We investigate fundamental bounds on the curvature of quantum correlation functions in imaginary time. Focusing first on topological phases, we show that quantum geometry can qualitatively modify the imaginary-time decay of correlations, leading to nontrivial curvature behavior beyond simple exponential scaling. More generally, we show a universal bound on correlation curvature that holds for interacting systems in thermal equilibrium, and establish connection to leading invariants of the memory-function formalism. Our results identify imaginary-time curvature as a robust probe of intrinsic quantum timescales.
We investigate fundamental bounds on the curvature of quantum correlation functions in imaginary time. Focusing first on topological phases, we show that quantum geometry can qualitatively modify the imaginary-time decay of correlations, leading to nontrivial curvature behavior beyond simple exponential scaling. More generally, we show a universal bound on correlation curvature that holds for interacting systems in thermal equilibrium, and establish connection to leading invariants of the memory-function formalism. Our results identify imaginary-time curvature as a robust probe of intrinsic quantum timescales.
Quantum geometry – including both the quantum metric and Berry curvature – arises from the non-zero overlap of well-defined eigenstates and their adiabatic evolution across the Brillouin zone. It has revolutionized condensed matter physics and material science by explaining quantum Hall effects, establishing the modern theory of polarization, and enabling a systematic search for topological materials on a large scale. Yet, despite these advances, we lack a framework for leveraging quantum geometry in the strongly interacting regime. Bridging this gap is critical: if we can harness geometric responses in correlated metals, we stand to engineer desirable transport and optical properties using existing material platforms, thus bypassing the complex task of designing materials with tailored quantum geometry from scratch. In this thesis, we take steps toward such a framework. First, we analyze the resilience of topological boundary modes in the presence of electronic correlations, identifying when interactions preserve, diminish, or destroy boundary modes. Second, we reveal geometric fingerprints of fluctuations in magnetically ordered systems, tying the electric quantum metric to the formation of instabilities and chiral quasi-particle excitations. Third, we generalize quantum geometry to describe families of many-body wave functions, providing a new algorithm to compute state-manifold curvatures suited to interacting phases. Our approach combines analytical theory with numerical methods, including density functional theory and tensor-network simulations, and is supported by open-source software developed during the PhD. Together, these results advance the topological classification of interacting phases and extend quantum geometry from single-particle bands to correlation functions, providing tools to design materials and devices with targeted geometric responses.
Quantum geometry - including both the quantum metric and Berry curvature - arises from the non-zero overlap of well-defined eigenstates and their adiabatic evolution across the Brillouin zone. It has revolutionized condensed matter physics and material science by explaining quantum Hall effects, establishing the modern theory of polarization, and enabling a systematic search for topological materials on a large scale. Yet, despite these advances, we lack a framework for leveraging quantum geometry in the strongly interacting regime. Bridging this gap is critical: if we can harness geometric responses in correlated metals, we stand to engineer desirable transport and optical properties using existing material platforms, thus bypassing the complex task of designing materials with tailored quantum geometry from scratch. In this thesis, we take steps toward such a framework. First, we analyze the resilience of topological boundary modes in the presence of electronic correlations, identifying when interactions preserve, diminish, or destroy boundary modes. Second, we reveal geometric fingerprints of fluctuations in magnetically ordered systems, tying the electric quantum metric to the formation of instabilities and chiral quasi-particle excitations. Third, we generalize quantum geometry to describe families of many-body wave functions, providing a new algorithm to compute state-manifold curvatures suited to interacting phases. Our approach combines analytical theory with numerical methods, including density functional theory and tensor-network simulations, and is supported by open-source software developed during the PhD. Together, these results advance the topological classification of interacting phases and extend quantum geometry from single-particle bands to correlation functions, providing tools to design materials and devices with targeted geometric responses.
Quantum geometry - including both the quantum metric and Berry curvature - arises from the non-zero overlap of well-defined eigenstates and their adiabatic evolution across the Brillouin zone. It has revolutionized condensed matter physics and material science by explaining quantum Hall effects, establishing the modern theory of polarization, and enabling a systematic search for topological materials on a large scale. Yet, despite these advances, we lack a framework for leveraging quantum geometry in the strongly interacting regime. Bridging this gap is critical: if we can harness geometric responses in correlated metals, we stand to engineer desirable transport and optical properties using existing material platforms, thus bypassing the complex task of designing materials with tailored quantum geometry from scratch. In this thesis, we take steps toward such a framework. First, we analyze the resilience of topological boundary modes in the presence of electronic correlations, identifying when interactions preserve, diminish, or destroy boundary modes. Second, we reveal geometric fingerprints of fluctuations in magnetically ordered systems, tying the electric quantum metric to the formation of instabilities and chiral quasi-particle excitations. Third, we generalize quantum geometry to describe families of many-body wave functions, providing a new algorithm to compute state-manifold curvatures suited to interacting phases. Our approach combines analytical theory with numerical methods, including density functional theory and tensor-network simulations, and is supported by open-source software developed during the PhD. Together, these results advance the topological classification of interacting phases and extend quantum geometry from single-particle bands to correlation functions, providing tools to design materials and devices with targeted geometric responses.
The long-time behavior of certain fast-decaying infinite temperature correlation functions on one-, two-, and three-dimensional lattices of classical spins with various kinds of nearest-neighbor interactions is studied numerically, and evidence is presented that the functional form of this behavior is either simple exponential or exponential multiplied by cosine. Due to the fast characteristic timescale of the long-time decay, such a universality cannot be explained on the basis of conventional Markovian assumptions. It is suggested that this behavior is related to the chaotic properties of the spin dynamics.
Quantum computers promise a highly efficient approach to investigate quantum phase transitions, which describe abrupt changes between different ground states of many-body systems. At quantum critical points, the divergent correlation length and entanglement entropy render the ground state preparation difficult. In this work, we explore the imaginary-time evolution for probing the universal critical behavior as the universal information of the ground state can be extracted in the early time relaxation process. We propose a systematic and scalable scheme to probe the universal behaviors via imaginary-time critical dynamics on quantum computers and demonstrate the validness of our approach by both numerical simulation and quantum hardware experiments. With the full form of the universal scaling function in terms of imaginary time, system size, and circuit depth, we successfully probe the universality by scaling analysis of the critical dynamics at an early time and with shallower quantum circuit depth. Equipped with quantum error mitigation, we also confirm the expected scaling behavior from experimental results on a superconducting quantum processor which stands as the first experimental demonstration of universal imaginary-time quantum critical dynamics.
Quantum matter emerges from the interplay of fluctuations, topology, and entanglement, which - in equilibrium - governs quantized transport, universal criticality, and topological classification. Non-Hermitian systems, widely explored in platforms ranging from electric circuits to photonics, are intrinsically out-of-equilibrium, and display fundamentally new phenomena, including complex spectra, spectral winding, exceptional topology, and non-unitary dynamics. A central challenge is understanding how the complex single-particle spectrum governs universal many-body behavior. We introduce a symmetry-protected dynamical topological index derived directly from the complex spectrum. Through the lens of algebraic topology, more specifically Morse theory, we identify critical points in the spectrum with topological defects, whose curvature and stability are protected under continuous deformations. This links spectral geometry to many-body observables, unifying non-Hermitian band topology, entanglement, and transport. We demonstrate that non-Hermitian quantum criticality in non-interacting systems is controlled by gain-and-loss-selected non-equilibrium steady states, which dynamically generate an emergent imaginary Fermi surface whose Fermi points host scale-invariant gapless modes with logarithmic entanglement scaling and algebraic correlations. Our work establishes a unified framework for non-Hermitian quantum matter, connecting spectral topology to Morse theory, revealing a topological foundation of non-equilibrium quantum criticality.