Understanding various phenomena in non-equilibrium dynamics of closed quantum many-body systems, such as quantum thermalization, information scrambling, and nonergodic dynamics, is a crucial for modern physics. Using a ladder-type superconducting quantum processor, we perform analog quantum simulations of both the $XX$ ladder and one-dimensional (1D) $XX$ model. By measuring the dynamics of local observables, entanglement entropy and tripartite mutual information, we signal quantum thermalization and information scrambling in the $XX$ ladder. In contrast, we show that the $XX$ chain, as free fermions on a 1D lattice, fails to thermalize, and local information does not scramble in the integrable channel. Our experiments reveal ergodicity and scrambling in the controllable qubit ladder, and opens the door to further investigations on the thermodynamics and chaos in quantum many-body systems.
Quantum information scrambling under many-body dynamics is of fundamental interest. The tripartite mutual information can quantify the scrambling via its negative value. Here, we first study the quench dynamics of tripartite mutual information in a non-integrable Ising model where the strong and weak thermalization are observed with different initial states. We numerically show that the fastest scrambling can occur when the energy density of the chosen initial state possesses the maximum density of states. We then present an experimental protocol for observing weak and strong thermalization in…
Scrambling of quantum information is the process by which information initially stored in the local degrees of freedom of a quantum many-body system spreads over its many-body degrees of freedom, becoming inaccessible to local probes and thus apparently lost. Scrambling and entanglement are key concepts reconciling seemingly unrelated behaviors including thermalization of isolated quantum systems and information loss in black holes, and have revolutionized our understanding of non-equilibrium phenomena. Here, we demonstrate that a family of fidelity out-of-time-order correlators (FOTOCs), rece…
The theory of quantum information provides a common language which links disciplines ranging from cosmology to condensed-matter physics. For example, the delocalization of quantum information in strongly-interacting many-body systems, known as quantum information scrambling, has recently begun to unite our understanding of black hole dynamics, transport in exotic non-Fermi liquids, and many-body analogs of quantum chaos. To date, verified experimental implementations of scrambling have dealt only with systems comprised of two-level qubits. Higher-dimensional quantum systems, however, may exhib…
We study quantum information scrambling, specifically the growth of Heisenberg operators, in large disordered spin chains using matrix product operator dynamics to scan across the thermalization-localization quantum phase transition. We observe ballistic operator growth for weak disorder, and a sharp transition to a phase with sub-ballistic operator spreading. The critical disorder strength for the ballistic to sub-ballistic transition is well below the many body localization phase transition, as determined from finite size scaling of energy eigenstate entanglement entropy in small chains. In …
Out-of-time ordered (OTO) correlation functions describe scrambling of information in correlated quantum matter. They are of particular interest in incoherent quantum systems lacking well defined quasi-particles. Thus far, it is largely elusive how OTO correlators spread in incoherent systems with diffusive transport governed by a few globally conserved quantities. Here, we study the dynamical response of such a system using high-performance matrix-product-operator techniques. Specifically, we consider the non-integrable, one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model in the incoherent high-temperature re…
We study the quantum thermalization and information scrambling dynamics of an experimentally realizable quantum spin model with homogeneous XX-type all-to-all interactions and random local potentials. We identify the thermalization-localization transition by changing the disorder strength, under a proper all-to-all interaction strength. The scrambling dynamics in the localization phase shows novel behaviors distinct from that of local models. The operator scrambling grows almost equally fast in both phases. In the thermal phase, we show there exhibits fast scrambling without appealing to the s…
We experimentally study the ergodic dynamics of a 1D array of 12 superconducting qubits with a transverse field, and identify the regimes of strong and weak thermalization with different initial states. We observe convergence of the local observable to its thermal expectation value in the strong-thermalizaion regime. For weak thermalization, the dynamics of local observable exhibits an oscillation around the thermal value, which can only be attained by the time average. We also demonstrate that the entanglement entropy and concurrence can characterize the regimes of strong and weak thermalizat…
Quantum scrambling is the dispersal of local information into many-body quantum entanglements and correlations distributed throughout the entire system. This concept underlies the dynamics of thermalization in closed quantum systems, and more recently has emerged as a powerful tool for characterizing chaos in black holes. However, the direct experimental measurement of quantum scrambling is difficult, owing to the exponential complexity of ergodic many-body entangled states. One way to characterize quantum scrambling is to measure an out-of-time-ordered correlation function (OTOC); however, si…
Out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) are an effective tool in characterizing black hole chaos, many-body thermalization and quantum dynamics instability. Previous research findings have shown that the OTOCs' exponential growth (EG) marks the limit for quantum systems. However, we report in this letter a periodically-modulated nonlinear Schrödinger system, in which we interestingly find a novel way of information scrambling: super-EG. We show that the quantum OTOCs' growth, which stems from the quantum chaotic dynamics, will increase in a super-exponential way. We also find that in the class…
Many proposed quantum mechanical models of black holes include highly nonlocal interactions. The time required for thermalization to occur in such models should reflect the relaxation times associated with classical black holes in general relativity. Moreover, the time required for a particularly strong form of thermalization to occur, sometimes known as scrambling, determines the time scale on which black holes should start to release information. It has been conjectured that black holes scramble in a time logarithmic in their entropy, and that no system in nature can scramble faster. In this…
Quantum simulation elucidates properties of quantum many-body systems by mapping its Hamiltonian to a better-controlled system. Being less stringent than a universal quantum computer, noisy small- and intermediate-scale quantum simulators have successfully demonstrated qualitative behavior such as phase transition, localization and thermalization which are insensitive to imperfections in the engineered Hamiltonian. For more complicated features like quantum information scrambling, higher controllability will be desired to simulate both the forward and the backward time evolutions and to diagno…
Neutrino thermalization via randomization on a quantum processor
University of Geneva（日内瓦大学）；European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)（欧洲核子研究组织（CERN））；University of Trento（特伦托大学）；IBM Quantum, IBM Research Europe – Zurich（IBM量子，IBM欧洲苏黎世研究中心）；Université Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷大学）；INFN-TIFPA Trento Institute of Fundamental Physics and Applications（意大利国家核物理研究所-特伦托基础物理与应用研究所）
Collective behavior strongly influences the charging dynamics of quantum batteries (QBs). Here, we study the impact of nonlocal correlations on the energy stored in a system of $N$ QBs. A unitary charging protocol based on a Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) quench Hamiltonian is thus introduced and analyzed. SYK models describe strongly interacting systems with nonlocal correlations and fast thermalization properties. Here, we demonstrate that, once charged, the average energy stored in the QB is very stable, realizing an ultraprecise charging protocol. By studying fluctuations of the average energy st…
In ergodic many-body quantum systems, locally encoded quantum information becomes, in the course of time evolution, inaccessible to local measurements. This concept of "scrambling" is currently of intense research interest, entailing a deep understanding of many-body dynamics such as the processes of chaos and thermalization. Here, we present first experimental demonstrations of quantum information scrambling on a 10-qubit trapped-ion quantum simulator representing a tunable long-range interacting spin system, by estimating out-of-time ordered correlators (OTOCs) through randomized measurement…
Quantum information scrambling has attracted much attention amid the effort to reconcile the conflict between quantum-mechanical unitarity and the thermalizaiton-irreversibility in many-body systems. Here we propose an unconventional mechanism to generate quantum information scrambling through a high-complexity mapping from logical to physical degrees-of-freedom that hides the logical information into non-separable many-body-correlations. Corresponding to this mapping, we develop an algorithm to efficiently sample a Slater-determinant wavefunction and compute all physical observables in dynami…
The delocalization or scrambling of quantum information has emerged as a central ingredient in the understanding of thermalization in isolated quantum many-body systems. Recently, significant progress has been made analytically by modeling non-integrable systems as stochastic systems, lacking a Hamiltonian picture, while honest Hamiltonian dynamics are frequently limited to small system sizes due to computational constraints. In this paper, we address this by investigating the role of conservation laws (including energy conservation) in the thermalization process from an information-theoretic …
There is great interest in using near-term quantum computers to simulate and study foundational problems in quantum mechanics and quantum information science, such as the scrambling measured by an out-of-time-ordered correlator (OTOC). Here we use an IBM Q processor, quantum error mitigation, and weaved Trotter simulation to study high-resolution operator spreading in a 4-spin Ising model as a function of space, time, and integrability. Reaching 4 spins while retaining high circuit fidelity is made possible by the use of a physically motivated fixed-node variant of the OTOC, allowing scramblin…
In a locally interacting many-body system, two isolated qubits, separated by a large distance $r$, become correlated and entangled with each other at a time $t \ge r/v$. This finite speed $v$ of quantum information scrambling limits quantum information processing, thermalization and even equilibrium correlations. Yet most experimental systems contain long range power law interactions -- qubits separated by $r$ have potential energy $V(r)\propto r^{-α}$. Examples include the long range Coulomb interactions in plasma ($α=1$) and dipolar interactions between spins ($α=3$). In one spatial dimensio…
In this paper, we look for signatures of quantum revivals in two-dimensional conformal field theories (2d CFTs) on a spatially compact manifold by using operator entanglement. It is believed that thermalization does not occur on spatially compact manifolds as the quantum state returns to its initial state which is a phenomenon known as quantum revival. We find that in CFTs such as the free fermion CFT, the operator mutual information exhibits quantum revival in accordance with the relativistic propagation of quasiparticles while in holographic CFTs, the operator mutual information does not exh…
Tripartite mutual information (TMI) is an efficient observable to quantify the ability of scrambler for unitary time-evolution operator with quenched many-body Hamiltonian. In this paper, we give numerical demonstrations of the TMI in disorder-free (translational invariant) spin models with 3-body and 4-body multiple-spin interactions. The dynamical behavior of the TMI of these models does {\it not} exhibit linear light-cone for sufficiently strong interactions. In early-time evolution, the TMI displays distinct negative increase behavior fitted by a logarithmic-like function. This is in contr…
We develop techniques to probe the dynamics of quantum information, and implement them experimentally on an IBM superconducting quantum processor. Our protocols adapt shadow tomography for the study of time evolution channels rather than of quantum states, and rely only on single-qubit operations and measurements. We identify two unambiguous signatures of quantum information scrambling, neither of which can be mimicked by dissipative processes, and relate these to many-body teleportation. By realizing quantum chaotic dynamics in experiment, we measure both signatures, and support our results w…
Interaction in quantum systems can spread initially localized quantum information into the many degrees of freedom of the entire system. Understanding this process, known as quantum scrambling, is the key to resolving various conundrums in physics. Here, by measuring the time-dependent evolution and fluctuation of out-of-time-order correlators, we experimentally investigate the dynamics of quantum scrambling on a 53-qubit quantum processor. We engineer quantum circuits that distinguish the two mechanisms associated with quantum scrambling, operator spreading and operator entanglement, and expe…
We first propose and study a quantum toy model of black hole dynamics. The model is unitary, displays quantum thermalization, and the Hamiltonian couples every oscillator with every other, a feature intended to emulate the color sector physics of large-$\mathcal{N}$ matrix models. Considering out of equilibrium initial states, we analytically compute the time evolution of every correlator of the theory and of the entanglement entropies, allowing a proper discussion of global thermalization/scrambling of information through the entire system. Microscopic non-locality causes factorization of red…
We study dynamics of entanglement in the thermalization process of an isolated quantum many-body system. We propose a simple setup for measuring the propagation speed of entanglement entropy (EE) in numerical simulations and apply it to the integrable/non-integrable spin models in 1D - the transverse Ising (TI) model, the chaotic Ising (CI) model, and the extended chaotic Ising (ECI) model. We find that two distinct time-scales $t^\ast$ and $t_{\rm {diff}}$ arise in the dynamics of EE in the thermalization process: the former represents the time-scale for the saturation of EE and the latter ch…
Thermalization of chaotic quantum many-body systems under unitary time evolution is related to the growth in complexity of initially simple Heisenberg operators. Operator growth is a manifestation of information scrambling and can be diagnosed by out-of-time-order correlators (OTOCs). However, the behavior of OTOCs of local operators in generic chaotic local Hamiltonians remains poorly understood, with some semiclassical and large N models exhibiting exponential growth of OTOCs and a sharp chaos wavefront and other random circuit models showing a diffusively broadened wavefront. In this paper …
Topological Control of Quantum Chaos Diagnostics: OTOCs, Spectral Statistics, and Information Scrambling in Ising Model
School of Quantum Physics and Matter Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)（量子物理与物质学院，基础科学研究院（IPM））；Ershad Damavand, Institute of Higher Education (EDI)（厄尔沙德达马万德高等教育研究所（EDI））；Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Amirkabir University of Technology（阿米尔卡比尔理工大学数学与计算机科学系）；Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, Alzahra University（阿尔扎哈拉大学数学科学学院数学系）；Department of Physics, CT.C, Islamic Azad University（伊斯兰阿扎德大学CT.C物理学系）；Institute of Biosocial and Quantum Science and Technologies, CT.C, Islamic Azad University（伊斯兰阿扎德大学CT.C生物社会与量子科学与技术研究所）
Out-of-time-ordered correlation functions (OTOCs) play a crucial role in the study of thermalization, entanglement, and quantum chaos, as they quantify the scrambling of quantum information due to complex interactions. As a consequence of their out-of-time-ordered nature, OTOCs are difficult to measure experimentally. Here we propose an OTOC measurement protocol that does not rely on the reversal of time evolution and is easy to implement in a range of experimental settings. The protocol accounts for both pure and mixed initial states, and is applicable to systems that interact with environmen…
The law of statistical physics dictates that generic closed quantum many-body systems initialized in nonequilibrium will thermalize under their own dynamics. However, the emergence of many-body localization (MBL) owing to the interplay between interaction and disorder, which is in stark contrast to Anderson localization that only addresses noninteracting particles in the presence of disorder, greatly challenges this concept because it prevents the systems from evolving to the ergodic thermalized state. One critical evidence of MBL is the long-time logarithmic growth of entanglement entropy, an…
Scrambling processes, which rapidly spread entanglement through many-body quantum systems, are difficult to investigate using standard techniques, but are relevant to quantum chaos and thermalization. In this Letter, we ask if quantum machine learning (QML) could be used to investigate such processes. We prove a no-go theorem for learning an unknown scrambling process with QML, showing that any variational ansatz is highly probable to have a barren plateau landscape, i.e., cost gradients that vanish exponentially in the system size. This implies that the required resources scale exponentially …
Evaluating the role of perturbations versus the intrinsic coherent dynamics in driving to equilibrium is of fundamental interest to understand quantum many-body thermalization, in the quest to build ever complex quantum devices. Here we introduce a protocol that scales down the coupling strength in a quantum simulator based on a solid-state nuclear spin system, leading to a longer decay time T2, while keeping perturbations associated to control error constant. We can monitor quantum information scrambling by measuring two powerful metrics, out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) and Loschmidt …
