Seminars And Colloquia Next Week

We use tensor network methods to construct an approximate Hamiltonian for the lattice Abelian Higgs model. Using numerical methods, we show that for small systems in 1+1 dimensions, the real-time evolution of a particle-antiparticle initial state has features that can be interpreted as string breaking. We present analog implementations of this evolution using arrays of Rydberg atoms and compare with the target model.

Our long term goal is to integrate the quantum simulation in event generators like Pythia.

Recently, ladder-shaped arrays of Rydberg atoms have been used to simulate scalar QED in 1+1 dimensions. This type of analog quantum simulator has a rich phase diagram which has been explored experimentally using QuEra facilities. We report recent results regarding the observation of a floating phase (2401.08087) and the derivation of an effective Hamiltonian (2312.04436) for the simulator. Entanglement entropy plays a crucial role in the determination of the phase diagram. We describe a recent proposal (2404.09935 ) to extract the entanglement entropy with user-driven QuEra measurements of a single copy of the system instead of the twin copy method. We show empirically that this estimation provides a lower bound which becomes tighter when the empirical probabilities are filtered. 

TBA

Black holes are utterly simple to describe---regions of space from which nothing can escape---but nevertheless have profound implications across widely disparate fields of physics.  The study of quantum effects near black holes challenges our most basic notions of quantum information, while observational astronomy demands black holes as an energizing power source for a huge variety of spectacular displays.  After reviewing the history of the black hole idea and describing their role in modern astronomy and quantum gravity, I will turn to two recent developments in the two fields.  On the astronomy side, I will discuss black hole imaging and a proposed space mission, the Black Hole Explorer, that will measure light that has orbited the black hole before arriving at the detector.  On the fundamental physics side, I will discuss the recent discovery that black holes decohere all quantum superpositions, even those held far outside the horizon.  These topics are united by the remarkable conceptual depth that emerges from the simple underlying description of a black hole.