We study a lattice gauge theory in Wilsons Hamiltonian formalism. In view of the realization of a quantum simulator for QED in one dimension, we introduce an Abelian model with a discrete gauge symmetry $mathbb{Z}_n$, approximating the $U(1)$ theory
for large $n$. We analyze the role of the finiteness of the gauge fields and the properties of physical states, that satisfy a generalized Gausss law. We finally discuss a possible implementation strategy, that involves an effective dynamics in physical space.
We analyze the non-relativistic problem of a quantum particle that bounces back and forth between two moving walls. We recast this problem into the equivalent one of a quantum particle in a fixed box whose dynamics is governed by an appropriate time-dependent Schroedinger operator.
A connection is estabilished between the non-Abelian phases obtained via adiabatic driving and those acquired via a quantum Zeno dynamics induced by repeated projective measurements. In comparison to the adiabatic case, the Zeno dynamics is shown to
be more flexible in tuning the system evolution, which paves the way to the implementation of unitary quantum gates and applications in quantum control.
We study the behavior of bipartite entanglement at fixed von Neumann entropy. We look at the distribution of the entanglement spectrum, that is the eigenvalues of the reduced density matrix of a quantum system in a pure state. We report the presence
of two continuous phase transitions, characterized by different entanglement spectra, which are deformations of classical eigenvalue distributions.
We analyze the quantum Zeno dynamics that takes place when a field stored in a cavity undergoes frequent interactions with atoms. We show that repeated measurements or unitary operations performed on the atoms probing the field state confine the evol
ution to tailored subspaces of the total Hilbert space. This confinement leads to non-trivial field evolutions and to the generation of interesting non-classical states, including mesoscopic field state superpositions. We elucidate the main features of the quantum Zeno mechanism in the context of a state-of-the-art cavity quantum electrodynamics experiment. A plethora of effects is investigated, from state manipulations by phase space tweezers to nearly arbitrary state synthesis. We analyze in details the practical implementation of this dynamics and assess its robustness by numerical simulations including realistic experimental imperfections. We comment on the various perspectives opened by this proposal.
