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At least 181 records · Page 10

Wavelength modulation laser-induced fluorescence for plasma characterization

Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy is an essential tool for probing ion and atom velocity distribution functions (VDFs) in complex plasmas. VDFs carry information about the kinetic properties of species that is critical for plasma characterization. Accurate interpretation of these functions is challenging due to factors such as multicomponent distributions, broadening effects, and background emissions. Our research investigates the use of Wavelength Modulation (WM) LIF to enhance the sensitivity of VDF measurements. Unlike standard Amplitude Modulation (AM) methods, WM–LIF measures the derivative of the LIF signal. This approach makes variations in VDF shape more pronounced. VDF measurements with WM–LIF were investigated with both numerical modeling and experimental measurements. The developed model enables the generation of both WM and AM signals, facilitating comparative analysis of fitting outcomes. Experiments were conducted in a weakly collisional argon plasma with magnetized electrons and non-magnetized ions. Measurements of the argon ion VDFs employed a narrow-band tunable diode laser, which scanned the 4p 4 D 7/2 –3d 4 F 9/2 transition centered at 664.553 nm in vacuum. A lock-in amplifier detected the second harmonic WM signal, which was generated by modulating the laser wavelength with an externally controlled piezo-driven mirror of the diode laser. Finally, our findings indicate that the WM–LIF signal is more sensitive to fitting parameters, allowing for better identification of VDF parameters such as the number of distribution components, their temperatures, and velocities. In addition, WM–LIF can serve as an independent method to verify AM measurements and is particularly beneficial in environments with substantial light noise or background emissions, such as those involving thermionic cathodes and reflective surfaces.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Variational quantum simulation of the critical Ising model with symmetry averaging

Here we investigate the use of deep multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (DMERA) circuits as a variational ansatz. We use the exactly solvable one-dimensional critical transverse-field Ising model as a test bed. Numerically exact simulation of the quantum circuit ansatz can in this case be carried out to hundreds of qubits by exploiting efficient classical algorithms for simulating matchgate circuits. We find that, for this system, the DMERA strongly outperforms a standard quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA)–style ansatz, and that a major source of systematic error in correlation functions approximated using the DMERA is the breaking of the translational and Kramers-Wannier symmetries of the transverse-field Ising model. We are able to reduce this error by up to four orders of magnitude by symmetry averaging, without incurring additional cost in qubits or circuit depth. Here, we propose that this technique for mitigating systematic error could be applied to noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) simulations of physical systems with other symmetries.

1-dimensional spin chains↗

Laser pulse driven control of charge and spin order in the two-dimensional Kondo lattice

Fast and dynamical control of quantum phases is highly desired in the application of quantum phenomena in devices. On the experimental side, ultrafast laser pulses provide an ideal platform to induce femtosecond dynamics in a variety of materials. Here we show that a laser pulse driven heavy fermion system can be tuned to dynamically evolve into a phase, which is not present in equilibrium. Using the state-of-the-art time-dependent variational Monte Carlo method, we perform numerical simulations of realistic laser pulses applied to the Kondo lattice model. By tracking spin and charge degrees of freedom we identify a dynamical phase transition, within the partially Kondo screened phase, from a charge ordered into a metallic state, while preserving the spin order of the system. Furthermore, we propose using high-harmonic generation and nonequilibrium optical conductivity to identify the dynamical phase transition in an ultrafast experiment.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

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↗

Adaptive variational quantum eigensolvers for highly excited states

Highly excited states of quantum many-body systems are central objects in the study of quantum dynamics and thermalization that challenge classical computational methods due to their volume-law entanglement content. In this work, we explore the potential of variational quantum algorithms to approximate such states. We propose an adaptive variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) for excited states (X) that self-generates a variational ansatz for arbitrary eigenstates of a many-body Hamiltonian H by attempting to minimize the energy variance with respect to H. We benchmark the method by applying it to an Ising spin chain with integrable and nonintegrable regimes, where we calculate various quantities of interest, including the total energy, magnetization density, and entanglement entropy. We also compare the performance of adaptive VQE-X to an adaptive variant of the folded-spectrum method. For both methods, we find a strong dependence of the algorithm's performance on the choice of operator pool used for the adaptive construction of the ansatz. In particular, an operator pool including long-range two-body gates accelerates the convergence of both algorithms in the nonintegrable regime. Here, we also study the scaling of the number of variational parameters with system size, finding that an exponentially large number of parameters may be necessary to approximate individual highly excited states. Nevertheless, we argue that these methods lay a foundation for the use of quantum algorithms to study finite-energy-density properties of many-body systems.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Fixed-phase diffusion Monte Carlo study of activation gap and skyrmion excitations of a ν = 1 system in the presence of charged impurities

The discrepancy between the theoretically calculated and experimentally measured activation gaps in quantum Hall effect has long been a puzzle. We revisit this issue in the context of the v = 1 quantum Hall state, while also incorporating the skyrmion physics. We find that the finite width and the Landau level mixing effects are not sufficient to explain the observed activation gap. We further show that the presence of charged impurities located adjacent to the quantum well can cause a significant reduction in the activation gap, while also causing a suppression of the skyrmion size.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Transformer quantum state: A multipurpose model for quantum many-body problems

Here, inspired by the advancements in large language models based on transformers, we introduce the transformer quantum state (TQS): a versatile machine learning model for quantum many-body problems. In sharp contrast to Hamiltonian/task specific models, TQS can generate the entire phase diagram, predict field strengths with experimental measurements, and transfer such a knowledge to new systems it has never been trained on before, all within a single model. With specific tasks, fine-tuning the TQS produces accurate results with small computational cost. Versatile by design, TQS can be easily adapted to new tasks, thereby pointing towards a general-purpose model for various challenging quantum problems.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Preparation of the SU(3) lattice Yang-Mills vacuum with variational quantum methods

Studying QCD and other gauge theories on quantum hardware requires the preparation of physically interesting states. The variational quantum eigensolver provides a way of performing vacuum state preparation on quantum hardware. Here in this work, variational quantum eigensolver is applied to pure SU(3) lattice Yang-Mills on a single plaquette and one dimensional plaquette chains. Bayesian optimization and gradient descent were investigated for performing the classical optimization. Ansatz states for plaquette chains are constructed in a scalable manner from smaller systems using domain decomposition and a stitching procedure analogous to the density matrix renormalization group. Small examples are performed on IBM’s superconducting Manila processor.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

State preparation of lattice field theories using quantum optimal control

Here, we explore the application of quantum optimal control (QOC) techniques to state preparation of lattice field theories on quantum computers. As a first example, we focus on the Schwinger model, quantum electrodynamics in 1+1 dimensions. We demonstrate that QOC can significantly speed up the ground state preparation compared to gate-based methods, even for models with long-range interactions. Using classical simulations, we explore the dependence on the interqubit coupling strength and the device connectivity, and we study the optimization in the presence of noise. While our simulations indicate potential speedups, the results strongly depend on the device specifications. In addition, we perform exploratory studies on the preparation of thermal states. Our results motivate further studies of QOC techniques in the context of quantum simulations for fundamental physics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Dynamical Large Deviations of Two-Dimensional Kinetically Constrained Models Using a Neural-Network State Ansatz

We use a neural-network ansatz originally designed for the variational optimization of quantum systems to study dynamical large deviations in classical ones. We use recurrent neural networks to describe the large deviations of the dynamical activity of model glasses, kinetically constrained models in two dimensions. We present the first finite size-scaling analysis of the large-deviation functions of the two-dimensional Fredrickson-Andersen model, and explore the spatial structure of the high-activity sector of the South-or-East model. These results provide a new route to the study of dynamical large-deviation functions, and highlight the broad applicability of the neural-network state ansatz across domains in physics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Possible Superconductivity with a Bogoliubov Fermi Surface in a Lightly Doped Kagome U(1) Spin Liquid

Whether the doped t-J model on the Kagome lattice supports exotic superconductivity has not been decisively answered. In this paper, we propose a new class of variational states for this model and perform large-scale variational Monte Carlo simulation on it. The proposed variational states are parameterized by the SU(2)-gauge-rotation angles, as the SU(2)-gauge structure hidden in the Gutzwiller-projected mean-field ansatz for the undoped model is broken upon doping. These variational doped states smoothly connect to the previously studied U(1) π-flux or 0-flux states, and energy minimization among them yields a chiral noncentrosymmetric nematic superconducting state with 2 × 2-enlarged unit cell. Moreover, this pair density wave state possesses a finite Fermi surface for the Bogoliubov quasi particles. We further study experimentally relevant properties of this intriguing pairing state.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Convex Optimization for Nonequilibrium Steady States on a Hybrid Quantum Processor

Finding the transient and steady state properties of open quantum systems is a central problem in various fields of quantum technologies. Here, in this work, we present a quantum-assisted algorithm to determine the steady states of open system dynamics. By reformulating the problem of finding the fixed point of Lindblad dynamics as a feasibility semidefinite program, we bypass several well-known issues with variational quantum approaches to solving for steady states. We demonstrate that our hybrid approach allows us to estimate the steady states of higher dimensional open quantum systems and discuss how our method can find multiple steady states for systems with symmetries.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Neuralized fermionic tensor networks for quantum many-body systems

In this work, we describe a class of neuralized fermionic tensor network states (NN-fTNSs) that introduce nonlinearity into fermionic tensor networks through configuration-dependent neural network transformations of the local tensors. The construction uses the fTNS algebra to implement a natural fermionic sign structure and is compatible with standard tensor network algorithms but gains enhanced expressivity through the neural network parametrization. Using the 1D and 2D Fermi-Hubbard models as benchmarks, we demonstrate that NN-fTNSs achieve order of magnitude improvements in the ground-state energy compared to pure fTNSs with the same bond dimension and can be systematically improved through both the tensor network bond dimension and the neural network parametrization. Compared to existing fermionic neural quantum states based on Slater determinants and Pfaffians, NN-fTNSs offer a physically motivated alternative fermionic structure. Furthermore, compared to such states, NN-fTNSs naturally exhibit improved computational scaling and we demonstrate a construction that achieves linear scaling with the lattice size.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

PNNL-CompBio/bayesian-inference

Bayesian Metabolic Inference is a platform to integrate genome-scale multi-omics data into an iterative method to obtain optimized recommendations for optimal target compound production. This method uses a variational inference approach to approximate new posterior data to analyze in order to obtain useful correlations and control coefficients.

Kumar, Neeraj↗

Enhancing Short-Range Weather Forecasts through Temporal Variation Encoding: A Multiperiod Embedding Approach

Machine learning (ML) techniques have emerged as promising approaches to improve regional weather forecast accuracy and reliability through data-driven methods. We propose a novel ML-based weather forecasting model, the Multiperiod Embed Net (MPENet). A key distinguishing feature of MPENet is its explicit utilization of the inherent cyclic nature in weather dynamics, unlike the autoregressive strategies commonly used in other ML weather forecasting approaches. Critical cyclic structures are identified via Fourier analyses of dynamic time series. Cyclicity in the convolutional representation is achieved by transforming one-dimensional time series of meteorological variables into two-dimensional tensors based on identified periods. This approach enables the model to leverage intrinsic weather patterns, enhancing regional forecast performance. To demonstrate the effectiveness of MPENet, we conduct a comparative analysis with Nvidia’s FourCastNet. Both models are trained on High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) data from 2015 to 2022, over a 192 km × 192 km region in Tennessee. The comparisons are performed locally at two specific locations known to have different weather dynamics due to orographic effects: Crossville, on the relatively flat Cumberland Plateau with fewer topographic airflow disruptions, and Oak Ridge, in the ridge-and-valley region, where airflow is heavily influenced by surrounding valleys and mountains. Our results indicate that FourCastNet achieves strong accuracy at very short lead times, while MPENet maintains competitive skill and shows advantages in capturing temporal evolution over longer periods. Cross-correlation analyses of MPENet and FourCastNet predictions with the HRRR data suggest that encoding critical cyclicity into the network architecture leads to improvements in the forecasting skill.

Artificial intelligence↗

Subsurface Trend Analysis domains for the northern Gulf of Mexico

Geologic domains for the northern Gulf of Mexico derived using the Subsurface Trend Analysis (STA) method. The domains were postulated using geologic province, lithologic, and structural information and validated using statistical methods. Publication detailing the STA method: Rose, K., Bauer, J.R., and Mark-Moser, M. (2020) Subsurface trend analysis, a multi-variate geospatial approach for subsurface evaluation and uncertainty reduction, Interpretation, vol. 8, issue 1 https://library.seg.org/doi/abs/10.1190/int-2019-0019.1 Detailed discussion of domain formation and analysis: Mark-Moser, M., Miller, R., Bauer, J., Rose, K., and C. Disenhof. 2018, Analysis of Subsurface Reservoir Properties Using a Novel Geospatial Approach, Offshore Gulf of Mexico. NETL-TRS-2018 https://edx.netl.doe.gov/dataset/detailed-analysis-of-geospatial-trends-of-hydrocarbon-accumulations-offshore-gulf-of-mexico

geology↗

Jet noise

The main conclusions reached are: (1) At low subsonic jet exhaust velocities, jet noise varies as the velocity to the eighth power; (2) at high subsonic exhaust velocities, jet noise approaches a variation with velocity to the third power; (3) use of the jet density squared overcorrects density effects on jet noise; (4) subsonic and supersonic jet noise levels can be predicted; and (6) use of multielement nozzles and acoustically lined ejectors significantly suppress jet noise at intermediate jet exhaust velocities.

Vonglahn, U. H.↗