Kinetics and Entanglement in Quantum Devices

非技术总结该奖项支持有关纳米设备中依赖时间的现象的研究和教育，例如热和电荷的传递。最近信息技术的进步已经远远超过了六七十年代科幻小说家们最疯狂的梦想。这场仍在展开的革命的基石是对半导体材料的详尽理论理解。它完全基于量子力学，使技术能够制造和封装每平方厘米数十亿个晶体管。这一探索的下一个重大前沿是建造量子计算机，这将使计算能力在当前的经典设备中无法实现。和以前一样，关键的一步是想象、预测并最终找到能够胜任这项任务的具有适当“量子谱系”的材料。大多数专家一致认为，我们已经有了这项工作的完美人选，即所谓的拓扑绝缘体。这些新型化合物具有独特的电子性质，使其成为处理和存储量子信息的理想材料。拟议中的活动将促进对这些材料的理论理解，并扩大它们在量子计算中的应用方式。该奖项还将支持研究生和博士后研究员，他们将接受现代理论和计算技术的培训，并将有机会访问实验人员并与其互动。研究结果将发表在科学期刊上，并将在国内和国际会议上公布。PI将在明尼苏达大学联合举办为期两周的暑期课程，并举办一系列理论物理公开讲座，双城社区的500多名成员将参加。技术总结该奖项支持关于量子设备中的非平衡动力学和纠缠传播的研究和教育。电子光谱的拓扑性质在这些结构中扮演着越来越重要的角色，它导致了不同拓扑结构之间的跃迁。无序在任何现实设备中都不可避免地存在，它定性地改变了这种量子相变(QPT)附近的电子动力学。这项活动将集中在：(I)研究拓扑QPT附近的热和电荷传输，并开发能够探索这种近临界动力学的具体实验装置；(Ii)研究QPT上各种量子纠缠测量的有限尺寸和动力学标度；(Iii)研究准晶的隐藏拓扑特征；(Iv)协助和推进寻找分数量子霍尔结构的中性边缘模式和超导纳米线的表征的实验工作；(V)提出分子磁耗散量子隧道理论。该奖项还将支持研究生和博士后研究人员，他们将接受现代理论和计算技术方面的培训，并将有机会访问实验者并与之互动。研究结果将发表在科学期刊上，并将在国内和国际会议上公布。PI将在明尼苏达大学联合举办为期两周的暑期学校，并举办一系列理论物理公开讲座，双城社区的500多名成员参加了该系列讲座。

NONTECHNICAL SUMMARYThis award supports research and education on time-dependent phenomena in nanodevices, such as the transfer of heat and charge. Recent progress in information technology has greatly exceeded even the wildest dreams of science fiction writers of the sixties and the seventies. The cornerstone of this still unfolding revolution has been the exhaustive theoretical understanding of semiconductor materials. Based entirely on quantum mechanics, it has enabled technology to manufacture and pack billions of transistors per square centimeter. The next big frontier in this quest is building a quantum computer, which will enable calculation capacity infeasible in current classical devices. As before, the crucial step is in imagining, predicting, and eventually finding materials with the proper "quantum pedigree" that will be up to the task. Most experts agree that we already have a perfect candidate for the job, the so-called topological insulators. These novel compounds have unique electronic properties that make them ideal for the processing and storage of quantum information. The proposed activity will advance the theoretical understanding of these materials and expand on the ways they can be employed in quantum computation.The award will also support graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher, which will be trained in modern theoretical and computational techniques, and will have opportunities to visit and interact with experimentalists. The results of the research will be published in scientific journals, and will be presented in national and international conferences. The PI will co-organize a two-week summer school at the University of Minnesota, and a public lecture series in theoretical physics that is attended by more than 500 members of the Twin-Cities community.TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis award supports research and education on nonequilibrium dynamics and entanglement propagation in quantum devices. Topological properties of electronic spectra, which play increasingly prominent role in these structures, lead to transitions between various topologically distinct phases. Disorder, inevitably present in any realistic device, qualitatively changes electron dynamics in the vicinity of such quantum phase transitions (QPT). The activity will focus on: (i) investigating heat and charge transfer in the vicinity of a topological QPT and developing concrete experimental setups that will be capable to probe such near-critical dynamics, (ii) investigating finite-size and dynamical scaling for various measures of quantum entanglement across a QPT, (iii) investigating hidden topological characteristics of quasicrystals, (iv) aiding and advancing experimental efforts in the search for neutral edge modes of fractional quantum Hall structures and in the characterization of superconducting nanowires, (v) advancing a theory of dissipative quantum tunneling in molecular magnets.The award will also support graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher, which will be trained in modern theoretical and computational techniques, and will have opportunities to visit and interact with experimentalists. The results of the research will be published in scientific journals, and will be presented in national and international conferences. The PI will co-organize a two-week summer school at the University of Minnesota, and a public lecture series in theoretical physics that is attended by more than 500 members of the Twin-Cities community.