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Magnesium is an excellent material in terms of biocompatibility and its corrosion products can serve as an active source for new bone formation. However, localized corrosion and H2 generation limit the potential of Mg-based implants. Utilizing low-alloyed Mg-Zn wires can strongly reduce problems with large H2 bubbles and improve the mechanical properties considerably while maintaining excellent long-term biocompatibility. Acidic pickling and a polymer coating can be effectively used to lower the rate of in vivo degradation. In this work, microstructural, mechanical, and in vitro characterization of 250 um and 300 um extruded wires made from ultra-pure Mg, commercially pure Mg, Mg-0.15Zn, Mg-0.4Zn and Mg-1Zn was performed. Additionally, Mg-0.4Zn wires together with a variant coated with a copolymer of L-lactide and {\epsilon}-caprolactone were tested in vivo on artificially damaged Wistar rat femurs. Based on the observed Mg-induced osteogenesis, polymer-coated Mg wires with a small addition of Zn are a perspective material for bone-support applications, such as cerclage and fixation wires.

Boson sampling has emerged as an important tool to demonstrate the difference between quantum and classical computers and has attracted the interest of experimentalists and theoreticians. In this work we study Boson sampling from general, single-mode states using a scheme that can generate any such state by combining Gaussian states and photon number measurements. We derive a formula that can be used to calculate the output photon number probabilities of these states after they travel through a linear interferometer. This extends the Boson sampling protocol to the widest array of possible single-mode states and from this we show that the complexity scaling of all such states is similar and hence there is no complexity advantage of using complex input states over simpler ones.

The ability of preparing perfect Bell pairs with a practical scheme is of great relevance for quantum communication as well as distributed quantum computing. We propose a scheme which probabilistically, but unambiguously produces the $\left|\Phi_{+}\right>$ Bell pair from four copies of qubit pairs initially in the same arbitrary pure quantum state. The same scheme, extended to eight qubit pairs initially in the same, moderately mixed quantum state, unambiguously produces the $\left|\Phi_{+}\right>$ Bell pair with quadratically suppressed noise. The core step of the proposed scheme consists of a pair of local two-qubit operations applied at each of the two distant locations, followed by a partial projective measurement and postselection at each party, with results communicated classically. While the scheme resembles standard entanglement distillation protocols, it achieves success within just three iterations, making it attractive for real-world applications.

We prove necessary and sufficient conditions for lattice Schr\"{o}dinger operators to have a zero energy bound state in arbitrary dimension. The two criteria are sharp, complementary, and depend crucially on both the dimension and asymptotic behaviour of the potential. The method relies on a discrete variant of Agmon's comparison principle which is also proven. Our results represent a discrete variant of the recent criteria obtained in the continuous setting by D. Hundertmark, M. Jex, and M. Lange [$\textit{Forum Mathematics, Sigma}$ $\textbf{11}$ (2023)]., Comment: 20 pages

One of the simplest possible quantum circuits, consisting of a CNOT gate, a Hadamard gate and a measurement on one of the outputs is known to lead to chaotic dynamics when applied iteratively on an ensemble of equally prepared qubits. The evolution of pure initial quantum states is characterized by a fractal (in the space of states), formed by the border of different convergence regions. We examine how the ideal evolution is distorted in the presence of both coherent error and incoherent initial noise, which are typical imperfections in current implementations of quantum computers. It is known that under the influence of initial noise only, the fractal is preserved, moreover, its dimension remains constant below a critical noise level. We systematically analyze the effect of coherent Hadamard gate errors by determining fixed points and cycles of the evolution. We combine analytic and numerical methods to explore to what extent the dynamics is altered by coherent errors in the presence of preparation noise as well. We show that the main features of the dynamics, and especially the fractal borders, are robust against the discussed noise, they will only be slightly distorted. We identify a range of error parameters, for which the characteristic properties of the dynamics are not significantly altered. Hence, our results allow to identify reliable regimes of operation of iterative protocols.

We prove that the lowest free energy of a classical interacting system at temperature $T$ with a prescribed density profile $\rho(x)$ can be approximated by the local free energy $\int f_T(\rho(x))dx$, provided that $\rho$ varies slowly over sufficiently large length scales. A quantitative error on the difference is provided in terms of the gradient of the density. Here $f_T$ is the free energy per unit volume of an infinite homogeneous gas of the corresponding uniform density. The proof uses quantitative Ruelle bounds (estimates on the local number of particles in a large system), which are derived in an appendix.

We prove that any asymptotics of a finite-dimensional quantum Markov processes can be formulated in the form of a generalized Jaynes principle in the discrete as well as in the continuous case. Surprisingly, we find that the open system dynamics does not require maximization of von Neumannentropy. In fact, the natural functional to be extremized is the quantum relative entropy and the resulting asymptotic states or trajectories are always of the exponential Gibbs-like form. Three versions of the principle are presented for different settings, each treating different prior knowledge: for asymptotic trajectories of fully known initial states, for asymptotic trajectories incompletely determined by known expectation values of some constants of motion and for stationary states incompletely determined by expectation values of some integrals of motion. All versions are based on the knowledge of the underlying dynamics. Hence our principle is primarily rooted in the inherent physics and it is not solely an information construct. The found principle coincides with the MaxEnt principle in the special case of unital quantum Markov processes. We discuss how the generalized principle modifies fundamental relations of statistical physics., Comment: 10 pages

We present a method to calculate the asymptotic behavior of eigenfunctions of Schr\"odinger operators that also works at the threshold of the essential spectrum. It can be viewed as a higher order correction to the well-known WKB method which does need a safety distance to the essential spectrum. We illustrate its usefulness on examples of quantum particles in a potential well with a long-range repulsive term outside the well., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2012.12748

We provide upper and lower bounds on the lowest free energy of a classical system at given one-particle density $\rho(x)$. We study both the canonical and grand-canonical cases, assuming the particles interact with a pair potential which decays fast enough at infinity., Comment: Final version to appear in the Journal of Statistical Physics

The paper concerns spontaneous asymptotic phase-locking and synchronization in two-qubit systems undergoing continuous Markovian evolution described by Lindbladian dynamics with normal Lindblad operators. Using analytic methods, all phase-locking-enforcing mechanisms within the given framework are obtained and classified. Detailed structures of their respective attractor spaces are provided and used to explore their properties from various perspectives. Amid phase-locking processes those additionally enforcing identical stationary parts of both qubits are identified, including as a special case the strictest form of synchronization conceivable. A prominent basis is presented which reveals that from a physical point of view two main types of phase-locking mechanisms exist. The ability to preserve information about the initial state is explored and an upper bound on the amplitude of oscillations of the resulting phase-locked dynamics is established. Permutation symmetry of both asymptotic states and phase-locking mechanisms is discussed. Lastly, the possibility of entanglement production playing the role of a phase-locking witness is rebutted by three analytically treatable examples., Comment: 37 pages, 4 figures

Quantum walks exhibit properties without classical analogues. One of those is the phenomenon of asymptotic trapping -- there can be non-zero probability of the quantum walker being localised in a finite part of the underlying graph indefinitely even though locally all directions of movement are assigned non-zero amplitudes at each step. We study quantum walks with the flip-flop shift operator and the Grover coin, where this effect has been identified previously. For the version of the walk further modified by a random dynamical disruption of the graph (percolated quantum walks) we provide a recipe for the construction of a complete basis of the subspace of trapped states allowing to determine the asymptotic probability of trapping for arbitrary finite connected simple graphs, thus significantly generalizing the previously known result restricted to planar 3-regular graphs. We show how the position of the source and sink together with the graph geometry and its modifications affect the excitation transport. This gives us a deep insight into processes where elongation or addition of dead-end subgraphs may surprisingly result in enhanced transport and we design graphs exhibiting this pronounced behavior. In some cases this even provides closed-form formulas for the asymptotic transport probability in dependence on some structure parameters of the graphs., Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures

One of the crucial properties of a quantum system is the existence of bound states. While the existence of eigenvalues below zero, i.e., below the essential spectrum, is well understood, the situation of zero energy bound states at the edge of the essential spectrum is far less understood. We present necessary and sufficient conditions for Schr\"odinger operators to have a zero energy bound state. Our sharp criteria show that the existence and non-existence of zero energy ground states depends strongly on the dimension and the asymptotic behavior of the potential. There is a spectral phase transition with dimension four being critical., Comment: 30 pages

We give a rigorous argument that long--range repulsion stabilizes quantum systems; ground states of such quantum systems exist even when the ground state energy is precisely at the ionization threshold. For atomic systems at the critical nuclear charge, our bounds show that the ground state falls off like $\exp(-c\sqrt{|x|})$ for large $|x|$. This is much slower than what the WKB method predicts for bound states with energies strictly below the ionization threshold. For helium type systems at critical nuclear charge, we show that our upper bounds are sharp. This rigorously confirms predictions by quantum chemists., Comment: 6+3 pages, 9 figures

We obtain a trace Hardy inequality for the Euclidean space with a bounded cut $\Sigma\subset\mathbb R^d$, $d \ge 2$. In this novel geometric setting, the Hardy-type inequality non-typically holds also for $d = 2$. The respective Hardy weight is given in terms of the geodesic distance to the boundary of $\Sigma$. We provide its applications to the heat equation on $\mathbb R^d$ with an insulating cut at $\Sigma$ and to the Schr\"odinger operator with a $\delta'$-interaction supported on $\Sigma$. We also obtain generalizations of this trace Hardy inequality for a class of unbounded cuts.

The approach to equilibrium of quantum mechanical systems is a topic as old as quantum mechanics itself, but has recently seen a surge of interest due to applications in quantum technologies, including, but not limited to, quantum computation and sensing. The mechanisms by which a quantum system approaches its long-time, limiting stationary state are fascinating and, sometimes, quite different from their classical counterparts. In this respect, quantum networks represent a mesoscopic quantum systems of interest. In such a case, the graph encodes the elementary quantum systems (say qubits) at its vertices, while the links define the interactions between them. We study here the relaxation to equilibrium for a fully connected quantum network with CNOT gates representing the interaction between the constituting qubits. We give a number of results for the equilibration in these systems, including analytic estimates. The results are checked using numerical methods for systems with up to 15-16 qubits. It is emphasized in which way the size of the network controls the convergency., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures

We devise an approach to characterizing the intricate interplay between classical and quantum interference of two-photon states in a network, which comprises multiple time-bin modes. By controlling the phases of delocalized single photons, we manipulate the global mode structure, resulting in distinct two-photon interference phenomena for time-bin resolved (local) and time-bucket (global) coincidence detection. This coherent control over the photons' mode structure allows for synthesizing two-photon interference patterns, where local measurements yield standard Hong-Ou-Mandel dips while the global two-photon visibility is governed by the overlap of the delocalized single-photon states. Thus, our experiment introduces a method for engineering distributed quantum interferences in networks.

One of the unique features of discrete-time quantum walks is called trapping, meaning the inability of the quantum walker to completely escape from its initial position, albeit the system is translationally invariant. The effect is dependent on the dimension and the explicit form of the local coin. A four state discrete-time quantum walk on a square lattice is defined by its unitary coin operator, acting on the four dimensional coin Hilbert space. The well known example of the Grover coin leads to a partial trapping, i.e., there exists some escaping initial state for which the probability of staying at the initial position vanishes. On the other hand, some other coins are known to exhibit strong trapping, where such escaping state does not exist. We present a systematic study of coins leading to trapping, explicitly construct all such coins for discrete-time quantum walks on the 2D square lattice, and classify them according to the structure of the operator and the manifestation of the trapping effect. We distinguish three types of trapping coins exhibiting distinct dynamical properties, as exemplified by the existence or non-existence of the escaping state and the area covered by the spreading wave-packet., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures; updated to the published version

We study source-to-sink excitation transport on carbon nanotubes using the concept of quantum walks. In particular, we focus on transport properties of Grover coined quantum walks on ideal and percolation perturbed nanotubes with zig-zag and armchair chiralities. Using analytic and numerical methods we identify how geometric properties of nanotubes and different types of a sink altogether control the structure of trapped states and, as a result, the overall source-to-sink transport efficiency. It is shown that chirality of nanotubes splits behavior of the transport efficiency into a few typically well separated quantitative branches. Based on that we uncover interesting quantum transport phenomena, e.g. increasing the length of the tube can enhance the transport and the highest transport efficiency is achieved for the thinnest tube. We also demonstrate, that the transport efficiency of the quantum walk on ideal nanotubes may exhibit even oscillatory behavior dependent on length and chirality.

Twirling operations, which average a quantum state with respect to a unitary subgroup, have become a frequently-employed tool in quantum information processing. We investigate the efficient implementation of twirling operations with minimal resources, without necessitating the ability to perform all possible unitary operations on the quantum system of interest. We present a general algebraic method allowing us to choose a set of - typically very few - unitary operators which, when applied randomly and repeatedly, produce the given twirling operation exponentially quickly. The method is applied to twirling operations for bipartite quantum systems with respect to the unitary group $U(d)\otimes U(d)$, an essential ingredient in entanglement distillation protocols. In particular, we provide a complete classification of sets of unitary operators capable of performing twirling on two qubits. Moreover, we construct a generic set containing at most three unitary operators achieving the twirling operation for a general two-qudit system.

Quantum walks are accepted as a generic model for quantum transport. The character of the transport crucially depends on the properties of the walk like its geometry and the driving coin. We demonstrate that increasing transport distance between source and target or adding redundant branches to the actual graph may surprisingly result in a significant enhancement of transport efficiency. We explain analytically the observed non-classical effects using the concept of trapped states for several intriguing geometries including the ladder graph, the Cayley tree and its modifications., Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures

It is well known that $N$-electron atoms undergoes unbinding for a critical charge of the nucleus $Z_c$, i.e. the atom has eigenstates for the case $Z> Z_c$ and it has no bound states for $Z

In the present paper we study two challenging problems for helium-type systems. Existence of eigenvalues at thresholds and the asymptotic behavior of the corresponding eigenfunctions. Since the usual methods for addressing these problems need a safety distance to the essential spectrum, they cannot be applied in critical cases, when an eigenvalue enters the continuum. We develop a method to address both problems and derive sharp upper and lower bounds for the asymptotic behavior of the ground state of critical helium-type systems at the threshold of the essential spectrum. This is the first proof of the precise asymptotic behavior of the ground state for this benchmark problem in quantum chemistry. Moreover, our bounds describe precisely how the asymptotic decay of the ground state changes, when the system becomes critical. In addition, we show the existence of a ground state of this quantum critical system with a finite nuclear mass. Previously this had been known only in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation of infinite nuclear mass.