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Abstract Any stater= (x,y,z) of a qubit, written in the Pauli basis and initialized in the pure stater= (0, 0, 1), can be prepared by composing three quantum operations: two unitary rotation gates to reach a pure state $\mathit{r}={\left(x^2+y^2+z^2\right)}^{-\frac{1}{2}}\times (x,y,z)$on the Bloch sphere, followed by a depolarization gate to decrease ∣r∣. Here we discuss the complementary state-preparation protocol for qubits initialized at the center of the Bloch ball,r=0, based on increasing or amplifying ∣r∣ to its desired value, then rotating. Bloch vector amplification increases purity and decreases entropy. Amplification can be achieved with a linear Markovian completely positive trace-preserving (CPTP) channel by placing the channel’s fixed point away fromr=0, making it nonunital, but the resulting gate suffers from a critical slowing down as that fixed point is approached. Here we consider alternative designs based on linear and nonlinear Markovian PTP channels, which offer benefits relative to linear CPTP channels, namely fast Bloch vector amplification without deceleration. These gates simulate a reversal of the thermodynamic arrow of time for the qubit and would provide striking experimental demonstrations of non-CP dynamics. 

Abstract Nonlinear qubit master equations have recently been shown to exhibit rich dynamical phenomena such as period doubling, Hopf bifurcation, and strange attractors usually associated with classical nonlinear systems. Here we investigate nonlinear qubit models that support tunable Lorenz attractors. A Lorenz qubit could be realized experimentally by combining qubit torsion, generated by real or simulated mean field dynamics, with linear amplification and dissipation. This would extend engineered Lorenz systems to the quantum regime, allowing for their direct experimental study and possible application to quantum information processing. 

A bstract We propose a simple modification of the Goldberger-Wise mechanism for stabilizing the scale of spontaneously broken conformal theories. The source of explicit conformal symmetry breaking is a relevant operator with a small coefficient, as opposed to the usual mechanism of an almost marginal operator with an order-one coefficient. In the warped 5D picture this relevant stabilization corresponds to a small tadpole for the bulk scalar on the UV brane, which can be technically natural if it is the only source for the breaking of a symmetry (for example, a discrete Z 2 ). This modification of the stabilization mechanism has significant consequences for the nature of the conformal phase transition, since the radion/dilaton potential is no longer shallow. The bounce action is significantly reduced, leading to a weaker first-order phase transition instead of the supercooled and strongly first-order transition seen in Goldberger-Wise stabilization. This also leads to reduction of gravitational wave signals which, however, may still be observable at future detectors. We present numerical and analytical studies of the phase transition and the resulting gravitational wave signal strength, assuming that the effective dilaton potential provides a good leading approximation. While the dilaton is not expected to be generically light in this setup, in order to keep perturbative control over the effective theory one needs to mildly tune the dilaton quartic to be somewhat small. 

A bstract We explore the possibility of discovering the mirror baryons and electrons of the Mirror Twin Higgs model in direct detection experiments, in a scenario in which these particles constitute a subcomponent of the observed DM. We consider a framework in which the mirror fermions are sub-nano-charged, as a consequence of kinetic mixing between the photon and its mirror counterpart. We consider both nuclear recoil and electron recoil experiments. The event rates depend on the fraction of mirror DM that is ionized, and also on its distribution in the galaxy. Since mirror DM is dissipative, at the location of the Earth it may be in the form of a halo or may have collapsed into a disk, depending on the cooling rate. For a given mirror DM abundance we determine the expected event rates in direct detection experiments for the limiting cases of an ionized halo, an ionized disk, an atomic halo and an atomic disk. We find that by taking advantage of the complementarity of the different experiments, it may be possible to establish not just the multi-component nature of mirror dark matter, but also its distribution in the galaxy. In addition, a study of the recoil energies may be able to determine the masses and charges of the constituents of the mirror sector. By showing that the mass and charge of mirror helium are integer multiples of those of mirror hydrogen, these experiments have the potential to distinguish the mirror nature of the theory. We also carefully consider mirror plasma screening effects, showing that the capture of mirror dark matter particles in the Earth has at most a modest effect on direct detection signals.