Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Time Evolution”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 181 records · Page 10

A Practical Framework for Simulating Time-Resolved Spectroscopy Based on a Real-Time Dyson Expansion

Time-resolved spectroscopy is a powerful tool for probing electron dynamics in molecules and solids, revealing transient phenomena on subfemtosecond time scales. The interpretation of experimental results is often enhanced by parallel numerical studies, which can provide insight and validation for experimental hypotheses. However, developing a theoretical framework for simulating time-resolved spectra remains a significant challenge. The most suitable approach involves the many-body nonequilibrium Green's function formalism, which accounts for crucial dynamical many-body correlations during time evolution. While these dynamical correlations are essential for observing emergent behavior in time-resolved spectra, they also render the formalism prohibitively expensive for large-scale simulations. Substantial effort has been devoted to reducing this computational cost─through approximations and numerical techniques─while preserving the key dynamical correlations. The ultimate goal is to enable first-principles simulations of time-dependent systems ranging from small molecules to large, periodic, multidimensional solids. Here, in this perspective, we outline key challenges in developing practical simulations for time-resolved spectroscopy, with a particular focus on Green's function methodologies. We highlight a recent advancement toward a scalable framework: the real-time Dyson expansion (RT-DE) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 2024, 133, 226902]. We introduce the theoretical foundation of RT-DE and discuss strategies for improving scalability, which have already enabled simulations of system sizes beyond the reach of previous fully dynamical approaches. We conclude with an outlook on future directions for extending RT-DE to first-principles studies of dynamically correlated, nonequilibrium systems.

Reeves, Cian C. [Univ. of California, Santa Barbar↗

Impact of bar resonances in the velocity–space distribution of the solar neighbourhood stars in a self-consistent N -body Galactic disc simulation

ABSTRACT The velocity–space distribution of the solar neighbourhood stars shows complex substructures. Most of the previous studies use static potentials to investigate their origins. Instead we use a self-consistent N-body model of the Milky Way, whose potential is asymmetric and evolves with time. In this paper, we quantitatively evaluate the similarities of the velocity–space distributions in the N-body model and that of the solar neighbourhood, using Kullback–Leibler divergence (KLD). The KLD analysis shows the time evolution and spatial variation of the velocity–space distribution. The KLD fluctuates with time, which indicates the velocity–space distribution at a fixed position is not always similar to that of the solar neighbourhood. Some positions show velocity–space distributions with small KLDs (high similarities) more frequently than others. One of them locates at $(R,\phi)=(8.2\,\,\rm{\mathrm{kpc}}, 30^\circ)$, where R and ϕ are the distance from the galactic centre and the angle with respect to the bar’s major axis, respectively. The detection frequency is higher in the inter-arm regions than in the arm regions. In the velocity maps with small KLDs, we identify the velocity–space substructures, which consist of particles trapped in bar resonances. The bar resonances have significant impact on the stellar velocity–space distribution even though the galactic potential is not static.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Diagnosis of information scrambling from Hamiltonian evolution under decoherence

We apply a quantum teleportation protocol based on the Hayden-Preskill thought experiment to quantify how scrambling a given quantum evolution is. It has an advantage over the direct measurement of out-of time ordered correlators when used to diagnose the information scrambling in the presence of decoherence effects stemming from a noisy quantum device. We demonstrate the protocol by applying it to two physical systems: Ising spin chain and SU(2) lattice Yang-Mills theory. To this end, we numerically simulate the time evolution of the two theories in the Hamiltonian formalism. The lattice Yang-Mills theory is implemented with a suitable truncation of Hilbert space on the basis of the Kogut-Susskind formalism. On a two-leg ladder geometry and with the lowest nontrivial spin representations, it can be mapped to a spin chain, which we call Yang-Mills-Ising model and is also directly applicable to future digital quantum simulations. Here, we find that the Yang-Mills-Ising model shows the signal of information scrambling at late times.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Gate-Based Quantum Simulation of Gaussian Bosonic Circuits on Exponentially Many Modes

We introduce a framework for simulating, on an ( n + 1 )-qubit quantum computer, the action of a Gaussian bosonic (GB) circuit on a state over 2 n modes. Specifically, we encode the initial bosonic state’s expectation values over quadrature operators (and their covariance matrix) as an input qubit state. This is then evolved by a quantum circuit that effectively implements the symplectic propagators induced by the GB gates. We find families of GB circuits and initial states leading to efficient quantum simulations. For this purpose, we introduce a dictionary that maps between GB and qubit gates such that particle- (non-particle-) preserving GB gates lead to real- (imaginary-) time evolutions at the qubit level. For the special case of particle-preserving circuits, we present a bounded-error-quantum-polynomial time (BQP)-complete GB decision problem, indicating that GB evolutions of Gaussian states on exponentially many modes are as powerful as universal quantum computers. We also perform numerical simulations of an interferometer on ∼ 8 × 10 9 modes, illustrating the power of our framework. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Foundations of variational discrete action theory

Variational wave functions and Green's functions are two important paradigms for solving quantum Hamiltonians, each having their own advantages. Here we detail the variational discrete action theory (VDAT), which exploits the advantages of both paradigms in order to approximately solve the ground state of quantum Hamiltonians. VDAT consists of two central components: the sequential product density matrix (SPD) ansatz and a discrete action associated with the SPD. The SPD is a variational ansatz inspired by the Trotter decomposition and characterized by an integer $\mathscr{N}$, recovering many well-known variational wave functions, in addition to the exact solution for $\mathscr{N}$ = ∞. The discrete action describes all dynamical information of an effective integer time evolution with respect to the SPD. We generalize the path integral to our integer time formalism, which converts a dynamic correlation function in integer time to a static correlation function in a compound space. We also generalize the usual many-body Green's function formalism to integer time, which results in analogous but distinct mathematical structures, yielding integer time versions of the generating functional, Dyson equation, and Bethe-Salpeter equation. We prove that the SPD can be exactly evaluated in the multiband Anderson impurity model (AIM) by summing a finite number of diagrams. For the multiband Hubbard model, we prove that the self-consistent canonical discrete action approximation (SCDA), which is the integer time analog of the dynamical mean-field theory, exactly evaluates the SPD for d = ∞. VDAT within the SCDA provides an efficient yet reliable method for capturing the local physics of quantum lattice models, which will have broad applications for strongly correlated electron materials. More generally, VDAT should find applications in various many-body problems in physics.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Probing black hole microstate evolution with networks and random walks

We model black hole microstates and quantum tunneling transitions between them with networks and simulate their time evolution using well-established tools in network theory. In particular, we consider two models based on Bena-Warner three-charge multi-centered microstates and one model based on the D1-D5 system; we use network theory methods to determine how many centers (or D1-D5 string strands) we expect to see in a typical late-time state. We find three distinct possible phases in parameter space for the late-time behaviour of these networks, which we call ergodic, trapped, and amplified, depending on the relative importance and connectedness of microstates. We analyze in detail how these different phases of late-time behavior are related to the underlying physics of the black hole microstates. Our results indicate that the expected properties of microstates at late times cannot always be determined simply by entropic arguments; typicality is instead a highly non-trivial, emergent property of the full Hilbert space of microstates.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Variable-density buoyancy-driven turbulence with asymmetric initial density distribution

The effects of different initial density distributions on the evolution of buoyancy-driven homogeneous variable-density turbulence (HVDT) at low (0.05) and high (0.75) Atwood numbers are studied by using high-resolution direct numerical simulations. HVDT aims to mimic the acceleration-driven Rayleigh–Taylor and shock-driven Richtmyer–Meshkov instabilities and reveals new physics that arise from variable-density effects on the turbulent mixing. Here, the initial amounts of pure light and pure heavy flows are altered primarily to mimic the variable-density turbulence at the different locations of the Rayleigh–Taylor and Richtmyer–Meshkov instabilities’ mixing layers where the amounts of the mixing fluids are not equal. It is found that for the low Atwood number cases, the asymmetric initial density distribution has limited effects on both global and local flow evolution for HVDT. However, at high Atwood number, both global flow evolution and the local flow structures are strongly affected by the initial composition ratio. The flow composed of more light fluid reaches higher turbulent levels and the local statistics reach their fully-developed behavior earlier in the time evolution. In contrast, during the late time decay, where most of the flow is well-mixed, all parameters become independent of the initial composition ratio for both low and high Atwood number cases.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Detecting superconductivity out of equilibrium

Recent pump-probe experiments on underdoped cuprates and similar systems suggest the existence of a transient superconducting state above Tc. This poses the question of how to reliably identify the emergence of long-range order, in particular superconductivity, out of equilibrium. We investigate this point by studying a quantum quench in an extended Hubbard model and by computing various observables, which are used to identify (quasi-)long-range order in equilibrium. Our findings imply that, in contrast to current experimental studies, it does not suffice to study the time evolution of the optical conductivity to identify superconductivity. In turn, we suggest to utilize time-resolved angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments to probe for the formation of a condensate in the two-particle channel.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Real-time quantum calculations of phase shifts using wave packet time delays

We present a method to extract the phase shift of a scattering process using the real-time evolution in the early and intermediate stages of the collision in order to estimate the time delay of a wave packet. This procedure is convenient when using noisy quantum computers for which the asymptotic out-state behavior is unreachable. We demonstrate that the challenging Fourier transforms involved in the state preparation and measurements can be implemented in 1+1 dimensions with current trapped ion devices and IBM quantum computers. We compare quantum computations of the time delays obtained in the one-particle quantum mechanics limit and the scalable quantum field theory formulation with accurate numerical results. We discuss the finite volume effects in the Wigner formula connecting time delays to phase shifts. The results reported involve two- and four-qubit calculations, and we discuss the possibility of larger scale computations in the near future.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Entanglement entropy production in deep inelastic scattering

Deep inelastic scattering (DIS) samples a part of the wave function of a hadron in the vicinity of the light cone. Lipatov constructed a spin chain which describes the amplitude of DIS in leading logarithmic approximation. Kharzeev and Levin proposed the entanglement entropy as an observable in DIS [Phys. Rev. D 95, 114008 (2017)], and suggested a relation between the entanglement entropy and parton distributions. Here we represent the DIS process as a local quench in Lipatov’s spin chain and study the time evolution of the produced entanglement entropy. We show that the resulting entanglement entropy depends on time logarithmically, $\mathcal{S}(t) = 1/3 ln(t/τ)$ with $τ = 1/m for 1/m ≤ t ≤ (mx)^{–1}$, where m is the proton mass and $\textit{x}$ is the Bjorken $\textit{x}$. The central charge c of Lipatov’s spin chain is determined here to be $\textit{c}$ = 1; using the proposed relation between the entanglement entropy and parton distributions, this corresponds to the gluon structure function growing at small $\textit{x}$ as $xG(x) ~ 1/x^{1/3}$.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Jet-associated deuteron production in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ =13 TeV

Deuteron production in high-energy collisions is sensitive to the space–time evolution of the collision system, and is typically described by a coalescence mechanism. For the first time, we present results on jet-associated deuteron production in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ =13 TeV, providing an opportunity to test the established picture for deuteron production in events with a hard scattering. Using a trigger particle with high transverse-momentum (p T > GeV/c) as a proxy for the presence of a jet at midrapidity, we observe a measurable population of deuterons being produced around the jet proxy. The associated deuteron yield measured in a narrow angular range around the trigger particle differs by 2.4–4.8 standard deviations from the uncorrelated background. The data are described by PYTHIA model calculations featuring baryon coalescence.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The turbulence driving parameter of molecular clouds in disc galaxies

ABSTRACT Supersonic turbulence plays a pivotal role during the formation of molecular clouds and stars in galaxies. However, little is known about how the fraction of compressive and solenoidal modes in the velocity field evolves over time and how it depends on properties of the molecular cloud or the galactic environment. In this work, we carry out magnetohydrodynamical simulations of disc galaxies and study the time evolution of the turbulence driving parameter for an ensemble of clouds. We find that the time-averaged turbulence driving parameter is insensitive to the position of the cloud within the galaxy. The ensemble-averaged driving parameter is found to be rather compressive with b ∼ 0.5–0.7, indicating almost time-independent global star formation properties. However, each individual cloud shows a highly fluctuating driving parameter, which would strongly affect the cloud’s star formation rate. We find that the mode of turbulence driving can rapidly change within only a few Myr, both from solenoidal to compressive and vice versa. We attribute these changes to cloud collisions and to tidal interactions with clouds or overdensities in the environment. Last, we find no significant differences in the average driving parameter between hydrodynamic and initially strongly magnetized galaxies. However, the magnetic field tends to reduce the overall fluctuation of the driving parameter. The average driving and its uncertainty are seen to be in agreement with recent constraints on the turbulence driving mode for solar neighbourhood clouds.

Körtgen, Bastian↗

Polarity dependent heating at the phase interface in metal-insulator transitions

We show that in a model of a metal photoexcited by a transient pump pulse resonant with a phonon mode, the absolute dc conductivity may become negative, depending on the interplay between the electronic structure, the phonon frequency, and the pump intensity. The analysis includes the effects of inelastic scattering and thermal relaxation. Results for the time evolution of the negative conductivity state are presented; the associated nonequilibrium physics may persist for long times after the pulse. Furthermore, our findings provide a theoretical justification for previously proposed phenomenology and indicate new routes to the generation and exploration of intrinsically nonequilibrium states.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Universal time scalings of sensitivity in Markovian quantum metrology

Assuming Markovian time evolution of a quantum sensing system, we study the general characterization of the optimal sensitivity scalings with time, under most general quantum control protocols. We allow the estimated parameter to influence both the Hamiltonian as well as the dissipative part of the quantum master equation and focus on the asymptotic-time along with the short-time sensitivity scalings. We find that via simple algebraic conditions (in terms of the Hamiltonian, the jump operators as well as their parameter derivatives), one can characterize the four classes of metrological models that represent: quadratic-linear, quadratic-quadratic, linear-linear, and linear-quadratic time scalings. We also investigate the relevant time scales on which the transition between the two regimes appears. Additionally, we provide universal numerical methods to obtain quantitative bounds on sensitivity that are the tightest that exist in the literature. Simplicity and universality of our results make it suitable for diverse applications in quantum metrology.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Electron-mediated entanglement of two distant macroscopic ferromagnets within a nonequilibrium spintronic device

Using the nascent concept of quantum spin-transfer torque, we demonstrate that a current pulse can be harnessed to entangle quantum localized spins of two spatially separated ferromagnets (FMs) which are initially unentangled. The envisaged setup is composed of a spin-polarizer (FM p ) and a spin-analyzer (FM a ) FM layers separated by a normal metal (NM) spacer. The injection of a current pulse into the device leads to a time-dependent superposition of many-body states characterized by a high degree of entanglement between the spin degrees of freedom of the two distant FM layers. The nonequilibrium dynamics are due to the transfer of spin angular momentum from itinerant electrons to the localized spins via a quantum spin-torque mechanism that remains active even for collinear but antiparallel arrangements of the FM p and FM a magnetizations (a situation in which the conventional spin torque is absent). We quantify the mixed-state entanglement generated between the FM layers by tracking the time evolution of the full density matrix and analyzing the build-up of the mutual logarithmic negativity over time. The effect of decoherence and dissipation in the FM layers due to coupling to bosonic baths at finite temperature, the use of multielectron current pulses, and the dependence on the number of spins are also considered in an effort to ascertain the robustness of our predictions under realistic conditions. Lastly, we propose a “current-pump–x-ray-probe” scheme, utilizing ultrafast x-ray spectroscopy, that can witness nonequilibrium and transient entanglement of the FM layers by extracting its time-dependent quantum Fisher information.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Out-of-equilibrium Majorana zero modes in interacting Kitaev chains

Here, we employ a time-dependent real-space local density-of-states method to study the movement and fusion of Majorana zero modes in the one-dimensional interacting Kitaev model, based on the time evolution of many-body states. We analyze the dynamics and both fusion channels of Majoranas using time-dependent potentials, either creating walls or wells. For fast moving Majoranas, we unveil nonequilibrium signatures of the “strong-zero-mode” operator (quasiparity degeneracy in the full spectrum) and its breakdown in the presence of repulsive Coulomb interactions. Focusing on forming a full electron after fusion, we also discuss the upper and lower limits on the Majorana speed needed to reduce nonadiabatic effects and to avoid poisoning due to decoherence.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Single-ancilla ground state preparation via Lindbladians

We design a quantum algorithm for ground state preparation in the early fault tolerant regime. As a Monte Carlo style quantum algorithm, our method features a Lindbladian where the target state is stationary. The construction of this Lindbladian is algorithmic and should not be seen as a specific approximation to some weakly coupled system-bath dynamics in nature. Our algorithm can be implemented using just one ancilla qubit and efficiently simulated on a quantum computer. It can prepare the ground state even when the initial state has zero overlap with the ground state, bypassing the most significant limitation of methods like quantum phase estimation. As a variant, we also propose a discrete-time algorithm, demonstrating even better efficiency and providing a near-optimal simulation cost depending on the desired evolution time and precision. Numerical simulations using Ising and Hubbard models demonstrate the efficacy and applicability of our method. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Ding, Zhiyan (ORCID:000000018863403X)↗