Trinity and IBM Dublin Collaborate to Simulate Super Diffusion on a Quantum Computer

Trinity’s quantum physicists, in collaboration with IBM Dublin, have successfully simulated super diffusion in a system of interacting quantum particles on a quantum computer. This achievement marks an important milestone in conducting highly challenging quantum transport calculations on quantum hardware. As quantum computing technology continues to advance, this work holds promise for shedding new light on condensed matter physics and materials science.

This research is part of the TCD-IBM predoctoral scholarship program, which hires Ph.D. students as IBM employees while being co-supervised at Trinity. The study was published in the journal npj Quantum Information.

The quantum computer used for this study consists of 27 superconducting qubits, which are the building blocks of quantum logic. The computer is located in IBM’s lab in Yorktown Heights, New York, and was programmed remotely from Dublin.

Quantum computing is an exciting technology that is expected to have commercial applications in the coming decade. In addition to these commercial applications, quantum computers have the potential to address fundamental questions in various scientific fields. The Trinity and IBM Dublin team focused on simulating quantum systems.

Simulating the dynamics of a complex quantum system with many interacting constituents is a daunting task for conventional computers. The team used the quantum nature of a quantum computer to overcome this challenge. By exploiting the fact that the quantum computer is described a wave function, they were able to simulate the Heisenberg chain model, which represents systems of interconnected spins that mimic more complex materials and help understand magnetism. The team investigated the long-time behavior of how spin excitations are transported across the system, which is described classical fluid equations in the hydrodynamic regime.

This research showcases the potential of quantum computers in simulating and understanding complex quantum systems. As quantum hardware continues to improve, researchers can explore new frontiers in quantum simulation and advance our understanding of fundamental phenomena in physics and materials science.

Sources:
– npj Quantum Information (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41534-023-00742-4