The ground state of a toric code Hamiltonian, an archetypical model system in modern condensed matter physics, was recreated using a quantum processor by scientists from the Technical University of Munich and the University ofNottingham. The links of a square lattice have qubits on them. The star- and plaquettes operators are shown as blue and purple tiles. The ground state has been prepared with high accuracy. The credit is given to the tech company, Google Quantum Artificial Intelligence.
If we lived in a flat two-dimensional world, what would it be like? Physicists think that quantum mechanics would be even stranger in that case, resulting in exotic particles that cannot exist in the three-dimensional world we live in. This unfamiliar world may be the key to unlocking quantum materials and technologies of the future.
Scientists from the Technical University of Munich and the University ofNottingham collaborated with the team from the Google Quantum Artificial Intelligence team to create a simulation of quantum matter. Their results are in the current issue of Science.
Emergent quantum particles in two-dimensional systems.
The particles in our universe come in two different flavors. This observation is firm in the three-dimensional world we live in. It was predicted almost 50 years ago that anyons could exist when matter is limited to two dimensions.
While these anyons don't appear to be elementary particles in our universe, they can emerge as collective excitations in the so-called topological phases of matter, for which the prize was awarded in 2016
The ground state of a toric code Hamiltonian, an archetypical model system in modern condensed matter physics, was recreated using a quantum processor by scientists from the Technical University of Munich and the University ofNottingham. The credit is given to the tech company, Google Quantum Artificial Intelligence.
"Twisting pairs of anyons by moving them around one another in a simulation reveals their exotic properties," says Dr. Adam Smith from the University ofNottingham.
The wave in a stadium crowd has a well-defined position, but it cannot exist without the thousands of people that make up the crowd. Realizing and simulating topologically ordered states has proven to be very difficult.
The Department of Physics at the Garching Research Campus of the Technical University of Munich has a group of co-authors. Credit: A. Heddergott.
The platform for controlled quantum simulations is quantum processors.
In landmark experiments, the teams from TUM, the University ofNottingham, and the University of California, Berkeley programmed the quantum processor to perform two-dimensional states of quantum matter. Kevin Satzinger, a scientist from the Google team, says that the quantum processor named Sycamore can be precisely controlled and is a well-isolated quantum system which are key requirements for performing quantum computations.
The researchers came up with a quantum algorithm to realize a state with a topological order, which was confirmed by simulation of anyon excitations and twisting them around one another. They could confirm fingerprints from long-range quantum entanglement. It is possible to use topologically ordered states to improve quantum computers. The first steps towards this goal have already been taken.
Prof. Frank Pollmann from TUM says that near-term quantum processors will be an ideal platform to explore the physics of exotic quantum phases matter. In the near future, quantum processors will be able to solve problems that are beyond the reach of current classical supercomputers.
K.J. Satzinger et al realized topologically ordered states on a quantum processor. There is a science.abi8378.
Science journal information.
Scientists use a quantum processor to create 2D states of quantum matter.
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