As strength of disorder enhances beyond a threshold value in many-body systems, a fundamental transformation happens through which the entire spectrum localizes, a phenomenon known as many-body localization. This has profound implications as it breaks down fundamental principles of statistical mechanics, such as thermalization and ergodicity. Due to the complexity of the problem, the investigation of the many-body localization transition has remained a big challenge. The experimental exploration of the transition point is even more challenging as most of the proposed quantities for studying such an effect are practically infeasible. Here, we experimentally implement a scalable protocol for detecting the many-body localization transition point, using the dynamics of an $N=12$ superconducting qubit array. We show that the sensitivity of the dynamics to random samples becomes maximum at the transition point, which leaves its fingerprints in all spatial scales. By exploiting three quantities, each with a different spatial resolution, we identify the transition point with an excellent match between simulation and experiment. In addition, one can detect the evidence of a mobility edge through slight variation of the transition point as the initial state varies. The protocol is easily scalable and can be performed across various physical platforms.

Quantum state transfer between distant nodes is at the heart of quantum processing and quantum networking. Stimulated by this, we propose a scheme where one can achieve quantum state transfer with a high fidelity between sites in a cavity quantum optomechanical network. In our lattice, each individual site is composed of a localized mechanical mode which interacts with a laser-driven cavity mode via radiation pressure, while photons hop between neighboring sites. After diagonalization of the Hamiltonian of each cell, we show that the system can be reduced to an effective Hamiltonian of two decoupled bosonic chains, and therefore we can apply the well-known results in quantum state transfer together with an additional condition on the transfer times. In fact, we show that our transfer protocol works for any arbitrary joint quantum state of a mechanical and an optical mode. Finally, in order to analyze a more realistic scenario we take into account the effects of independent thermal reservoirs for each site. By solving the standard master equation within the Born-Markov approximation, we reassure both the effective model and the feasibility of our protocol.

In this paper we study a quantum Otto thermal machine where the working substance is composed of $N$ identical qubits coupled to a single mode of a bosonic field, where the atoms and the field interact with a reservoir, as described by the so-called open Dicke model. By controlling the relevant and experimentally accessible parameters of the model we show that it is possible to build a universal quantum heat machine (UQHM) that can function as an engine, refrigerator, heater, or accelerator. The heat and work exchanges are computed taking into account the growth of the number $N$ of atoms as well as the coupling regimes characteristic of the Dicke model for several ratios of temperatures of the two thermal reservoirs. The analysis of quantum features such as entanglement and second-order correlation shows that these quantum resources do not affect either the efficiency or the performance of the UQHM based on the open Dicke model. In addition, we show that the improvement in both efficiency and coefficient of performance of our UQHM occurs for regions around the critical value of the phase transition parameter of the model.

We propose a dissipative method for the preparation of many-body steady entangled states in spin and fermionic chains. The scheme is accomplished by means of an engineered set of Lindbladians acting over the eigenmodes of the system, whose spectrum is assumed to be resolvable. We apply this idea to prepare a particular entangled state of a spin chain described by the $XY$ model, emphasizing its generality and experimental feasibility. Our results show that our proposal is capable of achieving high fidelities and purities for a given target state, even when dephasing and thermal dissipative processes are taken into account. Moreover, the method exhibits a remarkable robustness against fluctuations in the model parameters.