Quantum Physics Paper Analysis

Quantum phase estimation (QPE) is a central algorithmic primitive that estimates eigenvalues of a Hamiltonian up to precision $ε$ in Heisenberg-limited time $T=Θ(1/ε)$. Standard gate-based implementations of QPE require deep controlled time-evolution circuits and are not native to analog hardware. Here, we present a simple adiabatic protocol for QPE that achieves (up to logarithmic factors) the optimal Heisenberg-limited scaling $T = O\left( \frac{1}ε \log\left(δ^{-1}\right)\right)$ in both the precision $ε$ and failure probability $δ$. By encoding eigenvalues in populations of computational basis states rather than complex phases, our approach is naturally robust against certain dephasing errors. The adiabatic protocol only requires the ability to couple a single ancilla qubit to the system Hamiltonian as well as pairwise couplings within the ancilla register.

An adversary copies your encrypted traffic today and waits for a quantum computer to decrypt it later. How exposed are you? We show that the functional form of the answer is not merely a calibration choice -- it is structurally justified by three assumptions about adversarial production and value-decay dynamics. Under those assumptions, the HNDL compromise probability factorises into a temporal hazard, a multiplicative cryptographic-vulnerability and operational-exposure term, and a saturation denominator governed by the defense-attack intensity ratio; the marginal sensitivity to each dimension is endogenous to the organisation's position in the vulnerability-exposure plane, not a fixed global constant. Additive scoring frameworks cannot reproduce this structure because the interaction between cryptographic vulnerability and operational exposure is absent by construction, regardless of calibration. The resulting framework provides a structurally grounded basis for operational HNDL exposure prioritisation under partial observability.

Scalable trapped-ion quantum computing is commonly realized with modular chips that feature distinct zones with specific functionalities, such as storage, state preparation, and gate execution. To execute a quantum circuit, the ions must be transported between these zones. This process is called ion shuttling. To achieve reliable computation results, the shuttling process must be optimized. However, as the number of ions increases, this becomes a high-dimensional optimization problem where optimal solutions cannot be computed efficiently. We demonstrate, to the best of our knowledge, the first use of reinforcement learning (RL) for the optimization of ion shuttling. RL is well-suited for such scenarios, as it enables learning a strategy through direct interaction with the problem. We show that our RL approach outperforms current state-of-the-art heuristic techniques, yielding a reduction in shuttling operations of up to 36.3 %. Furthermore, we show that our method is easily applicable to various chip architectures. Our approach offers a versatile method to study shuttling efficiency during chip design and, therefore, a highly relevant tool for future, more complex architectures.

We study permutation-invariant quantum codes in the symmetric subspace $\mathrm{Sym}^n(\mathbb{C}^q) $ of $n$ qudits of local dimension $q$. For every integer $q\geq 2$, we construct a permutation-invariant code with parameters $((4,q,2))_q$. Thus four physical qudits suffice to encode one logical qudit with distance two in the symmetric sector for every local dimension. We also show, using linear-programming constraints for permutation-invariant quantum codes, that no permutation-invariant code of dimension $q$ and distance at least $2$ exists in $\mathrm{Sym}^n(\mathbb{C}^q)$ for $n\leq 3$. Hence four qudits are necessary and sufficient. The construction has a simple representation-theoretic and combinatorial description. In the irreducible $\mathrm{SU}(q)$-module $\mathrm{Sym}^4(\mathbb{C}^q)$, the distance-two Knill-Laflamme conditions split into root and Cartan parts. By restricting supports to the even-entry occupation layer, all root-error conditions vanish automatically. The remaining Cartan conditions reduce to linear balancing constraints on packets of occupation vectors. These packets admit a natural graph-theoretic interpretation in terms of the vertices and edges of the complete graph $K_q$: for odd $q$, they are organized by the midpoint rule, while for even $q$, they are organized by a decomposition of $K_q$ into perfect matchings. In this way, the existence of minimal $((4,q,2))_q$ permutation-invariant codes is reduced to a parity-dependent edge-coloring problem on $K_q$.

As trapped-ion quantum computing scales to larger qubit registers and more complex control protocols, classical control systems face a fundamental tradeoff: sub-microsecond board-level feedback requires tight hardware coupling, whereas maintainability and extensibility require clean, modular software abstractions. This paper presents QuCtrl-BELL (Bell), a compiler-driven software stack for trapped-ion quantum control. The design resolves this tradeoff by decoupling control flow -- including loops, branches, and synchronization -- from hardware state data. A Python-embedded domain-specific language (DSL) is lowered through a six-stage transpilation pipeline covering control flow graph (CFG) construction, static single-assignment (SSA) conversion, liveness analysis, and graph-coloring register allocation. The compiler generates deterministic distributed board-level programs and compact step-table data. A cross-board synchronization protocol supports feedback loops with latency below 700~ns without host intervention. Bell is deployed and evaluated on the QuCtrl-BELL platform (RISC-V + PXIe), demonstrating that a compiler-based infrastructure can provide programmability, deterministic timing, and modularity for scalable trapped-ion quantum control.

We study long-range nonstabilizerness (LRN), namely the obstruction to remove nonstabilizerness with shallow-depth local quantum circuits. In one-dimensional settings, the mutual information between disconnected spatial regions has proven to be a powerful tool to diagnose LRN. In this work, we focus on encoded states of two-dimensional topologically-ordered systems, and explore the ability of the mutual information to serve as a diagnostic of LRN. Focusing on the concrete setting of lattice models defined on a torus, we show that information about LRN can be gained from the analysis of the mutual information between non-overlapping regions containing non-contractible loops, and of the change of such mutual information under modular real-space transformations. We exemplify this idea in the toric code and the non-abelian string-net model with doubled Fibonacci topological order. In the former case, we show that the mutual information provides a full classification, certifying LRN for all encoded non-stabilizer states. In the latter case, instead, our approach does not lead to a full classification, as it detects LRN for all states except from a finite subset with special transformation properties under the modular group. Finally, we discuss how our results on LRN constrain the logical gates that can be implemented fault-tolerantly on the torus.

In most stabilizer-based quantum computing schemes, so-called magic states are a necessary resource for implementing non-transversal quantum gates. With the resource theory of magic, it is possible to analyze and quantify the generation of the non-stabilizer states. The relative entropy is a measure used in various resource theories. For single qubits, we characterize magic states and their closest stabilizer states by applying analytical results known from the relative entropy of entanglement and show that the magic states and their closest stabilizer states are arranged symmetrically around the states at the centers of the faces of the stabilizer octahedron. For tensor products of single-qubit states, we prove analytically that the relative entropy of magic is nonadditive in almost all cases.

Minimising EPR consumption is the dominant objective when routing a quantum circuit on a distributed quantum computer (DQC). We present dSABRE, a SABRE-style router for multi-core processors that, on each iteration of a lookahead-driven loop, first resolves any intra-core front-layer gates by SWAP scoring and only falls back to scoring inter-core teleportation candidates when the intra-core front is empty. Three mechanisms drive the improvement over the state of the art: a five-term gate-centric teleportation score that generalises the local SWAP heuristic to the inter-core setting, whose explicit capacity-penalty term keeps the scorer from teleporting into saturated cores; a proactive congestion-relief pass that redistributes idle qubits out of high-demand cores before deadlock; and a BFS-layer construction of the inter-core extended set that respects DAG dependencies layer by layer rather than mixing wires in topological order. Across 18 MQT-Bench circuits at 25, 36, and 64 logical qubits, dSABRE reduces geometric-mean EPR consumption by 41-44% over TeleSABRE and by 16-68% over the gate-teleportation-based pytket-dqc, using standard Qiskit SabreLayout for the initial layout. A large-circuit QFT sweep at 100-360 qubits confirms scalability. Code and online appendices are available at https://github.com/ebony72/dsabre.

Different quantum error correction schemes trade off overhead, error suppression, and hardware connectivity. Code concatenation can relax these tradeoffs by using an outer code whose non-local connectivity is supplied by logical operations of an inner code rather than directly by hardware. Prior works showed that this can reduce memory overhead for local low-rate inner codes such as the surface code. Here, we study concatenation over non-local, high-rate inner codes. Such inner codes experience correlated errors among the many logical qubits in a single codeblock. We handle this by treating each block as a single logical Galois qudit, enabling concatenation with algebraic outer codes with excellent parameters and, crucially, list decoders. In particular, we consider a memory system formed by concatenating quantum Reed-Solomon outer codes over the gross code. For fault-tolerant syndrome extraction, we develop a Galois qudit Shor scheme using "time-like" Reed-Solomon protection against measurement errors. Interestingly, a lightweight fault tolerance scheme, that would fail for qubits, works well for large-alphabet qudits, suggesting a very different theory of fault tolerance for such qudits. The whole protocol is optimised via improved bicycle instruction logical error rates, novel compilation strategies, and recent decoder post-selection rules. At uniform $10^{-3}$ physical noise, the concatenated gross code reaches the teraquop regime, which it previously could not access, with a lower space overhead than the $288$-qubit two-gross code, while offering several advantages from the engineering standpoint. Beyond our main case study, we believe the core ideas of Galois qudits, quantum Reed-Solomon outer codes, and list decoding, will prove generically powerful and highly transferable ideas across high-rate quantum architectures.

Magic state distillation is a key component of fault-tolerant quantum computation, as it enables the implementation of non-Clifford gates such as the $T$ gate and the $CCZ$ gate via gate teleportation. However, conventional distillation protocols require a large number of logical qubits and introduce substantial spatial and temporal overhead, posing a significant bottleneck for scalable fault-tolerant quantum computation. In this work, we propose a zero-level distillation protocol that efficiently generates a high-fidelity logical $CCZ$ magic state using only physical qubits on a two-dimensional square lattice with nearest-neighbor interactions. Our method leverages the transversal $T/T^\dagger$ operation of the $[[ 8,3,2 ]]$ code to fault-tolerantly encode the state $\overline{CCZ}|+++\rangle$, which is subsequently teleported to three surface-code logical qubits via lattice surgery. To enable teleportation between codes with different distances, we introduce adaptively initialized teleportation (AIT), a tailored initialization procedure for the surface code. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the logical error rate scales as $p_L \simeq 300 \times p^2$ with respect to the physical error rate $p$. For example, the proposed method improves the logical error rate by approximately one and two orders of magnitude at $p = 10^{-3}$ and $p = 10^{-4}$, respectively, compared to conventional seven-$T$-gate approaches. The distillation circuit requires only 22 physical qubits, 3 logical qubits, and a circuit depth of 24, reducing the space-time overhead by a factor of approximately 5-10 compared to previous methods. This result highlights the practicality of $CCZ$-state distillation in early fault-tolerant quantum computation and offers a new direction toward resource-efficient physical-level magic state distillation beyond conventional $T$-state generation.

Quantum computing has demonstrated its significant advantage over supercomputing for specific applications and shown promising prospect, such as machine learning, cryptography, finance, etc.. Quantum oracles are very common in many quantum algorithms and oracle resource consumption directly affects algorithm performance. However, existing oracle designs often exhibit high resource overhead and limited compatibility. Moreover, structured description tools and complexity analysis methods are lacked. In this work, we introduces a Hierarchical Recursive Synthesis-Evaluation (HRSE) model, enabling formal description and precise quantum gate complexity analysis of oracles. Based on this model, we propose an Adaptive Space-depth Trade-off (ASDT) algorithm for generating oracle structures under a fixed qubit constraint. We provide a theoretical proof showing that the ASDT algorithm achieves the optimal gate count for a given number of qubits. Experimental results show that the ASDT algorithm reduces the average quantum circuit depth by 53.99% compared with the W-cycle approach, with the number of variables being 10, 15, and 20, respectively.

While algebraic derivations establish theoretical limits for quantum cloning, practical implementations require explicit operator representations that are often unavailable analytically. We present a computational framework that reformulates cloning optimization as a search over completely positive trace-preserving maps using the Choi-Jamiolkowski isomorphism and Semidefinite Programming. The framework (i) numerically certifies global optimality through primal-dual strong duality and (ii) automatically extracts operational Kraus operators from the optimal Choi matrix via spectral decomposition. We systematically treat universal, phase-covariant, asymmetric, and entanglement cloning scenarios, providing -for the first time - a unified computational catalogue of explicit, implementable Kraus representations across all major cloning families, including higher-order processes and arbitrary input state distributions. As an application, we analyse optimal cloning attacks on BB84 under depolarizing noise, demonstrating how the extracted operators enable quantitative security analysis in realistic noisy quantum channels. An open-source implementation enables community validation and extension.

There is a growing consensus that large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC) necessitates high-fidelity photonic interconnects to overcome the scaling limits of monolithic architectures. However, most current platforms were not originally designed for native photonic connectivity and require significant engineering overhead. To overcome these fundamental hardware limitations, we recently introduced a rationally designed organic molecule that serves as an ideal quantum node, featuring a robust qubit-photon interface (QPI) and a long-lived nuclear-spin register. In this work, we present PIQC (Photonic Integrated Quantum Circuits), a distributed architecture designed to scale these molecular nodes into a functional quantum computer. The PIQC framework integrates five mutually reinforcing innovations: (i) Designer molecular qubits, i.e. carbene molecules in an isosteric host that provide millisecond-coherence electron spins with high spectral stability and spin-dependent optical emission, (ii) deterministic nuclear registers made of synthetically placed $^{13}$C or $^{14}$N labels that enable fast ($\sim 1~μ$s), high-fidelity electron-nuclear gates, (iii) hybrid photonic integration, which allows molecular films to seamlessly integrate with existing mature fabrication technologies, e.g. thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN), (iv) heralded entanglement protocols that can tolerate up to 70% photon loss, and (v) stairway Floquetification, i.e. high-rate quantum low-density parity-check (qLDPC) codes that are converted into Floquet codes, reducing syndrome extraction to weight-two Bell-pair measurements that match PIQC's networked hardware. PIQC offers a hardware-efficient, commercially viable pathway toward a utility-scale quantum computer based on distributed FTQC.

In this work, we propose and study in depth a universal quantum computing architecture based on a quantum construction of transistors. Our teleportation-based quantum transistors, called ``telesistors'', are ground states of systems with symmetry-protected topological order, hence suppress certain noises and provide high-fidelity Clifford gates without the need for active error correction. This physical protection, quantified by the string order parameters, serves as a low-overhead foundation upon which conventional fault-tolerant encoding (e.g., with stabilizer codes) can be built to achieve universal quantum computation. This architecture shows rich connections with current known architectures, and some desirable merits especially compared with the qubit-based circuits regarding modularity, integration, and program storage. Our study shows that it is plausible to realize it with current technology in the near future.

We present a quantum circuit implementation of the quantum hashing algorithm (quantum fingerprinting) for a quantum device with restrictions on the application of two-qubit gates by a qubit connectivity graph. We present an optimization technique for the shallow circuit for quantum hashing in the case of a cactus as a qubit connectivity graph. The algorithm has $O(n^3)$ complexity to build the circuit, where $n$ is the number of qubits and $m$ is the number of connections (edges) in the graph. It is improvement compared to the existing exponential-time algorithm in the case of arbitrary graphs. The algorithm uses solution for the shortest non-simple 1-covering path problem as a subroutine. We present an $O(n^3)$-time solution for this graph-theory problem in the case of a cactus. This result can be interesting independently. The algorithm also used for improving of the quantum circuit for Quantum Fourier Transform.

Discrete Gaussian Sampling on lattices is a fundamental problem in lattice-based cryptography. It appears both in basic cryptographic primitives such as digital signatures and as an important cryptanalysis building block for solving hard lattice problems. In this paper, we show a quantum algorithm based on the quantum rejection sampling technique whose complexity is asymptotically quadratically faster than its classical counterpart in [Wang & Ling, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 2019]. Our sampler outputs a quantum state which can either be measured to get the desired distribution or be used directly as such in other quantum algorithms. By doing so, we derive two versions of quantum dual attacks that improve upon the previous ones in [Pouly & Shen, EUROCRYPT 2024]. The two versions are incomparable, each having distinct advantages (speed vs memory requirement). The second version is particularly interesting as it requires only polynomial classical and quantum memory, excluding the classical memory used in the preprocessing step of the Discrete Gaussian sampler. Our quantum Discrete Gaussian sampler can also be used to speed up the algorithm for solving the Short Integer Solution problem, in any norm, of [Bollauf, Pouly & Shen, ePrint 2026/225].

Quantum computers are emerging as a promising new technology due to their ability to solve complex problems that exceed the capabilities of classical systems in terms of time. Among various implementations, superconducting qubits have become the leading technology due to their scalability and compatibility with quantum error correction mechanisms. Although time has traditionally been the primary focus, energetic efficiency is becoming an increasingly important consideration, especially with the possibility of a quantum energetic advantage. In this article, the energy consumption of the Semiclassical Quantum Fourier Transform was analyzed on a superconducting quantum computing platform based on cat qubits. Quantum error correction mechanisms were studied and considered in the energy estimations. The results show how the energy consumption scales with the number of qubits and how the most relevant parameters required for qubit stabilization, gate implementation, and error correction codes contribute to the overall energy usage. An optimization method was developed to tune these parameters with the goal of minimizing energy consumption while maintaining qubit fidelities above a given threshold. Additionally, a comparative study with state-of-the-art classical computers indicates a potential quantum energetic advantage for systems with more than 26 qubits, assuming cryogenic systems operating at Carnot efficiency, with this energetic advantage arising before any computational advantage. This behavior persists even when realistic cryogenic systems and control electronics are taken into account.

One of the major challenges in realizing fault-tolerant quantum computers (FTQCs) is the requirement for a large number of physical qubits. To address this issue, high-rate quantum error correcting codes, which efficiently embed logical qubits into physical qubits, have recently attracted considerable attention. Among such codes, quantum BCH codes, which offer both high rates and large code distances, are promising yet underexplored candidates. However, no fault-tolerant ancilla preparation method specialized for this class had been established. We employ a two-stage approach (non-fault-tolerant preparation + entanglement distillation) for ancilla preparation. We then propose a framework for designing low-overhead distillation method that strategically leverages the cyclic symmetry of quantum BCH codes to determine which non-fault-tolerant circuits can successfully produce a fault-tolerant state. Numerical simulations on several high-performance quantum BCH codes up to 127 qubits demonstrate that our method achieves lower spatial overhead and logical error rates than conventional distillation circuits. Furthermore, we evaluated the logical error rates under a circuit-level noise model, and obtained performance benchmarks in realistic settings. This efficient state preparation technique is expected to contribute to the early realization of practical FTQCs, particularly on highly connected quantum platforms such as neutral atom systems.

Quantum error-correcting codes with translation symmetry and local checks have been studied extensively, leading to a wide variety of fracton codes in three or more dimensions which lack a complete unifying picture. Recently, the study of translation-invariant codes with long-range checks has revealed impressive performance for small fixed-size instances in two dimensions. Here, we provide a unifying picture for a large family of translation-invariant codes, both local and long-range, that captures many fracton codes and all Abelian Two-Block Group Algebra (A2BGA) codes, including the Bivariate Bicycle (BB) codes. The balanced product structure of A2BGA codes leads to a local parent code that is a hypergraph product fracton model in a higher dimension. Different compactifications of a parent code produce a wide variety of descendant codes which provides a unifying picture for their properties. In particular, all BB codes with the same check weight are derived from a single parent hypergraph product fracton model. This construction allows us to extend Wang and Pryadko's code-parameter bounds for Generalized Bicycle codes to A2BGA codes. We conjecture that the transversal gates and energy barriers of the translation-invariant descendant codes are limited by those of their parent fracton models.

Multi-controlled Toffoli gates are fundamental building blocks in quantum computation, with applications in quantum arithmetic, simulation, and search algorithms. In fault-tolerant architectures, their realization is constrained by the high cost of non-Clifford resources, particularly in terms of T-count and T-depth. Recent advances have demonstrated that the use of ancillary qubits, relative-phase Toffoli gates, and dynamic circuit techniques can substantially reduce this overhead. In this work, we investigate the decomposition of large Toffoli gates using 3- and 4-input relative-phase Toffoli gates in the presence of a single clean ancilla and conditionally clean ancillas. We derive explicit resource bounds for Clifford+T implementations incorporating dynamic-circuit-based uncomputation and measurement-conditioned corrections. Our analysis emphasizes T-depth reduction under fixed CX and T-count overhead, ensuring relevance for near-term devices. We show that introducing 4-input relative-phase Toffoli gates enables significant T-depth reductions through enhanced parallelism while maintaining favorable ancilla requirements. We further validate our theoretical results through experimental evaluation and comparative analysis with existing approaches.

The Toffoli gate is a fundamental building block for quantum arithmetic and reversible logic, yet its efficient realization remains a major challenge in both near-term and fault-tolerant quantum architectures. Recent advances in dynamic quantum circuit capabilities, including mid-circuit measurement and classical feedforward, provide new opportunities for reducing the resource overhead of non-Clifford operations. In this work, we propose a set of dynamic decomposition strategies for multi-controlled Toffoli gates that exploit adaptive circuit execution and ancilla-assisted constructions. Our methods systematically reduce entangling-gate count, T-count, and T-depth compared with conventional static decompositions, while preserving fault-tolerance guarantees. Through analytical cost models and experimental evaluation, we demonstrate that relative-phase primitives and measurement-conditioned corrections enable scalable implementations with improved depth and resource efficiency.

We develop a bottom-up open effective field theory (EFT) for non-Abelian gauge theories within the Schwinger--Keldysh formalism. Instead of integrating out the environment completely and starting from a nonlocal influence functional, we retain the slow environmental response variables explicitly and construct a local system-environment EFT. The environmental sector is described by a dynamical color-frame variable, Stückelberg-like field, and an associated color-current sector, which gives the nontrivial interactions and dissipation between the system and the environment. The resulting construction provides a gauge-covariant Markov embedding of nonlocal and non-Markovian color response. After integrating out the retained environmental variables with retarded boundary conditions, the reduced system theory acquires nonlocal dissipative kernels and stochastic sources. We show that the hard thermal loop response arises naturally as a particular realization of the retained environmental response. Our framework provides a local open-EFT description of color transport, memory effects, and fluctuation-dissipation structure in non-Abelian plasmas, and offers a systematic starting point for dissipative Yang--Mills EFTs with dynamical environments.

Quantum processes with indefinite causal order -- so-called causally nonseparable processes -- can exhibit various advantages over quantum circuits with a fixed or a well-defined causal structure. A natural question is how much nonclassicality is required for a process to display causal nonseparability. Here we address this by investigating how many systems can be dephased (or decohered) before this property vanishes. First, for bipartite processes with open past and future we show that if all systems are dephased, or if only the future system is kept undephased, then the process becomes causally separable. However, if any single system other than the future system remains undephased, then there exist processes that retain causal nonseparability. Next, we demonstrate a similar behaviour in the multipartite case, when restricted to the physically motivated class of quantum circuits with quantum control (QC-QCs). Namely, dephasing all systems or keeping only the future system undephased renders any QC-QC causally separable; while causal nonseparability can persist if any non-future system is left undephased.

We consider the problem of single-photon transmission through an atomic medium, using quantum channel fidelity to describe the resulting information loss. We find that the normalized fidelity decreases monotonically with coupling strength, establishing a performance bound for quantum communication through such media. Our results hold for several channel types and for deterministic and random media.

We establish that the non-adiabaticity parameter has a direct geometric interpretation as the instantaneous evolution speed of a driven quantum state in projective Hilbert space under the Fubini Study metric. In contrast to conventional asymptotic approaches, the proposed framework provides a strictly local geometric criterion that allows non-adiabatic instability and its nonlinear suppression to be evaluated continuously at each stage of the driven evolution. We further show that an occupation-dependent nonlinear regulator Usuppresses the effective geometric evolution speed, leading to bounded low-occupancy dynamics. The resulting crossover parameter provides a compact criterion for self-limited non-adiabatic instability in driven nonlinear bosonic systems.

We identify a sharp interaction-degree threshold for the classical simulation of QAOA with $2$-local cost functions. At degree $3$, classical sampling from depth-$1$ QAOA with small multiplicative error would collapse the polynomial hierarchy to its third level. At degree $2$, exact classical sampling from depth-$p$ QAOA on $n$ qubits runs in time $n^{O(1)}$ whenever $p = O(\log n)$. The hard degree-$3$ instances have trivially optimizable cost functions, so sampling hardness does not by itself imply a quantum optimization advantage.

We introduce a novel software-oriented model of quantum computation motivated by the practical constraints of near-term quantum hardware. In this model, gates are specified by constraints expressed in terms of Pauli observables, with each disjoint layer of gates accompanied by a pairwise or $k$-local quantum state tomography of the device. We prove that the model is equivalent to the coupling-graph-restricted circuit model and hence universal for BQP, with a polynomial overhead: simulating a depth-$D$ circuit on $N$ qubits requires at most $O(D^2 N \log N)$ complexity. The model formalizes an idiom shared by existing work that ranges from quantum imaginary time evolution for the study of quantum systems to the use of quantum computers for procedural generation in games. It therefore provides a natural interface for designing quantum software entirely in terms of physically observable quantities, relevant for the NISQ era and into fault-tolerance.

We consider bipartite exact entanglement embezzlement with a catalyst state vector $ψ$ in a Hilbert space $\mathcal{H}$ using unitaries (or more generally, contractions). If $\mathcal{M} \subseteq \mathcal{B}(\mathcal{H})$ is a von Neumann algebra and $U \in M_d \otimes \mathcal{M}$ and $V \in \mathcal{M}' \otimes M_d$ are unitaries (or more generally contractions), then such a protocol is of the form $(U \otimes I_d)(I_d \otimes V)(e_0 \otimes ψ\otimes e_0)=\sum_{i=0}^{d-1} α_i e_i \otimes ψ\otimes e_i$, where each $α_i>0$ and $\sum_{i=0}^{d-1} α_i^2=1$. We show that any such protocol must arise from a unique state on the tensor product $\mathcal{O}_d \otimes \mathcal{O}_d$ of the Cuntz algebra with itself. As a result, we prove that exact entanglement embezzlement is a self-test for a collection of $d$ Cuntz isometries for each party and a unique quasi-free state on the Cuntz algebra $\mathcal{O}_d$ in the sense of \cite{Iz93}. Moreover, we use modular theory to show that the von Neumann algebra generated by the copy of $\mathcal{O}_d$ is the unique separable approximately finite-dimensional Type $\text{III}_λ$ factor for some $0<λ\leq 1$, where $λ$ can be determined by an algebraic condition on the Schmidt coefficients of the state $\varphi=\sum_{i=0}^{d-1} α_i e_i \otimes e_i$.

Local Markovian noise cannot bring entanglement back, but it can bring magic back. Unlike separability, stabilizer membership is not preserved by local channels, allowing dissipation to push states out of the stabilizer polytope as well as in. Under local amplitude damping, the $n$-qubit GHZ family $α|0^n\rangle+β|1^n\rangle$ ($0<α<β$) loses its magic at a lower damping strength $γ_-$ and regains it at a higher one $γ_+$, while entanglement is irreversibly lost at $γ_e$. This magic-entanglement complementarity, $γ_e+γ_+=1$ for every $n$, reflects a system-environment duality of amplitude damping and persists for a broader class of dissipative channels. For small $α$, the reborn magic resides in a fully separable state with all proper marginals stabilizer, yet parity-syndrome extraction concentrates it onto a single qubit for magic-state distillation. Local dissipation further divides pure stabilizer states into magic-generators and magic-insulators: at two qubits, the Bell state $|Φ^+\rangle$ generates magic immediately, while its Bell-state partner $|Ψ^+\rangle$ remains stabilizer. Together, magic and entanglement reveal a symmetry invisible to either alone.

Measurement-based quantum heat engines have attracted significant interest as alternatives to conventional thermal engines, as they replace the hot thermal reservoir with quantum measurements, thereby offering greater controllability and simpler implementation. Motivated by these advantages, we investigate a measurement-driven quantum Otto engine with a qubit working substance and study the optimal work extractable from such engines, including whether their performance can surpass that of conventional quantum Otto cycles. We analyze the engine in both the infinite-time (adiabatic) and finite-time (non-adiabatic) regimes, considering two distinct implementations obtained through optimization over all projection-valued measurements (PVMs) and over all two-outcome positive operator-valued measurements (POVMs). We show that measurement-based engines can outperform conventional quantum Otto engines within specific parameter regimes and that POVM-based engines can yield higher optimal work extraction than PVM-based ones. Furthermore, by incorporating the thermodynamic cost associated with resetting the auxiliary system required for POVM implementation, we demonstrate that the resulting net work output can still exceed that of PVM-based engines under suitable conditions on the spectral gaps and cold bath temperature. We also identify regimes in which non-adiabatic implementations can yield higher work output and efficiency than their adiabatic counterparts. Our study provides operational guidelines for designing improved measurement-driven quantum Otto engines.

We investigate the solid-state implementation of a Dicke-like quantum battery consisting of a two-dimensional material-based Josephson junction inductively coupled to a resonator, using graphene as a representative example. In this configuration, Andreev bound states naturally act as non-interacting, energetically non-degenerate two-level systems, and the setup allows for both single-photon and two-photon resonant processes. The coupling between the LC-circuit flux and the supercurrent through the junction gives rise to peculiar longitudinal interaction terms that have no counterpart in the conventional Dicke model. These additional couplings can enhance energy storage for a proper range of parameters. The proposed architecture also enables an alternative, but equivalent, charging protocol that relies on tuning the superconducting phase difference across the junction.

We demonstrate a practical countermeasure against a well-known class of attacks on quantum key distribution (QKD) systems that exploit detection efficiency mismatch, where the receiver's detectors do not exhibit identical responses to incoming photons across all degrees of freedom. This class of quantum hacking strategies is broad and significantly includes the time-shift attack, which targets an arrival-time-dependent side channel at the receiver. The four-state countermeasure, previously only proven to be secure in theory, is implemented here on a GHz-clocked prototype QKD system and evaluated for its security and performance. We show that its presence enables almost complete recovery of the system's ideal secret key rate. Our results provide strong justification for adopting this countermeasure as a standard component in future scalable and practical QKD systems.

We compute the entanglement dynamics across a monitored quantum point contact, where particle losses are recorded on a given site, and demonstrate how this single-site local monitoring substantially reshapes the entanglement production. Contrary to the unitary case, where entanglement entropy grows logarithmically in time, here we find first a linear growth, up to a maximum value displaying volume-law scaling, and then a slow decay to zero, as the system empties out. We capture this crossover using a quasiparticle picture, where the first linear growth arises due to an emergent bias voltage established by the losses, which eventually decays away as the system depletes. We connect our results to studies of the Page curve and to experimentally relevant probes, via full counting statistics of charge transfer across a subregion, with only a single channel to unravel leading to a favorable scaling of the postselection overhead. Natural platforms for this setting include mesoscopic systems and ultracold atoms.

We investigated the possibility that a single measurement run with a definite outcome is a joint unitary evolution of all the participating systems, and measurement runs with different definite outcomes correspond to different unitary maps. With reasonable assumptions, we derived a lower bound of the dependence of the environment after measurement on the state of the system before measurement, conditioned on the same measurement outcome. An experimental test of this dependence relation can either serve as evidence that the unitary dynamics and the definite outcome in the orthodox sense cannot be true together or suggest a deviation from the von Neumann measurement model plus a "conditioning" interpretational step.

We present a streamlined implementation of a computational framework for constructing and analyzing reduced dynamical maps for complex system--bath models at finite temperature. The methodology is based on three established ingredients of quantum dynamics: the Choi--Jamiołkowski isomorphism for the representation of quantum channels, thermofield (TFD) purification of thermal environments, and tensor-train (TT) propagation of the resulting enlarged pure state. The reduced map is obtained from a single unitary propagation in a thermofield-doubled Hilbert space and represented in matrix form through the Choi--Jamiołkowski isomorphism. The TFD evolution is implemented in the TT representation, enabling efficient propagation of high-dimensional purified thermal states. We illustrate the methodology for exciton transfer in the Fenna--Matthews--Olson complex with site-dependent structured spectral densities represented by discretized bosonic environments. The resulting maps are used to analyze decoherence, relaxation, and finite-memory effects, and to assess the crossover to an effectively time-local description. The proposed approach provides a route to compute reduced propagators and to post-process them into memory kernels, transfer tensors, and effective kinetic rate descriptions for complex molecular systems.

This Letter discusses two retrodictions of the law of ratchet universality which explain previous numerical and experimental results concerning the diode effect in conventional superconducting tunnel-junctions in one case, and controlled suppression of electron-hole pair generation in a tunnel junction in the other, both in the presence of biharmonic driving fields. Our study demonstrates that the ratchet universal driving field maximizes the diode's efficiency while yielding a maximal rectification range for the supercurrent, on the one hand, and optimally reduces the excess quantum noise with respect to the dc noise level, thus allowing for the efficient production of nonclassical photonic states. These results suggest that the ratchet universality law seems essential for any \textit{optimal} application of the ratchet effect, particularly in the contexts of superconducting integrated power electronics, electron quantum optics, and quantum computing.

Experiments performed on quantum systems often measure multitime correlation functions. When quantum systems are weakly coupled to their environment, the time evolution of such correlation functions can be reduced to that of the reduced density matrix by the quantum regression theorem (QRT). While no QRT is available for general non-Markovian open quantum systems, we show that for time-independent Hamiltonians and finite memory times $τ_c$, an exact factorization rule exists that relates higher-order multitime correlations to products of lower-order correlations. Consequently, all information needed to reconstruct $n$-time correlations is contained in a temporal volume of $\mathcal{O}(τ_c^n)$. On the example of quantum dots coupled to phonons, we demonstrate that this factorization makes numerical calculations of multitime correlations extremely efficient and even enables semianalytical solutions in systems where the standard QRT breaks down.

We report the demonstration of a bulk, intrinsically phase-stable source of polarization- and time-energy-entangled photon pairs at 810nm and 1550nm, directly coupled into single-mode optical fibers. This highly non-degenerate wavelength combination is well suited for hybrid quantum communication networks, enabling low-loss transmission in optical fibers at 1550nm while maintaining efficient free-space propagation and detection at 810nm. The source is based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal embedded in a polarization Sagnac interferometer, providing inherent stability and dual-degree-of-freedom entanglement. We measure a spectral brightness of B = 4800 pair/s/mW/GHz, with fiber coupling efficiencies exceeding 0.48 at both wavelengths. The entanglement quality is characterized by high-visibility two-photon interference, yielding net visibilities of 0.995 in the polarization basis and 0.991 in the energy-time basis. These performances demonstrate a compact and robust entanglement source compatible with hybrid fiber/free-space quantum key distribution architectures, and suitable for future ground-to-satellite quantum communication links.

Forbidden atomic transitions provide some of the most stringent low-energy tests of physics beyond the Standard Model, with sensitivity set by the interplay between the sought-for signals and systematics suppressed by symmetry. Here we identify the previously unobserved $4f^{6}6s^{2}\,{}^{5}$D$_{0}$ level of neutral samarium at $14\,564.90(2)\,\mathrm{cm}^{-1}$, opening the ${}^{7}$F$_{0}\rightarrow{}^{5}$D$_{0}$ inner-shell transition for precision spectroscopy. Candidate lines extracted from dual-comb absorption spectra were assigned using double-resonance population-depletion and sequential-excitation measurements. The observed pressure broadening, $0.12(2)\,\mathrm{MHz/torr}$, and pressure shift, $0.145(4)\,\mathrm{MHz/torr}$, indicate an inner-shell $4f$-transition shielded from external perturbations. Many-body calculations predict a $\sim\!120\,\mathrm{ms}$ metastable lifetime (quality factor $\mathcal{Q}\sim 3\times 10^{14}$), large sensitivity coefficients for variation of the fine-structure constant, and a nuclear-spin-dependent parity-violation amplitude comparable to that of cesium. Crucially, the $J=0\rightarrow J=0$ selection rule suppresses by symmetry both the nuclear-spin-independent parity-violation channel and the M1 and E2 backgrounds that complicated previous heavy-atom experiments, yielding a uniquely clean window onto the nuclear anapole moment. The two stable spin-$7/2$ isotopes of samarium provide a remarkable opportunity to largely cancel atomic-structure uncertainties by measuring the ratio of parity-violation effects in the two isotopes. These results establish neutral samarium as a platform for inner-shell precision spectroscopy and tests of physics beyond the Standard Model.

Modular variables serve as a striking example of quantum nonlocality, particularly in superpositions of wave packets that are spatially well separated, where the relative phase between components cannot be accessed through conventional local measurements. In this work, we explore the time evolution of Hermitian modular operators for Gaussian wave-packet superpositions under the influence of a uniform gravitational field. We consider both unitary dynamics governed by the Schrödinger equation and open-system dynamics described by the Caldeira-Leggett master equation in the high-temperature limit. Adopting the Bohmian interpretation of quantum mechanics, we compute local expectation values of these modular operators along individual particle trajectories. Our analysis shows that gravitational acceleration induces a time-varying modular signal, the expectation value of the modular observable, that remains sensitive to the relative phase between the separated wave packets. In contrast, standard local quantities such as the probability density and probability current, while modified by gravity, become insensitive to the relative phase in the regime of negligible spatial overlap. For a pair of particles coupled to a shared environment, we find that environment-induced correlations can modify the local modular expectation value observed for one particle, yielding a clear signature of environmental influence. However, the transfer of phase sensitivity via environment-generated entanglement to the modular signal of the distant particle remains negligible within the regime considered. We further demonstrate that conventional measures of coherence and entanglement do not capture the relative phase information in this non-overlapping regime.

Optically trapped ultracold polar molecules can have multiple long-lived states for coding quantum information, and can exhibit electric dipole-dipole interactions~(DDI) which enables entanglement generation. The general understanding on the quantized motion~(QM) of molecules in the traps is that it causes fluctuation of DDI. Here, we find that the molecular QM can realize an asymmetric quantum Rabi model, which is of specific importance in the study of fundamental physics. The molecular QM can also lead to an exotic trap-dipole resonance, resulting in excess population loss to uncoupled motional states, and, hence, should be avoided in a general quantum control over polar molecules. To examine the impact of QM on quantum computing based on polar molecules, we introduce two gate protocols, a fast iSWAP gate which can be realized by a global microwave pulse of pulse area smaller than $2π$, and a controlled-phase gate with an arbitrary controlled phase, and find that both gates can attain a high fidelity.

We emulate optically interconnected quantum processors in ring, star, and line topologies using a quantum computer. GHZ benchmarks show that the star provides the best trade-off between cost and fidelity under transduction and fiber noise.

This work develops a conceptual framework for the foundations of quantum physics, linking two main approaches: the algebraic formulation and quantum probability. Rather than proposing new axioms or theories, the text reorganizes and synthesizes existing models, highlighting their assumptions, conceptual structures, and operational significance. The analysis begins with von Neumann's measurement theory and its subsequent developments by Mackey, emphasizing the role of experimentally feasible procedures and the need for a statistical model grounded in laboratory practice. The work adopts an operational perspective, according to which physical quantities are defined solely through experimental measurement methods, and the corresponding probabilistic measures are derived from measurement outcomes. The introduction critically examines the limitations of purely mathematical formulations - such as the algebraic method - when separated from experimental interpretation. The text argues for a clear distinction between axioms, postulates, and presuppositions, and for a reconstruction of quantum theory that respects both empirical constraints and conceptual clarity. Overall, the goal is to provide a coherent path from operational principles to algebraic structures, offering a basis for an axiomatic reformulation of quantum mechanics that remains faithful to physical practice.

Not all entangled states are useful for quantum teleportation. We present a geometric method to construct optimal teleportation witnesses, which provide operational necessary and sufficient criteria for identifying the teleportation usefulness of arbitrary two-qudit entangled states. Specifically, by developing a two-layer iterative cutting-plane algorithm to solve the shortest distance problem from the target state $ρ$ to the convex set $S$ of useless states, we obtain the projection point $σ^* \in S$ and then construct the optimal teleportation witness from the projection geometry. Moreover, the shortest distance $D(ρ)$ obtained during this construction also serves as a necessary and sufficient criterion for usefulness. We apply our method to identify the teleportation usefulness of three classes of entangled states.

I point out three ways in which the perspective of quantum information may lead to distorted claims about physics: forgetting that light does not need to be quantised to show coherence; ignoring the generators of unitary evolutions; and approaching the discovery of nature as a fight against an adversary.

Although numerous measures of entanglement have been proposed so far, the calculation of a given faithful entanglement measure is a hard work since it is always involved in some optimization process. It is, therefore, important to estimate the lower bound of a given entanglement measure for an arbitrary quantum state. This results in a subject of intensive mathematical research. In particular, along this line, the lower bounds of concurrence or other measures that are induced from concurrence have been explored a lot. Here, we investigate the lower bounds of two kinds of entanglement monotones, i.e., $q$-concurrence ($q>1$) and $α$-concurrence ($0<α<1$), or termed the parameterized entanglement monotone together. We obtain, in the light of the informationally complete ($N$, $M$)-positive operator-valued measure [($N$, $M$)-POVM], the lower bounds for the case of $\frac12<α<1$, $1<q<2$ for two-qudit states, and the case of $2\leqslant q<3$ for two-qubit states. We list several examples which show that the lower bounds based on ($N$, $M$)-POVM outperform that of GSIC-POVM and SIC-POVM, and all these measurement based bounds are better then the ones induced by positive partial transpose (PPT) and realignment criteria in literature. In addition, we obtain an analytical formula of the parameterized entanglement monotone with $\frac12<α<1$ and $1<q<2$ for the isotropic state.

Open optical or plasmonic resonators are placed on and connected through surfaces or via waveguides, forming complex lightguiding nanostructures, e.g. for integrated photonic quantum devices. We derive general boundary conditions for quasinormal modes that account for the structure's specific geometry. We then present a general quantization scheme for multiple, interacting quasinormal-mode cavities coupled to quantum emitters and to a non-bosonic bath of propagating photons on waveguides or a surface. We derive a system-bath Hamiltonian with rigorously defined coupling elements that can be computed using Maxwell solvers, including light-matter coupling between the electromagnetic field and quantum emitters. We define system-bath correlation functions for an effective, bath-mediated, and time-delayed interaction between the quasinormal modes and quantum emitters, which is a main ingredient commonly used to simulate open quantum system dynamics.

Controlled interaction of laser light with electron beams is fundamental for ultrafast electron microscopy and electron-based quantum optics, yet their direct coupling is forbidden in free space. Here we use longitudinally polarized light at a thin membrane and show that the emerging focal fields can modulate the electron beam in a direct, coherent and linear way, without the need for nanostructured materials or slanted interaction geometries. Also, we use vectorial polarizations to excite and probe three-dimensional nanophotonic near-fields in metallic mesocrystals by coherent electron energy gain and loss. We find that longitudinal electric fields excite axial near-fields in a direct way while longitudinal magnetic fields excite oscillating ring currents via azimuthal electric fields. These possibilities enable tilt-free, collinear generation of attosecond electron pulses or free-electron qubits and provide novel imaging modes in ultrafast electron microscopy and metamaterial tomography.

The unified entropy as a promotion of the von Neumann entropy exhibits distinct diversity which contains the Tsallis entropy, the Rényi entropy, the von Neumann entropy as special cases. The unified-($r,t$) entropy entanglement with $0<r<1$ and $0< t\leq 1$ was shown to be an entanglement monotone in literature. In this paper, we explore unified-($q,s$) entropy entanglement with $q>1$ and $qs\geq1$ and show that it is also an entanglement monotone and that both of them are monogamous. Going further, we present two kinds of global multipartite entanglement measures (GlMEMs) based on the unified entropy and each kind has two subclasses which are classified by the parameters $(q,s)$ and $(r,t)$. Consequently, from the view of the complete multipartite entanglement measure theory, we show that one of them is a complete multipartite entanglement monotone and is not only completely monogamous but also tightly completely monogamous, but the other three are even not complete. We also explore the genuine entanglement measures induced by the unified entropy and the relations with the bipartite entanglement and the global entanglement are discussed, respectively.

Photonic quantum computing is a promising platform for scalable quantum machine learning, but designing effective hybrid architectures remains challenging under hardware and optimization constraints. Existing approaches rely on manually tuned architectures that fail to account for the collaboration between classical preprocessing, phase encoding, and photonic circuit structure, limiting both accuracy and hardware compatibility. In this paper, we propose a neural architecture search framework for hybrid photonic quantum-classical models that combines genetic algorithm-based search with learnable quantum phase encoding to systematically explore the joint design space of classical and quantum components. Our framework encodes 19 hyperparameters across six gene groups and evolves a population of hybrid architectures using group-based crossover, per-gene mutation, and elitism, evaluating each candidate on a short training budget before full retraining of the best found design. We evaluate our framework on two image classification benchmarks, Digits and MNIST, achieving final validation accuracies of 99.44% and 98.78%, respectively, with first-principles execution time estimates on the Quandela Ascella photonic QPU projecting single-image inference at 67 ms (Digits) and 149 ms (MNIST). Our quantum contribution analysis further shows that the photonic layer extracts non-redundant features orthogonal to the classical pathway, providing a measurable accuracy advantage over classical-only baselines. Our results demonstrate that automated architecture search is both practical and impactful for hybrid photonic systems, opening the way for systematic design space exploration of quantum AI on photonic devices.

We establish a correspondence between two independent entropic probes -- the variation of Rényi mutual information (RMI) across the electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) transition and the stabilizer Rényi entropy (SRE) -- in tree-level $2\to 2$ elastic scatterings. After angular averaging, the RMI (helicity basis) and the SRE (fixed beam basis) exhibit identical dependence on $\sin^2θ_W$ within each neutral-current channel. We trace this correspondence to a common physical origin that it's the Yukawa mass insertion acts as a $-\mathrm{i}Y$ quantum gate in chirality space. Minimizing entropies across all processes yields $\sin^2θ_W$ values matching purely axial vector-like couplings in $Z$ boson exchanged channel.

We provide a general theoretical derivation of the phase sensitivity achieved by SU(1,1) interferometers under homodyne detection. The general expressions obtained accommodate arbitrary input states and include internal and external losses. In this systematic review, both full SU(1,1) interferometers with two parametric amplifiers and the truncated interferometers with only one parametric amplifier are examined. We investigate scenarios involving both single-output ports and joint homodyne detection, and consider parametric amplifiers with equal gains or with a boosted gain second amplifier. Our analytical formulation provides physical insight and understanding of the improvements in the sensitivity, which are shown to originate from noise reduction and/or signal amplification, depending on the configurations and practical implementations. Surprisingly, the configuration with single-output mode detection and parametric amplifiers with equal gains exhibits the highest robustness to very high internal losses. We finally apply this framework to a ubiquitous $|α,0\rangle$ input two-mode coherent probe state. This approach permits the comparison of different strategies and the optimization of the interferometer performance in the presence of losses. In particular, we determine which amplification and detection configurations provide the best performance, depending on the level of losses. This exemplifies how this general analytical approach provides a powerful tool to design quantum-enhanced interferometers and achieve optimal sensitivity with selected probe states and homodyne detection.

We demonstrate how the relative phase between the multiple time periodic driving can decide the emergence and the favorable localization direction of non-Hermitian skin modes. For the static non-Hermitian quantum chain with parity time symmetry, non-Hermitian skin effects (NHSEs) can be prohibited. As the dynamical driving is turned on, NHSEs get artificially reactivated, where the relative phase can serve as the controlling switch by breaking the temporal symmetry constraints. Meanwhile, a change of relative phase can also alter the spatial structures of the long-time averaged effective Hamiltonian, which will consequently lead to the variation of skin localization direction for systems of higher dimensions. Our formalisms can be generally realized in diverse optical and mechanical platforms, and will pave the way for realizing tunable skin density profiles.

Photon blockade is vital for single-photon generation, but current schemes with conventional and unconventional photon blockade face critical limitations like the purity-brightness trade-off, hindering the generation of high-performance single-photons. To overcome these limitations, we introduce a fundamentally new photon blockade mechanism by utilizing three-body interactions between a single photonic mode and two qubits. This kind of interaction intrinsically cuts off the excitation path to the two-photon state, resulting in a perfect photon blockade effect. The mechanism operates across a broad parameter range, free from the constraints of strong coupling or weak driving. Remarkably, it breaks the purity-brightness trade-off, enabling the simultaneous achievement of extreme purity and high brightness, both significantly outperforming previous mechanisms. Furthermore, this approach demonstrates robustness against thermal noise and avoids unwanted oscillations in the time-delayed correlation function. This work provides a path for generating high-purity, high-brightness, and robust single-photon sources, a key resource for quantum technologies.

Strong-field high-harmonic generation (HHG) is conventionally described semiclassically, with the driving laser treated as a classical field. This approximation becomes insufficient in nanoscale interaction geometries, where extreme spatial confinement raises the vacuum-field amplitude to the ~10^-2 level relative to the driving-field amplitude. When the quantum fluctuations of the driving field are redistributed between conjugate quadratures by squeezing, they can be directly imprinted onto macroscopic HHG observables. To model this interaction, we employ a Wigner phase-space approach that maps the quantum-optical driver onto a stochastic ensemble of time-dependent Schrodinger equation realizations. Although each realization remains classically simulable, the sub-vacuum quadrature covariance structure of squeezed states cannot be reproduced by any field admitting a non-negative Glauber-Sudarshan P-representation. Within this single-mode Gaussian framework, we show that amplitude squeezing suppresses the shot-to-shot variance of the HHG cutoff below the standard quantum limit (SQL). To leading order in the vacuum-to-driver ratio, the normalized cutoff variance decays exponentially with the squeezing parameter, independent of the absolute vacuum-field amplitude and therefore robust against uncertainties in the effective nanoscale mode volume. A subleading phase-noise contribution from the anti-squeezed quadrature produces a variance minimum near r_opt ~ 1.6, providing a concrete experimental target. These results establish the HHG cutoff variance ratio as a nonlinear, self-calibrating Heisenberg witness in which sub-SQL scaling directly reflects the redistribution of quantum uncertainty in the driving field.

We propose a three-cavity scheme to realize full control of the emitter-cavity coupling strength in cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED). The involvement of coupled oscillators gives rise to transient dynamics comprising multiple spectral components, which significantly increases the numerical cost to resolve the fluorescence spectrum in the time domain. A generalized sensor method is hence developed to simplify the calculation process for the characterization of nonstationary quantum dynamics. Multi-modal spectroscopy reveals the emergence, splitting, and disappearance of supermodes in real time. Based on the depletion of the zero-energy supermode, ultrafast switching of Rabi oscillations is demonstrated for time-domain multi-modal spectroscopy. These results exhibit a consistent picture from the spectral control of multiple oscillators to the quantum observation in ultrafast dynamics, which establishes the sensor method as a powerful theoretical tool for the ultrafast spectroscopy of cQED systems.

Dynamic link prediction is important for modeling evolving interactions in complex systems, including social, communication, financial, and transportation networks. Classical temporal graph models capture sequential dependencies, but they may struggle to represent concurrent and rapidly changing node-edge interactions in large dynamic graphs. We propose A2QTGN (Adaptive Amplitude Quantum-Integrated Temporal Graph Network), a hybrid quantum-classical framework that combines adaptive amplitude encoding with a Temporal Graph Network backbone. The proposed mechanism represents node interaction features as quantum states and selectively refreshes amplitude embeddings based on temporal activity, preserving stable node states while emphasizing meaningful structural changes. This design reduces unnecessary quantum re-encoding and improves temporal representation for link prediction. Experiments on five Temporal Graph Benchmark datasets show that A2QTGN achieves strong predictive and ranking performance across diverse dynamic graphs. Ablation studies confirm the importance of both the quantum embedding module and the adaptive update strategy, while hardware-aware inference using a noisy backend and limited real-device execution supports the feasibility of near-term quantum-assisted temporal graph learning.

Remote quantum batteries require directional and controllable energy transfer between spatially separated quantum nodes, yet most existing protocols rely on direct charger-battery Hamiltonian couplings. Here we propose a phase-tunable waveguide-QED architecture for remote quantum-battery charging, in which a driven charger and a remote battery are coupled solely via engineered waveguide-mediated interference, without any direct local interaction. We systematically compare four configurations: two-giant-emitter and giant-small-emitter hybrids, each with open or mirror-terminated waveguides. By engineering the propagation and coupling phases, the waveguide-mediated coherent exchange interaction and collective dissipation can be balanced to suppress the backward channel while retaining a finite forward channel, thereby realizing cascaded-like unidirectional charging. Our analysis shows that nonreciprocity and storage efficiency can be independently engineered, offering design flexibility for different quantum network scenarios. The giant-small-emitter mirror-terminated configuration simultaneously achieves perfect nonreciprocity and battery-dominated storage, while both giant-small-emitter configurations exhibit distance-insensitive directionality. Extending the scheme to quadratic driving, we show that anomalous second moments render the battery state non-passive, making ergotropy a performance metric distinct from stored energy. These results establish phase-tunable waveguide networks as a versatile platform for remote quantum-energy transfer and provide design principles for directional and work-extractable energy storage in quantum networks.

Spatially structured dissipation organizes driven quantum matter beyond Hamiltonian control. We show that a dissipation gradient combined with a Stark-induced detuning ramp selects a nonlinear resonance slice in a two-dimensional driven-dissipative Bose-Hubbard lattice, producing a pinned density front in generalized Gross-Pitaevskii simulations. The underlying resonance condition fixes the front position, while its Airy-like profile obeys a width scaling set by tunneling stiffness and the effective detuning slope. Treating the front as an emergent interface explains how tuning the selected resonance toward the minimum-loss side yields Peierls-Nabarro depinning steps, discrete transverse pattern locking, spatiotemporal chaos, and minimum-loss localization. Center-of-mass and generalized-imbalance diagnostics map these outcomes into a dynamical phase diagram as detuning-ramp slope and dissipation-gradient strength vary. The results suggest structured dissipation as a mechanism for reconfigurable transport barriers and nonequilibrium interfaces in programmable bosonic lattices.

Waveguide cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) with atomic mirrors is a growing research area of quantum optics and can be applied to quantum information processing. We here study the photon statistics of output fields from a waveguide cavity QED system, in which the waveguide is coupled to quantized mirror atoms and one driven medium atom. Our results show that the photon blockade can occur even for a bad atom cavity with large dissipation and small coupling between the medium atom and the cavity, in contrast to the small dissipation and the strong coupling of the medium atom to the cavity field for the conventional photon blockade or the quantum interference for the unconventional photon blockade in the cavity QED system. Utilizing both the master equation and scattering theories, we derive the condition under which the photon blockade occurs in weakly driven systems. We find that such photon anomalous blockade is due to the quantum Zeno effect and is robust against variations of the medium atom's position within the cavity. Our study paves a way to exploit the photon blockade and single-photon devices via the waveguide cavity QED.

Device-independent quantum secret sharing (DI-QSS) provides high security by eliminating the need to trust devices, yet its practical performance is limited by channel loss and noise. This work extends advantage distillation from two-party quantum key distribution (QKD) to three-party DI-QSS, redesigning the corresponding data interaction and verification procedures. The technique is systematically applied to the basic protocol and three active improvement strategies: noise preprocessing, post-selection, and their combination. This approach enhances noise tolerance, reduces the required global detection efficiency threshold, and significantly extends the maximum secure communication distance. Numerical simulations demonstrate that for the basic protocol over fiber, the maximum secure distance increases from 0.16 km to 1.85 km, and the noise tolerance improves from 10.17% to 28.49%. The results show that generalizing advantage distillation to the three-party setting effectively strengthens the protocol's robustness and practicality, enhancing its adaptability to realistic noise and advancing the development of more reliable quantum secret sharing systems.

Standard quantum inference converts quantum data into classical outputs. We study an alternative inference setting in which the desired output is quantum, preserving coherence. Such settings include quantum purity amplification (QPA), mixed-state approximate purification or cloning, and density matrix exponentiation. We show that such protocols can achieve exponentially lower sample complexity than incoherent, measurement-mediated protocols. For QPA with principal eigenstate targets and $d$-dimensional inputs, coherent processing achieves error $\varepsilon$ using $O(1/\varepsilon)$ copies, versus the $Ω(d/\varepsilon)$ copies required by any incoherent protocol. Together, these sharp coherent-incoherent separations seed a theory of coherent quantum inference, with an entanglement-breaking limit identifying the optimal incoherent counterpart of each coherent protocol.

Hybrid tensor networks offer a promising route to enhance the expressivity of classical tensor network methods by incorporating quantum states prepared on a quantum computer. Existing approaches are limited by the variational optimization of the quantum component of the tensor network. In this work, we introduce an alternative strategy that combines a non-parametric quantum state prepared through quantum annealing and a classical isometric tensor network. The latter is variationally optimized while the former is used as a fixed, boundary tensor resource in the form of classical shadows. We demonstrate the feasibility of this approach through extensive numerical simulations on the transverse-field Ising model, showing that the optimization procedure remains robust under statistical and hardware noise. Moreover, our results indicate that our newly proposed setup improves the accuracy of the obtained ground state approximation compared to the original quantum simulation, without increasing the depth of the applied quantum circuits. Therefore, this setup offers a practical route to scale variational quantum algorithms towards the quantum utility scale.

We study a family of Jacobi operators in which the diagonal entries are multiplied by a coupling parameter $λ\geq0$. Under suitable conditions, the operator is self-adjoint for every $λ>0$, while the formal limit at $λ=0$ is a symmetric Jacobi operator admitting a one-parameter family of self-adjoint extensions. A central ingredient of our analysis is the derivation of uniform bounds for square-summable generalized eigenvectors in the small-$λ$ regime, which combines discrete WKB methods with Airy-function asymptotics. Using these estimates, we analyze the limiting behavior $λ\to0$ in the strong resolvent sense, proving that for every sequence $λ_j\to0$ one can extract a subsequence along which the corresponding Jacobi operators converge to some self-adjoint extension of the limiting operator; conversely, every such extension can be obtained in this way. We call this behavior an essentially singular limit, by analogy with essential singularities in complex analysis. As an application, we study higher-order squeezing operators arising in quantum optics. Using the connection with Jacobi operators, we show that when the relative strength of the free-field term tends to zero, different self-adjoint extensions of the squeezing operator are selected along different sequences. In particular, this limit does not single out a physically distinguished self-adjoint extension, but instead identifies a distinguished subclass of extensions compatible with the underlying symmetry.

Learning problems involving quantum data are natural candidates for demonstrating an advantage in quantum machine learning. Recent results indicate that, for certain tasks and under noiseless conditions, coherent processing of quantum data outperforms fixed-measurement schemes followed by classical processing. It remained uncertain whether this performance gap persists at a finite scale, and in the presence of noise that is unavoidable with current quantum devices. In this work, we present simulations and analysis of the performance of existing hardware on a learning problem known to exhibit asymptotic advantage, now subjected to noisy quantum data. Comparing coherent quantum processing directly against fixed-measurement schemes, our results demonstrate a clear performance separation at a scale of just 30 to 40 noisy qubits. Already at this scale, the fundamental bottleneck is no longer classical computation but data acquisition; matching the noisy coherent protocol with measure-first strategies would still require months or even years of measurements. By systematically evaluating hardware constraints such as state preparation, gate errors, readout errors, connectivity, and coherence times, we provide evidence that a demonstration of such a strong learning advantage is accessible on near-term devices.

Given a pair of isolated devices that accept random binary inputs and return binary outputs, a user can deduce from the observed data alone if the underlying mechanism can be explained classically. Bell's theorem further states that a classical explanation can be ruled out if the devices perform certain measurements on an entangled quantum state, underpinning the security of cryptographic protocols that are device-independent (DI). For certain protocols, such as those performed in a tight space, it might be difficult to perfectly enforce the non-signaling assumption required in Bell's theorem. This prompts the question: is quantum nonlocality robust to such imperfections? We show that if a binary channel sends a noisy copy of one party's input to the other before any measurements take place, the answer is yes. We completely characterize the vertices and facets of the local polytope in this scenario, and identify Bell inequalities that certify non-signaling quantum correlations. This is possible even when a near perfect copy of the input is sent. We go on to show that the identified inequalities are more robust to depolarizing noise than the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality when certifying DI randomness in this scenario. In addition, we characterize the local polytope when both parties receive a noisy copy of each other's input and make similar conclusions, leaving many new potential Bell inequalities to be explored.

Contemporary quantum computing platforms remain, in essence, programmable physical systems whose control is typically mediated through unitary gate abstractions. While such abstractions provide a uniform interface, they obscure important aspects of the underlying hardware and may limit the exploitation of its full capabilities. Direct operation at the control-pulse level offers a more expressive and physically faithful paradigm, enabling, for instance, the implementation of tailored error-mitigation and optimisation strategies. However, this increased expressivity comes at the cost of greater quantum software development complexity, necessitating structured and accessible tooling. We present a software framework, integrated within the QML-Essentials package, that extends quantum machine learning (QML) methodologies to encompass pulse-level modelling. By embedding quantum optimal control techniques within a QML setting, our approach enables the seamless combination of gate-based and pulse-level representations. The framework provides a comprehensive suite of modelling and analytical capabilities. In particular, we introduce composable ansatz constructions based on interchangeable building blocks, and support for end-to-end optimisation of pulse parameters. Motivated by the central role of quantum Fourier models, we further incorporate a range of Fourier-analytic diagnostics, complemented by extended measures of entanglement. All performance-critical components are implemented in a high-performance environment using JAX and supported by a dedicated quantum simulator. Taken together, the framework facilitates reproducible and systematic investigations, while bridging the conceptual and practical divide between abstract circuit models and hardware-aware optimisation. It provides a robust foundation for future developments at the intersection of QML and quantum control.

We report on a performance comparison between physical and logical computations on a prototypical machine-learning application: solving differential equations using quantum kernel methods. The algorithm is implemented on an atom-based logical quantum processor, both at the physical and logical levels. We show that the kernel estimated from the logical implementation performs better than its physical counterpart on relevant metrics. We observe how such performance improvement can be traced back to specific noise-induced errors detected by the chosen encoding. We apply the computed quantum kernel to the task of solving differential equations, confirming how the superior performance of a logical quantum kernel is retained also at an end-to-end applicative level. Our findings show that experimental validation of end-to-end protocols can already highlight the positive impact of fault-tolerant implementations despite their higher quantum resource count, and guide application-informed architectural choices.

Entanglement does not in general imply Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering. We identify a boundary-geometric mechanism that closes this gap on product-null boundary strata of two-qubit state space, where Bob's conditional states touch the boundary of the Bloch ball. The key obstruction is local: if a projective assemblage approaches a Bloch-sphere boundary contact with a first-order tangential displacement but only a second-order inward defect, then no finite-measure local-hidden-state model can reproduce it. For two-qubit states with a product vector in the kernel, this boundary contact is exactly the tangency of Bob's steering ellipsoid to the Bloch sphere. At such a product-null tangency, a single tangential coherence controls both partial-transpose negativity and the boundary-contact scaling obstruction. The same boundary minor gives a compact experimental witness: once the product-null contact is verified or guaranteed, the tangential coherence supplies the steering signal. Consequently, every entangled two-qubit rank-two state, and every entangled rank-three state whose null space is spanned by a product vector, is two-way projectively steerable. The same boundary idea extends to arbitrary steering cuts: the Bloch-sphere contact is replaced by a rank-deficient trusted conditional state, and support-kernel first-order coherence implies both NPT entanglement and projective steering.

It is shown how to obtain state vectors associated with measurements on the separated subystems of an entangled state, revealing how a single wavefunction encodes a set of statistical measurement outcomes. The result explains why measurements on the subsystems give definite outcomes and why measurements on one subsystem are correlated with those on the other. It is therefore concluded that the theory of quantum mechanics, without nonlinearities or \emph{ad hoc} assertions, can explain both the mechanism of state vector collapse and the reason for the paradoxical nonlocal correlations between separated subsystems.The theory also explains how quantum correlations, including correlations that violate Bell's inequality, are read out by classical measurements.

Using one-dimensional simulations analyzed through the lens of open quantum systems, we study the photoelectron's strong-field dynamics from an atom surrounded by a scattering environment stochastically structured. We theoretically investigate high-order harmonic generation from this situation. We show that local dephasing of the photoelectron wavepacket induced by elastic scattering leads to global decoherence. This drives a transition from quantum to classical behavior, as witnessed by the photoelectron probability density localizing around specific trajectories of the classical analog system: unstable periodic orbits. This phenomenon mirrors quantum scars traditionally observed in the eigenfunctions of time-independent systems, such as quantum billiards. Here, it emerges in-situ within a time-dependent framework, manifesting directly in the real-time dynamics from the ground state rather than solely through spectral analysis.

Quantum criticality is a resource for quantum-enhanced metrology, but existing schemes face intrinsic limitations. These arise because using criticality directly in the encoding dynamics restricts the accessible parameters to those explicitly supported by the critical Hamiltonian, and the requirement for critical conditions narrows the effective estimation range. To solve this, we introduce a general framework termed criticality-assisted noncommutative preparation (CANP). In this approach, critical evolution is employed as a state-preparation resource. We establish the underlying algebraic conditions and show that the intrinsic noncommutativity between the preparation and encoding operations leads to a genuine enhancement of the quantum Fisher information (QFI). Remarkably, this enhancement may be achieved at fixed total sensing time and energy cost. The effect is quantified by the Wigner-Yanase skew information, which measures noncommutativity and exhibits the same critical scaling as the QFI. We demonstrate effective use of CANP in the quantum Rabi and Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick models. Our results establish CANP as a robust technique to effectively implement criticality-enhanced quantum metrology.

In this work, we present quantum reinforcement learning (RL) as a solution strategy for process synthesis problems. Building on our prior work, we develop a generalized framework that formally poses process synthesis as a Markov decision process and introduces quantum-enhanced RL algorithms to solve it with improved scalability. Earlier implementations of quantum-based RL for process synthesis were limited by qubit requirements, which scaled poorly with problem complexity. This work overcomes this challenge by introducing state encoding algorithms to decouple qubit requirements from problem size. A classical RL-based solution strategy is used as a baseline to benchmark the quantum algorithms under identical training conditions. All algorithms are evaluated across a flowsheet synthesis problem of increasing unit counts to analyze their performance and scalability. Results show that all approaches are capable of identifying the optimal flowsheet designs in small design spaces. For moderate-scale unit counts, quantum approaches demonstrate competitive performance on a per-episode basis and improved efficiency on a per-parameter basis versus the classical RL benchmark. This work provides a foundation for future quantum computing applications within process systems engineering, establishes a controlled benchmark for comparing classical and quantum algorithms, and shows that the proposed quantum variants remain competitive for the process synthesis problem examined in this work.

Photodetection is usually treated in the frame in which the detector is at rest relative to the optical apparatus. We show that uniform motion of an electric Glauber detector changes the single-click POVM realized on two counterpropagating single-photon modes. Motion Doppler-shifts the alternatives in the detector frame; finite bandwidth then converts propagation direction into a detection bias without decohering the photon. For a Lorentzian response near one Doppler branch, the readout crosses from phase-sensitive to direction-sensitive with a quality-factor-enhanced onset. Finite-time integration adds Doppler-beat visibility loss, separating passive covariance from measurement change.

Credit card fraud detection is fundamentally challenged by extreme class imbalance, where fraudulent transactions are rare yet operationally critical. This imbalance often biases supervised learners toward the legitimate class, leading to high overall accuracy but weaker fraud-class recall and F1-score. This paper introduces Q-SYNTH, a hybrid classical--quantum generative adversarial framework in which a parameterized quantum circuit serves as the generator and a classical neural network serves as the discriminator. Q-SYNTH is designed for minority-class fraud synthesis in tabular data and is evaluated along two dimensions: statistical fidelity to real fraud samples and downstream performance for fraud detection. To this end, generated samples are assessed using distributional similarity measures based on Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics and Wasserstein distances, real-vs-synthetic detectability measured by AUC-ROC, and downstream classification performance across both quantum and classical classifiers. Under the reported protocol, Q-SYNTH reduces marginal distribution mismatch relative to a classical GAN baseline while maintaining competitive downstream fraud-detection performance. Although SMOTE achieves the strongest feature-wise similarity and the classical GAN attains the highest downstream performance in several settings, Q-SYNTH offers a favorable compromise between distributional fidelity and downstream performance, supporting the feasibility of hybrid quantum augmentation for imbalanced fraud detection.

Practical quantum key distribution (QKD) systems operate under noise, but security of most protocols have been analyzed under ideal noiseless scenarios. In this work, we investigated security performance of BB84 protocol under effect of collective rotation noise. Using theoretical quantum information frameworks, we analyzed key security parameters including quantum bit error rate (QBER), mutual information and secret key rate (SKR). Security of protocol is studied under various eavesdropping scenarios based on intercept and resend attacks. Our results show that collective rotation noise has a significant impact on the information shared between the two parties. Particularly, we extended prior treatments by suggesting a noise engineering strategy where we identified a non-zero noise range where information accessed by Eve is minimized while corresponding SKR degradation remains relatively small. This analysis provide insights into robustness of BB84 protocol under realistic noisy channels and may contribute towards development of more resilient QKD systems.

We investigate the quantum properties of a nonlinear Kerr oscillator driven by a three-photon pump. We derive both exact and approximate analytical expressions for the ground state of this interacting model. The exact solution arises at an exact spectral degeneracy, while the approximate solution describes regimes of quasi-degeneracy of the energy spectrum. In both cases, the threefold (quasi)degenerate ground-state manifold consists of quantum superpositions of three macroscopically distinct states. These states differ qualitatively from conventional three-component Schrödinger's cat states due to the presence of squeezing with a distinctive parametric dependence. By varying the detuning between the oscillator and the three-photon pump, we show that the squeezing can be enhanced, suppressed, or even reversed, leading to a squeezing-to-anti-squeezing transition. We analyze the generation and stabilization of these superposition states, their robustness against perturbations and analytically quantify the leakage to excited states. Our analysis elucidates how the three-photon Kerr parametric oscillator can be used to encode a Kerr-cat qutrit protected against phase-flip errors.

We identify anomalous scale-free localization and the associated impurity-induced loss bursts in a non-Hermitian dissipative cross-stitch lattice. By a local basis rotation, the model is mapped onto an effective non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattice, where local impurities act as tunable effective boundaries. For the parameter choice considered here, tuning the impurity strength $η$ connects two effective open-boundary-condition-like limits, reached for $η\to0$ and $η\to\infty$, through generalized-boundary-condition regimes and the impurity-free periodic-boundary-condition point at $η=1$. For finite $η\notin\{0,1\}$, the spectral loops remain separated from the real-energy axis, while the eigenstates exhibit scale-free localization pinned by the impurity. Unlike conventional impurity-induced scale-free localization, the Lyapunov exponent depends explicitly on the eigenenergy, making the localization strength eigenstate dependent. We further show that this anomalous eigenmode structure produces an impurity-induced loss burst: the long-time integrated dissipation probability is strongly enhanced near an impurity-generated effective boundary even when the initial wave packet is far away. In the single-impurity case, the burst region consists of the impurity site and its adjacent effective-boundary site, and the effect occurs without imaginary-gap closing. For multiple impurities, local burst regions emerge around all impurities, while the dominant burst boundary is selected by the initial wave-packet position and the nonreciprocal drift direction. These results connect anomalous scale-free localization with controllable dissipation dynamics in non-Hermitian lattices.

We investigate entanglement-based quantum key distribution protocols, with particular emphasis on their efficiency under realistic conditions of satellite quantum communications, where performance is limited by the low power of a received signal and background radiation. We focus on scenarios where each photon pair is used to encode multiple qubits in order to optimally utilize the weak signal. By optimizing over the source intensity and the number of encoded qubits we study the theoretical information limit for the QKD efficiency. We show that the optimal efficiency is attained for finite entangled photons pair production probability which is in contrast to conventional communication efficiency maximized in the limit of vanishing signal strength. The multiqubit encoding can enhance the secret key rate by up to an order of magnitude compared to single-qubit schemes.

We find that the effective dimension of the Wasserstein space of energy eigenstates decreases as a quantum system becomes more chaotic. To demonstrate this, we study a quantum coupled harmonic oscillator system using Husimi Q-representations, to which Sinkhorn-regularized optimal transport is applied to construct an embedding geometry via the Gram-spectrum method. We also demonstrate that exponential OTOC growth, referred to here as quantum scrambling even in the absence of chaos, induces a folding structure in the emergent Wasserstein space, which may underlie the chaotic reduction of the Wasserstein dimension. At the separatrix (the scrambling point) of the inverted harmonic oscillator, the Wasserstein distance correctly captures the Lyapunov exponent. Furthermore, we discover that a branching structure in the Wasserstein space signals quantum scar states within the chaotic sea of phase space. Our optimal transport approach thus provides a new diagnostic for quantum chaos, quantum scrambling, quantum scars, and quantum Lyapunov exponents. The observed chaotic dimensional reduction also supports the recent conjecture [arXiv:2604.17649] that the Wasserstein space serves as an emergent holographic space through the manifold hypothesis, since chaoticity is a characteristic signature of black holes in holography.

This paper explores quantum heat engines based on qubit and qutrit working media interacting with thermal environments through generalized amplitude damping (GAD) channels. We investigate how quantum channels can be employed to model heat absorption, dissipation, and work extraction in open quantum thermal machines, and derive the conditions required for positive work extraction. The effects of quantum correlations, emission probability, population redistribution, and system--environment interactions on the thermodynamic performance of the engine are systematically analyzed across different operational regimes. In addition, we examine the ergotropy of qubit and qutrit systems under dissipative dynamics to understand how environmental effects influence the maximum extractable work. Our results demonstrate that multilevel quantum systems exhibit enhanced work extraction capability and improved robustness against decoherence compared to two-level systems, providing further insight into the role of dissipative dynamics and quantum resources in realistic quantum thermodynamic devices.

Distilling high-dimensional quantum entanglement under realistic, general asymmetric noise remains a formidable challenge. Standard entanglement purification protocols inevitably fail to satisfy convergence constraints under severe asymmetric noise. In this paper, we investigate carrier-assisted entanglement purification protocols, namely CAEPP and mCAEPP, for two-qutrit systems, demonstrating that without adaptive pre-processing, convergence is strictly bottlenecked by marginal $X$-error probabilities. To overcome this limitation, we introduce a deterministic pre-processing scheme based on mutually unbiased bases (MUBs). By actively rotating the qutrit phase space to establish primary-axis error dominance, we rigorously prove that the MUB-adapted mCAEPP deterministically yields unit asymptotic fidelity for any two-qutrit Pauli channel with initial fidelity $p_{00} > 1/3$.

Understanding how symmetry constrains dissipative relaxation in open quantum many-body systems remains a central challenge in nonequilibrium physics. Here we uncover a symmetry-selective Liouvillian mechanism that protects an isolated fast-decay channel in a long-range XXZ spin chain subject to dephasing noise. At the \(SU(2)\)-symmetric point, highly symmetric initial states couple exclusively to an exact Liouvillian eigenmode with decay rate \(λ=-2\), producing universal exponential relaxation independent of system size and interaction range. Breaking the symmetry restores overlap with slow Liouvillian modes and substantially suppresses the relaxation dynamics. This symmetry-filtered mode accessibility naturally gives rise to a strong quantum Mpemba effect, where a state farther from the steady state relaxes anomalously faster than closer thermal states. Our results establish symmetry-protected fast relaxation as a mechanism for controlling nonequilibrium pathways in open quantum systems.

We study chaos-integrability transition purely within a BPS subspace of a specific supersymmetric model that interpolates between the chaotic $\mathcal{N}=2$ SYK model and an integrable $\mathcal{N}=2$ "commuting" SYK model. Using the framework of BPS chaos, we analyze the spectrum of an operator projected onto the BPS subspace. We numerically find that its spectral statistics exhibit random-matrix behavior near the SYK limit and smoothly transitions to Poisson statistics near the integrable limit. Our results provide a direct example of a chaos-integrability crossover diagnosed solely from BPS states.

We explore the symmetry properties of Stinespring dilations of single-qubit Pauli channels, addressing both the generic case and the specific examples of phase damping and depolarizing channels. For each scenario, we derive the representation of the Pauli group acting on the Hilbert space of the environment. We then focus on dilations that are continuous in time and driven by a time-independent Hamiltonian, and on collision models that generate a Pauli dynamical semigroup in the limit of fast collisions. First, we complement some recent general results on these types of dilations (M. Cattaneo, Phys. Rev. A 111, 022209 (2025)) with some additions and clarifications, including the case of covariant channels with strongly conserved quantities. Next, we show that the covariance property of Pauli channels impose strong constraints on both the dilation Hamiltonian and the initial state of the environment, and demonstrate how these constraints can be exploited to explicitly construct the time-dependent dilations in all considered cases. Our results are relevant for the quantum simulation of Pauli channels via unitary dilations and of Pauli semigroups via collision models, both in the laboratory and on quantum computers.

Optomechanical systems provide a versatile platform for precision measurements and investigations of fundamental physics, where bringing macroscopic resonators into the quantum regime is a widely pursued goal. Achieving such quantum behavior of solid-state mechanical resonators at room temperature would greatly broaden their applications by removing the need for cryogenic environments. Reaching this goal requires efficient cooling of mechanical motion, among various laser cooling methods, dynamical backaction cooling (DBC) is widely utilized in experiments but fundamentally limited when operating in the sideband-unresolved regime. Coherent feedback cooling (CFC) can overcome this limitation, while avoiding state collapse and the electronic restrictions inherent to measurement-based feedback. Here, we experimentally demonstrate CFC using an ultracoherent density phononic crystal membrane. By combining CFC with strong DBC in a relatively narrow cavity, we achieve a phonon occupation reduction from $5.5\times10^{6}$ to $166\pm7$, corresponding to a cooling factor of $3.3\times10^{4}$ at room temperature, even with current experimental limitations. Our results show the potential of CFC for approaching the ground state of high-$Q$ membranes at room temperature.

We propose a high-precision phase estimation scheme in a hybrid interferometer by synergistically combining a Kerr nonlinear phase shifter and multi-photon subtraction operations. Using a coherent state and a vacuum state as input resources, we systematically evaluate the phase sensitivity via homodyne detection and analyze the quantum Fisher information as well as the quantum Cramér-Rao bound under both ideal and lossy conditions. Our results show that the joint integration of Kerr nonlinearity and multi-photon subtraction yields remarkable advantages over either technique used alone. The proposed scheme enables the phase sensitivity to surpass the standard quantum limit, exceed the conventional Heisenberg scaling ($1/N$), and approach the super-Heisenberg scaling ($1/N^{2}$)-a direct consequence of Kerr nonlinearity. More precisely, the super-Heisenberg scaling $\propto $ $1/N^{2}$ is the ultimate precision limit permitted by the $k=2$ Kerr nonlinearity and does not violate the fundamental Heisenberg limit for linear phase accumulation. Even under moderate internal photon loss, the system maintains high precision and exhibits enhanced robustness to decoherence. The Kerr nonlinearity introduces an intensity-dependent phase shift proportional to the squared photon number, while multi-photon subtraction tailors non-Gaussian states to strengthen phase information extraction. Compared with existing schemes based on hybrid interferometers or SU(1,1) interferometers, our architecture achieves superior precision and stronger loss resilience. All components are experimentally accessible with current quantum optical technologies. This work provides a promising route for practical high-precision quantum metrology and quantum sensing.

Time synchronization is a crucial requirement in quantum key distribution (QKD)8 protocols, ensuring accurate key generation via the correct assignment of bits of raw key and9 enabling eavesdropping detection via the precise recording of photon statistics. State-of-the-art10 experiments typically use an extra channel to synchronize the clocks of the transmitter and receiver11 via classical signals. In this work, we study the possibility of performing clock synchronization12 via the signals used for the key generation, which are already present in decoy-state-based BB8413 protocols.14 Without altering the protocol in any way, we use the different mean photon numbers of the15 signal and decoy states for time synchronization without a dedicated physical channel capable of16 clock synchronization. The proposed method relies only on the photons sent and received for17 key generation and does not require any change to the QKD protocol. The only change in the18 experiment is on the software level, thus making it very simple to implement.19 We demonstrate clock synchronization method in a simulation of a specific fiber-based QKD20 experiment. Like other decoy-state-based BB84 protocols, it is based on weak coherent pulses.21 In this simulation, we investigate the parameter space to find limits and optimal choices of our22 proposed method.23 In addition to the non-protocol-altering clock synchronization method, we also discuss an24 approach that significantly improves performance in lossy channels by introducing an additional25 decoy state with a very high mean photon number.26 By eliminating the need for an extra channel capable of clock synchronization, both methods27 proposed potentially reduce the complexity and cost of QKD systems and improve their agility

Adaptive robot navigation in dynamic environments requires policies that can reach the target reliably while producing efficient and stable trajectories. This paper presents Q-SpiRL, a quantum spiking reinforcement learning framework for obstacle-aware robot navigation. The framework develops and evaluates five agent families: tabular Q-learning, classical MLP, classical SNN, quantum-enhanced MLP (QMLP), and quantum-enhanced spiking neural network (QSNN). While all models are implemented under a unified training and evaluation pipeline, the QSNN is the central architecture of interest, as it combines spike-based temporal processing with variational quantum feature transformation. Experiments are conducted across three grid-world environments of increasing size, namely 20x20, 30x30, and 40x40, with both static and dynamic obstacles. Performance is assessed using success rate, success-weighted path length, path length, and turn rate under deterministic inference. Results show that QSNN achieves the strongest overall trade-off between task completion, trajectory efficiency, and motion smoothness, reaching up to 99% success rate while maintaining high path efficiency in the most challenging setting. Execution on IBM quantum hardware further demonstrates the feasibility of deploying the proposed hybrid policy under real-device conditions.

We study field-controlled spin-valley transport in monolayer MoS$_2$ through a single electrostatic barrier and a uniform off-resonant elliptically polarized irradiation. Starting from the massive Dirac Hamiltonian with intrinsic spin-orbit coupling, we use a high-frequency Floquet expansion to obtain an effective static model with a laser-renormalized mass (gap) term. We solve the scattering problem by spinor matching and derive the exact analytic expression for the transmission. The numerical results show that the drive tunes both the spin-valley-dependent propagation threshold inside the barrier and the Fabry-Pérot phase, creating controllable pass/stop bands. By varying both the laser intensity (amplitude) and the polarization shape, we show that the same junction can be switched between broadband valley filtering and resonance-selective operation, and the valley contrast remains visible in the Landauer conductance. Our findings establish an efficient route for realizing optically reconfigurable valleytronic and spintronic functionalities in MoS$_2$.

Spin qubits in silicon-MOS (SiMOS) quantum dots have recently demonstrated compatibility with existing industry standard CMOS fabrication techniques. These devices have routinely achieved single- and two-qubit gate fidelities above 99% and demonstrated highly entangled two-qubit Bell states in isolated double quantum dot (DQD) unit cells, however coupling between unit cells has remained challenging. In this work, we present a two unit cell, four-qubit SiMOS processor with universal controllability and fully parallelised state initialisation and readout. We use this processor to generate maximally entangled three-qubit states, including the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state, and certify multipartite entanglement through violation of the classical Mermin-witness bound. By using a fully symmetric dynamically decoupled gate sequence to create our entangled states, we are able to preserve the lifetime of the entanglement beyond $T_2^*$, to a time limited instead by $T_2^\textrm{Hahn}$. These demonstrations pave a road to the scalable operation of larger SiMOS processors, and achieving high purity, long-lived multi-qubit entangled states in them.

The generalized quantum Stein's lemma characterizes the optimal asymptotic exponent of the type-II error in quantum hypothesis testing for an independent and identically distributed (IID) null hypothesis against a composite alternative hypothesis. Classically, a probabilistic mixture of IID sources arises as a natural generalization of IID sources, and, in the non-composite setting, the optimal type-II error exponent in hypothesis testing for such classical mixed sources is known to be characterized concisely by the worst-case component of the mixture. In this work, we extend these foundational results to composite quantum hypothesis testing where the null hypothesis is a mixed source, i.e., a probabilistic mixture of IID quantum states, and the alternative hypothesis is composite as in the generalized quantum Stein's lemma. When the type-I error vanishes asymptotically, we characterize the optimal type-II error exponent of this composite quantum hypothesis testing problem in terms of the worst-case component of the mixture, by developing techniques for the non-commutative quantum setting inspired by the classical information-spectrum analysis. We also show that the analogous characterization does not hold in general for a fixed nonzero type-I error threshold, by providing a counterexample beyond the vanishing type-I error regime. These results clarify the applicability of the generalized quantum Stein's lemma to highly non-IID null hypotheses arising from arbitrary finite probabilistic mixtures of IID quantum states.

We establish a quantum Fisher information (QFI) duality for distributed quantum sensor networks with local phase encoding. For any $N$-qubit probe state, where $N$ denotes the number of sensors, $F_Q(\boldsymbol{w}^\top \boldsymbolθ) + F_Q(\boldsymbol{v}^\top \boldsymbolθ) \leq N$ for all unit orthogonal sensing directions $\boldsymbol{w}$ and $\boldsymbol{v}$, with equality for all equatorial states when $N=2$ and for Greenberger--Horne--Zeilinger (GHZ) states when $N\geq 2$. Heisenberg-limited precision for direction $\boldsymbol{w}$, $F_Q(\boldsymbol{w}^\top \boldsymbolθ)=N$, saturates the bound and simultaneously forces zero QFI for all other independent directions. This can be interpreted as the condition for parameter privacy in distributed quantum sensing: attaining Heisenberg-limited precision for the sensing target renders all alternative privacy-intrusive estimations impossible.

We consider the problem of modeling a single qubit in contact with a one-dimensional waveguide beyond the standard perturbative and Markovian approximations. Using the recently developed input-output hierarchical equations of motion (io-HEOM), we investigate multiple examples of such waveguides, characterized by different spectral densities. Our examples highlight that the io-HEOM method can accurately capture non-Markovianity in waveguide QED from two distinct origins. The first source of non-Markovianity is spatially non-local coupling between the qubit and the waveguide. By examining two examples with non-local coupling, we show how the coupling function affects the steady-state bound photons, and demonstrate the release of these photons when the qubit energy is quenched. The second source of non-Markovianity is non-linear dispersion. We illustrate this scenario using the example of a cavity array with point-like coupling, where the non-linear dispersion leads to persistent oscillations due to Van Hove singularities in the spectral density.

The entangling power of a unitary operator quantifies its ability to generate entanglement from product states and provides a natural probe of quantum many-body dynamics. Entanglement extremization at points of enhanced symmetry has previously been observed in high-energy scattering. In this work we compute the time-averaged entangling power of anisotropic Heisenberg spin chains across two-site models and finite-size systems, as well as the entangling power of the two-magnon $S$-matrix in the thermodynamic limit. For two-site models we establish a monotonic hierarchy: the entangling power decreases as the symmetry group grows, reaching its minimum at the $SU(2)$ XXX point. Finite-size XXZ chains exhibit sharp dips at the $SU(2)$ points $Δ=\pm 1$ and the free-fermion point $Δ=0$, with the free-fermion dip decaying much more slowly with system size. In the thermodynamic limit, we decompose the two-magnon $S$-matrix into quantum logic gates -- Identity, SWAP, and $σ_z\otimesσ_z$ -- and show that the entangling power vanishes for all scattering energies at the $SU(2)$ points, where the $S$-matrix reduces to the Identity gate, while the free-fermion point achieves the maximum -- the opposite of the finite-size many-body behavior. The entangling power can serve as an {\em operator} diagnostic for symmetry and selected aspects of integrability in quantum simulations of spin-chain dynamics.

Understanding how complex entanglement structures emerge is a central problem in quantum many-body physics. Recent work by Zhang et al. has considered structured initial states prepared by evolving a product state under a chaotic Hamiltonian for a finite time before quenching to the target Hamiltonian. In this setup, total entanglement entropy growth in many-body localized systems exhibits two distinct regimes, first increasing and then decreasing as the initial entanglement is tuned. In this work, we identify the physical origin of this behavior by analyzing the dynamics of both the Rényi entanglement entropy and the Wehrl-Rényi entropy in the random-field XXZ model, the latter of which characterizes multipartite entanglement. We show that a similar non-monotonic dependence on the initial entanglement also appears in the net growth of the Wehrl-Rényi entropy for product states polarized along the $z$-direction. The first regime is governed by a finite magnetization associated with local integrals of motion, while the second reflects inter-site correlations. In contrast, for product states in the $x/y$-direction, the entanglement growth exhibits a monotonic decay. Our results provide a more fine-grained picture of how distinct initial-state properties shape entanglement dynamics in many-body localized systems.

Nonlinearity is an essential ingredient for encoding quantum states with non-uniform energy spacing, implementing coherent quantum gates, reading out qubits, amplifying, and mixing electromagnetic signals. In this work, we demonstrate the nonlinear behavior of a constriction fabricated from an amorphous, high-kinetic inductance material, tungsten silicide, embedded in a three-dimensional RF-SQUID. We find that the results are consistent with the weak link behaving as a Josephson junction with a sawtooth-like current-phase relation or a quantum phase slip element. Finally, we measure relaxation times of the metastable, persistent-current states trapped in the local minima of the potential.

The Optimum-Path Forest is a graph-based framework for designing classifiers that exploit inter-sample connectivity. A particular variant constructs decision boundaries based on prototypes computed by a Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) over the training data, which might become prohibitive for large-scale datasets. In this context, Quantum Machine Learning has emerged as a promising approach to overcome the high computational burden of combinatorial problems. We propose a quantum-inspired approach for prototype selection in OPF classifiers by reformulating the MST problem as a Polynomial Unconstrained Binary Optimization (PUBO) task and further employing the Feedback-Based Quantum Optimization (FALQON) algorithm for Hamiltonian minimization. The PUBO formulation reduces the need for qubits and eliminates the need for auxiliary variables, thereby addressing scalability constraints in current quantum hardware. Experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate that the FALQON-optimized MST achieves accuracies comparable to those of the classical Prim's algorithm while maintaining prototype quality. While FALQON occasionally reached local minima, it did not significantly impact the accuracy of the prototype selection process.

We study a two-level system coupled to two quantized electromagnetic modes within the Jaynes-Cummings framework. While the single-mode model is exactly solvable due to its conserved excitation number, yielding finite-dimensional invariant subspaces, the two-mode model extension presents a fundamental challenge: although the total excitation number remains conserved, each invariant subspace is infinite-dimensional, preventing a closed-form analytical solution. Our scheme separates the dynamics into a dominant, exactly solvable semiclassical component, the atom interacting with the mean fields of both modes, and treats the remaining quantum fluctuations through a sequence of unitary transformations that preserve essential quantum features. We validate our approach through direct comparison with numerical solutions, focusing on the non-resonant regime where multiple detunings give rise to rich interference effects and multi-timescale dynamics inaccessible to standard approximations. The method accurately reproduces atomic inversion, field observables, and fidelity over relevant timescales, while remaining computationally efficient.

We extend the tensor-product direct solver from the Laplacian to the Schrödinger operator $-Δ+ V$. When the potential $V_1$ is separable, the operator $-Δ+ V_1$ is inverted or exponentiated at cost $O(N^{1+1/d})$ in $d$ dimensions via per-axis eigendecomposition. On a single NVIDIA A100 GPU, this costs less than one second for $10^9$ degrees of freedom in 3D. For non-separable potentials $V = V_1 + V_2$, the same solver provides a preconditioner $(-Δ+ V_1)^{-1}$ for the preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) method and a propagator for operator-splitting time integrators. For bounded $V_2$, we prove that the preconditioned operator has a bounded condition number and a clustered spectrum with at most finitely many outlier eigenvalues, independently of the mesh size, and also independently of the domain size when $V_1$ is a confining potential. This explains the mesh- and domain-independent PCG iteration counts observed in practice. We apply this method to ground state computation via inverse iteration for linear problems and via the $a_u$ gradient flow for Gross--Pitaevskii energy in 3D, and also Hamiltonian simulation via the approximated qHOP and Magnus-2 splitting methods from 3D to 9D on a single NVIDIA GH200 GPU.

We explore a continuous-time quantum walk starting at a single vertex on the discrete path and cycle with a cubic nonlinearity. Such nonlinearities arise in Bose-Einstein condensates described by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation or by nonlinear optical waveguide arrays. We analytically prove that the nonlinear quantum walk can be trapped to arbitrary fidelity depending on the coefficient of the nonlinear term. This contrasts with linear quantum walks, which are known for spreading quickly in one dimension. We propose that this trapping can be used for timing in quantum state transfer, where a qubit is held at a node until it is ready to be transferred, and it can also be held again at the receiving node. This scheme can also be interpreted as a form of quantum memory, with the trap and transfer corresponding to the storage and release of quantum information.

Efficiently generating photon pairs with high heralding efficiency and high single photon purity that are bandwidth matched to quantum emitters, quantum memories, and other matter-based qubits is critical for quantum networking applications. However, nonlinear optics-based sources require substantial spectral engineering to overcome the orders of magnitude bandwidth mismatch between those sources and qubit systems. A popular solution is cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) where the cavity sets the photon bandwidth and simultaneously enhances the spectral brightness of the SPDC. Bulk, free-space configurations are generally required to achieve the MHz-scale bandwidths required to interface with most qubit systems. Replicating these in scalable integrated photonic architectures is an ongoing challenge due to the much higher propagation losses that limit the size and linewidth of chip-based resonators. We show here how an intra-cavity slow light medium, acting as an ultra-narrow filter, would enable narrowband photon pair generation in broadband cavities with high single photon purity and without compromising the heralding efficiency. We show that such metrics can be readily realized in erbium doped thin-film lithium niobate microrings using realistic design parameters.

The recent arXiv posting [11], commenting on the paper [7], argues that the proof of Lemma 3.1 in [7] is missing the Bohm quantum potential [1, 2] of the Madelung p.d.e. [9]. This short technical note extends the proof of Lemma 3.1 to introduce a Bohm quantum potential explicitly, and then shows why this term can be assumed to be zero in the wave construction, without loss of generality. The continuity p.d.e. and the Hamilton-Jacobi p.d.e., extended by the Bohm potential, are undisputed. However, the actual action and density solutions depend on their initialization at t = 0. In [7], this initialization is motivated by the Feynman kernel [4], which is fundamentally different from the standard initialization of the Madelung solution [9]. This in turn leads to different action and density solutions, and explains why in one case the Bohm quantum potential disappears and in the other does not. The resulting overall wave, however, is independent of this computational initialization.

Lattice field theory, along with its algorithmic and hardware ecosystems, has been at the forefront of computational particle and nuclear physics. It continues to deliver impressive results on the hadronic spectrum, structure, decays, and reactions. Yet, this vigorous campaign has fallen short in addressing a range of problems involving dense matter and general dynamical phenomena. The reason is that such problems require an exponential scaling of computing time and space in system size. Quantum simulation, enabled by quantum-computing algorithms and hardware technology, promises a way forward by offering several polynomially efficient algorithms compared with their inefficient classical counterparts. Lattice gauge theorists have engaged in a multi-pronged program to leverage such new possibilities, and have steadily advanced the state of theory, algorithm, and hardware implementations and co-design. In this talk, I motivate the quantum-computational lattice-field-theory program; introduce the questions such a program is expected to address and the strategies it involves; report on recent progress; and end with a note on challenges and opportunities ahead.

Variational quantum dynamics simulations (VQDS) provide a promising route to simulate real- and imaginary-time quantum dynamics on noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices using fixed-depth circuits. However, their practical performance is strongly limited by sampling noise arising from a finite number of circuit measurements. In this work, we systematically investigate the impact of sampling noise on VQDS, with a focus on ground-state preparation in one-dimensional Ising spin models using imaginary time evolution. We compare different regularization strategies for stabilizing the equations of motion and show that Tikhonov regularization provides robust performance in noisy imaginary-time evolution. We then benchmark measurement-distribution strategies that allocate shots by minimizing a cost function that characterizes the error in solving the equation of motion. Using noisy circuit simulations, we demonstrate that such optimized shot allocation can significantly improve state fidelity and reduce the total measurement cost by more than a factor of two compared to uniform shot distributions. We observe that the best results are found if a sufficiently large number of measurements is guaranteed for all circuits, suggesting that a finite fraction of shots should be distributed evenly. Our results provide practical guidelines for implementing measurement-efficient variational quantum dynamics and ground-state preparation on near-term quantum hardware.

Realistic quantum devices are inherently open and often involve environments with memory. Here, we investigate quantum resource generation in two classes of random circuits, namely, memoryless open and memoryful open random circuits, and compare their behavior with the well-explored random unitary circuit model. We show that environmental memory qualitatively alters the dynamics: while unitary and memoryful circuits exhibit sustained growth and saturation of entanglement and non-stabilizerness (magic); memoryless dynamics leads to a distinct behavior where entanglement decays to zero after transient growth, even though non-stabilizerness remains non-zero, indicating the persistence of nonclassical features beyond entanglement. Consistently, Krylov complexity reveals suppressed spreading of quantum states in memoryless circuits, in contrast to strong growth in unitary and memoryful dynamics, which saturates at the maximum value. Finally, we show that memoryful circuits more effectively approach low-order quantum-state k-designs than the other two circuits. Closed dynamics are therefore usually the most resource-generating, but are ideal; realistic dynamics are open and seem to generate less, but if they possess memory, they can sometimes even outdo closed dynamics.

One central theme in quantum photonics is tailoring the interactions between atoms/spins and their electromagnetic (EM) environments. Considerable effort has focused on engineering spontaneous emission by shaping EM environments, known as the Purcell effect. However, photonic environment control of pure dephasing, which is a complementary paradigm of non-unitary atom/spin couplings with EM environments, remains largely unexplored. Here, we introduce a nanophotonic approach to modify qubit pure dephasing dynamics. Unlike Purcell engineering that tailors photonic environments at qubit resonance frequencies (typically optical/near-infrared), we develop ultra-subwavelength spin noise metasurfaces for efficient broadband control of low-frequency (e.g., $\sim$MHz) photonic environments far off-resonant with atoms/spins for dephasing engineering. We experimentally demonstrate our approach using lithographically defined CoFeB metasurfaces and shallow nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. Instead of modified spontaneous emission, we observe modified NV pure dephasing dynamics near different spin noise metasurfaces. We further isolate metasurface-controlled dephasing from other dephasing mechanisms (e.g., spin bath) by measuring the NV ensemble dephasing noise spectrum with dynamical decoupling spectral decomposition techniques. Our results establish a new frontier in engineering quantum light-matter interactions with nanophotonic structures.

We investigate the trajectory-level dynamics of a double quantum dot system using the newly developed formalism of stochastic excursions. This approach extends full counting statistics by enabling a filtering of complex trajectories into sub-trajectories, which provide access to the intricate correlations between thermodynamic currents and excursion times. Counting observables are the main object of study in the stochastic excursion framework. Those are defined as a linear combination of transition counts multiplied by their assigned weights within one excursion. For three main counting observables -- charge current, dynamical activity, and entropy production -- we compute averages and noise contributions and show how they provide insights into the operation of the double quantum dot system. At the trajectory level, we analyze outcome distributions for transport and connect the results with trade-offs between successful and unsuccessful events that shape overall performance. We further introduce state observables, which depend on the state visited rather than the transition itself, and discuss the population of the two dots, as well as their correlations. Finally, we discuss thermodynamics of precision through thermo-kinetic uncertainty relations, showing how current precision in different regimes is fundamentally constrained either by entropy production or by dynamical activity. Altogether, our work is a case study that highlights the utility of the excursion framework as a toolkit to analyze many quantities of interest and to uncover the structure of nonequilibrium fluctuations. Moreover, it also suggests new avenues for refining uncertainty relations and understanding transport in mesoscopic systems.

Pauli Correlation Encoding (PCE) compresses $m$ binary variables onto $n=O(m^{1/k})$ qubits by mapping them to commuting Pauli correlators, but its continuous expectation values must be decoded into feasible binary solutions, a challenge for dense-constraint problems. We apply PCE to mRNA secondary-structure prediction, formulated as a densely constrained QUBO, and train with a QUBO-space sigmoid loss thatpreserves the QUBO penalty structure. For decoding, we introduce the Problem-Aware Guided Decoder (PAGD), which scores candidate variable commitments by combining marginal QUBO energy reduction with a trained expectation-value prior and constraint-aware feasibility pruning. On six benchmark mRNA sequences (30-60 nt, 50-240 variables, 7-14 qubits), PAGD with 100 restarts achieves 75-100 percent near-optimal recovery, defined as $P(\mathrm{gap}<1\%)$, for sequences up to 152 variables, compared with 0-30 percent for a sign-rounding plus local-search baseline. On the 240-variable instance, trained PAGD reaches 50 percent $P(\mathrm{gap}<1\%)$ at 200 restarts, outperforming untrained-circuit and random-expectation-value controls. Hardware-scale tests extend the pipeline to three 102-105 nt instances (694-745 variables, 172,000-193,000 pair constraints, 23 qubits) on IBM Heron processors. The circuits transpile SWAP-free into 480 native two-qubit gates at depth 256, and PAGD decoded gaps on QPU runs match or beat simulator means for all three instances, including exact CPLEX-optimum recovery for one sequence. These results show that PCE-trained priors can survive deployment to noisy superconducting hardware at biologically relevant scale.

The specific advance of this work is to propose a mechanism by which superpositions collapse during measurement of the separated subsystems of entangled quantum states. It is shown how the phase that locks together entangled states plays a special role in the measurement of isolated subsystems. This `contextual' phase is installed randomly into the entangled state, and decides the measurement outcomes for the subsystems by directing the collapse of each superposition to a particular classical outcome when a subsystem is measured. The measuring apparatus thus obtains a classical read-out of the quantum correlations embedded in an entangled state. More broadly, these results solidify the theory of measurement of quantum superpositions.

Most of the laws of Nature involve derivatives up to the second order. Ostrogradski was the first to seek a formulation of the equations of higher-order derivatives. He extended Hamilton's equations by considering Lagrangians that depend on higher-order derivatives of generalized coordinates. The Hamilton-Ostrogradski formulation served as the basis for later studies with higher-order derivatives. However, the Hamilton-Ostrogradski formalism is rarely discussed in textbooks or the pedagogical literature. This motivated us to show how the Hamilton-Ostrogradski formalism can be applied it to the Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator. We hope that the approach presented in this work can serve as a basis for discussion in advanced classical mechanics courses.

Weakly almost i.i.d. quantum sources are sequences of multipartite states whose fixed-size marginals converge, on average, to tensor powers of a reference state, while allowing arbitrary global correlations and entanglement. We establish two concentration principles for such sources: a noncommutative weak law of large numbers for empirical observables, and a universal entropy-concentration principle showing asymptotic concentration on subspaces of exponential dimension governed by the von Neumann entropy of the reference state. These concentration principles provide a unified and conceptually transparent approach to several information-theoretic applications beyond the i.i.d. setting, including direct proofs of universal compression within classes of weakly almost i.i.d. sources sharing a common reference state, asymmetric quantum hypothesis-testing bounds, concentration results for macroscopic observables in quantum many-body systems including generalized Gibbs ensembles and for repeated local measurement statistics, as well as bounds on smooth- and spectral entropy quantities.

Digital quantum simulation offers a promising route for studying quantum dynamics, but efficient operator representations and circuit depth remain key challenges for near-term hardware. We investigate one-dimensional wave packet dynamics using a grid-based encoding of the wave function onto qubit registers. Time evolution is implemented via split-operator approach, with kinetic energy operator applied using Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT) with polynomial scaling and potential energy operator expressed through commuting Pauli-Z gates, improving accuracy and enabling incorporation of arbitrary discretized potentials. While the full Pauli decomposition of Hamiltonian scales exponentially as O(4^n ), the present approach reduces the operator scaling to O(2^n) for n qubits. We benchmark this approach on classical simulators and quantum hardware (IBM Quantum and IonQ) for two- to five-qubit implementations. For two- and three-qubit cases, all platforms qualitatively reproduce the benchmarked dynamics; at larger qubit counts, the IBM results deviate more strongly, whereas IonQ remains closer to the benchmark.

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) provides secure keys for classical communications through one-time-pad (OTP) encryption with physical-law security. Advanced PON-based Classical Access Networks (CANs) support up to 256 users with a total rate of 10 Gbps (10-Gbps @ 256-users). The equivalent rate demand of OTP encryption requires QKD Access Networks (QANs) to reach comparable performance, yet state-of-the-art PON-based QANs remain far from this standard. To address this gap, we propose a passive Thermal-State QAN (TS-QAN) distributing polychromatic quantum randomness from a single thermal source and supporting 304 users with an aggregate secret key rate (SKR) of 13 Gbps (13-Gbps @ 304-users). This performance is enabled by three features. First, broadband thermal states with Bose-Einstein statistics can be represented, through the Glauber-Sudarshan representation, as high-bandwidth Gaussian coherent-state ensembles across frequency modes, eliminating many active modulators and quantum random number generators (QRNGs). Second, Electro-Optic (EO) comb beacons provide time-varying polychromatic phase tracking, so each frequency-mode thermal signal can be coherently measured with a Local Local Oscillator (LLO) aided by its beacon, without large-scale phase-locking networks. Third, state broadcasting allows each user to obtain independent final keys via reverse reconciliation after accounting for residual broadcast-induced correlations, expanding network capacity with small SKR losses. Experimentally, we verify a 13-Gbps @ 304-users TS-QAN using Continuous-Variable QKD (CV-QKD) under covariance-matrix-based network security analysis including multimode Holevo leakage and broadcast correlations. This work meets the SKR and capacity demands from CAN to QAN: 13-Gbps @ 304-users satisfies the 10-Gbps @ 256-users benchmark and provides a scalable solution for modern telecommunication systems.

We develop a pivot-shifted Carleman linearization framework for quantum algorithms solving quadratic nonlinear ordinary differential equations. By shifting the dynamics by a pivot state prior to Carleman lifting, and combining this with a Lyapunov transform and rescaling, we enlarge the class of nonlinear systems that can be efficiently simulated on quantum computers. For systems that exhibit stability in the shifted coordinates, we establish long time convergence of the truncated Carleman embedding. We prove that the truncation order scales only logarithmically with the simulation time and target precision, and we derive end-to-end quantum query complexity bounds for preparing a state proportional to the final solution. By introducing a modified nonlinearity condition, this framework entirely removes the conventional lower bound requirement on the initial condition. For more general systems that remain unstable after shifting, we provide short time convergence guarantees that are similarly free from the initial condition constraints. Numerical experiments on the logistic and the Lotka-Volterra equations demonstrate that an appropriate pivot choice improves stability and accuracy, and yields exponential error decay with truncation order. These results show that pivot shifting provides a practical and theoretically justified route for extending Carleman-based quantum algorithms to a broader class of nonlinear dynamical systems.

Determining the dynamics of interacting integrable many-particle quantum systems at finite times after homogeneous quantum quenches is a long-standing challenge. We present a Monte Carlo sampling scheme that numerically evaluates the Lehmann representation for time-dependent expectation values of local operators, allowing us to access system sizes and times significantly beyond the reach of existing methods. The approach accommodates both the full Lehmann sum and the Quench Action formalism. We benchmark against exact results for non-interacting lattice and continuum models and short-time results at weak interactions, finding excellent agreement. We apply the method to quantum quenches from a Bose-Einstein condensate in the repulsive Lieb-Liniger model and determine the time evolution of the order parameter for a wide range of interaction strengths. We discuss the emergence of a "sign problem" for more general dynamical correlators and setups.

We study a time-dependent non-Hermitian extension of the Schütte-Da~Providência spin-boson Hamiltonian with complex couplings. A time-dependent Dyson map containing a squeezing transformation maps the model, in an admissible bounded regime, to a Hermitian Hamiltonian with real instantaneous energy spectrum. The squeezing contribution generates a dilatation term allowing the Hermitian partner to be interpreted as a fixed-domain representation of a system with moving boundaries. While the fixed-boundary Hermitian model conserves $Q=N-S_0$ and forbids transitions between sectors differing by two bosonic quanta, the boundary motion opens such channels. For closed boundary protocols with constant background parameters the first-order integrated transition amplitude vanishes, reflecting the unitary nature of constant squeezing. Nontrivial transition control arises when the non-Hermitian parameter varies during the boundary motion, changing the dressed basis and allowing boundary-induced transitions to be suppressed or enhanced by coherent interference.

We present the characterization of a photon-number-resolving detection chain based on Silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) coupled to a 14 bit, 1 Gs\s digital acquisition system embedding an FPGA-based signal processing pipeline that performs real-time baseline subtraction, digital deconvolution, and charge integration. Three SiPM models manufactured by Hamamatsu are tested and compared in the mesoscopic intensity regime using both classical coherent states and quantum twin-beam states, enabling a systematic investigation of the effects of pixel pitch, pile-up, and photon detection efficiency on the detector performance.

We present PEPSKit.jl, a Julia package for simulating two-dimensional quantum many-body systems with infinite projected entangled-pair states (iPEPS). PEPSKit.jl builds on the TensorKit.jl package for tensor computations and provides high-level algorithms for iPEPS simulations that support both Abelian and non-Abelian symmetries, as well as fermionic systems. This work gives an overview of the main package features, which include support for ground-state, time-evolution, and finite-temperature simulations in systems with different physical symmetries and lattice geometries. These capabilities are illustrated through various examples and technical benchmarks.

In quantum thermodynamics, the decomposition of energy exchanges into heat and work remains an open problem beyond weak-coupling and slow-driving regimes. Recent formulations have shown that quantum coherence introduces additional energy contributions whose thermodynamic interpretation is still under debate, raising fundamental questions about the structure of the quantum first law. In this work, we investigate this problem through a time-dependent perturbative framework applied to the first law of quantum thermodynamics. By expanding the thermodynamic quantities up to second order, we derive explicit perturbative corrections for work, heat, and coherence contributions. Our results show that the coherence term can be consistently decomposed into coherent heat and coherent work, demonstrating that quantum coherence does not require the introduction of an independent energetic contribution beyond heat and work. The formalism resolves inconsistencies associated with previous formulations of the quantum first law, including the interpretation of coherence contributions and their connection with entropy fluxes. At second order, the perturbative corrections become directly connected to transition rates governed by Fermi's golden rule, establishing a bridge between microscopic quantum transitions and macroscopic thermodynamic quantities. These results provide a physically transparent framework to investigate coherence-driven thermodynamic processes and offer new perspectives for the analysis of driven quantum systems and nonequilibrium quantum technologies.

Can a closed quantum system generate persistent time-crystal-like dynamics without external driving? Within the Bateman dual oscillator framework, we show that the answer is affirmative. We consider a nonrelativistic (2+1)-dimensional system in which spin-induced spatial deformation generates an effective Bateman oscillator structure. After quantization, the system is governed by a time-independent Hermitian Hamiltonian describing coherent coupling between damped and amplified oscillator sectors while preserving the total energy of the global doubled system. Tracing over the amplified sector, we derive an effective non-Markovian reduced dynamics for the observable subsystem. The resulting memory effects sustain persistent oscillations of subsystem observables and generate emergent time-crystal-like temporal ordering without external periodic driving or equilibrium spontaneous symmetry breaking. Since the oscillatory behavior originates from nonequilibrium reduced subsystem dynamics rather than equilibrium expectation values of the full Hamiltonian, the mechanism lies outside the assumptions of conventional no-go theorems for equilibrium time crystals. The same dynamics further exhibits logarithmic-spiral trajectories and self-similar fractal scaling, revealing a direct connection between coherent dissipative dynamics, non-Markovian memory effects, and emergent temporal ordering in a globally unitary quantum system. In this specific sense, "watching the growth" of these self-similar structures corresponds to observing the gradual formation of time-crystal-like ordering.

Twisted light carries orbital angular momentum (OAM) and can drive excitations of confined, interacting electrons that are dark to uniform dipolar probes. Here we show how this ``beyond-Kohn's-Theorem'' optical channel can become a concrete control primitive for quantum computing. Correlation sectors in few-electron quantum dots -- characterized by the relative angular momentum quantum number -- form a tunable ladder of many-body states that are robust in the limited sense of symmetry-protected selection rules and persistent chiral spectroscopic fingerprints; full topological gap protection requires three or more electrons. A twisted-light pulse with prescribed OAM index and polarization provides fast optical write, read, and scalable addressing of these sectors via the selection rule $Δ|m|=\pm(l+σ)$. In the analytically solvable Calogero ($1/r^2$) interaction limit, both the energy spectrum and the twisted-light matrix elements are closed-form functions of the interaction strength, allowing gate parameters (Rabi frequency, qubit frequency, anharmonicity, and leakage rates) to be written down explicitly. We map these results onto a universal single-qubit gate set, propose a concrete two-qubit entangling mechanism via state-dependent Coulomb coupling between adjacent dots, and identify the dominant decoherence channel (quadrupolar charge noise). A semi-analytic $N=3$ extension using the $1/N$ expansion provides a design-level scaffold for the topological roadmap, including quasihole sector addressing. The central operational message is that twisted light enables WRITE (pulse-create a correlation sector), READ (spectroscopically diagnose correlations), and SCALE (optical addressing via spatial light modulator) in a unified photonic control layer. Throughout, screened and Coulomb interactions preserve the same qualitative chiral fingerprints established in the solvable limit.

Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) for combinatorial optimization routinely employ entangling gates as a default design choice, yet the role of entanglement, in its amount and structure, remains poorly understood. This gap is particularly consequential for problems governed by diagonal Hamiltonians, whose ground states are classical product states and therefore require no entanglement in principle, raising the fundamental question of whether and how entangling gates help or hinder the variational search. We investigate this question for MaxCut by introducing two complementary control mechanisms that provide smooth, monotonic control over hardware-efficient ansatz (HEA) entanglement as quantified by the Meyer-Wallach measure $Q$, and by benchmarking against QAOA as a problem-structured reference. Tracking the entanglement trajectory $Q(t)$ throughout VQA training reveals that when the ansatz grants the optimizer indirect control over entanglement through its parameters, it consistently drives entanglement down. In line with this tendency, a fully separable ansatz outperforms all entangled hardware-efficient configurations, establishing a monotonic relationship: less problem-agnostic entanglement yields better performance. In contrast, QAOA, whose entanglement is structurally derived from the problem Hamiltonian, maintains high entanglement yet achieves competitive solution quality, demonstrating that entanglement structure, not merely quantity, determines its utility. These findings suggest that HEAs for diagonal Hamiltonians are inappropriate and that variational approaches to combinatorial optimization should prioritize problem-structured circuit designs.

Quantum geometry characterizes the variation of wavefunctions in momentum space through their overlaps and relative phases, providing a general framework for understanding many transport and optical properties. It is generally formulated in terms of interband matrix elements, which, entering the response functions, allow obtaining experimental access to the quantum geometric tensor. Recently, it has been emphasized that quantum geometry can also be interpreted in terms of quantum dipole fluctuations in the ground state driven by interband mixing. Here, we extend this picture to include contributions from many-body collective fluctuations, in which propagators and response vertices are dressed dynamically by the interaction with collective modes. Focusing on the Berry curvature, we show that contributions from collective fluctuations can be experimentally distinguished from bare band-geometric contributions, via specific antisymmetric channels in inelastic scattering spectra. We further identify the non-commutative properties of transverse quantum fluctuations as well as non-local-time interactions as the generators of this dynamical curvature in the susceptibility response.

Quantum computing is no longer a lab curiosity for academic research. Industrial processors exceeding 100 qubits are commercially accessible and, for the first time, can extract information from data in ways that classical algorithms struggle to match. The most direct way to monetize this capability for industrial production today is quantum feature extraction: turning raw business data (images, customer records, molecules, or sensor readings) into richer representations that outperform standard machine learning models. There is one obstacle, however, that stands between today's demonstrations and tomorrow's production systems: every sample of data costs a quantum computing execution. For a company with millions of customers, satellite images, or transactions per month, processing every sample on quantum hardware is simply not viable. This work introduces quantum feature surrogates, a framework developed by Kipu Quantum that breaks this bottleneck. The idea is intuitive though challenging: instead of asking the quantum computer to look at every single sample, we let it look at a small, carefully chosen subsample of the data, whose distribution faithfully represents the full set. A simple classical model, a surrogate, then learns the quantum-induced patterns and applies them to the rest of the dataset at near-zero cost. The quantum processor stops being a per-sample engine and becomes a teacher of representations, while production inference runs entirely on classical hardware.

A fully quantum multiphonon up-pumping model is proposed to characterize coherent energy transfer in energetic materials (EMs) subjected to external shock. After eliminating the degrees of freedom of the phonon bath within a mean-field approximation, we derive a quantum master equation governing the energy transfer among vibrational modes. Our analysis reveals that doorway modes of different frequencies undergo distinct levels of effective coherent driving and dissipation, induced by the shocked phonon environment. This not only clarifies the microscopic origin of coherent phonon generation, but also reveals the possibility of modulating such coherent driving and dissipation. Based on numerical simulations of a simplified model using the master equation, we demonstrate how doorway modes extract energy from the phonon environment and subsequently excite higher-frequency molecular vibrational modes. This work offers a renewed perspective for understanding the mechanisms of energy transfer in energetic materials.

In this work, we investigate the non-Markovian features of the Adapted Caldeira-Leggett model, a computationally efficient framework recently proposed to capture the essential physics of the standard Caldeira-Leggett model. While this effective model has been previously validated for decoherence and einselection, its ability to reproduce memory effects remains to be explored. By exploiting the model's capability to explicitly track both system and environment degrees of freedom, we provide a detailed characterization of non-Markovianity through the lens of information backflow. We evaluate the buildup of system-environment correlations and the corresponding modifications of the environmental state, assessing a quantitative upper bound for the revival of distinguishability in the reduced dynamics. Our results, obtained by comparing different distinguishability quantifiers such as trace distance and the square root of the Jensen-Shannon divergence, show that while correlations are primarily sensitive to coupling strength, environmental state changes are more heavily influenced by temperature. Our analysis substantiates the physical interpretation of the distinguishability-based approach to non-Markovianity, and confirms this variant of the Caldeira-Leggett model as a reliable tool for exploring the microscopic origins of different fundamental phenomena in quantum mechanics.

We derive explicit formulas for the capacity of multimode quantum Gaussian channels which serve as a fundamental model for optical version of multiple-input multiple-output channels. We show that it is always optimal to increase the number of modes under fixed power constraint. We derive an analytical formula for the ensemble-averaged Holevo capacity in the case of random passive transformations. The analogous results are also obtained for capacities achievable under homodyne and heterodyne detection. We further discuss the generalization of the model to include weak active transformations.

Optically trapped polar molecules are promising for quantum information processing, yet the accuracy of an entangling molecular gate is limited by the uncertainty of dipole-dipole interactions~(DDI) from the molecular motion in traps. We show that two $π$ pulses of global microwave excitation can yield a high-fidelity controlled-phase gate when assisted by two single-qubit gates. The gate is resilient to the uncertainty of DDI because it does not rely on populating DDI-coupled states. Further, the controlled phase is fully tunable by varying the relative phase of the two global microwave pulses, and, hence, the gate can find applications in a wide range of quantum algorithms involving quantum Fourier transform. Moreover, we introduce a motional-mode separation technique to quantum mechanically study the influence of the molecular motion, which shows that the gate fidelity can be over 0.9999 with typical experimental conditions.

We show that Hilbert-space holonomy provides a geometric organizing principle for spectral reality in fragmented non-Hermitian many-body systems, complementary to conventional symmetry protection. In two minimal fragmented models, complex spectra can arise only within the most symmetric sectors: half filling in the fermion model and zero magnetization in the spin chain. Adding or removing a single particle, or flipping a single spin, renders the spectra entirely real despite unchanged periodic boundary conditions, reminiscent of boundary-condition sensitivity in systems with a non-Hermitian skin effect. We explain this by viewing nonreciprocal hopping amplitudes as a discrete gauge field on the Krylov graph: trivial holonomy permits a diagonal similarity transformation to the Hermitian limit, whereas nontrivial holonomy obstructs it and allows complex spectra. In certain regimes, trivial holonomy admits an emergent-boundary interpretation, and longer-range models exhibit finite real and complex regions governed by the same criterion.

Quantum programs are often shared as OpenQASM 3 circuits, but tests are still written in host languages such as Python with Qiskit. We present QUTest, a native framework in which both programs and tests are standard .qasm files. Tests follow the Arrange / Act / Assert pattern, while configuration, runtime requirements, and assertions are encoded as pragma comments (//%), preserving compatibility with existing OpenQASM tools. QUTest provides 12 assertion types spanning deterministic, statistical, quantum-state, and structural checks, plus a linter and an environment-aware mode for running the same test across selected runtime versions in isolated environments. Its CLI supports automatic test discovery, runtime compatibility checks, and XML reports for continuous integration. We describe the pragma language, implementation, and a planned evaluation using coverage and mutation testing. QUTest is available at https://github.com/QBugs/qutest. Video demo: https://youtu.be/FvgvsiAXuW0.

We study the capacity of entanglement in the microcanonical ensemble for an effectively additive bipartite system. Using typicality and the block structure of the microcanonical reduced state, we show that in the thermodynamic regime the capacity is controlled by energy-sharing fluctuations and can be expressed purely in terms of standard thermal response data of the subsystems. As an illustration, we apply the result to a toy model consisting of a Schwarzian ``black-hole'' sector coupled to a two-dimensional CFT radiation sector. At fixed total energy, the growth of the radiation sector forces the common temperature to decrease, producing a smooth Page-like single-hump curve for the capacity. The construction is meant as a thermodynamic microcanonical mechanism for Page-like capacity curves, rather than as a complete dynamical evaporation calculation.

Standard quantum mechanics is an idealisation based on infinite-precision objects: point states, exact probabilities, and sharp measurements. Yet every real experiment has finite resolution, and for macroscopic systems we never have access to the microscopic state. Following Heisenberg's call for a theory built only on observable quantities, and von Neumann's insight that a complete description of a macroscopic system is neither possible nor necessary, we elevate the macroscopic state to a fundamental concept. We introduce Interval Quantum Mechanics (IQM), in which the state of a quantum system is never a point but a quantum parcel - a basic weak-star open set of density matrices defined by finitely many open expectation intervals. Such a parcel is the exact mathematical representation of the set of all microscopic states that are compatible with the measured values of a finite set of macroscopic observables. We show that unitary evolution lifts to a deterministic flow on parcels, and that a finite-precision (fuzzy) measurement process is represented by a volume-contracting update that refines the initial parcel into a more constrained open set, strictly increasing the geometric information defined as the Hilbert-Schmidt volume of the parcel. By introducing a second impossible set, we obtain a double-parcel whose information increases monotonically - resolving the von Neumann entropy paradox. The framework eliminates foundational puzzles without additional interpretational assumptions: wave-particle duality becomes a smooth trade-off; Schroedinger's cat is never in a literal superposition; and the spooky action at a distance of entanglement disappears, replaced by a purely epistemic geometric update. All empirical predictions of standard quantum mechanics are recovered exactly in the infinite-precision limit, which is never physically attained.

Realizing a global quantum internet relies on the deployment of robust satellite-based entanglement distribution links. While pioneering demonstrations have established the feasibility of such links, the transition to operational infrastructure demands the validation of robust, integrated space-to-ground architectures. Here, we report on a free-space Quantum Key Distribution experiment conducted over a 1.8 km free-space link using an engineering model of the quantum payload onboard the SpeQtre satellite and the Abu Dhabi Quantum Optical Ground Station. By implementing a BBM92 protocol with polarization-entangled photons, a secret key rate of approximately 7.56 kbps with a mean quantum bit error rate of 4.78%+-0.24% was produced. The deployed system featured spectral and spatial filtering approaches identical to those in the space segment, thus validating the link budget and background rejection capabilities under realistic atmospheric conditions. These results confirm the operational compatibility between the ground and space segments, establishing a critical performance baseline for the SpeQtre mission and future space-based, large-scale quantum networks.

Quantum metrology aims to enhance measurement precision beyond the classical limit by leveraging quantum resources. Unlike multi-parameter dynamic quantum metrology, many questions regarding multiparameter quantum metrology at thermal equilibrium remain elusive. In particular, the ultimate precision limits achievable in this equilibrium setting are not yet well understood. In this work, we examine the fundamental limits of estimating multiple parameters with a quantum probe at thermal equilibrium. We first show that the Heisenberg limit with respect to the number of probes can be achieved, and our bound coincides with the known single-parameter bound when only one parameter is estimated. We then consider the low temperature limit, revealing a qualitatively different behavior compared to the finite temperature case. We give an example to illustrate the usage of our main results. Finally, we show the conditions under which the sensitivity bound can be attained and the optimal measurements to achieve it.

We establish rapid mixing for Davies Markov semigroups associated with 2D Abelian quantum double models at any positive temperature. A condition of Dobrushin-Shlosman (DS) type holds at any temperature, and we show that the latter implies a modified logarithmic Sobolev inequality for the Davies Lindbladian. A key step in the argument is to verify a strong martingale condition for the local conditional expectations of the Davies semigroup in the regime of validity of the DS condition.

Absence of local conserved quantities, or \textit{nonintegrability}, is often assumed when discussing various phenomena in quantum many-body systems, such as thermalization and transport. However, no concrete proof of this property is known in electron--phonon coupled systems, a typical setting for condensed matter physics. In this paper, we show that the one-dimensional Holstein model has no nontrivial local conserved quantities other than the Hamiltonian itself and the total fermion number operator. We further show that the absence of nontrivial local conserved quantities also holds for the more general Holstein--Hubbard model. Our result has accomplished an advance in nonintegrability proofs by expanding their scope to systems in which particles with different statistical properties are mixed.

Nowadays, quantum communications provide a vast field of research in rapid expansion, with a huge potential impact on the future developments of quantum technologies. In particular, continuous variable systems, employing coherent-state encoding and quadrature measurements, represent a suitable platform, due to their compatibility with both the modulation and detection systems currently employed in standard fiber-optical communications. In this work, we address some relevant aspects of the field, and provide innovative results being also experimentally oriented. In particular, we focus on two relevant paradigms: quantum decision theory and continuous variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD). In the former case, we address the problem of coherent-state discrimination and design new hybrid receivers for binary phase-shift keying discrimination, obtaining a quantum advantage over conventional detection schemes, being also robust against typical experimental imperfections. In the latter scenario, we proceed in two different directions. On the one hand, we design new CVQKD protocols employing discrete modulation of coherent states, being a feasible solution compatible with the state of the art in optical communications technologies. On the other hand, we address the more fundamental problem of performing channel losses mitigation to enhance existing protocols, and investigate the role of optical amplifiers for the task. Finally, we make a first step towards a fully non-Gaussian CVQKD scheme by proposing, for the first time, the adoption of an optimized state-discrimination receiver, commonly adopted for quantum decision theory, within the context of CVQKD, obtaining a genuine quantum enhancement over conventional protocols.

We investigate a photolithography-only fabrication process for transmon Josephson junctions using a modified double-oblique evaporation geometry. Using a bilayer resist process and Al shadow evaporation, we fabricate junction structures and confirm by optical and scanning electron microscopy that the resulting narrowed crossing region reaches a geometrical area on the order of $10^4~\mathrm{nm}^2$, which lies in the size range relevant to qubit junction fabrication. Room-temperature resistance screening shows that the junction resistance falls within the target range for the present transmon design over a usable process window and exhibits a clear design dependence. We further implement fabricated junctions in transmon devices and evaluate them in a three-dimensional Al cavity at $20 \, \mathrm{mK}$, where we observe basic transmon qubit operation with $f_{01}$=4.865 GHz, $T_1 \sim 9 \, μ\mathrm{s}$, and $T_2^* \sim 0.4 \, μ\mathrm{s}$. These results demonstrate the feasibility of realizing functional transmon devices in a photolithography-only process using double-oblique evaporation.

Recently, it was discussed how the presence of a Killing horizon induces decoherence on a quantum system in a superposition of states. Focusing on the case of an electrically-charged system with superposed positions, this would happen due to ``entangling'' photons crossing the horizon while carrying information on the superposition. Purpose of this essay is to investigate this process in connection with black hole thermodynamics and the ensuing entropy bounds. We show that an apparent tension arising with the latter is resolved provided the entangling photons, expressing a modification of the field at, as well as inside the horizon, do not give rise to a flux across it. The storage of information in this field, not retrievable from an outside observer, causes the superposition to decohere.

We propose a theoretical scheme for quantum enhanced distributed network sensing, targeting multiphase estimation by leveraging multiple quantum resources. Specifically, we investigate the performance advantage in a distributed quantum network (DQN) for multiphase sensing by integrating three types of quantum resources(TQRs): quantum catalysis, entanglement, and squeezing. Our results reveal that employing all three TQRs leads to better sensing performance than using only two TQRs under both lossless and lossy conditions, with precision approaching the Heisenberg limit. We further demonstrate that partial quantum catalysis providesa stronger precision advantage than global catalysis in both ideal and noisy regimes. We identify a practical homodyne measurement scheme for globally and partially catalyzed multimode W type coherent states, whose measurement sensitivity can approach the corresponding quantum Cramer Rao bound. In this practical setting, partial catalysis also yields better measurement sensitivity than global catalysis. Moreover, under photon loss, both global and partial catalysis of multimode W type coherent states exhibit a loss catalysis dual enhanced sensitivity region. These findings highlight the quantum-enhanced advantages conferred by hybrid quantum resources for practical DQN sensing applications. Our work opens a way for realizing quantum-enhanced DQN sensing.

Multiqubit positive-partial-transpose (PPT) entangled states play an important role in quantum information theory. We characterize such states of minimum rank in three-qubit system, namely rank four. Depending on whether the Lorentz invariant is zero, we classify such states into two types. The PPT entangled states constructed by unextendible product bases (UPB) have nonzero invariants, which belong to type I. We provide a method to effectively determine whether a state can be constructed from UPB. For states with zero invariant, which belong to type II, we provide an explicit expression up to equivalence of stochastic local operations and classical communications (SLOCC). It turns out that we can represent them with only one complex parameter. We further study SLOCC-equivalence relation within the expression. We also investigate the Lorentz invariants of multiqubit states with rank less than three and analyze their range.

We propose a general architecture for universal logic operations using NAND and NOR gates on classical information encoded in period-doubled states of periodically-driven systems. The protocol involves applying a single pulse that simultaneously couple two input nodes with an output node. We show that the states of the nodes can be precisely controlled by tuning the coupling strength and pulse duration, allowing for robust logic gate operation. To highlight the universality of the protocol, we demonstrate its applicability on different systems, such as classical networks of dissi- pative parametric oscillators (DPO), quantum networks of Kerr parametric oscillators (KPO), and the periodically-driven open Dicke lattice model (DLM) emulating discrete time crystals (DTCs). We identify the parameter regimes in which the logic gate architecture is valid, and we showcase its robustness in the presence of fluctuations.

We report precision spectroscopy of ionic-core transitions in alkaline-earth Rydberg atoms. We demonstrate high-resolution measurements of isotope shifts and hyperfine splitting of dipole transitions in ionic cores which have not been explored so far. A key element of this work is the reduction of the linewidth by more than two orders of magnitude enabled by dynamical control of Rydberg electron's orbit which significantly enhances the spectral resolution. Furthermore, to unambiguously identify the frequency shift, we directly compare core ion's spectrum with a signal from a single trapped ion serving as an ultimate frequency reference. This work provides an important foundation for quantum control of inner-core transitions, which offer an useful tool in manipulating Rydberg atom as well as a sensitive probe for electron-core interactions in atomic and molecular systems.

We study when local reduced density operators, viewed as quantum marginals, can be assembled into a global quantum state with a prescribed Markov structure. The starting point is a canonical logarithmic construction $T(\mathcal R)$, the noncommutative analogue of the junction-tree formula for decomposable graphical models. Unlike in the classical case, this formal construction may fail: noncommutativity can prevent it from being a normalized state with the prescribed marginals. We prove that this obstruction is captured exactly by a trace condition. For two overlapping marginals, and for clique marginals on a chordal graph, the condition $Tr(T(\mathcal R))=1$ is equivalent to the existence of a quantum Markov completion. When it exists, the completion is unique, equal to $T(\mathcal R)$, and selected by the maximum-entropy principle. In the two-clique case, we also give an equivalent conditional-reconstruction characterization: the two natural one-sided sandwich reconstructions agree if and only if the trace condition holds. We introduce the global quantum information $gI(\mathcal{G})_ρ$ associated with a chordal graph $\mathcal G$ and show that it is a relative-entropy discrepancy from $ρ$ to the logarithmic candidate, with a trace correction when the candidate is not normalized. We also prove an intersection property for strictly positive quantum conditional independence. Three-qubit Pauli examples show that the quantum obstructions are real: local consistency, feasibility, Markov feasibility, and maximum entropy can all separate.

Single-photon emitters in nanophotonic structures are a key building block for many photonic devices with quantum technology applications, like quantum sensors and quantum computers. In this paper, we determine the exact dynamics of a single-photon emitter in a one-dimensional waveguide terminated by a partially-transparent mirror interface, by solving the Schrodinger equation via a local-photon approach. In general, the evolution of the emitter is non-Markovian, characterized by a non-exponential decay profile. The decay can resemble an exponential after a time that is much larger than the emitter-mirror round-trip time and becomes exponential in the Markovian limit, where the round-trip time between the emitter and the mirror is neglected. We also derive the spatial and spectral profile of the emitted photon wave packet and demonstrate how its properties are altered by the environment.

We study the charging performance of a one-dimensional, many-body bosonic quantum battery driven by a harmonic-oscillator charger, focusing on how many-body effects and intra-species interactions influence the energy-transfer dynamics. We show that by tuning the charger frequency, the system can reach a resonance condition where perfect energy transfer and maximal extractable work are achieved. In the weak-coupling limit this can be understood by approximating the battery-charger dynamics using an effective two-level model, which accurately predicts the maximum stored work, ergotropy, and optimal charging time. In this regime, many-body batteries exhibit enhanced charging power, reduced quantum speed limit (QSL) times, and comparable or lower irreversible work relative to single-particle batteries. We further examine the role of intra-species interactions: repulsive interactions inside the battery medium suppress performance, whereas attractive interactions can significantly enhance it, with both types of interactions generating additional charging resonances. Our results show that particle number and interaction control provide powerful tools for designing fast, efficient, and scalable quantum batteries, and point toward a feasible experimental implementation in ultracold-atom platforms.

Quantum Transfer Learning (QTL) offers a promising approach for visual quantum machine learning under near-term constraints, where limited qubit counts, shallow circuit depths, and costly hybrid optimization restrict end-to-end quantum training. In this setting, pretrained classical backbones can extract high-level visual features, while compact quantum modules operate as trainable classification heads. However, existing QTL results are difficult to compare because they often differ in datasets, preprocessing, backbone settings, qubit budgets, circuit designs, optimization choices, and reporting protocols. This work presents a controlled benchmarking methodology for evaluating representative QTL methods under a unified transfer-learning pipeline. The benchmark compares DQN-QTL, QPIE-QTL, AE-CQTL, PVCQTL, and ED-QTL under shared preprocessing rules, frozen-backbone settings, training conditions, and reporting metrics. The evaluation focuses on Fashion-MNIST and Hymenoptera Ants vs Bees as the two main datasets, while CIFAR-10 is used to provide additional configuration-level evidence on a harder natural-image task. Beyond predictive performance, the benchmark analyzes circuit size, trainable parameters, quantum parameters, training time, and architectural sensitivity to qubit count and circuit depth. The results show that no single QTL family dominates across all settings: performance depends on the dataset, encoding strategy, circuit design, and computational cost. These findings highlight the need for resource-aware QTL evaluation and provide guidance for selecting hybrid quantum-classical transfer models under near-term resource constraints.

In this paper, we propose a quantum-native formulation of maximum likelihood detection (MLD) for overloaded multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems in a random access channel, where numerous user terminals share the same channel resource and asynchronously transmit signals. Classical linear detectors suffer from significant performance degradation in this scenario, whereas the exhaustive-search MLD achieves the optimal performance but incurs an exponential computational complexity. To overcome this trade-off, we formulate the MLD as a binary optimization problem and solve it via Grover adaptive search (GAS) -- a quantum exhaustive search algorithm offering quadratic speedup in fault-tolerant quantum computing. We then introduce a search space reduction technique to substantially decrease the required computational resources. In addition, we investigate efficient parameter settings for GAS through probability analysis to improve convergence performance. We demonstrate that the proposed detector achieves the optimal detection performance while reducing the required Grover rotation count to reach the solution by up to approximately 65% compared with the conventional GAS, showing its potential as a viable solution for future quantum-accelerated wireless systems.

Programmable quantum annealers are used as open-system samplers, but it is unclear when reverse annealing erases preparation memory and what the readout represents. Here we implement a subsystem-environment protocol on two D-Wave quantum annealers, varying environment size, coupling, disorder, preparation, geometry and QPU generation. A six-qubit subsystem becomes initial-state independent when the environment is large or strongly coupled, while quenched disorder and atypical environment states arrest relaxation. Pairing the memory order parameter with the distance to a calibrated conditional-Boltzmann reference yields a diagnostic that flags rare wrong-basin trapping memory loss alone misses; memory-retaining conditions stay far from the reference (median 0.35). Relaxed ferromagnetic readouts are near-deterministic, so small distances there are a consistency check, not a thermometric test. In a mixed-frustration benchmark, the local-update model practitioners assume mispredicts QPU relaxation roughly sevenfold, whereas non-local classical sampling recovers it. We provide a subsystem-level validation protocol for quantum-annealer sampling.

The PXP chain was recently shown to exhibit superdiffusive energy transport with Kardar-Parisi-Zhang-like scaling, $z\approx3/2$, joining a growing number of spin chains with this exponent. An understanding of how this anomalous hydrodynamics emerges from microscopics is, however, still lacking. In this work, we show that finite-temperature energy transport in this model provides a window into the emergence of superdiffusion. At finite temperature, the energy autocorrelation function exhibits a crossover from short-time coherent dynamics to long-time hydrodynamics. The short-time behavior is dominated by a single magnon band and can be understood analytically. In momentum space, this regime is characterized by spectral weight near $q=π$. The damping time $τ$, which separates the short-time magnon-dominated behavior from the late-time hydrodynamics, grows rapidly upon cooling, consistent with an activated form $τ(β)\sim βe^{Δβ}$ with a gap scale set by the magnon band. At longer times, the spectral weight transfers to $q=0$ and the running decay exponent drifts toward the superdiffusive value $z=3/2$. Finite-temperature energy transport therefore provides a bridge between microscopic magnon physics and late-time superdiffusion in the PXP model.

Following the success of Moore's predictions, we are approaching a limit in the miniaturization of semiconductors for computing materials. This has led to the exploration of various research paths to develop alternative computing paradigms, such as quantum computing, 3D transistors, molecular logic, and continuous logic. In this context, we propose a novel approach in which the dynamics of a two-level atom is used to execute classical Boolean logic operations. Unlike traditional combinational logic circuits, where the output depends solely on the input, we suggest a finite-state machine-like computing model, where the output is influenced by both the input and the system's initial state. The proposed mechanism leverages the dynamics of a two-level quantum state, with information encoded in observable quantities. These observables, the density matrix's population (diagonal) and coherence (off-diagonal) elements, were analyzed using the Liouville equation. The selection of observables within the Liouville space allows us to encode more variables. Although environmental noise may cause some loss of encoded information, fast computations can still be performed before it dissipates. In addition, logic operations can be read in parallel, enabling complex computations. This system can also be scaled to an N-level configuration.

The asymptotic rates of information-theoretic protocols - including error exponents, compression rates, and channel capacities - are traditionally defined under the idealised assumption that the underlying resource (state or channel) is independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.). Somewhat surprisingly, even slight departures from the exact i.i.d. structure can lead to a drastic breakdown of these protocols. The asymptotic rates of information theoretic protocols - error exponents, compression rates, capacities - were originally evaluated taking for granted that the underlying source (state or channel) is i.i.d. Differently from what we might expect at first glance, it is not hard to exhibit instances of protocols that may drastically fail when the i.i.d. assumption holds only approximately rather than exactly. If the precise nature of the perturbation from the i.i.d. regime is known (e.g. a pointwise defect), we could design a bespoke protocol that compensates for the defect (for example, by discarding the corrupted subsystem). However, in any realistic setting, neither can the i.i.d. behaviour of the system be precisely guaranteed, nor can the deviations from the ideal regime be determined exactly. In this paper we answer the following question: are there protocols that can still achieve the optimal asymptotic rates when the i.i.d. resource is replaced by any arbitrary almost i.i.d. resource along it? What is the nature of the unknown perturbation under which protocols like these are possible? We focus, in particular, on hypothesis testing, data compression, and channel coding. As a by-product of our analysis, we introduce the notion of club distance, as a variant of the well-known diamond distance, and of an almost i.i.d. process, which may be of independent interest.

We address a fundamental question: Can one determine whether a received signal is squeezed when each copy arrives with a different displacement/amplitude? We introduce an interaction Hamiltonian that converts quadrature squeezing into number squeezing. Using this conversion, we test whether the copies satisfy $g^{(2)}(0)<1$. The Hamiltonian itself does not create nonclassicality; it only transfers it from quadrature squeezing to number squeezing. This allows us to identify squeezing even when individual copies have random displacements.

Virtually all aspects of many-body atomic physics are challenging: experiments are technically demanding, datasets have become enormous, and the memory and CPU requirements for classical simulation of generic quantum systems often scale exponentially with system size. Machine learning (ML) methods are already assisting in each of these areas and are poised to become transformative. Here, we focus on two specific applications of ML to cold-atom-based quantum simulators. These devices generally generate data in the form of images; we first showcase denoising of raw images and then identify solitonic waves in Bose-Einstein condensates. In both of these examples, we comment on the interplay between performance, model complexity, and interpretability.

The distribution of entangled states is a core task for quantum networks facilitating quantum communication, and the use of multipartite entangled states comes with its own set of considerations. In this work, we analyze a quantum conference agreement protocol based on GHZ states in a network with a central station to which multiple clients are connected. Using comprehensive numerical simulations, we investigate how minor variations in the scenario-such as the number of parties, the number of memories, and asymmetric distances from the central station-can drastically influence the performance of the protocol. In particular, we demonstrate that it is crucial to adjust the strategy by optimizing cutoff times. From a broader perspective, we argue that numerical simulations are an indispensable tool for protocol design for devising realistic schemes for quantum communication.

The Jaynes-Cummings (JC) interaction-the coherent exchange of excitations between a two-level system and a harmonic oscillator-is one of the fundamental interactions of quantum optics, realized across platforms such as cavity quantum electrodynamics, trapped ions, mechanical resonators, and superconducting circuits. Although JC interactions and qubit rotations form a universal gate set for oscillator control, practical implementations have not been demonstrated. Here we develop and experimentally demonstrate universal JC-based oscillator control by compiling arbitrary unitary gates into sequences of JC interactions and qubit rotations. In our experiment, the oscillator is realized using a mode of a high quality factor microwave cavity and the ancilla qubit using a superconducting transmon circuit, with the JC interaction implemented by a sideband interaction enabled by the Josephson nonlinearity. The native gates are constructed to be closed below a chosen cutoff photon number, encoding a qudit with suppressed leakage errors, while ancilla relaxation errors are detectable. We further find that the dispersive shift serves as a compilation resource that reduces circuit depths. We demonstrate universal qudit control and implement a single-qutrit gate set with a mean post-selected process fidelity of 96%, as well as ququart and ququint shift gates. These results establish Jaynes-Cummings control as a practical route to universal oscillator control, enabling programmable bosonic processors across a variety of quantum platforms.

The Reeh-Schlieder theorem says that every target vector can be approximated from the vacuum by an operator localized in an arbitrarily small spacetime region, but it gives no quantitative cost for doing so. This note isolates a standard Tomita-Takesaki estimate as a model-independent preparation bound. Targets with deeply negative modular energy require large local operators. After rescaling such an operator to a physical contraction, the same estimate becomes a lower bound on postselection overhead. In geometries where the modular Hamiltonian is known, the bound becomes explicit. Bisognano-Wichmann turns it into a boost energy statement for wedges, and the Casini-Huerta-Myers formula gives a stress-tensor version for bounded regions of conformal field theories. Local unitaries can only reach states of nonnegative modular energy. Negative modular sectors require nonunitary or postselected outcomes, giving a preparation cost bound that complements vacuum embezzlement in type III local algebras.

The requirement of complete positivity is very often regarded as a fundamental consistency condition for the description of open quantum dynamics. We critically examine this requirement and discuss both its physical motivations and its limitations. We analyze proposals based on restricting the domain of non-completely positive maps to subsets of compatible initial states. Using isotropic states as a concrete example, we show that such domain restrictions become increasingly severe with growing system dimension, revealing an intrinsic weakness of the compatibility-based approach.

Quantum many-body scars provide a controlled form of weak ergodicity breaking, in which structured nonthermal eigenstates coexist with a thermalizing many-body spectrum. We introduce a qubit-level route to exact scars based on the intrinsic soliton structure of the Rule-54 quantum cellular automaton. A hard-core dimer sector of Rule 54 supplies an exactly translatable protected skeleton, while local projector-controlled decorations are invisible on this skeleton and nontrivial outside it. The protected dynamics is therefore reducible to finite translation orbits, whose Fourier modes form exact Floquet eigenstates with sub-volume-law entanglement. The number of exact scars grows with Fibonacci combinatorics, whereas their fraction in the full qubit Hilbert space remains exponentially small. Finite-size simulations show Page-like eigenstate entanglement, rapid entanglement growth, fidelity decay, and circular unitary ensemble quasienergy statistics in the decorated complement. This construction demonstrates that exact many-body scars can be engineered from native finite-orbit structures of an interacting reversible automaton, and provides a direct starting point for digital quantum simulation of scarred cellular-automaton dynamics.

Non-Gaussian entanglement is a promising resource in various quantum tasks. A recently defined class identifies entanglement that cannot be generated by applying Gaussian operations to separable inputs. To further explore the entanglement in this context, we introduce a quantitative witness $E_{\rm NG}$ in bipartite bosonic systems, which satisfies $E_{\rm NG}=1$ for all Gaussian-entanglable states, while $E_{\rm NG}>1$ certifies non-Gaussian entanglement. Its ceiling $d=\lceil E_{\rm NG}\rceil$ provides a lower bound on the Schmidt number irreducible by Gaussian transformations, thereby defining a natural hierarchy of non-Gaussian entanglement. For pure states, the condition is sharp and the hierarchy reflects the complexity of state learning. We benchmark the framework with some paradigmatic non-Gaussian states, such as NOON states and squeezed Kerr states, and analyze its robustness against loss. Moreover, we construct an experimentally economical NOON-type witness requiring only four projective measurements, where an analytical Gaussian-entanglable threshold is derived. These results establish an operationally meaningful and experimentally accessible framework for identifying non-Gaussian entanglement resources in continuous-variable quantum platforms.

We investigate Krylov spread complexity for the ground state of two-band Hamiltonians, where the reference state is a generic state on the Bloch sphere. The spread complexity is obtained by using a purely geometric formulation in terms of Bloch sphere data without constructing the circuit Hamiltonian. For generic reference states, the derivative of the spread complexity is logarithmically divergent at the topological phase transition in the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model. We demonstrate that the derivative of the spread complexity is bounded by fidelity susceptibility for general two-band models, indicating the sensitivity of the spread complexity to any gap closing (topological or trivial). This is illustrated in the massive Dirac Hamiltonian with a trivial gap closing. Finally, we introduce a non-unitary duality in the SSH model between the topological and trivial phases, which manifests itself in the spread complexity and fidelity susceptibility.

The computation of electronic excited states and real-time quantum dynamics of many-fermion systems is among the most promising applications of near-term quantum computing. In this work, we generalize the reinforcement learning contracted quantum eigensolver (RL-CQE), previously developed for ground-state problems, to electronic excited states and real-time quantum dynamics, in which a deep Q-network agent adaptively selects the two-body operators at each iteration, yielding more compact ansätze and improved robustness with respect to critical hyperparameters. A key feature of the algorithm is a scalable state representation based on the ACSE residuals, whose dimension grows with the one-particle basis but remains independent of the number of targeted excited states. We also verify the equivalence of sign-free qubit operators in the excited-state setting, extending a result previously established for ground-state problems. Our RL-CQE for time evolution derives from a constant-scaling ansatz that represents the wave function with a fixed number of unitary transformations independent of simulation time $t$, enabled by the shared unitary structure of the purified ensemble treatment of excited states. Benchmarks on chemical systems demonstrate chemical accuracy with minimal operator counts across a range of bond lengths.

We develop a geometric realization of a broad class of generalized black hole entropy functionals by establishing their direct correspondence with the Misner$-$Sharp quasilocal mass and the Wald Noether$-$charge entropy in scalar$-$tensor theories of gravity. The resulting models feature a scale-dependent effective gravitational coupling, whose functional dependence is determined by the underlying entropy parameters. Within this framework, we derive explicit Einstein-frame scalar potentials: for Barrow entropy, a steep exponential potential; for Tsallis$-$Cirto entropy, an exponential potential governed by the nonextensivity parameter; and for quantum-gravity and entanglement$-$induced corrections, an approximately linear potential. These distinct potentials generate characteristic cosmological phenomenology, with implications for inflationary dynamics, late-time dark-energy behavior, and non-singular bouncing cosmologies. The framework is compatible with current constraints from solar-system tests, big-bang nucleosynthesis, and pulsar-timing observations, and it yields predictions that can be probed by forthcoming observational surveys. In this way, the analysis establishes a unified and geometrically grounded connection between information$-$theoretic entropy proposals and gravitational field theory.

Quantum machine learning (QML) has attracted considerable research interest, yet whether it offers practical benefits over classical approaches remains an open question. The choice of data encoding significantly influences QML performance, but why certain encodings outperform others remains poorly understood. We employ Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) to discover optimal data encoding circuits for a quantum-classical convolutional neural network (QCCNN) combining a non-variational quantum block for feature extraction with a classical classifier. Evaluating on two medical imaging datasets, the discovered circuits outperform commonly used encoding strategies while showing competitive results compared to purely classical counterparts. We further analyze metrics to identify predictors of encoding performance. Entanglement capability and Fourier decomposition provide minimal insight, whereas the effective rank of the feature maps exhibits meaningful correlation and can serve as a threshold criterion to accelerate the search for high-performing encodings. Our findings provide both a practical method for encoding discovery and new insights into what makes data encodings effective in QML.

Quantum computers are increasingly powerful. Software tools for the development of quantum-enhanced algorithms are maturing. However, the software stack still lacks the connection to applications that would enable hybrid algorithms combining classical and quantum computing steps. End users need to be assisted in choosing the best combination of preprocessing, postprocessing, classical and quantum algorithms options. The application-facing software stack is therefore required to cover problem modeling, encoding, algorithm selection and hyperparameter tuning. A variety of tools exist for specific recommendations. The QuaST Decision Tree reflects the complexity in combining individual decisions in its modular network structure, consisting of flexible computation nodes with modular recommendations. It can easily be configured to serve in an industrial solver, an HPC software stack, or for rapid prototyping in development. The key ingredient, automation, is delivered by modules. We present one such module judging the feasibility of variational algorithms based on a robust scalability analysis and classification of problem instances. The automation improves the performance of end-to-end solutions, highlights the benefit to be gained from the hybrid quantum solution, reduces expensive trial-and-error testing, and leads to an improved utilization of quantum devices for a practical benefit.

Controlling light photon-by-photon is central to quantum optics. At a fundamental level, photon interactions are mediated by their coupling to atoms, and ultimate control requires deterministic light-matter interfacing of single photons to single atoms. Extending this paradigm to radiatively couple multiple individual atoms in a deterministic and scalable manner opens the arena of many-body quantum optics. Here, we realize such a setting by coherently coupling solid-state artificial atoms to a nanophotonic waveguide and demonstrate higher-order photon correlations that are controlled by the number of quantum emitters. We study the scaling of nonlinear photonic transport induced by emitter-photon scattering and demonstrate that adding a quantum emitter generates higher-order photon correlations. Specifically, we experimentally observe genuine three-photon correlations from a pair of collectively coupled emitters, while contributions from lower photon numbers are suppressed. In addition, we scale to three resonant quantum emitters coupled to the waveguide. These advancements demonstrate the onset of many-body quantum optics in waveguide quantum electrodynamics, enabling new photonic quantum simulators, the creation of many-body entangled states, and the exploration of novel quantum phase transitions.

Low-dimensional materials have emerged as promising hosts for quantum emitters, whose emission typically arises from either strain-induced band bending or defect-induced two-level systems. Among these materials, transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers have attracted particular attention; however, their performance is limited by strong photoluminescence (PL) quenching at room temperature. As TMDs transition from a direct to an indirect bandgap when moving from monolayers to multilayers, we herein propose a strategy to overcome this quenching limitation by exploiting the indirect bandgap of TMD bilayers in combination with a point defect doping. The indirect gap suppresses excitonic PL, while specific defects enable robust defect-mediated quantum emission. Using hybrid-functional density functional theory, we investigate substitutional carbon defects at chalcogen sites (S and Se) in WS2, WSe2, MoS2, and MoSe2 bilayers and comprehensively characterize their optical properties. Both neutral and singly negative charge states are found to be thermodynamically stable. Neutral defects exhibit singlet configurations with emission in the O- and C-band telecommunication windows, whereas negatively charged defects adopt doublet configurations featuring spin-selective transitions and near-infrared emission. The electron-phonon coupling strength, radiative lifetime, and dipole orientation are found to depend sensitively on both the host material and defect site, providing distinct fingerprints for experimental identification. Our findings, therefore, establish carbon-doped TMD bilayers as promising platforms for room-temperature defect-based quantum emitters operating at telecommunication wavelengths.

We study the non-stabilizerness (quantum magic) content of the Hubbard dimer, an analytically solvable, yet completely non-trivial, model of strongly correlated fermions. We can access zero- and finite-temperature properties as well as the time evolution in a quantum quench protocol. We evaluate local and nonlocal non-stabilizerness using both the robustness of magic and the stabilizer Renyi entropy, demonstrating how the latter often fails in detecting the mixed stabilizer states that are typically found in this kind of systems. Finally, we compare the non-stabilizerness with other genuine resources of quantum-state complexity, i.e., the fermionic non-Gaussianity and the superselected two-site entanglement. Our findings corroborate the notion of non-stabilizerness as a fundamentally different quantum resource, able to give profound insights that are missed by more traditional information-theoretic quantities.

In this work we reformulate the Uhlmann purification-overlap optimization and develop a purification-based geometric framework for the analysis of mixed qubit states and qubit channels. Using the Fano representation of two-qubit pure states, a purification is described in terms of the Bloch vector of the system, the ancilla Bloch vector, and a real correlation matrix. For a fixed one-qubit mixed state, the freedom in the choice of purification can be parametrized by proper rotations acting on the ancillary degrees of freedom. As a result, the optimization over purifications entering the definition of the metric \(D_N\) introduced in Ref.~\cite{Lamberti2009} is reduced to an orthogonal Procrustes problem on the Lie group \(SO(3)\). This reduction yields not only the maximal purification overlap, but also the optimal rotation relating the purification frames. From this rotation we define a purification misalignment angle \(Θ\), which provides geometric information not contained in scalar fidelity-based distinguishability measures. The formalism is applied to representative qubit channels, including depolarizing, bit-flip, phase-flip, amplitude-damping channels, and an imperfect quantum NOT gate. For symmetry-adapted evolutions preserving the Bloch-vector direction, the optimal rotation is trivial and \(Θ=0\), whereas noncollinear channel actions generate a nonzero misalignment. The pair \((D_N,Θ)\) therefore separates the magnitude of the maximal purification overlap from the geometric reorientation of the optimal purification frames. Since the optimal Procrustes rotation can be lifted to a local unitary acting on the ancilla, the construction also provides an operational interpretation of the optimal purification in terms of an ancilla-side transformation.

This note summarizes the physics and mathematics of Lorentz transformations for massless particles, specifically for photons. We provide a complete analytical derivation of Wigner's little group matrix and a closed formula for the calculation of Wigner's angle for arbitrary Lorentz transformations. Our derivation highlights the geometrical content of the sequence of little group transformations leading to Wigner's matrix and links it to classical theorems in spherical trigonometry.

We investigate the task of conference key agreement in near-term quantum networks, where the nodes are connected by sources of bipartite entangled states, under the class of local operations not requiring quantum memory. We derive upper bounds on the distillable conference key depending on the network topology and degree of entanglement of the sources, and prove tightness of these bounds for some particular cases. In these cases, we show that pairwise bipartite key distillation followed by merging the bipartite keys into the conference key is optimal.

Driven-dissipative quantum systems can exhibit robust transport and amplification in topological regimes, yet the connection between topology and the extent of correlations remains largely unexplored. In this work, we develop a general framework that links topological phases in driven-dissipative systems to bosonic correlations via the singular value decomposition (SVD). In essence, we claim that non-Hermitian topology in quadratic Liouvillians is directly encoded in steady-state correlations, providing an intrinsic characterization of topology without external probes. We show that topological amplification induces disorder-robust long-range order (LRO) in steady-state correlations at fixed frequency, establishing frequency-resolved correlations as direct signatures of non-Hermitian topological phases. We introduce a vector-valued topological invariant that captures the total number of singular-value gap closings across the frequency axis, extending the concept of adiabatic deformation from topological insulators to the case of topological phases of quadratic Liouvillians. Within this framework, we further demonstrate that the spatial structure of equal-time correlations encodes global topological information, manifested as a Gaussian spatial decay with distance in the topological phase, in contrast to the exponential decay characteristic of trivial phases. These findings open new avenues for quantum sensing and correlation engineering in non-Hermitian systems, with feasible implementations in platforms such as trapped ions and superconducting circuits.

This paper proposes a quantum algorithm for the capacitated vehicle routing problem with time windows (CVRPTW) based on Grover Search framework. This problem is often faced by Postal services in the context of package delivery or other time-sensitive operations. We provide an implementation on gate based quantum computer of a model inspired by classical route first, cluster second technique. The quantum paradigm allows to overcome suboptimality inherent property of this decomposition. In the current NISQ (Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum) era, the most important limitation is the number of available qubits which makes time windows and capacity constraints hard to tackle. We introduce a qubit-efficient split-inspired modeling which adds only a linear number of decision qubits to standard quantum formulations for Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP).

We derive ultimate precision bounds for estimating parameters encoded in \emph{time-dependent} Hamiltonians in the presence of general Markovian noise, allowing for arbitrary adaptive protocols with fast controls and noiseless ancillas. Extending the minimization-over-purifications framework to time-varying continuous channels, we obtain a differential upper bound on the achievable quantum Fisher information (QFI) that can be evaluated at all times via semidefinite programming. For parameter-independent noise, we prove a universal long-time scaling law: if the coherent (noiseless) dynamics yields $Q_{\mathrm{coh}}(T)\sim T^{2k}$, then under Markovian noise the QFI scales at most as $Q(T)\sim T^{2k}$ in the DHNLS regime, whereas in the DHLS regime it is fundamentally limited to $Q(T)\sim T^{2k-1}$. We illustrate these behaviors on paradigmatic driven-qubit sensors, exhibiting $T^{4}$ and $T^{3}$ scalings under dephasing and spontaneous emission, respectively. Finally, we provide explicit continuous exact and approximate quantum error correction constructions -- supplemented by spin-squeezed probes -- that asymptotically saturate the bounds, establishing their tightness.

We investigate the effectiveness of the stabilizer Rényi entropy (SRE), a quantifier associated with non-stabilizer resources (quantum magic), as an indicator of quantum phase transitions. Specifically, we analyze the behavior of the purity-corrected SRE of reduced density matrices in the ground states of two one-dimensional spin models: the transverse axial next-nearest-neighbor Ising (TANNNI) model and the quantum compass model (QCM). The ground state of the TANNNI model is obtained using exact diagonalization techniques, while the QCM is analyzed using the Jordan--Wigner (JW) transformation followed by Bogoliubov diagonalization of the resulting quadratic fermionic Hamiltonian. For the TANNNI model, the purity-corrected SRE successfully detects the antiphase--floating phase transition in the high-frustration regime, while in the low-frustration regime the raw (purity-uncorrected) SRE reproduces the known ferromagnetic--paramagnetic phase boundaries more accurately. For the QCM, the purity-corrected SRE exhibits a clear signature near the isotropic point \(J_x/J_z=1\), where the system undergoes a first-order quantum phase transition. Our results establish SRE of reduced states as a complementary probe of quantum criticality and provide further insight into the role of non-stabilizer resources in many-body quantum phase transitions.

Fractional Chern insulators (FCIs) are lattice analogs of fractional quantum Hall systems, where the interplay of strong interactions with a frustrated tunnelling kinetics leads to the emergence of a gapped ground state with long-range entanglement and anyonic excitations. The highly correlated nature of such systems makes their adiabatic preparation challenging already beyond the minimal system size of two particles. Considering Floquet implementations of the bosonic Harper-Hofstadter-Hubbard model of few photons in superconducting circuits, we design protocols for the driven-dissipative stabilization of its FCI ground state at half filling via quantum bath engineering. Dissipation control is achieved through the coupling to driven leaky cavity modes, which realize a tuneable artificial environment having the Floquet-FCI as its approximate fixed point. For systems of two, three and six particles, we show numerically how the flexibility of the control scheme further allows for the detection of fractional quantum Hall signatures in the stabilized steady states, including bulk incompressibility, Hall response and the trapping of fractional charges. Our results provide a concrete pathway to dissipation-assisted preparation of strongly correlated states in quantum simulators.

Finite-time quantum heat engines (QHEs) typically extract less work than their quasistatic counterparts because fast driving generates coherences and non-adiabatic transitions during the work strokes, a phenomenon commonly referred to as quantum friction. Quantum lubrication denotes a broad class of strategies that use auxiliary systems or controls to mitigate this loss. In this work, we introduce a lubrication protocol based on the quantum Zeno dynamics (QZD). By coupling the working medium to an auxiliary lubricant system and frequently monitoring the lubricant, we confine the joint evolution to a Zeno subspace and obtain an effective shortcut to adiabaticity during the work strokes of a QHE running an Otto cycle. In the ideal Zeno limit, the protocol reproduces the transitionless dynamics required to preserve populations in the instantaneous energy basis and recover the Otto efficiency at finite stroke duration. We also analyze several implementation-dependent thermodynamic costs, including switching, driving, monitoring, and imperfect thermalization, in order to assess how these costs constrain the practical gains in efficiency and power. Our results identify QZD as a conceptually distinct route to quantum lubrication and highlight quantum heat engines as a useful setting in which to study the interplay between strong coupling, measurement, and quantum thermodynamic control.

Hybrid quantum-classical neural networks (HQNNs) are emerging as a practical approach for quantum machine learning in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era, as they combine classical learning components with parameterized quantum circuits in an end-to-end trainable framework. However, their performance and efficiency depend strongly on architectural choices such as data encoding, circuit structure, measurement design, and the coupling between classical and quantum modules. This makes manual design increasingly difficult, especially when hardware limitations and resource constraints must also be taken into account. In this paper, we study the foundations of HQNNs and neural architecture search (NAS), discuss how NAS extends to quantum and hybrid settings, and demonstrate FLOPs-aware search (where FLOPs serve as a proxy for computational complexity), as an important hardware-aware direction for building HQNNs that are not only accurate but also computationally efficient and practically deployable.

Accurate and efficient time-series forecasting remains a challenging problem for both classical and quantum neural architectures, particularly in multivariate environmental settings. This work adapts the Quantum Leaky Integrate-and-Fire (QLIF) spiking neural network for time-series regression tasks, specifically short-term multivariate weather forecasting. We extend QLIF beyond classification and demonstrate its applicability to continuous-valued prediction problems. The QLIF-CAST model encodes neuron excitation states as single-qubit quantum superpositions, driven by Rx rotation gates and T1 relaxation decay, and is embedded within a hybrid quantum-classical recurrent architecture. We conduct two distinct evaluations. First, a controlled comparison against a parameter-matched classical LIF baseline on a multivariate weather dataset shows that QLIF-CAST achieves 15.4% lower MSE and 4.4% lower MAE, demonstrating that quantum neuronal dynamics reduce prediction error over classical equivalents. Second, a cross-domain comparative analysis with state-of-the-art quantum LSTM (QLSTM) and quantum neural network (QNN) models on air quality and wind speed benchmarks reveals that QLIF-CAST converges in up to 94% less training time, occupying a distinct position in the speed-error trade-off space. Hardware verification on IBM Marrakesh (156-qubit QPU) confirms reliable circuit execution with only 1.2% average deviation from simulation.

The unpredictability of quantum physics gives rise to intrinsic randomness. In an adversarial scenario, any additional degrees of freedom must be attributed to an eavesdropper with correlations to the measurement set-up. The true randomness is then quantified by the probability that she correctly guesses the measurement outcomes, optimised over all possible strategies. Extremal measurements are appealing here, since they do not allow information to leak to such an eavesdropper. Beyond projective measurements, however, a simple question remains open: how much intrinsic randomness can be generated by a given extremal measurement? In a step towards solving it, we characterise the randomness generated by any unbiased extremal rank-one measurement acting on any state, solving the problem explicitly in dimension two. Four-outcome qubit measurements of this type are tomographic, so these results hold for fully source-device-dependent randomness too. The tetrahedral symmetric informationally complete (SIC) measurement, we find, has the least intrinsic randomness within this class. We also present the skewed SIC family of measurements, and use them to partially solve an open problem: we prove that $2 \log d$ bits of randomness, the maximal amount, can be generated device-dependently (or source-device-independently) in any dimension in which there exists a SIC measurement.

Nonlinearity is a key resource in both classical and quantum signal processing. Nonlinear nanomechanical elements have found applications ranging from sensing to computing, while networks of nonlinear resonators, as well as nonlinearly coupled networks of linear resonators, constitute promising platforms for simulating complex dynamics. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an approach to realizing strong mechanical nonlinearity in nanomechanical resonators, fully controlled through optical laser drives. The mechanism exploits the nonlinearity of the radiation-pressure interaction in a cavity optomechanical system, which gives rise to a nonlinear optical spring effect. The resulting Duffing nonlinearity is conveniently tunable in strength via pump laser power, while its sign is controlled by laser detuning. Moreover, we demonstrate that the nonlinear optical spring mediates effective interactions between mechanical modes coupled to a common cavity, inducing tunable nonlinear interactions between them that impact spectral response and dynamics. These results establish cavity optomechanics as a versatile and in-situ reconfigurable platform for engineering nonlinear dynamics in resonators and networks.

Non-Hermitian lattices can host the non-Hermitian skin effect, a boundary-induced collapse of all bulk eigenstates into exponentially localized edge modes. This effect underlies anomalous bulk-boundary correspondence and remarkable enhancements in non-Hermitian sensing, yet direct energy-resolved access to the eigenmodes of non-Hermitian lattices has remained limited. Here we report band- and energy-resolved eigenmode spectroscopy of skin modes in a frequency synthetic dimension. By introducing strong frequency-domain boundaries in an electro-optically modulated ring resonator, we realize finite non-Hermitian lattices and use laser detuning as a spectroscopic axis for the eigenenergies of the effective Hamiltonian. Site-resolved heterodyne measurements then reconstruct the spatial profile of each mode, revealing boundary-localized skin states throughout the spectrum and their eigenenergy-dependent displacement from the edge. Beyond 1D, the same frequency-boundary architecture, upon incorporating long-range couplings between finite lattices, produces genuine 2D frequency lattices rather than the hitherto-realized folded 1D systems on twisted tubes. In these lattices we observe tunable directional transport and edge localization in two synthetic dimensions. Our results introduce eigenmode spectroscopy as a direct probe of non-Hermitian physics and establish strongly bounded frequency lattices as a flexible platform for Hamiltonian engineering.

We show that a charged fluid endowed with an internal spin degree of freedom naturally satisfies the Pauli equation for a nonrelativistic spin-1/2 particle, and that a collection of n such interacting fluids can be reformulated as an Euler flow in 3n dimensions, thereby providing a natural representation of a system of n Pauli particles. These results provide a fluid-mechanical derivation of the Pauli equation and extend the Madelung, or quantum-hydrodynamic, picture to many-particle quantum systems. In particular, they imply that an n-qubit quantum computer can, at least in principle, be realized as a suitable combination of n fluids, or equivalently as a 3n-dimensional Euler flow.

In this work, we show that a two-qubit entangled state admitting at least one pure steered state is Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steerable from Alice to Bob. Pure steered states signifies that the quantum steering ellipsoid of Bob is tangent to his Bloch sphere at least at a single point. Furthermore, we prove that for a two-qubit entangled state, Bob's quantum steering ellipsoid is tangent to his Bloch sphere at exactly $N$ points, for $N\in \{ 0,1,2,\infty\}$, if and only if Alice's quantum steering ellipsoid is tangent to her Bloch sphere at exactly $N$ points. For any two-qubit entangled state, therefore, if one party can steer the other to at least one pure state, the state is two-way EPR steerable. We also present several illuminating instances of two-qubit entangled states such that the EPR steering can be verified in terms of pure steered states. Our result addresses the Gisin theorem in a EPR steering scenario: at least a single pure steered state implies two-way steering.

Low-energy estimation and state preparation for general $k$-local Hamiltonians are fundamental challenges in quantum complexity theory. For constant relative accuracy, Buhrman et al. (PRL 2025) recently broke the natural Grover bound $O(2^{n/2})$, where $n$ denotes the number of qubits, for both problems. In this paper, for any sufficiently small parameter $d\ge 0$, we present an even faster quantum algorithm that outputs a quantum state with energy bounded by the minimum energy over all depth-$d$ states (i.e., states obtained by applying a depth-$d$ circuit to the all-zero state), together with an estimate of this energy. For the class of Hamiltonians with depth-$d$ ground states, our algorithm furthermore achieves exactly the same energy guarantees as Buhrman et al. Our results also provide insight into the distinction between strongly entangled states and those admitting efficient classical descriptions.

Counter-diabatic (CD) driving provides a powerful route to fast and robust state preparation by suppressing diabatic excitations during finite-time evolution. Yet, deriving analytical CD protocols for complex systems remains challenging, motivating the development of variational approaches. These methods typically rely on minimizing trace-based functionals to construct approximate control Hamiltonians. However, in unbounded systems, such functionals can become ill-defined because of the unbounded bosonic Hilbert space, leading to divergent cost functions and unphysical variational coefficients. Here, we introduce a variational optimization framework equipped with physically motivated renormalization schemes that regularize the trace-based metric by restricting it to relevant displaced and low-energy subspaces. As a paradigmatic example, we apply our method to the quantum Rabi model beyond the dispersive approximation and identify two distinct CD contributions that couple the atomic degree of freedom to the position and momentum quadratures of the field. These terms suppress diabatic excitations across coupling regimes ranging from strong to deep-strong light--matter interaction. We further formulate a fidelity-based quantum optimal-control strategy that bypasses the limitations of trace-based variational methods. Finally, we show that the resulting CD terms can be implemented via Floquet engineering through parametric modulation of the native Hamiltonian. Our results demonstrate that CD driving can be consistently extended to continuous-variable systems with unbounded Hilbert spaces, providing a controlled and scalable framework for quantum control in strongly interacting light-matter platforms.

We study spin-lattice relaxation times of electron spins in Er$^{3+}$:CaWO$_4$ at millikelvin temperature, detected via their coupling to a low-mode volume superconducting resonator. At large magnetic field supporting strong phonon-emission rates, we observe a noticeable increase in relaxation times with increasing spin-excitations, which exhibit a unique $[\tanh (\hbar ω_0/k_\text{B} T)]^2$ temperature dependence. These observations are typical of a phonon-bottlenecked spin relaxation, and have implications for quantum technologies that exploit rare-earth spin ensembles as coherent resources.

In the phenomenological study of exotic hadrons, the sign of the effective range, $r_0$, is invoked as a criterion to distinguish between compact multiquark configurations (associated with $r_0 < 0$) and loosely bound hadronic molecules ($r_0 > 0$). Motivated by this, we investigate the fundamental constraints on the sign of the effective range for single-channel local interactions. We rigorously prove that for finite-range potentials, characterized by an inner repulsive core and an outer attractive tail, the effective range remains strictly positive provided that the scattering length is greater than the range of the potential ($a > R$).

We study the ground-state density patterns of a population-imbalanced two-component dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a circular quasi-two-dimensional box. Using a mean-field model, we map out phase diagrams as functions of the axial confinement, interaction imbalance, and population ratio. The system supports a rich sequence of stationary morphologies, including a nearly uniform pancake state, pancake-droplet and ring-droplet coexistence states, droplet arrays, and concentric rings. These patterns show a close structural correspondence to microphase-separated morphologies in diblock-copolymer systems, with the population imbalance acting as an effective volume fraction that selects the pattern topology. Analysis of the density profiles and structure factors reveals that the modulated states possess an intrinsic nonzero characteristic wave vector, which remains essentially unchanged when the box size is varied. We also find that the characteristic pattern spacing scales linearly with the axial confinement length, indicating that the transverse thickness of the condensate controls the effective in-plane length scale. In a finite circular box, this smooth scaling is interrupted by discrete steps, reflecting geometric frustration and the integer locking of the number of rings or droplets. Our results show that box-trapped dipolar mixtures provide a controllable platform for studying finite-size pattern selection and nonlocal microphase formation in quantum fluids.

Integrated time-bin-entangled photon-pair source with cavity-enhanced nonlinear optical processes is essential for quantum information technologies. However, microcavities with a high quality factor inherently introduce a trade-off between generation efficiency and photon bandwidth, which hinders the development of high-speed quantum networks with an integrated source. Here, we address this challenge by optimizing the nonlinearity property of the material and the geometry of the integrated microring resonator with a 4H-silicon carbide platform. Operating at a loaded quality factor of 1.9 $\times$ 10^5 - spectral bandwidth of 1.0 GHz and pumped with 300-ps double pulses separated by 1.25 ns at a repetition rate of 160 MHz, the device achieves a time-bin-entangled photon-pair generation rate of 1.35 $\times$ 10^7 s^-1 mW^-2. A raw visibility of 95.55 $\pm$ 0.18% is measured, showing a violation of Bell's inequality by more than 138 standard deviations, and a fidelity of 94.37 $\pm$ 0.22% is obtained by quantum state tomography. These results provide a scalable pathway to an efficient and broadband time-bin entangled quantum light source, overcoming intrinsic limitations of cavity-based designs and advancing integrated platforms for future quantum communication networks.

Quantum contextuality provides a fundamental signature of nonclassical behavior that cannot be explained by noncontextual hidden-variable models. We propose and experimentally implement a linear-optical setup for demonstrating Kochen-Specker contextuality via a violation of the KCBS inequality using single photons. Our scheme employs sequential measurements realized with linear-optical networks and on-off photodetectors. The construction ensures that each co-measured observable is implemented by the same physical operation across different contexts. Our experimental results demonstrate a clear violation of the KCBS inequality and robustness against photon loss. Beyond fundamental investigations, the proposed setup provides a practical tool for probing non-classicality and photon-number statistics of quantum states, which in turn enables the verification of single-photon sources.

Classical microwave drives are usually treated as ideal phase-coherent work sources for superconducting-qubit control. What if such a drive is replaced by a finite quantum battery. As a demanding benchmark, we consider echo-refocused geometric Landau--Zener interferometry powered by a single quantized bosonic mode. The qubit--battery dynamics are described by a Jaynes--Cummings Hamiltonian, while the echo pulse is retained as a qubit-only refocusing operation that cancels the dynamical phase. In the macroscopic coherent-state limit, the usual classical geometric interferometer is recovered. At finite mean photon number, however, the Jaynes--Cummings coupling generates photon-number-resolved avoided crossings with gaps $Ω_n=2g\sqrt{n}$. The qubit-only echo redistributes amplitudes between neighboring excitation sectors, so the finite-battery protocol is not a single classical interferometer but a coherent sector-resolved quantum evolution. This produces contrast loss, interferogram distortions, and measurable battery back-action. We further show that reducing photon-number fluctuations alone is not sufficient: geometric control requires a first-order phase reference. Geometric Landau--Zener interferometry therefore provides a practical benchmark for certifying phase-coherent quantum-battery energy.

Quantum work statistics differ from classical ones because initial energy coherence matters. The standard two-point measurement (TPM) gives a positive distribution but erases phase information. Coherence-retaining endpoint-work quasistatistics provide a compact probe of shortcut-to-adiabaticity performance. For work defined with respect to a reference Hamiltonian, an exact counterdiabatic shortcut pulls the final reference Hamiltonian back to an operator diagonal in the initial energy basis. Endpoint Kirkwood-Dirac or Margenau-Hill quasistatistics then lose sensitivity to initial coherence and reduce to the TPM result. Imperfect shortcuts restore this sensitivity: a non-commuting control error produces off-diagonal pulled-back Hamiltonian elements at first order in the error amplitude, whereas population-only transition probabilities change only at second order. Harmonic-oscillator and qubit benchmarks confirm this linear-versus-quadratic contrast. The result complements inclusive work-cost analyses: it does not measure the auxiliary field's energetic cost, but provides a phase-sensitive endpoint diagnostic of residual nonadiabaticity.

Transmission through potential barriers is a fundamental problem in quantum mechanics. While semiclassical methods can approximate certain aspects of transmission, they fail to capture the intrinsically quantum interference associated with Wigner-function negativity. We numerically study the transmission of displaced Fock states through an inverted-oscillator barrier, with and without a Kerr nonlinearity that offers a potential route to experimental realization. These states allow only an approximate classical description, since their characteristic Wigner-function negativity is absent in phase space. The semiclassical simulation reproduces the overall transmission but deviate from exact results and fail to capture short-time plateaus that arise when regions of Wigner-function negativity cross the barrier. With the Kerr nonlinearity, reflections from nonlinear boundaries drive interference into classically forbidden regions, an effect that is inaccessible to semiclassical approaches. We find that these interference effects do not alter the maximum transmission probability, which is bounded by the initial positive-energy fraction and therefore already encoded in the phase-space structure of the Fock states. Because Fock states cannot be faithfully represented within classical phase space, the transmission through a barrier reveals fundamental limitations of semiclassical approaches.

We present a novel parameterized 4-qubit Eisert-Wilkens-Lewenstein (EWL) quantum game circuit for recommender systems in quadruple helix innovation ecosystems (academia, industry, government, and civil society). The local strategy operators $U_{i} = R_y(θ_{i})$ for each helix actor are directly tuned by normalized dominance weights extracted from real participant funding data (\texit{ecContribution}) in the European Commission CORDIS Horizon Europe database (project COVend, ID 101045956). The circuit employs a multi-qubit EWL entangler followed by parameterized local rotations, inverse entangler, and full measurement, achieving only 22 gates and circuit depth 11 while scaling as $O(n)$ for $n$-round helix communications. Measurement probabilities after the quantum game serve as recommender scores for disruptive versus sustaining innovation trends. These scores are subsequently mapped into the diagonal Dirac potential of a Dirac-Solow-Swan Hamiltonian, enabling time-evolution simulation of capital accumulation and bifurcation dynamics under disruptive innovation. Numerical experiments on real CORDIS quadruple-helix collaboration networks demonstrate the circuit's NISQ compatibility and its ability to forecast disruptive capital trajectories with high fidelity. The proposed framework bridges quantum game theory, parameterized quantum circuits, and relativistic economic growth models, offering a computationally efficient tool for innovation policy and strategic decision-making in complex socio-economic ecosystems. Complexity analysis and reproducibility are provided through open Qiskit implementations.

The barren plateau phenomenon, in which cost-function gradients of variational quantum algorithms vanish exponentially, remains a central obstacle for near-term quantum computing. Existing analyses typically depend on t-design or Haar-random assumptions and bound quantities at the level of unitary distributions, offering limited insight for designing probability measures on the parameter space of parameterized quantum circuits. In this paper, we introduce the structural $f$-divergence, a symmetric $f$-divergence-based measure between probability distributions on the parameter space. We establish analytically trade-off inequalities that bound the discrepancies in the expected gradient magnitude and in the cost-function moments between a distribution on PQC and a reference distribution; equality is attained by a minimal one-qubit, one-layer ansatz. As applications, we derive necessary conditions on probability measures for avoiding BPs and cost concentration, and sufficient conditions that suppress noise-induced deviations.

We propose a quantum sidecar architecture family for future hybrid AI training and inference. The central idea is not to store an entire Transformer in a small quantum memory, nor to claim one-shot collapse into a fully trained model or an optimal answer. Instead, we identify two physically distinct operating modes for quantum co-processors attached to classical large-model pipelines. The first is a stateful protected-register mode, in which a protected register stores a reusable quantum resource while an ancilla or temporary register performs QND-style readout. The second is a stateless reset-and-reprepare mode, in which each query prepares a task-conditioned quantum circuit, evolves over bounded training or inference control variables, measures candidate signals, resets the qubits, and repeats. We simulate the stateful mode using 2/4/6/8 protected-qubit density-matrix QND-style parity readout with one ancilla and a Qiskit cross-check. For the stateless mode, we include both an abstract candidate-update sampler and a circuit-level QAOA-style statevector sampler over structured candidate landscapes, followed by reset-overhead sensitivity analysis. The resulting framework positions quantum sidecars as bounded signal generators for optimizer-side sampling, adapter or expert selection, retrieval, routing, and reasoning-path proposal. As a speculative outlook, we introduce quantum weight-state sidecars: restricted quantum representations over model-control variables, not direct encodings of complete classical weight tensors.

Backward diffusion is a prototype ill-posed evolution: high spatial frequencies grow exponentially in time, so mesh-based time marching without explicit regularization is quickly overwhelmed by noise. Schrödingerization embeds the semidiscrete generator into Hermitian dynamics on an extended space; we ask whether McLachlan projection onto a fixed low-dimensional frame supplies a structured regularizer whose error budget can be read from a projection defect that separates full lifted propagation from the reduced trajectory. We prove uniqueness of the reduced flow, Gram-norm conservation, a lifted--reduced gap bound in terms of that defect, and perturbation estimates that highlight overlap-matrix conditioning when matrix elements are estimated statistically. We also spell out a fair classical baseline -- spectral low-pass or Tikhonov filtering on the same semidiscrete model, with bandwidth or ridge strength matched to the information content of the chosen frame -- so numerical contrasts isolate the Schrödingerized reduced pipeline rather than an unregularized Crank--Nicolson march that mainly showcases blow-up. A calibrated one-dimensional benchmark pairs a spectrally truncated reference with snapshot-built subspace evolution and finite-shot Qiskit Aer estimation, illustrating how lift, projection, and sampling layers contribute differently to the overall error.

We report the theoretical prediction and experimental observation of a new class of four-dimensional (4D) tensor singularities and their three-dimensional (3D) Euler-class descendants, protected by chiral and spacetime inversion symmetries on a superconducting circuit platform. The 4D point-like singularity/monopole, characterized by the Dixmier-Douady class of a real bundle gerbe associated with tensor gauge fields, is observed to evolve into a nodal ring carrying an additional first Euler class charge under symmetry-preserving perturbations. Dimensional reduction reveals 3D Euler and Euler curvature dipoles, exhibiting nontrivial Euler topology and a topological sum rule that ensures zero-energy flat bands inherit nontrivial topology even without interactions. Crucially, these high-dimensional degenerate systems are mapped and reconstructed using a hybrid analog-digital protocol designed for non-Abelian quantum geometry measurement within a superconducting qubit array. Our work not only expands the family of topological monopoles but also establishes a robust experimental framework for exploring high-order gauge theory and real-bundle topology across diverse quantum platforms.