Programmable adiabatic demagnetization for systems with trivial and topological excitations
1Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne, 50937 Cologne, Germany
2Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel
3Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1560, USA
| Published: | 2024-10-23, volume 8, page 1505 |
| Eprint: | arXiv:2210.17256v5 |
| Doi: | https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2024-10-23-1505 |
| Citation: | Quantum 8, 1505 (2024). |
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Abstract
We propose a simple, robust protocol to prepare a low-energy state of an arbitrary Hamiltonian on a quantum computer or programmable quantum simulator. The protocol is inspired by the adiabatic demagnetization technique, used to cool solid-state systems to extremely low temperatures. A fraction of the qubits (or spins) is used to model a spin bath that is coupled to the system. By an adiabatic ramp down of a simulated Zeeman field acting on the bath spins, energy and entropy are extracted from the system. The bath spins are then measured and reset to the polarized state, and the process is repeated until convergence to a low-energy steady state is achieved. We demonstrate the protocol via application to the quantum Ising model. We study the protocol's performance in the presence of noise and show how the information from the measurement of the bath spins can be used to monitor the cooling process. The performance of the algorithm depends on the nature of the excitations of the system; systems with non-local (topological) excitations are more difficult to cool than those with local excitations. We explore the possible mitigation of this problem by trapping topological excitations.
Popular summary
Here, we suggest and test a protocol to prepare low-energy states of complex quantum systems. Low energy states can be reached by cooling a system. We use half of the quantum bits (qubits) to simulate a refrigerator. The refrigerator qubits are initially polarized and subject to a simulated high magnetic field. Coupling the refrigerator qubits to the system qubits and lowering the magnetic field transfers entropy and energy from the system to the refrigerator. At the end, the refrigerator qubits are decoupled from the system, measured and reset to their initial state. This cooling cycle is repeated several times. The main advantage of the protocol is that it is robust against noise and errors existing in all current quantum computers. Furthermore, we show how it can be used to trap topological (non-local) excitations.
By combining ideas of solid-state physics and cooling technologies with quantum algorithms, we present a simple, scalable, and robust technique to prepare low-energy states on present-day quantum devices.
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