Condensed Matter

We derive the Gardner storage capacity for associative networks of threshold linear units, and show that with Hebbian learning they can operate closer to such Gardner bound than binary networks, and even surpass it. This is largely achieved through a sparsification of the retrieved patterns, which we analyze for theoretical and empirical distributions of activity. As reaching the optimal capacity via non-local learning rules like backpropagation requires slow and neurally implausible training procedures, our results indicate that one-shot self-organized Hebbian learning can be just as efficient.

Density functional theory underlies the most successful and widely used numerical methods for electronic structure prediction of solids. However, it has the fundamental shortcoming that the universal density functional is unknown. In addition, the computational result---energy and charge density distribution of the ground state---is useful for electronic properties of solids mostly when reduced to a band structure interpretation based on the Kohn-Sham approach. Here, we demonstrate how machine learning algorithms can help to free density functional theory from these limitations. We study a theory of spinless fermions on a one-dimensional lattice. The density functional is implicitly represented by a neural network, which predicts, besides the ground-state energy and density distribution, density-density correlation functions. At no point do we require a band structure interpretation. The training data, obtained via exact diagonalization, feeds into a learning scheme inspired by active learning, which minimizes the computational costs for data generation. We show that the network results are of high quantitative accuracy and, despite learning on random potentials, capture both symmetry-breaking and topological phase transitions correctly.

We explore correlations of eigenstates around the many-body localization (MBL) transition in their dependence on the energy difference (frequency) ω and disorder W . In addition to the genuine many-body problem, XXZ spin chain in random field, we consider localization on random regular graphs (RRG) that serves as a toy model of the MBL transition. Both models show a very similar behavior. On the localized side of the transition, the eigenstate correlation function β(ω) shows a power-law enhancement of correlations with lowering ω ; the corresponding exponent depends on W . The correlation between adjacent-in-energy eigenstates exhibits a maximum at the transition point W c , visualizing the drift of W c with increasing system size towards its thermodynamic-limit value. The correlation function β(ω) is related, via Fourier transformation, to the Hilbert-space return probability. We discuss measurement of such (and related) eigenstate correlation functions on state-of-the-art quantum computers and simulators.

An interacting quantum system can transition from an ergodic to a many-body localized (MBL) phase under the presence of sufficiently large disorder. Both phases are radically different in their dynamical properties, which are characterized by highly excited eigenstates of the Hamiltonian. Each eigenstate can be characterized by the set of quantum numbers over the set of (local, in the MBL phase) integrals of motion of the system. In this work we study the evolution of the eigenstates of the disordered Heisenberg model as the disorder strength, W , is varied adiabatically. We focus on the probability that two `colliding' eigenstates hybridize as a function of both the range R at which they differ as well as the strength of their hybridization. We find, in the MBL phase, that the probability of a colliding eigenstate hybridizing strongly at range R decays as Pr(R)∝exp[−R/η] , with a length scale η(W)=1/(Blog(W/ W c )) which diverges at the critical disorder strength W c . This leads to range-invariance at the transition, suggesting the formation of resonating cat states at all ranges. This range invariance does not survive to the ergodic phase, where hybridization is exponentially more likely at large range, a fact that can be understood with simple combinatorial arguments. In fact, compensating for these combinatorial effects allows us to define an additional correlation length ξ in the MBL phase which is in excellent agreement with previous works and which takes the critical value 1/log(2) at the transition, found in previous works to destabilize the MBL phase. Finally, we show that deep in the MBL phase hybridization is dominated by two-level collisions of eigenstates close in energy.

We obtained analytically eigenvalues of a multidimensional Ising Hamiltonian on a hypercube lattice and expressed them in terms of spin-spin interaction constants and the eigenvalues of the one-dimensional Ising Hamiltonian (the latter are well known). To do this we wrote down the multidimensional Hamiltonian eigenvectors as the Kronecker products of the eigenvectors of the one-dimensional Ising Hamiltonian. For periodic boundary conditions, it is possible to obtain exact results taking into account interactions with an unlimited number of neighboring spins. In this paper, we present exact expressions for the eigenvalues for the planar and cubic Ising systems accounting for the first five coordination spheres (that is interactions with the nearest neighbors, the next neighbors, the next-next neighbors, the next-next-next neighbors and the next-next-next-next neighbors). In the case of free-boundary systems, we showed that in the two- and three-dimensions the exact expressions could be obtained only if we account for interactions with spins of first two coordination spheres and first three coordination spheres, respectively.

We report on non equilibrium field effect in insulating amorphous NbSi thin films having different Nb contents and thicknesses. The hallmark of an electron glass, namely the logarithmic growth of a memory dip in conductance versus gate voltage curves, is observed in all the films after a cooling from room temperature to 4.2 K. A very rich phenomenology is demonstrated. While the memory dip width is found to strongly vary with the film parameters, as was also observed in amorphous indium oxide films, screening lengths and temperature dependence of the dynamics are closer to what is observed in granular Al films. Our results demonstrate that the differentiation between continuous and discontinuous systems is not relevant to understand the discrepancies reported between various systems in the electron glass features. We suggest instead that they are not of fundamental nature and stem from differences in the protocols used and in the electrical inhomogeneity length scales within each material.

Percolation theory dictates an intuitive picture depicting correlated regions in complex systems as densely connected clusters. While this picture might be adequate at small scales and apart from criticality, we show that highly correlated sites in complex systems can be inherently disconnected. This finding indicates a counter-intuitive organization of dynamical correlations, where functional similarity decouples from physical connectivity. We illustrate the phenomena on the example of the Disordered Contact Process (DCP) of infection spreading in heterogeneous systems. We apply numerical simulations and an asymptotically exact renormalization group technique (SDRG) in 1, 2 and 3 dimensional systems as well as in two-dimensional lattices with long-ranged interactions. We conclude that the critical dynamics is well captured by mostly one, highly correlated, but spatially disconnected cluster. Our findings indicate that at criticality the relevant, simultaneously infected sites typically do not directly interact with each other. Due to the similarity of the SDRG equations, our results hold also for the critical behavior of the disordered quantum Ising model, leading to quantum correlated, yet spatially disconnected, magnetic domains.

The mechanical response of naturally abundant amorphous solids such as gels, jammed grains, and biological tissues are not described by the conventional paradigm of broken symmetry that defines crystalline elasticity. In contrast, the response of such athermal solids are governed by local conditions of mechanical equilibrium, i.e., force and torque balance of its constituents. Here we show that these constraints have the mathematical structure of a generalized electromagnetism, where the electrostatic limit successfully captures the anisotropic elasticity of amorphous solids. The emergence of elasticity from local mechanical constraints offers a new paradigm for systems with no broken symmetry, analogous to emergent gauge theories of quantum spin liquids. Specifically, our U(1) rank-2 symmetric tensor gauge theory of elasticity translates to the electromagnetism of fractonic phases of matter with the stress mapped to electric displacement and forces to vector charges. We corroborate our theoretical results with numerical simulations of soft frictionless disks in both two and three dimensions, and experiments on frictional disks in two dimensions. We also present experimental evidence indicating that force chains in granular media are sub-dimensional excitations of amorphous elasticity similar to fractons.

Strongly disordered systems in the many-body localized (MBL) phase can exhibit ground state order in highly excited eigenstates. The interplay between localization, symmetry, and topology has led to the characterization of a broad landscape of MBL phases ranging from spin glasses and time crystals to symmetry protected topological phases. Understanding the nature of phase transitions between these different forms of eigenstate order remains an essential open question. Here, we conjecture that no direct transition between distinct MBL orders can occur; rather, a thermal phase always intervenes. Motivated by recent advances in Rydberg-atom-based quantum simulation, we propose an experimental protocol where the intervening thermal phase can be diagnosed via the dynamics of local observables.

We report in this paper our numerical analysis of energy level spacing statistics for the one-dimensional spin- 1/2 XXZ model in random on-site longitudinal magnetic fields B i ( −h≤ B i ≤h )). We concentrate on the strong disorder limit J ⊥ << J z ,h) where J z and J ⊥ are the (nearest neighbor) spin interaction strength in z - and planar ( xy )- directions, respectively. The system is expected to be in a many-body localized (MBL) state in this parameter regime. By analyzing the energy-level spacing statistics as a function of strength of random magnetic field h , energy of the many-body state E , the number of spin- ↑ particles in the system M= ∑ i ( s z i + 1 2 ) and the spin interaction strengths J z and J ⊥ , we show that there exists a small parameter region J z ∼h where ergodic behaviour emerges at the middle of the many-body energy spectrum when M∼ N 2 ( N= length of spin chain). The emerging ergodic phase shows qualitatively different behaviour compared with the usual ergodic phase that exists in the weak-disorder limit.