A team of researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, have been using quantum computers to simulate complex quantum systems, specifically dirty bosons. These strongly interacting bosons in a disordered environment play a key role in describing complex quantum systems. The team demonstrated how quantum computers can simulate dirty bosons in one and two dimensions, and also studied the effect of quantum hardware noise on the physical properties of the simulated system. This research opens up new possibilities for the study of complex quantum systems.
Quantum Computing and Dirty Bosons
A team of researchers, including Lindsay Bassman Oftelie, Roel Van Beeumen, Daan Camps, Wibe A de Jong, and Maxime Dupont, from the Applied Mathematics and Computational Research Division, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Department of Physics, and Materials Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of California, Berkeley, have been exploring the potential of quantum computers to simulate complex quantum systems. One such system of interest is that of dirty bosons, which are strongly interacting bosons in a disordered environment.
The Physics of Dirty Bosons
Dirty bosons are of particular interest due to their role in describing complex quantum systems such as ultracold gases in a random potential, doped quantum magnets, and amorphous superconductors. The physics of dirty bosons is characterized by the intriguing interplay of disorder and interactions in quantum systems. This interplay can lead to a disorder-induced phase of matter at low temperatures, known as the Bose glass. The study of these systems is a challenging problem in condensed matter physics.
Simulating Dirty Bosons on Quantum Computers
The team demonstrated how quantum computers can be used to elucidate the physics of dirty bosons in one and two dimensions. They explored the disorder-induced delocalized to localized transition using adiabatic state preparation. In one dimension, the quantum circuits can be compressed to small enough depths for execution on currently available quantum computers. However, in two dimensions, the compression scheme is no longer applicable, thereby requiring the use of large-scale classical state vector simulations to emulate quantum computer performance.
Impact of Quantum Hardware Noise
The researchers also studied the effect of quantum hardware noise on the physical properties of the simulated system. Their results suggest that scaling laws control how noise modifies observables versus its strength, the circuit depth, and the number of qubits. They observed that noise impacts the delocalized and localized phases differently. A better understanding of how noise alters the observed properties of the simulated system is essential for leveraging near-term quantum devices for simulation of dirty bosons and indeed for condensed matter systems in general.
Quantum Computing and Dirty Bosons
Despite extensive investigation into dirty bosons both experimentally and with simulation on classical computers, several fundamental questions remain open. Quantum computers, with their ability to efficiently simulate quantum systems and finely tune system parameters, offer a promising new platform for investigating such phases. The team’s work demonstrates how quantum computers can be used to simulate dirty bosons and how the noisy nature of near-term quantum computers affects such simulations. This research opens up new possibilities for the study of complex quantum systems.
In the article titled “Simulating dirty bosons on a quantum computer”, authors Lindsay Bassman Oftelie, Roel Van Beeumen, Daan Camps, Wibe A. de Jong, and Maxime Dupont explore the simulation of dirty bosons using quantum computing. The article was published in the New Journal of Physics on January 3, 2024.
