### A Systematic Eigenspectral Investigation of Spatially Varying Effective Mass Schrödinger Equation for Squared Class Trigonometric Potentials

In the present paper, one particular attempt is to acquire explicit and analytical solutions of the position-dependent effective mass (PDEM) Schr\"odinger equation for various types of the squared trigonometric potentials. The algebraic procedure entitled as the point canonical transformation (PCT) is implemented in the process. Three different spatially dependent mass configurations are taken into account the establishment of the target system. In the final step, performing the computational tasks lead to the explicit determination of both discrete energy spectra and their corresponding wavefunctions.

### Almost qudits in the prepare-and-measure scenario

Quantum communication is often investigated in scenarios where only the dimension of Hilbert space is known. However, assigning a precise dimension is often an approximation of what is actually a higher-dimensional process. Here, we introduce and investigate quantum information encoded in carriers that nearly, but not entirely, correspond to standard qudits. We demonstrate the relevance of this concept for semi-device-independent quantum information by showing how small higher-dimensional components can significantly compromise the conclusions of established protocols. Then we provide a general method, based on semidefinite relaxations, for bounding the set of almost qudit correlations, and apply it to remedy the demonstrated issues. This method also offers a novel systematic approach to the well-known task of device-independent tests of classical and quantum dimensions with unentangled devices. Finally, we also consider viewing almost qubit systems as a physical resource available to the experimenter and determine the optimal quantum protocol for the well-known Random Access Code.

### Dual Instruments and Sequential Products of Observables

We first show that every operation possesses an unique dual operation and measures an unique effect. If $a$ and $b$ are effects and $J$ is an operation that measures $a$, we define the sequential product of $a$ then $b$ relative to $J$. Properties of the sequential product are derived and are illustrated in terms of L\"uders and Holevo operations. We next extend this work to the theory of instruments and observables. We also define the concept of an instrument (observable) conditioned by another instrument (observable). Identity, state-constant and repeatable instruments are considered. Sequential products of finite observables relative to L\"uders and Holevo instruments are studied.

### Quantum Coherence and non-Markovianity in a Noisy Quantum Tunneling Problem

We investigate the coherence and non-Markovianity of a quantum tunneling system whose barrier is fluctuated by a telegraph noise, and its energy gap is modulated by Gaussian noise. With the help of averaging method, the system dynamics are analytically derived, and the analytical expression for coherence measure and non-Markovianity for the very limited parameter regimes for both initially coherent and non-coherent states are obtained. We observe non-Markovian dynamics in a situation where the Kubo number is high. It is also found that there is no strong relation between the coherence of the system and non-Markovianity dynamics except in a region in which these two tend to change their behavior at the intermediate noise color for two initial states.

### Uniform observable error bounds of Trotter formulae for the semiclassical Schrödinger equation

By no fast-forwarding theorem, the simulation time for the Hamiltonian evolution needs to be $O(\|H\| t)$, which essentially states that one can not go across the multiple scales as the simulation time for the Hamiltonian evolution needs to be strictly greater than the physical time. We demonstrated in the context of the semiclassical Schr\"odinger equation that the computational cost for a class of observables can be much lower than the state-of-the-art bounds. In the semiclassical regime (the effective Planck constant $h \ll 1$), the operator norm of the Hamiltonian is $O(h^{-1})$. We show that the number of Trotter steps used for the observable evolution can be $O(1)$, that is, to simulate some observables of the Schr\"odinger equation on a quantum scale only takes the simulation time comparable to the classical scale. In terms of error analysis, we improve the additive observable error bounds [Lasser-Lubich 2020] to uniform-in-$h$ observable error bounds. This is, to our knowledge, the first uniform observable error bound for semiclassical Schr\"odinger equation without sacrificing the convergence order of the numerical method. Based on semiclassical calculus and discrete microlocal analysis, our result showcases the potential improvements taking advantage of multiscale properties, such as the smallness of the effective Planck constant, of the underlying dynamics and sheds light on going across the scale for quantum dynamics simulation.

### Mixed Quantum-Classical Method For Fraud Detection with Quantum Feature Selection

This paper presents a first end-to-end application of a Quantum Support Vector Machine (QSVM) algorithm for a classification problem in the financial payment industry using the IBM Safer Payments and IBM Quantum Computers via the Qiskit software stack. Based on real card payment data, a thorough comparison is performed to assess the complementary impact brought in by the current state-of-the-art Quantum Machine Learning algorithms with respect to the Classical Approach. A new method to search for best features is explored using the Quantum Support Vector Machine's feature map characteristics. The results are compared using fraud specific key performance indicators: Accuracy, Recall, and False Positive Rate, extracted from analyses based on human expertise (rule decisions), classical machine learning algorithms (Random Forest, XGBoost) and quantum based machine learning algorithms using QSVM. In addition, a hybrid classical-quantum approach is explored by using an ensemble model that combines classical and quantum algorithms to better improve the fraud prevention decision. We found, as expected, that the results highly depend on feature selections and algorithms that are used to select them. The QSVM provides a complementary exploration of the feature space which led to an improved accuracy of the mixed quantum-classical method for fraud detection, on a drastically reduced data set to fit current state of Quantum Hardware.

### Towards the simulation of transition-metal oxides of the cathode battery materials using VQE methods

Variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) is a hybrid quantum-classical technique that leverages noisy intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) hardware to obtain the minimum eigenvalue of a model Hamiltonian. VQE has so far been used to simulate condensed matter systems as well as quantum chemistry of small molecules. In this work, we employ VQE methods to obtain the ground-state energy of LiCoO$_2$, a candidate transition metal oxide used for battery cathodes. We simulate Li$_2$Co$_2$O$_4$ and Co$_2$O$_4$ gas-phase models, which represent the lithiated and delithiated states during the discharge and the charge of the Li-ion battery, respectively. Computations are performed using a statevector simulator with a single reference state for three different trial wavefunctions: unitary coupled-cluster singles and doubles (UCCSD), unitary coupled-cluster generalized singles and doubles (UCCGSD) and k-unitary pair coupled-cluster generalized singles and doubles (k-UpCCGSD). The resources in terms of circuit depth, two-qubit entangling gates and wavefunction parameters are analyzed. We find that the k-UpCCGSD with k=5 produces results similar to UCCSD but at a lower cost. Finally, the performance of VQE methods is benchmarked against the classical wavefunction-based methods, such as coupled-cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) and complete active space configuration interaction (CASCI). Our results show that VQE methods quantitatively agree with the results obtained from CCSD. However, the comparison against the CASCI results clearly suggests that advanced trial wavefunctions are likely necessary to capture the multi-reference characteristics as well as the correlations emerging from high-level electronic excitations.

### Transceiver designs to attain the entanglement assisted communications capacity

Pre-shared entanglement can significantly boost communication rates in the high thermal noise and low-brightness transmitter regime. In this regime, for a lossy-bosonic channel with additive thermal noise, the ratio between the entanglement-assisted capacity and the Holevo capacity - the maximum reliable-communications rate permitted by quantum mechanics without any pre-shared entanglement - scales as $\log(1/{\bar N}_{\rm S})$, where the mean transmitted photon number per mode, ${\bar N}_{\rm S} \ll 1$. Thus, pre-shared entanglement, e.g., distributed by the quantum internet or a satellite-assisted quantum link, promises to significantly improve low-power radio-frequency communications. In this paper, we propose a pair of structured quantum transceiver designs that leverage continuous-variable pre-shared entanglement generated, e.g., from a down-conversion source, binary phase modulation, and non-Gaussian joint detection over a code word block, to achieve this scaling law of capacity enhancement. Further, we describe a modification to the aforesaid receiver using a front-end that uses sum-frequency generation sandwiched with dynamically-programmable in-line two-mode squeezers, and a receiver back-end that takes full advantage of the output of the receiver's front-end by employing a non-destructive multimode vacuum-or-not measurement to achieve the entanglement-assisted classical communications capacity.

### Cooling neutral atoms into maximal entanglement in the Rydberg blockade regime

We propose a cooling scheme to prepare stationary entanglement of neutral atoms in the Rydberg blockade regime by combination of periodically collective laser pumping and dissipation. In each cycle, the controlled unitary dynamics process can selectively pump atoms away from the non-target state while maintaining the target state unchanged. The subsequent dissipative process redistributes the populations of ground states through the engineered spontaneous emission. After a number of cycles, the system will be eventually stabilized into the desired steady state independent of the initial state. This protocol does not rely on coherent addressing of individual neutral atoms or fine control of Rydberg interaction intensity, which can in principle greatly improve the feasibility of experiments in related fields.

### Correlated topological pumping of interacting bosons assisted by Bloch oscillations

Thouless pumping, not only achieving quantized transport but also immune to moderate disorder, has attracted growing attention in both experiments and theories. Here, we explore how particle-particle interactions affect topological transport in a periodically-modulated and tilted optical lattice. Not limited to wannier states, our scheme ensures a dispersionless quantized transport even for initial Gaussian-like wave packets of interacting bosons which do not uniformly occupy a given band. This is because the tilting potential leads to Bloch oscillations uniformly sampling the Berry curvatures over the entire Brillouin zone. The interplay among on-site potential difference, tunneling rate and interactions contributes to the topological transport of bound and scattering states and the topologically resonant tunnelings. Our study deepens the understanding of correlation effects on topological states, and provides a feasible way for detecting topological properties in interacting systems.

### The Physics of Quantum Information

Rapid ongoing progress in quantum information science makes this an apt time for a Solvay Conference focused on The Physics of Quantum Information. Here I review four intertwined themes encompassed by this topic: Quantum computer science, quantum hardware, quantum matter, and quantum gravity. Though the time scale for broad practical impact of quantum computation is still uncertain, in the near future we can expect noteworthy progress toward scalable fault-tolerant quantum computing, and discoveries enabled by programmable quantum simulators. In the longer term, controlling highly complex quantum matter will open the door to profound scientific advances and powerful new technologies.

### Semirelativistic Potential Modelling of Bound States: Advocating Due Rigour

The Poincar\'e-covariant quantum-field-theoretic description of bound states by the homogeneous Bethe-Salpeter equation usually exhibits an intrinsic complexity that can be attenuated by allowing this formalism to undergo various simplifications. The resulting approximate outcome's reliability can be assessed by applying several rigorous constraints on the nature of the bound-state spectra; most prominent here are existence, number and location of discrete eigenvalues.

### Asymptotics and typicality of sequential generalized measurements

The relation between projective measurements and generalized quantum measurements is a fundamental problem in quantum physics, and clarifying this issue is also important to quantum technologies. While it has been intuitively known that projective measurements can be constructed from sequential generalized or weak measurements, there is still lack of a proof of this hypothesis in general cases. Here we rigorously prove it from the perspective of quantum channels. We show that projective measurements naturally arise from sequential generalized measurements in the asymptotic limit. Specifically, a selective projective measurement arises from a set of typical sequences of sequential generalized measurements. We provide an explicit scheme to construct projective measurements of a quantum system with sequential generalized quantum measurements. Remarkably, a single ancilla qubit is sufficient to mediate a sequential weak measurement for constructing arbitrary projective measurements of a generic system.

### The quantum dynamic range of room temperature spin imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging of spin systems combines scientific applications in medicine, chemistry and physics. Here, we investigate the pixel-wise coherent quantum dynamics of spins consisting of a 40 by 40 micron sized region of interest implanted with nitrogen vacancy centers (NV) coupled to a nano-magnetic flake of $\mathrm{CrTe_2}$. $\mathrm{CrTe_2}$ is an in-plane van der Waals ferromagnet, which we can probe quantitatively by the NV electron's spin signal even at room temperature. First, we combine the nano-scale sample shapes measured by atomic force microscope with the magnetic resonance imaging data. We then map out the coherent dynamics of the colour centers coupled to the van der Waals ferromagnet using pixel-wise coherent Rabi and Ramsey imaging of the NV sensor layer. Next, we fit the pixel-wise solution of the Hamiltonian to the quantum sensor data. Combining data and model, we can explore the detuning range of the spin oscillation with a quantum dynamic range of over $\left|\Delta_{max}\right|= 60 { }\mathrm{MHz}$ in the Ramsey interferometry mode. Finally, we show the effect of the $\mathrm{CrTe_2}$ van der Waals magnet on the coherence of the NV sensor layer and measure a 70 times increase in the maximum frequency of the quantum oscillation going from the Rabi to the Ramsey imaging mode.

### Anti-Parity-Time Symmetry in a Single Damping Mechanical Resonator

A damping mechanical resonator undergos a phase transition from a oscillatory motion with damping amplitude (under-damping) to a monotonically damping motion without oscillation (over-damping) across a critical-damping state. However, what kind of symmetry is broken for this phase transition in the damping mechanical resonator is still unclear. Here we discover a hidden symmetry, i.e., anti-parity-time (anti-$\mathcal{PT}$) symmetry, in the effective Hamiltonian of a damping mechanical resonator. We show that the broken of anti-$\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry with a exceptional point (EP) yields the phase transition between different damping behaviors, i.e., the over-damping and under-damping across a critical-damping. We propose that the mechanical anti-$\mathcal{PT}$ phase transition can be induced by the optical spring effect in a quadratic optomechanical system with a strong driving field, and highly sensitive optomechanical sensing can be realized around the EPs for anti-$\mathcal{PT}$ phase transition.

### Chaos and bi-partite entanglement between Bose-Joephson junctions

The entanglement between two weakly coupled bosonic Josephson junctions is studied in relation to the classical mixed phasespace structure of the system, containing symmetry-related regular islands separated by chaos. The symmetry-resolved entanglement spectrum and bi-partite entanglement entropy of the system's energy eigenstates are calculated and compared to their expected structure for random states that exhibit complete or partial ergodicity. The entanglement spectra of chaos-supported eigenstates match the microcanonical structure of a Generalized Gibbs Ensemble due to the existence of an adiabatic invariant that restricts ergodization on the energy shell. The symmetry-resolved entanglement entropy of these quasistochastic states consists of a mean-field maximum entanglement term and a fluctuation correction due to the finite size of the constituent subsystems. The total bi-partite entanglement entropy of the eigenstates correlates with their chaoticity. Island-supported eigenstates are macroscopic Schr\"odinger cat states for particles and excitations, with substantially lower entanglement.

### Measuring Optical Activity with Unpolarised Light: Ghost Polarimetry

Quantifying the optical chirality of a sample requires the precise measurement of the rotation of the plane of linear polarisation of the transmitted light. Central to this notion is that the sample needs to be exposed to light of a defined polarisation state. We show that by using a polarisation-entangled photon source we can measure optical activity whilst illuminating a sample with unpolarised light. This not only allows for low light measurement of optical activity but also allows for the analysis of samples that would otherwise be perturbed if subject to polarised light.

### Stochastic learning control of adiabatic speedup in a non-Markovian open qutrit system

Precise and efficient control of quantum systems is essential to perform quantum information processing tasks. In terms of adiabatic speedup via leakage elimination operator approach, for a closed system, the ideal pulse control conditions have been theoretically derived by P-Q partitioning technique. However, it is a challenge to design the corresponding control pulses for an open system, which requires to tackle noisy environments. In this paper, we apply the stochastic search procedures to an open qutrit system and successfully obtain the optimal control pulses for significant adiabatic speedup. The calculation results show that these optimal pulses allow us to acquire higher fidelities than the ideal pulses. The improvement of fidelity is large for relatively strong system-bath coupling strength and high bath temperature. For certain coupling strength and bath temperature, the maximal improvement can be achieved for a critical characteristic frequency which represents the memory time of the environment. Our investigation indicates that the stochastic search procedures are powerful tools to design control pulses for combating the detrimental effects of the environment.

### Reducing molecular electronic Hamiltonian simulation cost for Linear Combination of Unitaries approaches

We consider different Linear Combination of Unitaries (LCU) decompositions for molecular electronic structure Hamiltonians. Using these LCU decompositions for Hamiltonian simulation on a quantum computer, the main figure of merit is the 1-norm of their coefficients, which is associated with the quantum circuit complexity. It is derived that the lowest possible LCU 1-norm for a given Hamiltonian is half of its spectral range. This lowest norm decomposition is practically unattainable for general Hamiltonians; therefore, multiple practical techniques to generate LCU decompositions are proposed and assessed. A technique using symmetries to reduce the 1-norm further is also introduced. In addition to considering LCU in the Schr\"odinger picture, we extend it to the interaction picture, which substantially further reduces the 1-norm.

### Quantum Machine Learning for Material Synthesis and Hardware Security

Using quantum computing, this paper addresses two scientifically pressing and day-to-day relevant problems, namely, chemical retrosynthesis which is an important step in drug/material discovery and security of the semiconductor supply chain. We show that Quantum Long Short-Term Memory (QLSTM) is a viable tool for retrosynthesis. We achieve 65% training accuracy with QLSTM, whereas classical LSTM can achieve 100%. However, in testing, we achieve 80% accuracy with the QLSTM while classical LSTM peaks at only 70% accuracy! We also demonstrate an application of Quantum Neural Network (QNN) in the hardware security domain, specifically in Hardware Trojan (HT) detection using a set of power and area Trojan features. The QNN model achieves detection accuracy as high as 97.27%.

### Characteristic, dynamic, and near saturation regions of Out-of-time-order correlation in Floquet Ising models

We study characteristic, dynamic, and saturation regimes of the out-of-time-order correlation (OTOC) in the constant field Floquet system with and without longitudinal field. In the calculation of OTOC, we take local spins in longitudinal and transverse directions as observables which are local and non-local in terms of Jordan-Wigner fermions, respectively. We use the exact analytical solution of OTOC for the integrable model (without longitudinal field term) with transverse direction spins as observables and numerical solutions for other integrable and nonintegrable cases. OTOCs generated in both cases depart from unity at a kick equal to the separation between the observables when the local spins in the transverse direction and one additional kick is required when the local spins in the longitudinal direction. The number of kicks required to depart from unity depends on the separation between the observables and is independent of the Floquet period and system size. In the dynamic region, OTOCs show power-law growth in both models, the integrable (without longitudinal field) as well as the nonintegrable (with longitudinal field). The exponent of the power-law increases with increasing separation between the observables. Near the saturation region, OTOCs grow linearly with a very small rate.

### Protection of noise squeezing in a quantum interferometer with optimal resource allocation

Interferometers are crucial for precision measurements, including gravitational wave, laser ranging, radar and imaging. The phase sensitivity, the core parameter, can be quantum-enhanced to break the standard quantum limit (SQL) using quantum states. However, quantum states are highly fragile to and quickly degrade with losses. We design and demonstrate a quantum interferometer utilizing a beamsplitter with variable splitting ratio to protect the quantum resource against environmental impacts. The optimal phase sensitivity can reach the quantum Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound of the system. This quantum interferometer can greatly reduce the quantum source requirements in quantum measurements. In theory, with a 66.6% loss rate, the sensitivity can break the SQL using only a 6.0 dB squeezed quantum resource with current interferometer, rather than a 24 dB squeezed quantum resource with a conventional squeezing-vacuum-injected Mach-Zehnder interferometer. In experiments, when using a 2.0 dB squeezed vacuum state, the sensitivity can be enhanced by 1.6 dB when the loss rate of one arm is as high as 95%, indicating that the quantum resource is excellently protected with the existence of losses in practical applications. This strategy could open a way to retain quantum advantages for quantum information processing and quantum precision measurement in lossy environments.

### Vorticity of Twisted Spinor Fields

Spinor fields with a vortex structure in free space that allow them to have arbitrary integer orbital angular momentum along the direction of motion have been studied for some time. Relatively new is the observation in a certain context that the vortex center of this field structure is, unlike a classical whirlpool, not singular. We point out that there are several ways to calculate the local velocity of the spinor field and that all but one show a singular vorticity at the vortex line. That one, using the Dirac bilinear current with no derivatives, is the only one so far (to our knowledge) studied in the literature in this context and we further show how to understand an apparent conflict in the existing results.

### General Schemes for Quantum Entanglement and Steering Detection

Separability problem is a long-standing tough issue in quantum information theory. In this paper, we propose a general method to detect entanglement via arbitrary measurement $\boldsymbol{X}$, by which several novel criteria are established. The new criteria are found incorporate many of the prevailing ones in the literatures. Our method is applicable as well to the steering detection, which possesses a merit of ignoring the knowledge of involved quantum states. A concept of measurement orbit, which plays an important role in the detection of entanglement and steering, is introduced, which enlightens our understanding of uncertainty relation. Moreover, an extension of symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures (SIC-POVM), viz. symmetric complete measurements (SCM), is proposed, and employed to reconstruct the quantum state analytically.

### Quantum Computing for a Profusion of Postman Problem Variants

In this paper we study the viability of solving the Chinese Postman Problem, a graph routing optimization problem, and many of its variants on a quantum annealing device. Routing problem variants considered include graph type, directionally varying weights, number of parties involved in routing, among others. We put emphasis on the explanation of how to convert such problems into quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) problems, one of two equivalent natural paradigms for quantum annealing devices. We also expand upon a previously discovered algorithm for solving the Chinese Postman Problem on a closed undirected graph to decrease the number of constraints and variables used in the problem. Optimal annealing parameter settings and constraint weight values are discussed based on results from implementation on the D-Wave 2000Q and Advantage. Results from classical, purely quantum, and hybrid algorithms are compared.

### A hybrid framework for estimating nonlinear functions of quantum states

Estimating nonlinear functions of quantum states, such as the moment $\tr(\rho^m)$, is of fundamental and practical interest in quantum science and technology. Here we show a quantum-classical hybrid framework to measure them, where the quantum part is constituted by the generalized swap test, and the classical part is realized by postprocessing the result from randomized measurements. This hybrid framework utilizes the partial coherent power of the intermediate-scale quantum processor and, at the same time, dramatically reduces the number of quantum measurements and the cost of classical postprocessing. We demonstrate the advantage of our framework in the tasks of state-moment estimation and quantum error mitigation.

### Sequential detection of genuine multipartite entanglement is unbounded for entire hierarchy of number of qubits recycled

Experimental detection of entanglement certainly disturbs the underlying shared state. It is possible that the entanglement content of the system is lost in the process of its detection. This observation has led to the study of sequential detection properties of various quantum correlations. Here, we investigate the sequential detection of genuinely multipartite entanglement of quantum systems composed of an arbitrary number of qubits. In order to detect genuine multipartite entanglement sequentially, observers can recycle any fixed subset of all the qubits, thus leading to a hierarchy of scenarios, categorized according to the number of qubits which are recycled by the observers. We show that the sequential detection of genuine multipartite entanglement, for every scenario in the hierarchy, leads to an unboundedly long sequence. This is shown to be possible if the initial state shared among the observers is the multipartite generalized Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state and is a class of mixed states. A comparison among different hierarchical scenarios is drawn based on the number of sequential detections of genuine multipartite entanglement for a specific measurement strategy employed by observers.

### On the semiclassical regularity of thermal equilibria

We study the regularity properties of fermionic equilibrium states at finite positive temperature and show that they satisfy certain semiclassical bounds. As a corollary, we identify explicitly a class of positive temperature states satisfying the regularity assumptions of [J.J. Chong, L. Lafleche, C. Saffirio: arXiv:2103.10946 (2021)].

### Structural and optical properties of micro-diamonds with SiV- color centers

Isolated, micro-meter sized diamonds are grown by micro-wave plasma chemical vapour deposition technique on Si(001) substrates. Each diamond is uniquely identified by markers milled in the Si substrate by Ga+ focused ion beam. The morphology and micrograin structure analysis indicates that the diamonds are icosahedral or bi-crystals. Icosahedral diamonds have higher (up to $\sigma_\mathrm{h}$ = 2.3 GPa), and wider distribution ($\Delta\sigma_\mathrm{h}$ = 4.47 GPa) of hydrostatic stress built up at the microcrystal grain boundaries, compared to the other crystals. The number and spectral shape of SiV- color centers incorporated in the micro-diamonds is analysed, and estimated by means of temperature dependent photoluminescence measurements, and Montecarlo simulations. The Montecarlo simulations indicate that the number of SiV- color centers is a few thousand per micro-diamond.

### Two-photon absorption in semiconductors: a multi-band length-gauge analysis

The simplest approach to deal with light excitations in direct-gap semiconductors is to model them as a two-band system: one conduction and one valence band. For such models, particularly simple analytical expressions are known to exist for the optical response such as multi-photon absorption coefficients. Here we show that generic multi-band models do not require much more complicated expressions. Our length-gauge analysis is based on the semiconductors Bloch equations in the absence of all scattering processes. In the evaluation, we focus on two-photon excitation by a pump-probe scheme with possibly non-degenerate and arbitrarily polarized configurations. The theory is validated by application to graphene and its bilayer, described by a tight-binding model, as well as bulk Zincblende semiconductors described by k.p theory.

### Zeta-regularized Lattice Field Theory with Lorentzian background metrics

Lattice field theory is a very powerful tool to study Feynman's path integral non-perturbatively. However, it usually requires Euclidean background metrics to be well-defined. On the other hand, a recently developed regularization scheme based on Fourier integral operator $\zeta$-functions can treat Feynman's path integral non-pertubatively in Lorentzian background metrics. In this article, we formally $\zeta$-regularize lattice theories with Lorentzian backgrounds and identify conditions for the Fourier integral operator $\zeta$-function regularization to be applicable. Furthermore, we show that the classical limit of the $\zeta$-regularized theory is independent of the regularization. Finally, we consider the harmonic oscillator as an explicit example. We discuss multiple options for the regularization and analytically show that they all reproduce the correct ground state energy on the lattice and in the continuum limit. Additionally, we solve the harmonic oscillator on the lattice in Minkowski background numerically.

### The Future Quantum Workforce: Competences, Requirements and Forecasts

With the increasing industrial relevance of new quantum technologies, a well educated quantum workforce becomes increasingly crucial and raises important questions. What are the expectations regarding the future relevance of second generation quantum technologies? And what are the requirements for the workforce in the coming quantum industry? What competences, knowledge and skills should the future employees have? In this paper, we report the results of our Delphi study that was aimed at mapping requirements and forecasts for the future quantum workforce. Our Delphi study consisted of three consecutive survey rounds. In total, we gathered 188 responses from industry and academic experts across Europe. Our study results served as an input for the development of the European Competence Framework for Quantum Technologies, delivered by the project QTEdu CSA for the European Quantum Flagship. In addition, we will discuss predictions from experts related to the future quantum workforce, including the expected industrial relevance of the main areas of quantum technologies, the need for educational efforts, and the expected influence of quantum technologies on everyday life.

### Energy backflow in unidirectional spatiotemporally localized wavepackets

Backflow, or retro-propagation, is a counterintuitive phenomenon where for a forward-propagating wave the energy or probability density locally propagates backward. In this study the energy backflow has been examined in connection with relatively simple causal unidirectional finite-energy solutions of the wave equation which are derived from a factorization of the so-called basic splash mode. Specific results are given for the energy backflow arising in known azimuthally symmetric unidirectional wavepackets, as well as in novel azimuthally asymmetric extensions. Using the Bateman-Whittaker technique, a novel finite-energy unidirectional null localized wave has been constructed that is devoid of energy backflow and has some of the topological properties of the basic Hopfion.