Quantum correlations and criticality

An in-house paper from QTeQ on quantum correlations in spin chains has been published in Phys. Rev. B. The work authored by Matthew, Steve, Mariona and Gabriele, deals with discord and its global version in spin-1 systems. The authors show that discord is able to detect a Gaussian phase transition, believed to be of third order and normally quite hard to access. In the case of thermal states, they found that discord for distant spins can be enhanced by increasing the temperature, something quite unusual in the context of quantum correlations and entanglement.

Nonclassicality and criticality in symmetry-protected magnetic phases,
Matthew J. M. Power, Steve Campbell, Maria Moreno-Cardoner, and Gabriele De Chiara
Phys. Rev. B 91, 214411 (2015)


Trio of papers on an NJP focus issue on Quantum Thermodynamics

Three QTeQ papers have been included in the focus issue on Quantum Thermodynamics published by New Journal of Physics.
The first one, in collaboration with Prof. Augusto Roncaglia and Prof. Juan Pablo Paz from University of Buenos Aires, proposes an experimental setup to measure the full probability distribution of work in a system of atomic ensemble.

The second one, in collaboration with Nikolai Kiesel from University of Vienna, investigates the quantum thermodynamics of optomechanical systems with special emphasis on the work distribution.

The last one, in collaboration with Prof. Anna Sanpera’s group from Barcelona, finds the limit of the accuracy of temperature estimation in ultracold lattice gases proposing an experimental setup to get close to the bound.

Measuring work and heat in ultracold quantum gases,
Gabriele De Chiara, Augusto J Roncaglia and Juan Pablo Paz,
2015 New J. Phys. 17 035004

Out-of-equilibrium thermodynamics of quantum optomechanical systems,
M Brunelli, A Xuereb, A Ferraro, G De Chiara, N Kiesel and M Paternostro,
2015 New J. Phys. 17 035016

Thermometry precision in strongly correlated ultracold lattice gases,
M Mehboudi, M Moreno-Cardoner, G De Chiara and A Sanpera,
2015 New J. Phys. 17 055020


Ben passed his viva!

On June 1, 2015, Ben passed his viva for his PhD. The two supervisors, Gabriele and Mauro, are particularly proud of the work Ben has done on different fronts: optomechanics, ultracold atoms and entanglement in spin systems. Ben has now moved to the University of Vienna to work as a PostDoc with Dr Beatrix Hiesmayr on entanglement. We wish Ben all the best for his future career!