Javier del Pino

The quantum simulation of dynamical gauge field theories offers the opportunity to study complex high-energy physics with controllable low-energy devices. For quantum computation, bosonic codes promise robust error correction that exploits multiparticle redundancy in bosons. Here, we demonstrate how bosonic codes can be used to simulate dynamical gauge fields. We encode both matter and dynamical gauge fields in a network of resonators that are coupled via three-wave mixing. The mapping to a Z2 dynamical lattice gauge theory is established when the gauge resonators operate as Schrödinger cat states. We explore the optimal conditions under which the system preserves the required gauge symmetries. Our findings promote realizing high-energy models using bosonic codes.

HarmonicBalance.jl is a publicly available Julia package designed to simplify and solve systems of periodic time-dependent nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Time dependence of the system parameters is treated with the harmonic balance method, which approximates the system’s behaviour as a set of harmonic terms with slowly-varying amplitudes. Under this approximation, the set of all possible steady-state responses follows from the solution of a polynomial system. In HarmonicBalance.jl, we combine harmonic balance with contemporary implementations of symbolic algebra and the homotopy continuation method to numerically determine all steady-state solutions and their associated fluctuation dynamics. For the exploration of involved steady-state topologies, we provide a simple graphical user interface, allowing for arbitrary solution observables and phase diagrams. HarmonicBalance.jl is a free software available at https://github.com/NonlinearOscillations/HarmonicBalance.jl.

Imposing chirality on a physical system engenders unconventional energy flow and responses, such as the Aharonov-Bohm effect and the topological quantum Hall phase for electrons in a symmetry-breaking magnetic field. Recently, great interest has arisen in combining that principle with broken Hermiticity to explore novel topological phases and applications. Here, we report unique phononic states formed when combining the controlled breaking of time-reversal symmetry with non-Hermitian dynamics, both induced through time-modulated radiation pressure forces in small nano-optomechanical networks. We observe chiral energy flow among mechanical resonators in a synthetic dimension and Aharonov-Bohm tuning of their hybridised modes. Introducing particle-non-conserving squeezing interactions, we discover a non-Hermitian Aharonov-Bohm effect in ring-shaped networks in which mechanical quasiparticles experience parametric gain. The resulting nontrivial complex mode spectra indicate flux-tuning of squeezing, exceptional points, instabilities and unidirectional phononic amplification. This rich new phenomenology points the way to the exploration of new non-Hermitian topological bosonic phases and applications in sensing and transport that exploit spatiotemporal symmetry breaking.