Biography

Zheng YAN was born in 1990 in Shaoxing, China. He received the Bachelor Degree from Dalian University of Technology in 2013 and the Ph.D in Theoretical Physics from Fudan University in 2019. Thereafter he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow, then a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong. In 2023, he has joined the Westlake University as a Tenure-track Assistant Professor (PI, Group-leader). His main research area is theoretical and numerical studies of quantum many-body physics, as well as related quantum simulation/computing and quantum materials cross-disciplinary research, currently focusing on:

(1) Novel phase and phase transition, quasi-particle excitation of frustrated quantum magnetisms;

(2) Quantum simulation, cold atom array, quantum adiabatic computing, etc.;

(3) Constrained quantum many-body systems and related lattice gauge theory, such as quantum dimer/loop models;

(4) Entanglement properties of quantum many-body systems, such as the behaviors of entanglement entropy and spectrum;

(5) Developing numerical methods for strongly correlated systems, especially quantum Monte Carlo and related algorithms;

In addition to the above directions, he is also willing to actively expand the interdisciplinarity related to quantum many-body physics.

Research

To May of 2023, Zheng YAN has (pre-) published 32 articles, most of which are Phys. Rev. B, few are Nat. Commun., Phys. Rev. Lett., npj Quant. Mater. and other journals. The representative achievements are mainly concentrated in two parts:

1) The sweeping cluster quantum Monte Carlo, which can calculate the local constrained model, is developed by the PI. The algorithm solves the computational problem put forward by pure gauge field models such as quantum dimer/loop models. It has been included in a single subsection of a numerical textbook recently. Based on the algorithm, the gauge field physics emerging on the frustrated magnetic system and Rydberg array are systematically studied. Such as the phase transition between odd and even Z2 spin liquids is first explored, and the hidden order, which had been thought as a spin liquid in a long time, is discovered.

2) A scheme for extracting entanglement spectra of large-size many-body systems based on quantum Monte Carlo has been proposed. The entanglement spectra with L=100 (1D) and 50X50 (2D) entanglement regions are obtained for the first time. Furthermore, the wormhole effect on the path integral of reduced density matrix is put forward to reveal the relationship between entanglement spectrum and energy spectrum. The famous Li-Haldane conjecture has been explained and extended. The numerical experiment for inversing the conjecture has been even realized according to the wormhole mechanism.

Zheng's scientific research achievements in the industry has its own characteristics and personal style, and maintains long-term cooperations with some excellent research groups around the world. His group will provide members with opportunities to exchange and collaborate with first-class scientific research groups.

Representative Publications († equal contribution)

1.   Emergent glassy behavior in a kagome Rydberg atom array,

Zheng Yan, Y.-C.Wang, R.Samajdar, S.Sachdev, Z.Y.Meng,

Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 206501 (2023)

We have predicted that although there is no disorder in the Rydberg atom arrays on Kagome lattice, it will spontaneously induce glassy behaviors due to the competing between the quantum fluctuations and the Rydberg blockade.

2.   Unlocking the general relationship between energy and entanglement spectra via the wormhole effect,

Zheng Yan, Z.Y.Meng,

Nat. Commun. 14, 2360 (2023)

Developed the scheme combined with quantum Monte Carlo and stochastic analytic continuation to extract the entanglement spectrum from high-dimensional systems. Put forward the wormhole mechanism on the path integral of reduced density matrix to explain and extend the Li-Haldane conjecture.

3.   Height-conserving quantum dimer models,

Zheng Yan, Z.Y.Meng, D.A.Huse, A.Chan,

Phys. Rev. B 106, L041115 (2022) Editors’ Suggestion

Put forward a class of higher order constrained models with fragmental Hilbert space and studied its unconventional dynamics and phase diagram.

4.   Triangular lattice quantum dimer model with variable dimer density,

Zheng Yan, R.Samajdar, Y.-C.Wang, S.Sachdev, Z.Y.Meng,

Nat. Commun. 13, 5799 (2022).

Developed the quantum Monte Carlo method working in soft-constrained models and studied the phase diagram containing odd/even Z2 spin liquids in the low-energy effective model of the Rydberg arrays.

5.   Topological phase transition and single/multi anyon dynamics of Z₂ spin liquid,

Zheng Yan, Y.-C.Wang, N.Ma, Y.Qi, Z.Y.Meng,

npj Quant. Mater. 6, 39 (2021).

Reveal the strong interaction between the fractional qusi-particles (vison) in the Z₂ topological order and the emergent O(4) symmetry at the criticality.

6.   Sweeping cluster algorithm for quantum spin systems with strong geometric restrictions,

Zheng Yan, Y.Wu, C.Liu, O.F.Syljuåsen, J.Lou, Y.Chen,

Phys. Rev. B 99,165135 (2019)

Developed the quantum Monte Carlo for spin model with strict constraint. The method has been included in an international textbook 《Many-Body Methods for Real Materials》 as a single subsection.

Global scheme of sweeping cluster algorithm to sample among topological sectors,

Zheng Yan,

Phys. Rev. B 105,184432 (2022)

Further developed the Sweeping Cluster Monte Carlo to overcome the hindrance of intrinsic topology and realize the sampling among topological sectors.

All my works: http://arxiv.org/a/yan_z_2

Contact Information

Email：zhengyan@westlake.edu.cn

Open positions for PhD student, Postdoc Fellow and Research Assistant Professor.