as a function of the parameters of the bosonic model. We point out that the Kondo length can be extracted from the integrated real space correlation functions, which are experimentally accessible quantities in experiments with cold atoms., Comment: 20 pages, 4 .eps figures

We discuss the emergence of zero-energy Majorana modes in a disordered finite-length p-wave one-dimensional superconducting ring, pierced by a magnetic flux $\Phi$ tuned at an appropriate value $\Phi=\Phi_*$. In the absence of fermion parity conservation, we evidence the emergence of the Majorana modes by looking at the discontinuities in the persistent current $I[\Phi]$ at $\Phi=\Phi_*$. By monitoring the discontinuities in $I[\Phi]$, we map out the region in parameter space characterized by the emergence of Majorana modes in the disordered ring., Comment: 22 pages, 12 .eps figures

We show that a junction of three off-critical quantum Ising chains can be regarded as a quantum spin chain realization of the two-channel spin-1/2 overscreened Kondo effect with two superconducting leads. We prove that, as long as the Kondo temperature is larger than the superconducting gap, the equivalent Kondo model flows towards the 2 channel Kondo fixed point. We argue that our system provides the first controlled realization of 2 channel Kondo effect with superconducting leads. This, besides its the theoretical interest, is of importance for potential applications to a number of context, including the analysis of the quantum entanglement properties of a Kondo system., Comment: 14 pages, 4 .eps figures

Using the properties of the transfer matrix of one-dimensional quantum mechanical systems, we derive a technique to exactly compute the persistent current across a hybrid normal-superconducting-mesoscopic ring pierced by a magnetic flux Phi as a single integral of a known function of the system's parameters. Our approach provides exact results at zero temperature, which can be readily extended to finite temperatures T much below the superconducting gap. We apply our technique to derive the persistent current through p-wave and s-wave superconducting-normal hybrid rings, recovering at once a number of effects such as the crossover in the current periodicity on increasing the size of the ring and the signature of the topological phase transition in the p-wave case. In the limit of a large ring size, resorting to a systematic expansion in inverse powers of the ring length, we derive exact analytic closed-form formulas, applicable to a number of cases of physical interest., Comment: 25 pages, 13 .eps figures

We consider the Kondo effect in Y-junctions of anisotropic XY models in an applied magnetic field along the critical lines characterized by a gapless excitation spectrum. We find that, while the boundary interaction Hamiltonian describing the junction can be recasted in the form of a four-channel, spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Kondo Hamiltonian, the number of channels effectively participating in the Kondo effect depends on the chain parameters, as well as on the boundary couplings at the junction. The system evolves from an effective four-channel topological Kondo effect for a junction of XX-chains with symmetric boundary couplings into a two-channel one at a junction of three quantum critical Ising chains. The effective number of Kondo channels depends on the properties of the boundary and of the bulk. The XX-line is a "critical" line, where a four-channel topological Kondo effect can be recovered by fine-tuning the boundary parameter, while along the line in parameter space connecting the extreme regimes, XX-line and the critical Ising point the junction is effectively equivalent to a two-channel topological Kondo Hamiltonian. Using a renormalization group approach, we determine the flow of the boundary couplings, which allows us to define and estimate the critical couplings and Kondo temperatures of the different Kondo (pair) channels. Finally, we study the local transverse magnetization in the center of the Y-junction, eventually arguing that it provides an effective tool to monitor the onset of the two-channel Kondo effect., Comment: 41 Pages, 14 .eps figures, revised version to appear in Nuclear Physics B

Making a combined use of bosonization and fermionization techniques, we build nonlocal transformations between dual fermion operators, describing junctions of strongly interacting spinful one-dimensional quantum wires. Our approach allows for trading strongly interacting (in the original coordinates) fermionic Hamiltonians for weakly interacting (in the dual coordinates) ones. It enables us to generalize to the strongly interacting regime the fermionic renormalization group approach to weakly interacting junctions. As a result, on one hand, we are able to pertinently complement the information about the phase diagram of the junction obtained within bosonization approach; on the other hand, we map out the full crossover of the conductance tensors between any two fixed points in the phase diagram connected by a renormalization group trajectory., Comment: 30 pages, 9 figures

The dc Josephson current across a multi-channel SNS junction is computed by summing contributions from sub-gap Andreev bound states, as well as from continuum states propagating within the superconducting leads. We show that, in a long multi-channel SNS-junction, at low temperatures, all these contributions add up, so that the current can be entirely expressed in terms of single-particle normal- and Andreev reflection amplitudes at the Fermi level at both SN interfaces. Our derivation applies to a generic number of channels in the normal region and/or in the superconducting leads, without assumptions about scattering processes at the SN interfaces: if the channels within the central region have the same dispersion relation, it leads to simple analytical formulas for the current at low temperatures; if the channels within the central region have different dispersion relations, it allows for expressing the current in terms of a simple integral involving only scattering amplitudes at the Fermi level. Our result motivates using a low energy effective boundary Hamiltonian formalism for computing the current, which is crucial for treating Luttinger liquid interaction effects., Comment: 25 pages, 4 .eps figures

Ken Wilson developed the Numerical Renormalization Group technique which greatly enhanced our understanding of the Kondo effect and other quantum impurity problems. Wilson's NRG also inspired Philippe Nozieres to propose the idea of a large "Kondo screening cloud". While much theoretical evidence has accumulated for this idea it has remained somewhat controversial and has not yet been confirmed experimentally. Recently a new possibility for observing an analogous crossover length scale has emerged, involving a Majorana fermion localized at the interface between a topological superconductor quantum wire and a normal wire. We give an overview of this topic both with and without interactions included in the normal wire., Comment: for a special issue of J. Stat. Phys. in memory of Kenneth G. Wilson. More discussion of connection with previous results and 1 new figure added; other figures improved

We show that- in the quantum regime- a Josephson junction rhombi chain (i.e. a Josephson junction chain made by rhombi formed by joining 4 Josephson junctions) may be effectively mapped onto a quantum Hamiltonian describing Ising spins in a transverse magnetic field with open boundary conditions. Then, we elucidate how a Y-shaped network fabricated with 3 Josephson Junction Rhombi chains may be used as a quantum device realizing the two channel Kondo model recently proposed by Tsvelik. We point out that the emergence of a 2 channel Kondo effect in this superconducting network may be probed through the measurement of a pertinent Josephson current., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. To appear in EPL

Experimental evidence was recently obtained for topological superconductivity in spin-orbit coupled nano wires in a magnetic field, proximate to an s-wave superconductor. When only part of the wire contacts the superconductor, a localized Majorana mode exists at the junction between superconducting and normal parts of the nanowire. We consider here the case of a T-junction between the superconductor and two normal nanowires and also the case of a single wire with two (or more) partially filled bands in the normal part. We find that coupling this 2-channel Luttinger liquid to the single Majorana mode at the junction produces frustration, leading to a critical point separating phases with perfect Andreev scattering in one channel and perfect normal scattering in the other., Comment: 54 pages, 14 .eps figure. Revised version. Various typos and incorrect factors in some equations (not affecting the main conclusions) have been corrected

Using a similarity Hamiltonian renormalization procedure, we determine an effective spin-1/2 representation of the Bose-Hubbard model at half-integer filling and at a finite on-site interaction energy U. By means of bosonization, we are able to recast the effective Hamiltonian as that of a spin-1/2 XXZ magnetic chain with pertinently renormalized coupling and anisotropy parameters. We use this mapping to provide analytical estimates of the correlation functions of the Bose-Hubbard model. We then compare such results with those based on DMRG numerical simulations of the Bose-Hubbard model for various values of U and for a number L of lattice sites as low as L ~ 30. We find an excellent agreement up to 10% between the output of analytical and numerical computations, even for relatively small values of U. Our analysis implies that, also at finite U, the 1D Bose-Hubbard model with suitably chosen parameters may be seen as a quantum simulator of the XXZ chain., Comment: 17 pages, 12 .eps figures

The dc Josephson current through a long SNS junction receives contributions from both Andreev bound states localized in the normal region as well as from scattering states incoming from the superconducting leads. We show that in the limit of a long junction, this current, at low temperatures, can be expressed entirely in terms of properties of the Andreev bound states at the Fermi energy: the normal and Andreev reflection amplitudes at the left-hand and at the right-hand S-N interface. This has important implications for treating interactions in such systems., Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures

We use boundary field theory to describe the phases accessible to a tetrahedral qubit coupled to Josephson junction chains acting as Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid leads. We prove that, in a pertinent range of the fabrication and control parameters, an attractive finite coupling fixed point emerges due to the geometry of the composite Josephson junction network. We show that this new stable phase is characterized by the emergence of a quantum doublet which is robust not only against the noise in the external control parameters (magnetic flux, gate voltage) but also against the decoherence induced by the coupling of the tetrahedral qubit with the superconducting leads. We provide protocols allowing to read and to manipulate the state of the emerging quantum doublet and argue that a tetrahedral Josephson junction network operating near the new finite coupling fixed point may be fabricated with today's technologies., Comment: 36 pages, 4 figures

We analyze a perturbation of the boundary Sine-Gordon model where two boundary terms of different periodicities and scaling dimensions are coupled to a Kondo-like spin degree of freedom. We show that, by pertinently engineering the coupling with the spin degree of freedom, a competition between the two boundary interactions may be induced, and that this gives rise to nonpertubative phenomena, such as the emergence of novel quantum phases: indeed, we demonstrate that the strongly coupled fixed point may become unstable as a result of the "deconfinement" of a new set of phase-slip operators -the short instantons- associated with the less relevant boundary operator. We point out that a Josephson junction network with a pertinent impurity located at its center provides a physical realization of this boundary double Sine-Gordon model. For this Josephson junction network, we prove that the competition between the two boundary interactions stabilizes a robust finite coupling fixed point and, at a pertinent scale, allows for the onset of $4e$ superconductivity., Comment: 43 pages, 12 figures

We show that, for pertinent values of the fabrication and control parameters, an attractive finite coupling fixed point emerges in the phase diagram of a Y-junction of superconducting Josephson chains. The new fixed point arises only when the dimensionless flux $f$ piercing the central loop of the network equals $\pi$ and, thus, does not break time-reversal invariance; for $f \neq \pi$, only the strongly coupled fixed point survives as a stable attractive fixed point. Phase slips (instantons) have a crucial role in establishing this transition: we show indeed that, at $f = \pi$, a new set of instantons -the W-instantons- comes into play to destabilize the strongly coupled fixed point. Finally, we provide a detailed account of the Josephson current-phase relationship along the arms of the network, near each one of the allowed fixed points. Our results evidence remarkable similarities between the phase diagram accessible to a Y-junction of superconducting Josephson chains and the one found in the analysis of quantum Brownian motion on frustrated planar lattices., Comment: 32 pages, 8 .eps figures. Accepted version

We show that the quantum properties of some Josephson SQUID devices are described by a boundary sine Gordon model. Our approach naturally describes multi-junction SQUID devices and, when applied to a single junction SQUID (the rf-SQUID), it reproduces the known results of Glazman and Hekking. We provide a detailed analysis of the regimes accessible to an rf-SQUID and to a two-Josephson junction SQUID device (the dc-SQUID). We then compute the normal component of the current-response of a SQUID device to an externally applied voltage and show that the equation describing the current-voltage characteristic function reduces to well-known results when the infrared cutoff is suitably chosen. Our approach helps in establishing new and interesting connections between superconducting devices, quantum brownian motion, fermionic quantum wires and, more generally, quantum impurity problems., Comment: 54 pages, 1 figure, 1 section added, new figure

Quantum electrodynamics in a (2+1)-dimensional space-time has been object of studies both as effective theory for the pseudogap phase of high-T_c superconductors and for the theoretical investigation of mechanisms of confinement in presence of matter fields. We discretize the theory using both compact and noncompact formulations, analyze the behavior of the chiral condensate and of the monopole density and compare them. Finally we draw some conclusions about the possible equivalence of the two lattice formulations., Comment: 6 page, 6 figure, poster presented at Lattice 2005 (Spin and Higgs models)

We show that a finite Josephson Junction (JJ) chain, ending with two bulk superconductors, and with a weak link at its center, may be regarded as a condensed matter realization of a two-boundary Sine-Gordon model. Computing the partition function yields a remarkable analytic expression for the DC Josephson current as a function of the phase difference across the chain. We show that, in a suitable range of the chain parameters, there is a crossover of the DC Josephson current from a sinusoidal to a sawtooth behavior, which signals a transition from a regime where the boundary term is an irrelevant operator to a regime where it becomes relevant., Comment: 30 pages, 1 .eps figure

We make some comments about the results we obtained in Phys. Rev. Lett. 86,3392(2001), and in Phys. Rev. Lett.87, 177206 (2001), and show that the conclusion of a recent paper [cond-mat/0409495] leveling some criticism on our results is, in fact, incorrect, Comment: 1 page

By properly generalizing Nozie`res' Fermi liquid theory, we construct an Hamiltonian approach to the scattering of conduction electrons off a spin-1/2 impurity in the ovescreneed Kondo regime, as T -> 0. We derive the S-matrix at the interacting fixed point, and the corresponding phase shifts, together with leading energy corrections to the unitary limit. We apply our results to obtain the low-temperature dependence of the 2-channel Kondo conductance, and we relate it to possible transport experiments in a Quantum Dot, Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure