We investigate from first principles a variety of low-dimensional open quantum spin systems based on magnetic nanographene structures that contain spin-1/2 and spin-1 triangulenes and/or olympicenes. These graphene nanostructures behave as localized spins and can be effectively described by a quantum bilinear-biquadratic Heisenberg Hamiltonian, for which we will compute the energy spectrum and the quantum numbers associated with the low-energy eigenstates. We propose the experimental realization of antiferromagnetic alternating spin chains using these graphene nanostructures, which result in ferrimagnetic systems whose ground state spin and degeneracy depend on the length of the chain. We identify a double degeneracy in the total spin quantum number $S$ of the first excited state in three-leg spin graphs (3-LSGs) and other heterospin nanostructures, which depends on both the number of sites and the spin species, and originates from the swapping transformation symmetry of the Hamiltonian. Numerical simulations indicate that this degeneracy remains largely robust for $N=7$ spin-1 3-LSGs under realistic perturbations present in experimental conditions.

Structural breaks occur in timeseries data across a broad range of fields, from economics to nanosciences. For measurements of single-molecule break junctions, structural breaks in conductance versus displacement data occur when the molecular junction ruptures. This moment is significant because the molecule is likely in its most extended geometry, and therefore resembles most closely the geometry used in theoretical predictions. Conventional single-molecule break junction data analysis, on the other hand, typically uses the entire molecular plateau to estimate the single-molecule conductance, which skews the estimate when the plateau is sloped. Borrowing from econometrics, where the study of structural breaks is well established, we present change point detection (CPD) as a tool to search for junction rupture in single-molecule break junction data, and improve estimates in single-molecule conductance. We demonstrate that using CPD instead of the conventional 1D conductance histogram to determine the mean molecular conductance yields a standard deviation in the estimate of typically half that of the conventional approach, greatly improving accuracy. We apply CPD to three separate data sets, two on 4,4'-bipyridine and one on a silane, two at room temperature and one at 4 K, two in one lab, one in another, to show the wide applicability of even the simplest of CPD algorithms: the Chow test. This versatility and better accuracy will propagate into more accurate theoretical simulations. These improved metrics, in turn, will further improve any downstream analyses, including all emerging machine learning approaches.

Majorana zero modes (MZMs) have been proposed as a promising basis for Majorana qubits offering great potential for topological quantum computation. Such modes may form at the ends of a magnetic atomic chain on a superconductor. Typically only a single MZM may be present at one end of the chain, but symmetry may protect multiple MZMs at the same end. Here, we study the topological properties of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) bands of excitations in Mn chains constructed on a Nb(110) and on a Ta(110) substrate using first-principles calculations and scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy experiments. We demonstrate that even and odd YSR states with respect to mirroring on the symmetry plane containing the chain have different dispersions, and both of them may give rise to MZMs separately. Although the spin-orbit coupling leads to a hybridization between the bands, multiple MZMs may still exist due to the mirror symmetry. These findings highlight the influence of symmetries on interpreting the spectroscopic signatures of candidates for MZMs.

We present a computational study to explore the potential of different experimental approaches to tune the magnetic interactions in two-dimensional van der Waals magnets. We selected CrGeSe$_3$, CrGeTe$_3$, and Janus Cr$_2$Ge$_2$(Se,Te)$_3$ monolayers as case studies and calculated the full exchange tensors among all relevant atomic pairs and analyze their dependence on different external parameters, such as biaxial and uniaxial strain, as well as gate voltage. We pay special attention to interactions that emerge or vanish due to changes of the symmetry of the system. We find that biaxial and uniaxial strains significantly modify isotropic exchange couplings, which can lead to a transition from a ferromagnetic to an antiferromagnetic phase, while a gate voltage induces Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, forming a vortex pattern whose chirality is determined by the sign of the electric field. The electric dipole moment of the Janus material is large, raising the possibility of multiferroic behaviour. The polarizability is similar for the three compounds.