The boundary operator is a linear operator that acts on a collection of high-dimensional binary points (simplices) and maps them to their boundaries. This boundary map is one of the key components in numerous applications, including differential equations, machine learning, computational geometry, machine vision and control systems. We consider the problem of representing the full boundary operator on a quantum computer. We first prove that the boundary operator has a special structure in the form of a complete sum of fermionic creation and annihilation operators. We then use the fact that these operators pairwise anticommute to produce an $O(n)$-depth circuit that exactly implements the boundary operator without any Trotterization or Taylor series approximation errors. Having fewer errors reduces the number of shots required to obtain desired accuracies.
We prove that the boundaries of all non-trivial 1+1 dimensional intrinsically fermionic symmetry-protected-topological phases, protected by finite on-site symmetries (unitary or anti-unitary), are supersymmetric quantum mechanical systems. This supersymmetry does not require any fine-tuning of the underlying Hamiltonian, arises entirely as a consequence of the boundary 't Hooft anomaly that classifies the phase and is related to a `Bose-Fermi' degeneracy different in nature from other well known degeneracies such as Kramers doublets.
The fermionic condensate is investigated in a (2+1)-dimensional conical spacetime in the presence of a circular boundary and a magnetic flux. It is assumed that on the boundary the fermionic field obeys the MIT bag boundary condition. For irregular modes, we consider a special case of boundary conditions at the cone apex, when the MIT bag boundary condition is imposed at a finite radius, which is then taken to zero. The fermionic condensate is a periodic function of the magnetic flux with the period equal to the flux quantum. For both exterior and interior regions, the fermionic condensate is …
In this paper we investigate the fermionic condensate and the renormalized vacuum expectation value (VEV) of the energy-momentum tensor for a massive fermionic field induced by a flat boundary in the cosmic string spacetime. In this analysis we assume that the field operator obeys MIT bag boundary condition on the boundary. We explicitly decompose the VEVs into the boundary-free and boundary-induced parts. General formulas are provided for both parts which are valid for any value of the parameter associated with the cosmic string. For a massless field, the boundary-free part in the fermionic c…
In this paper, we apply the K-theory scheme of classifying the topological insulators/superconductors to classify the topological classes of the massive multi-flavor fermions in anti-de Sitter (AdS) space. In the context of AdS/CFT correspondence, the multi-flavor fermionic mass matrix is dual to the pattern of operator mixing in the boundary conformal field theory (CFT). Thus, our results classify the possible patterns of operator mixings among fermionic operators in the holographic CFT.
A fermionic operator circuit is a product of fermionic operators of usually different and partially overlapping support. Further elements of fermionic operator circuits (FOCs) are partial traces and partial projections. The presented framework allows for the introduction of fermionic versions of known qudit operator circuits (QUOC), important for the simulation of strongly correlated d-dimensional systems: The multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA), tree tensor networks (TTN), projected entangled pair states (PEPS), or their infinite-size versions (iPEPS etc.). After the definit…
The dynamics of quantum field theories on bounded domains requires the introduction of boundary conditions on the quantum fields. We address the problem from a very general perspective by using charge conservation as a fundamental principle for scalar and fermionic quantum field theories. Unitarity arises as a consequence of the choice of charge preserving boundary conditions. This provides a powerful framework for the analysis of global geometrical and topological properties of the space of physical boundary conditions. Boundary conditions which allow the existence of edge states can only ari…
We introduce the concept of fermionic matrix product operators, and show that they provide a natural representation of fermionic fusion tensor categories. This allows for the classification of two dimensional fermionic topological phases in terms of matrix product operator algebras. Using this approach we give a classification of fermionic symmetry protected topological phases with respect to a group $G$ in terms of three cohomology groups: $H^1(G,\mathbb{Z}_2)$, describing which matrix product operators are of Majorana type, $H^2(G,\mathbb{Z}_2)$, describing the fermionic nature of the fusion…
We investigate the vacuum expectation value of the fermionic current induced by a magnetic flux in a (2+1)-dimensional conical spacetime in the presence of a circular boundary. On the boundary the fermionic field obeys MIT bag boundary condition. For irregular modes, a special case of boundary conditions at the cone apex is considered, when the MIT bag boundary condition is imposed at a finite radius, which is then taken to zero. We observe that the vacuum expectation values for both charge density and azimuthal current are periodic functions of the magnetic flux with the period equal to the f…
We introduced fermionic variables in complex modules over real Clifford algebras of even dimension which are analog of the Witt basis. We built primitive idempotents which are a set of equivalent Clifford vacuums. It is shown that the modules are decomposed into direct sum of minimal left ideals generated by these idempotents and that the fermionic variables can be considered as more fundamental mathematical objects than spinors.
In this paper we study the time evolution of (Renyi) entanglement entropies for locally excited states in four dimensional free massless fermionic field theory. Locally excited states are defined by being acted by various local operators on the ground state. Their excesses are defined by subtracting (Renyi) entanglement entropy for the ground state from those for locally excited states. They finally approach some constant if the subsystem is given by half of the total space. They have spin dependence. They can be interpreted in terms of quasi-particles.
Wick's theorem provides a connection between time ordered products of bosonic or fermionic fields, and their normal ordered counterparts. We consider a generic pair of operator orderings and we prove, by induction, the theorem that relates them. We name this the General Wick's Theorem (GWT) because it carries Wick's theorem as special instance, when one applies the GWT to time and normal orderings. We establish the GWT both for bosonic and fermionic operators, i.e. operators that satisfy c-number commutation and anticommutation relations respectively. We remarkably show that the GWT is the sam…
We present a procedure for exactly diagonalizing finite-range quadratic fermionic Hamiltonians with arbitrary boundary conditions in one of D dimensions, and periodic in the remaining D-1. The key is a Hamiltonian-dependent separation of the bulk from the boundary. By combining information from the two, we identify a matrix function that completely characterizes the solutions, and allow to identify an indicator of bulk-boundary correspondence. As an illustration, we show how our method correctly describes the zero-energy Majorana modes of a time-reversal-invariant s-wave superconductor in a Jo…
The vacuum expectation value (VEV) of the energy-momentum tensor for a massive fermionic field is investigated in a (2+1)-dimensional conical spacetime in the presence of a circular boundary and an infinitely thin magnetic flux located at the cone apex. The MIT bag boundary condition is assumed on the circle. At the cone apex we consider a special case of boundary conditions for irregular modes, when the MIT bag boundary condition is imposed at a finite radius, which is then taken to zero. The presence of the magnetic flux leads to the Aharonov-Bohm-like effect on the VEV of the energy-momentu…
The path integral technique is used to derive a possible expression for the density operator of the fermionic harmonic oscillator. In terms of the Grassmann variables, the fermionic density operator can be written as: $ρ_F (β)=c^* (β)c(β) \pm c^*(β)c(β)e^{-βω}$, where +(-) means that the sum over all antiperiodic (periodic) orbits. Our density operator is then used to obtain the usual fermionic partition function which describes the fermionic oscillator in thermal equilibrium. Also, according to the periodic orbit $c(β)=c(0)$, the graded fermionic partition function is obtained.
Simulating fermionic lattice models with qubits requires mapping fermionic degrees of freedom to qubits. The simplest method for this task, the Jordan-Wigner transformation, yields strings of Pauli operators acting on an extensive number of qubits. This overhead can be a hindrance to implementation of qubit-based quantum simulators, especially in the analog context. Here we thus review and analyze alternative fermion-to-qubit mappings, including the two approaches by Bravyi and Kitaev and the Auxiliary Fermion transformation. The Bravyi-Kitaev transform is reformulated in terms of a classical …
We investigate combined effects of nontrivial topology, induced by a cosmic string, and boundaries on the fermionic condensate and the vacuum expectation value (VEV) of the energy-momentum tensor for a massive fermionic field. As geometry of boundaries we consider two plates perpendicular to the string axis on which the field is constrained by the MIT bag boundary condition. By using the Abel-Plana type summation formula, the VEVs in the region between the plates are decomposed into the boundary-free and boundary-induced contributions for general case of the planar angle deficit. The boundary-…
The non-standard Schwinger fermionic representation of the unitary group is studied by using $n$-fermion operators. One finds that the Schwinger fermionic representation of the U(n) group is not unique when $n\ge 3$. In general, based on $n$-fermion operators, the non-standard Schwinger fermionic representation of the U(n) group can be established in a uniform approach, where all the generators commute with the total number operators. The Schwinger fermionic representation of $U(C^{m}_{n})$ group is also discussed.
In this paper we provide a novel and general way to construct the result of the action of any bosonic or fermionic operator represented in second quantized form on a state vector, without resorting to the matrix representation of operators and even to its elements. The new approach is based on our proposal to compactly enumerate the configurations (i.e., determinants for fermions, permanents for bosons) which are the elements of the state vector. This extremely simplifies the calculation of the action of an operator on a state vector. The computations of statical properties and of the evolutio…
In this paper, we consider the fermionic Casimir effect under a new type of space-time topology using the concept of quotient topology. The relation between the new topology and that in Ref. \cite{Feng,Zhai3} is something like that between a Möbius strip and a cylindric. We obtain the exact results of the Casimir energy and force for the massless and massive Dirac fields in the ($D+1$)-dimensional space-time. For both massless and massive cases, there is a $Z_2$ symmetry for the Casimir energy. To see the effect of the mass, we compare the result with that of the massless one and we found that…
Digital quantum simulation of fermionic systems is important in the context of chemistry and physics. Simulating fermionic models on general purpose quantum computers requires imposing a fermionic algebra on spins. The previously studied Jordan-Wigner and Bravyi-Kitaev transformations are two techniques for accomplishing this task. Here we re-examine an auxiliary fermion construction which maps fermionic operators to local operators on spins. The local simulation is performed by relaxing the requirement that the number of spins should match the number of fermionic modes. Instead, auxiliary mod…
Since any fermionic operator ψcan be written as ψ=q+ip, where q and p are hermitian operators, we use the eigenvalues of q and p to construct a functional formalism for calculating matrix elements that involve fermionic fields. The formalism is similar to that for bosonic fields and does not involve Grassmann numbers. This makes possible to perform numerical fermionic lattice computations that are much faster than not only other algorithms for fermions, but also algorithms for bosons.
We investigate entanglement dynamics in continuously monitored open quantum systems featuring current-carrying non-equilibrium states. We focus on a prototypical one-dimensional model of boundary-driven non-interacting fermions with monitoring of the local density, whose average Lindblad dynamics features a well-studied ballistic to diffusive crossover in transport. Here we analyze the dynamics of the fermionic negativity, mutual information, and purity along different quantum trajectories. We show that monitoring this boundary-driven system enhances its entanglement negativity at long times, …
We investigate the properties of the Dirac operator on manifolds with boundaries in presence of the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer boundary condition. An exact counting of the number of edge states for boundaries with isometry of a sphere is given. We show that the problem with the above boundary condition can be mapped to one where the manifold is extended beyond the boundary and the boundary condition is replaced by a delta function potential of suitable strength. We also briefly highlight how the problem of the self-adjointness of the operators in the presence of moving boundaries can be simplified b…
Quantum simulations of fermionic many-body systems crucially rely on mappings from indistinguishable fermions to distinguishable qubits. The non-local structure of fermionic Fock space necessitates encodings that either map local fermionic operators to non-local qubit operators, or encode the fermionic representation in a long-range entangled code space. In this latter case, there is an unavoidable trade-off between two desirable properties of the encoding: low weight representations of local fermionic operators, and a high distance code space. Here it is argued that despite this fundamental l…
Majorana-Pauli stabilizer codes and duality webs of fermionic topological phases
International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University（北京大学物理学院量子材料国际中心）；C. N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stony Brook University（石溪大学陈省身理论物理研究所）
Simulating a fermionic system on a quantum computer requires encoding the anti-commuting fermionic variables into the operators acting on the qubit Hilbert space. The most familiar of which, the Jordan-Wigner transformation, encodes fermionic operators into non-local qubit operators. As non-local operators lead to a slower quantum simulation, recent works have proposed ways of encoding fermionic systems locally. In this work, we show that locality may in fact be too strict of a condition and the size of operators can be reduced by encoding the system quasi-locally. We give examples relevant to…
We present a method for encoding second-quantized fermionic systems in qubits when the number of fermions is conserved, as in the electronic structure problem. When the number $F$ of fermions is much smaller than the number $M$ of modes, this symmetry reduces the number of information-theoretically required qubits from $Θ(M)$ to $O(F\log M)$. In this limit, our encoding requires $O(F^2\log^4 M)$ qubits, while encoded fermionic creation and annihilation operators have cost $O(F^2\log^5 M)$ in two-qubit gates. When incorporated into randomized simulation methods, this permits simulating time-evo…
We consider pure fermionic states with a varying number of quasiparticles and analyze two types of reduced density operators: one is obtained via tracing out modes, the other is obtained via tracing out particles. We demonstrate that spectra of mode-reduced states are not identical in general and fully characterize pure states with equispectral mode-reduced states. Such states are related via local unitary operations with states satisfying the parity superselection rule. Thus, valid purifications for fermionic density operators are found. To get particle-reduced operators for a general system,…
The dynamics of many-body fermionic systems are important in problems ranging from catalytic reactions at electrochemical surfaces, to transport through nanojunctions, and offer a prime target for quantum computing applications. Here we derive the set of conditions under which fermionic operators can be exactly replaced by bosonic operators that render the problem amenable to a large toolbox of dynamical methods while still capturing the correct dynamics of the $n$-body operators. Importantly, our analysis offers a simple guide on how one can exploit these simple maps to calculate nonequilibri…
Symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases are gapped short-range-entangled quantum phases with a symmetry $G$, which can all be smoothly connected to the trivial product states if we break the symmetry. It has been shown that a large class of interacting bosonic SPT phases can be systematically described by group cohomology theory. In this paper, we introduce a (special) group supercohomology theory which is a generalization of the standard group cohomology theory. We show that a large class of short-range interacting fermionic SPT phases can be described by the group supercohomology theory.…
Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad equation of Poisson-type for the density matrix is considered. The Poisson jumps are assumed to be unitary operators with generators, which are quadratic in fermionic creation and annihilation operators. The explicit dynamics of the density matrix moments and Markovian multi-time ordered correlation functions is obtained.
Fermionic linear optics corresponds to the dynamics of free fermions, and is known to be efficiently simulable classically. We define fermionic anyon models by deforming the fermionic algebra of creation and annihilation operators, and consider the dynamics of number-preserving, quadratic Hamiltonians on these operators. We show that any such deformation results in an anyonic linear optical model which allows for universal quantum computation.
The q-fermion numbers emerging from the q-fermion oscillator algebra are used to reproduce the q-fermionic Stirling and Bell numbers. New recurrence relations for the expansion coefficients in the 'anti-normal ordering' of the q-fermion operators are derived. The roles of the q-fermion numbers in q-stochastic point processes and the Bargmann space representation for q-fermion operators are explored.
We introduce creation and annihilation operators of pseudo-Hermitian fermions for two-level systems described by pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian with real eigenvalues. This allows the generalization of the fermionic coherent states approach to such systems. Pseudo-fermionic coherent states are constructed as eigenstates of two pseudo-fermion annihilation operators. These coherent states form a bi-normal and bi-overcomplete system, and their evolution governed by the pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian is temporally stable. In terms of the introduced pseudo-fermion operators the two-level system' Hamilto…
In a series of recent papers we have shown how the dynamical behavior of certain classical systems can be analyzed using operators evolving according to Heisenberg-like equations of motions. In particular, we have shown that raising and lowering operators play a relevant role in this analysis. The technical problem of our approach stands in the difficulty of solving the equations of motion, which are, first of all, {\em operator-valued} and, secondly, quite often nonlinear. In this paper we construct a general procedure which significantly simplifies the treatment for those systems which can b…
In this paper we present a protocol for the implementation of a positive-operator-valued measure (POVM) on massive fermionic qubits. We present methods for implementing non-dispersive qubit transport, spin rotations and spin polarizing beam-splitter operations. Our scheme attains linear optics-like control of the spatial extent of the qubits by considering groundstate electrons trapped in the minima of surface acoustic waves in semiconductor heterostructures. Furthermore, we numerically simulate a high-fidelity POVM that carries out Procrustean entanglement distillation in the framework of our…
In this work we present a method for generating a fermionic encoding tailored to a set of target fermionic operators and to a target hardware connectivity. Our method uses brute force search, over the space of all encodings which map from Majorana monomials to Pauli operators, to find an encoding which optimizes a target cost function. In contrast to earlier works in this direction, our method searches over an extremely broad class of encodings which subsumes all known second quantized encodings that constitute algebra homomorphisms. In order to search over this class, we give a clear mathemat…
Symmetry transformations have proved useful in determining the algebraic structure and internal dynamical properties of physical systems. In the quantum Rabi model, invariance under parity symmetry transformation has been used to obtain exact solutions of the eigenvalue equation and very good approximations of the internal dynamics of the interacting atom-light system. In this article, two symmetry operators, characterized as "duality" symmetry operators, have been introduced which transform the quantum Rabi Hamiltonian into duality conjugates. The parity and duality symmetry operators constit…
We study matrix product unitary operators (MPUs) for fermionic one-dimensional (1D) chains. In stark contrast with the case of 1D qudit systems, we show that (i) fermionic MPUs do not necessarily feature a strict causal cone and (ii) not all fermionic Quantum Cellular Automata (QCA) can be represented as fermionic MPUs. We then introduce a natural generalization of the latter, obtained by allowing for an additional operator acting on their auxiliary space. We characterize a family of such generalized MPUs that are locality-preserving, and show that, up to appending inert ancillary fermionic de…
