Dettagli Progetti e Finanziamenti

Abstract: Understanding the dynamics of quantum systems is crucial for advancing both fundamental physics and practical applications.
The Project QuCores will use the electronic and nuclear spins of quantum defects in diamond to experimentally reconstruct correlation functions between non-commuting quantum observables. By operating at cryogenic temperatures, a high degree of control over these defects can be achieved, enabling their use as a powerful platform for simulating many-body quantum dynamics. In particular, the central-spin system, formed by the electronic spin of a nitrogen vacancy (NV) center and an array of nuclear spins associated with randomly distributed carbon atoms, will serve as a simulator of such dynamics. I will measure spatial-temporal correlation functions between quantum observables to investigate many-body phenomena, such as quantum scrambling and out-of-time-order correlators. Additionally, this would allow to extend previously known results in quantum thermodynamics to many body dynamics, where correlations between subsystems play a crucial role. By being able to measure correlation functions one not only has access to the statistics for each single observable, but also to their trajectory-like statistics, via time-correlations. These correlation functions give origin to either joint-probability distributions or quasi-probability (e.g., Kirkwood-Dirac) distributions, which can be used to define the quantum equivalent of a trajectory. This approach addresses a key challenge in quantum thermodynamics: the definition of non-state variables, such as Work, Heat, and Entropy. As such, it makes it possible to study new efficiency and power regimes in heat engines, to study irreversibility and arrow-of-time in quantum systems, and to verify fundamental bounds such as Leggett–Garg and Bell inequalities.
To that end, I will build a new experimental apparatus that operates at cryogenic temperature, which enhances the readout capabilities and the control of hybrid electronic-nuclear spin systems in diamond. By combining trajectory-like statistics with many body phenomena, this project surpasses the state of the art experiments in quantum thermodynamics, enabling new tests of fundamental thermodynamic principles and the optimization of quantum engines.