Rice University physicists have shown that immutable topological states, which are highly sought for quantum computing, can be entangled with other manipulable quantum states in some materials.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Lattice geometry and qualitative phase diagram. (A) Lattice geometry. A, B, C, D, and E mark the five sites of a unit cell. (B) The Wannier orbitals we construct, which form a triangular lattice (the orange dots). (C) Illustration of the zero-temperature phase diagram that we determine, for the Hubbard interaction (U) that is larger than the width of the flat band (D flat ) and smaller than the width of the wide bands (D wide ), with the Fermi surface (FS) changing from large to small as the interaction U is increased across the orbital-selective Mott QCP. Credit: Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adg0028 "The surprising thing we found is that in a particular kind of crystal lattice, where electrons become stuck, the strongly coupled behavior of electrons in d atomic orbitals actually act like the f orbital systems of some heavy fermions," said Qimiao Si, co-author of a study about the research in Science Advances. The unexpected find provides a bridge between subfields of condensed matter physics that have focused on dissimilar emergent properties of quantum materials. In topological materials, for example, patterns of quantum entanglement produce "protected," immutable states that could be used for quantum computing and spintronics. In strongly correlated materials, the entanglement of billions upon billions of electrons gives rise to behaviors like unconventional…