Thermalization and criticality on an analogue–digital quantum simulator

Abstract Understanding how interacting particles approach thermal equilibrium is a major challenge of quantum simulators 1,2 . Unlocking the full potential of such systems towards this goal requires flexible initial state preparation, precise time evolution and extensive probes for final state characterization. Here we present a quantum simulator comprising 69 superconducting qubits that supports both universal quantum gates and high-fidelity analogue evolution, with performance beyond the reach of classical simulation in cross-entropy benchmarking experiments. This hybrid platform features more versatile measurement capabilities compared with analogue-only simulators, which we leverage here to reveal a…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy
• CI
  California Institute of Technology
• AN
  Agence Nationale de la Recherche

  Awards: ANR-20-CE47-0005, 10-LABX-51-01, ANR-10-LABX-51-01, ANR-10
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung

  Award: 210478
• DA
  Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina - Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften

  Award: LPDS 2021-02
• OO
  Office of Science
• WB
  Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics