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Topology has recently become a focus in condensed matter physics, arising in the context of the quantum Hall effect and topological insulators. In both of these cases, the topology of the system is defined through bulk properties (‘topological invariants’) but detected through surface properties. Here we measure three topological invariants of a quantum Hall material—photonic Landau levels in curved space—through local electromagnetic and gravitational responses of the bulk material. Viewing the material as a many-port circulator, the Chern number (a topological invariant) manifests as spatial winding of the phase of the circulator. The accumulation of particles near points of high spatial curvature and the moment of inertia of the resultant particle density distribution quantify two additional topological invariants—the mean orbital spin and the chiral central charge. We find that these invariants converge to their global values when probed over increasing length scales (several magnetic lengths), consistent with the intuition that the bulk and edges of a system are distinguishable only for sufficiently large samples (larger than roughly one magnetic length). Our experiments are enabled by applying quantum optics tools to synthetic topological matter (here twisted optical resonators). Combined with advances in Rydberg-mediated photon collisions, our work will enable precision characterization of topological matter in photon fluids. Probing the local response of an integer quantum Hall system enables three different measures of its topology to be explored.

The study of dissipation and decoherence in generic open quantum systems recently led to the investigation of spectral and steady-state properties of random Lindbladian dynamics. A natural question is then how realistic and universal those properties are. Here, we address these issues by considering a different description of dissipative quantum systems, namely, the discrete-time Kraus map representation of completely positive quantum dynamics. Through random matrix theory (RMT) techniques and numerical exact diagonalization, we study random Kraus maps, allowing for a varying dissipation strength, and their local circuit counterpart. We find the spectrum of the random Kraus map to be either an annulus or a disk inside the unit circle in the complex plane, with a transition between the two cases taking place at a critical value of dissipation strength. The eigenvalue distribution and the spectral transition are well described by a simplified RMT model that we can solve exactly in the thermodynamic limit, by means of non-Hermitian RMT and quaternionic free probability. The steady state, on the contrary, is not affected by the spectral transition. It has, however, a perturbative crossover regime at small dissipation, inside which the steady state is characterized by uncorrelated eigenvalues. At large dissipation (or for any dissipation for a large-enough system), the steady state is well described by a random Wishart matrix. The steady-state properties thus coincide with those already observed for random Lindbladian dynamics, indicating their universality. Quite remarkably, the statistical properties of the local Kraus circuit are qualitatively the same as those of the nonlocal Kraus map, indicating that the latter, which is more tractable, already captures the realistic and universal physical properties of generic open quantum systems., 15 pages, 8 figures. v2: additional details, version as published

We discuss the decay rates of chaotic quantum systems coupled to noise. We model both the Hamiltonian and the system-noise coupling by random $N \times N$ Hermitian matrices, and study the spectral properties of the resulting Lindblad superoperator. We consider various random-matrix ensembles, and find that for all of them the asymptotic decay rate remains nonzero in the thermodynamic limit, i.e., the spectrum of the superoperator is gapped as $N \rightarrow \infty$. A sharp spectral transition takes place as the dissipation strength is increased: for weak dissipation, the non-zero eigenvalues of the master equation form a continuum; whereas for strong dissipation, the asymptotic decay rate is an \emph{isolated eigenvalue}, i.e., a `mid-gap state' that is sharply separated from the continuous spectrum of the master equation. For finite $N$, the probability of finding a very small gap vanishes algebraically with a scaling exponent that is extensive in system size, and depends only on the symmetry class of the random matrices and the number of independent decay channels. We comment on experimental implications of our results., Comment: 5+13 pages, 14 figures

We study the mixing behavior of random Lindblad generators with no symmetries, using the dynamical map or propagator of the dissipative evolution. In particular, we determine the long-time behavior of a dissipative form factor, which is the trace of the propagator, and use this as a diagnostic for the existence or absence of a spectral gap in the distribution of eigenvalues of the Lindblad generator. We find that simple generators with a single jump operator are slowly mixing, and relax algebraically in time, due to the closing of the spectral gap in the thermodynamic limit. Introducing additional jump operators or a Hamiltonian opens up a spectral gap which remains finite in the thermodynamic limit, leading to exponential relaxation and thus rapid mixing. We use the method of moments and introduce a novel diagrammatic expansion to determine exactly the form factor to leading order in Hilbert space dimension $N$. We also present numerical support for our main results., Comment: v2: 38 pages, 17 figures, with a few more substantial appendices elaborating upon the main results

We consider free surface dynamics of a two-dimensional incompressible fluid with odd viscosity. The odd viscosity is a peculiar part of the viscosity tensor which does not result in dissipation and is allowed when parity symmetry is broken. For the case of incompressible fluids, the odd viscosity manifests itself through the free surface (no stress) boundary conditions. We first find the free surface wave solutions of hydrodynamics in the linear approximation and study the dispersion of such waves. As expected, the surface waves are chiral and even exist in the absence of gravity and vanishing shear viscosity. In this limit, we derive effective nonlinear Hamiltonian equations for the surface dynamics, generalizing the linear solutions to the weakly nonlinear case. Within the small surface angle approximation, the equation of motion leads to a new class of non-linear chiral dynamics governed by what we dub the {\it chiral} Burgers equation. The chiral Burgers equation is identical to the complex Burgers equation with imaginary viscosity and an additional analyticity requirement that enforces chirality. We present several exact solutions of the chiral Burgers equation. For generic multiple pole initial conditions, the system evolves to the formation of singularities in a finite time similar to the case of an ideal fluid without odd viscosity. We also obtain a periodic solution to the chiral Burgers corresponding to the non-linear generalization of small amplitude linear waves., 34 pages, 7 figures, revised version: added discussion on the Hamiltonian structure and conservation laws, new references added, minor typos corrected. Close to published version

We derive a number of exact relations between response functions of holomorphic, chiral fractional quantum Hall states and their particle-hole (PH) conjugates. These exact relations allow one to calculate the Hall conductivity, Hall viscosity, various Berry phases, and the static structure factor of PH-conjugate states from the corresponding properties of the original states. These relations establish a precise duality between chiral quantum Hall states and their PH-conjugates. The key ingredient in the proof of the relations is a generalization of Girvin's construction of PH-conjugate states to inhomogeneous magnetic field and curvature. Finally, we make several non-trivial checks of the relations, including for the Jain states and their PH-conjugates., Comment: 10 pages

Topology has recently become a focus in condensed matter physics, arising in the context of the quantum Hall effect and topological insulators. In both of these cases, the topology of the system is defined through bulk properties ('topological invariants') but detected through surface properties. Here we measure three topological invariants of a quantum Hall material-photonic Landau levels in curved space-through local electromagnetic and gravitational responses of the bulk material. Viewing the material as a many-port circulator, the Chern number (a topological invariant) manifests as spatial winding of the phase of the circulator. The accumulation of particles near points of high spatial curvature and the moment of inertia of the resultant particle density distribution quantify two additional topological invariants-the mean orbital spin and the chiral central charge. We find that these invariants converge to their global values when probed over increasing length scales (several magnetic lengths), consistent with the intuition that the bulk and edges of a system are distinguishable only for sufficiently large samples (larger than roughly one magnetic length). Our experiments are enabled by applying quantum optics tools to synthetic topological matter (here twisted optical resonators). Combined with advances in Rydberg-mediated photon collisions, our work will enable precision characterization of topological matter in photon fluids.

There is a well known analogy between the Laughlin trial wave function for the fractional quantum Hall effect, and the Boltzmann factor for the two-dimensional one-component plasma. The latter requires analytic continuation beyond the finite geometry used in its derivation. We consider both disk and cylinder geometry, and focus attention on the exact and asymptotic features of the edge density. At the special coupling \Gamma := q^2/k_BT=2 the system is exactly solvable. In particular the k-point correlation can be written as a k \times k determinant, allowing the edge density to be computed to first order in \Gamma - 2. A double layer structure is found, which in turn implies an overshoot of the density as the edge of the leading support is approached from inside the plasma. Asymptotic analysis shows that the deviation from the leading order (step function) value is different for into the plasma than for outside. For general \Gamma, a Gaussian fluctuation formula is used to study the large deviation form of the density for N large but finite. This asymptotic form involves thermodynamic quantities which we independently study, and moreover an appropriate scaling gives the asymptotic decay of the limiting edge density outside of the plasma., Comment: 36 pages, 6 figures

We study quantum Hall states on surfaces with conical singularities. We show that the electronic fluid at the cone tip possesses an intrinsic angular momentum, which is due solely to the gravitational anomaly. We also show that quantum Hall states behave as conformal primaries near singular points, with a conformal dimension equal to the angular momentum. Finally, we argue that the gravitational anomaly and conformal dimension determine the fine structure of the electronic density at the conical point. The singularities emerge as quasiparticles with spin and exchange statistics arising from adiabatically braiding conical singularities. Thus, the gravitational anomaly, which appears as a finite size correction on smooth surfaces, dominates geometric transport on singular surfaces.

We study quantum Hall (QH) states on a punctured Riemann sphere. We compute the Berry curvature under adiabatic motion in the moduli space in the large N limit. The Berry curvature is shown to be finite in the large N limit and controlled by the conformal dimension of the cusp singularity, a local property of the mean density. Utilizing exact sum rules obtained from a Ward identity, we show that for the Laughlin wave function, the dimension of a cusp singularity is given by the central charge, a robust geometric response coefficient in the QHE. Thus, adiabatic transport of curvature singularities can be used to determine the central charge of QH states. We also consider the effects of threaded fluxes and spin-deformed wave functions. Finally, we give a closed expression for all moments of the mean density in the integer QH state on a punctured disk., 51 pages, 2 figures

In [Can et al. 2016], quantum Hall states on singular surfaces were shown to possess an emergent conformal symmetry. In this paper, we develop this idea further and flesh out details on the emergent conformal symmetry in holomorphic adiabatic states, which we define in the paper. We highlight the connection between the universal features of geometric transport of quantum Hall states and holomorphic dimension of primary fields in conformal field theory. In parallel we compute the universal finite-size corrections to the free energy of a critical system on a hyperbolic sphere with conical and cusp singularities, thus extending the result of Cardy and Peschel for critical systems on a flat cone [Cardy, Peschel 1988], and the known results for critical systems on polyhedra and flat branched Riemann surfaces., Comment: v1: 55 pages, 2 figures, v2: minor edits - invited contribution to a special issue of J. Phys. A for John Cardy's 70th birthday

We show that universal transport coefficients of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) can be understood as a response to variations of spatial geometry. Some transport properties are essentially governed by the gravitational anomaly. We develop a general method to compute correlation functions of FQH states in a curved space, where local transformation properties of these states are examined through local geometric variations. We introduce the notion of a generating functional and relate it to geometric invariant functionals recently studied in geometry. We develop two complementary methods to study the geometry of the FQHE. One method is based on iterating a Ward identity, while the other is based on a field theoretical formulation of the FQHE through a path integral formalism., v1: 60+21 pages; v2: 63 pages, 8 appendices, minor changes to improve clarity and format, fix typos, and expand references; v3: 65 pages, 8 appendices, revised and expanded discussions in the introduction and sections 9-11, major revisions to appendix E, minor changes in notation to improve clarity, and further expanded references

A distinguishing feature of fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states is a singular behavior of equilibrium densities at boundaries. In contrast to states at integer filling fraction, such quantum liquids posses an additional dipole moment localized near edges. It enters observable quantities such as universal dispersion of edge states and Lorentz shear stress. For a Laughlin state, this behavior is seen as a peak, or overshoot, in the single particle density near the edge, reflecting a general tendency of electrons in FQH states to cluster near edges. We compute the singular edge behavior of the one particle density by a perturbative expansion carried out around a completely filled Landau level. This correction is shown to fully capture the dipole moment and the major features of the overshoot observed numerically. Furthermore, it exhibits the Stokes phenomenon with the Stokes line at the boundary of the droplet, decaying like a Gaussian inside and outside the liquid with different decay lengths. In the limit of vanishing magnetic length the shape the overshoot is a singular double layer with a capacity that is a universal function of the filling fraction. Finally, we derive the edge dipole moment of Pfaffian FQH states. The result suggests an explicit connection between the magnitude of the dipole moment and the bulk odd viscosity., Comment: v1: 5 pages, 2 figures; v2: 7 pages, 2 figures, includes an expanded discussion of the singular double layer, and two new sections discussing the edge dipole moment of Pfaffian states. Otherwise, only minor changes to improve clarity

Long-lived coherences have been observed in photosynthetic complexes after laser excitation, inspiring new theories regarding the extreme quantum efficiency of photosynthetic energy transfer. Whether coherent (ballistic) transport occurs in nature and whether it improves photosynthetic efficiency remain topics of debate. Here, we use a nonequilibrium Green's function analysis to model exciton transport after excitation from an incoherent source (as opposed to coherent laser excitation). We find that even with an incoherent source, the rate of environmental dephasing strongly affects exciton transport efficiency, suggesting that the relationship between dephasing and efficiency is not an artifact of coherent excitation. The Green's function analysis provides a clear view of both the pattern of excitonic fluxes among chromophores and the multidirectionality of energy transfer that is a feature of coherent transport. We see that even in the presence of an incoherent source, transport occurs by qualitatively different mechanisms as dephasing increases. Our approach can be generalized to complex synthetic systems and may provide a new tool for optimizing synthetic light harvesting materials.

Using the non-equilibrium Keldysh Green's function formalism, we investigate the local, non-equilibrium charge transport in graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). In particular, we demonstrate that the spatial current patterns associated with discrete transmission resonances sensitively depend on the GNRs' geometry, size, and aspect ratio, the location and number of leads, and the presence of dephasing. We identify a relation between the spatial form of the current patterns, and the number of degenerate energy states participating in the charge transport. Furthermore, we demonstrate a principle of superposition for the conductance and spatial current patterns in multiple-lead configurations. We demonstrate that scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) can be employed to image spatial current paths in GNR with atomic resolution, providing important insight into the form of local charge transport. Finally, we investigate the effects of dephasing on the spatial current patterns, and show that with decreasing dephasing time, the current patterns evolve smoothly from those of a ballistic quantum network to those of classical resistor network., 25 pages, 12 figures

We develop a collective field theory for fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states. We show that in the leading approximation for a large number of particles, the properties of Laughlin states are captured by a Gaussian free field theory with a (filling fraction dependent) background charge. Gradient corrections to the Gaussian field theory arise from ultraviolet regularization. They are the origin of the gravitational anomaly and are described by the Liouville theory of quantum gravity. The field theory simplifies the computation of correlation functions in FQH states and makes manifest the effect of quantum anomalies., Comment: v1: 20 pages; v2: 6 pages, considerably revised and rewritten for the sake of clarity and brevity, v3: 7 pages, updated to reflect the published version which includes a discussion of the effects spin

We propose a new method for atomic-scale imaging of spatial current patterns in nanoscopic quantum networks by using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). By measuring the current flowing from the STM tip into one of the leads attached to the network as a function of tip position, one obtains an atomically resolved spatial image of "current riverbeds" whose spatial structure reflects the coherent flow of electrons out of equilibrium. We show that this method can be successfully applied in variety of network topologies, and is robust against dephasing effects., Comment: 5 pages

Using the non-equilibrium Keldysh Green's function formalism, we show that the non-equilibrium charge transport in nanoscopic quantum networks takes place via {\it current eigenmodes} that possess characteristic spatial patterns. We identify the microscopic relation between the current patterns and the network's electronic structure and topology and demonstrate that these patterns can be selected via gating or constrictions, providing new venues for manipulating charge transport at the nanoscale. Finally, decreasing the dephasing time leads to a smooth evolution of the current patterns from those of a ballistic quantum network to those of a classical resistor network., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures