Finite Speed of Quantum Scrambling with Long Range Interactions

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≥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)∝r^(−α). Examples include the long range Coulomb interactions in plasma (α=1) and dipolar interactions between spins (α=3). In one spatial dimension, we prove that the speed of quantum scrambling remains finite for sufficiently large α. This result parametrically improves previous bounds, compares favorably with recent numerical simulations, and can be realized in quantum simulators with dipolar interactions. Our new mathematical methods lead to improved algorithms for classically simulating quantum systems, and improve bounds on environmental decoherence in experimental quantum information processors

Entanglement wedge reconstruction using the Petz map

At the heart of recent progress in AdS/CFT is the question of subregion duality, or entanglement wedge reconstruction: which part(s) of the boundary CFT are dual to a given subregion of the bulk? This question can be answered by appealing to the quantum error correcting properties of holography, and it was recently shown that robust bulk (entanglement wedge) reconstruction can be achieved using a universal recovery channel known as the twirled Petz map. In short, one can use the twirled Petz map to recover bulk data from a subset of the boundary. However, this map involves an averaging procedure over bulk and boundary modular time, and hence it can be somewhat intractable to evaluate in practice. We show that a much simpler channel, the Petz map, is sufficient for entanglement wedge reconstruction for any code space of fixed finite dimension — no twirling is required. Moreover, the error in the reconstruction will always be non-perturbatively small. From a quantum information perspective, we prove a general theorem extending the use of the Petz map as a general-purpose recovery channel to subsystem and operator algebra quantum error correction

Speed limits and locality in many-body quantum dynamics

We review the mathematical speed limits on quantum information processing in many-body systems. After the proof of the Lieb-Robinson Theorem in 1972, the past two decades have seen substantial developments in its application to other questions, such as the simulatability of quantum systems on classical or quantum computers, the generation of entanglement, and even the properties of ground states of gapped systems. Moreover, Lieb-Robinson bounds have been extended in non-trivial ways, to demonstrate speed limits in systems with power-law interactions or interacting bosons, and even to prove notions of locality that arise in cartoon models for quantum gravity with all-to-all interactions. We overview the progress which has occurred, highlight the most promising results and techniques, and discuss some central outstanding questions which remain open. To help bring newcomers to the field up to speed, we provide self-contained proofs of the field's most essential results.Comment: review article. 93 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. v2: minor change

Single-ancilla ground state preparation via Lindbladians

We design an early fault-tolerant quantum algorithm for ground state preparation. As a Monte Carlo-style quantum algorithm, our method features a Lindbladian where the target state is stationary, and its evolution can be efficiently implemented using just one ancilla qubit. Our algorithm can prepare the ground state even when the initial state has zero overlap with the ground state, bypassing the most significant limitation of methods like quantum phase estimation. As a variant, we also propose a discrete-time algorithm, which demonstrates even better efficiency, providing a near-optimal simulation cost for the simulation time and precision. Numerical simulation using Ising models and Hubbard models demonstrates the efficacy and applicability of our method

An efficient and exact noncommutative quantum Gibbs sampler

Preparing thermal and ground states is an essential quantum algorithmic task for quantum simulation. In this work, we construct the first efficiently implementable and exactly detailed-balanced Lindbladian for Gibbs states of arbitrary noncommutative Hamiltonians. Our construction can also be regarded as a continuous-time quantum analog of the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. To prepare the quantum Gibbs state, our algorithm invokes Hamiltonian simulation for a time proportional to the mixing time and the inverse temperature $\beta$, up to polylogarithmic factors. Moreover, the gate complexity reduces significantly for lattice Hamiltonians as the corresponding Lindblad operators are (quasi-) local (with radius $\sim\beta$) and only depend on local Hamiltonian patches. Meanwhile, purifying our Lindbladians yields a temperature-dependent family of frustration-free "parent Hamiltonians", prescribing an adiabatic path for the canonical purified Gibbs state (i.e., the Thermal Field Double state). These favorable features suggest that our construction is the ideal quantum algorithmic counterpart of classical Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling.Comment: 39 pages, 4 figure

Fast Thermalization from the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis

The Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH) has played a major role in explaining thermodynamic phenomena in closed quantum systems. However, no connection has been known between ETH and the timescale of thermalization for open system dynamics. This paper rigorously shows that ETH indeed implies fast thermalization to the global Gibbs state. We show fast convergence for two models of thermalization. In the first, the system is weakly coupled to a bath of quasi-free Fermions that we routinely refresh. We derive a finite-time version of Davies' generator, with explicit error bounds and resource estimates, that describes the joint evolution. The second is Quantum Metropolis Sampling, a quantum algorithm for preparing Gibbs states on a quantum computer. In both cases, no guarantee for fast convergence was previously known for non-commuting Hamiltonians, partly due to technical issues with a finite energy resolution. The critical feature of ETH we exploit is that operators in the energy basis can be modeled by independent random matrices in a near-diagonal band. We show this gives quantum expander at nearby eigenstates of the Hamiltonian. This then implies fast convergence to the global Gibbs state by mapping the problem to a one-dimensional classical random walk on the energy eigenstates. Our results explain finite-time thermalization in chaotic open quantum systems and suggest an alternative formulation of ETH in terms of quantum expanders, which we investigate numerically for small systems.Comment: 76 pages, 14 figures. Corrections in v2 for the system-bath joint evolutio

Concentration for Trotter error

Quantum simulation is expected to be one of the key applications of future quantum computers. Product formulas, or Trotterization, are the oldest and, still today, an appealing method for quantum simulation. For an accurate product formula approximation in the spectral norm, the state-of-the-art gate complexity depends on the number of Hamiltonian terms and a certain 1-norm of its local terms. This work studies the concentration aspects of Trotter error: we prove that, typically, the Trotter error exhibits 2-norm (i.e., incoherent) scaling; the current estimate with 1-norm (i.e., coherent) scaling is for the worst cases. For k-local Hamiltonians and higher-order product formulas, we obtain gate count estimates for input states drawn from a 1-design ensemble (e.g., computational basis states). Our gate count depends on the number of Hamiltonian terms but replaces the 1-norm quantity by its analog in 2-norm, giving significant speedup for systems with large connectivity. Our results generalize to Hamiltonians with Fermionic terms and when the input state is drawn from a low-particle number subspace. Further, when the Hamiltonian itself has Gaussian coefficients (e.g., the SYK models), we show the stronger result that the 2-norm behavior persists even for the worst input state. Our main technical tool is a family of simple but versatile inequalities from non-commutative martingales called uniform smoothness. We use them to derive Hypercontractivity, namely p-norm estimates for low-degree polynomials, which implies concentration via Markov's inequality. In terms of optimality, we give examples that simultaneously match our p-norm bounds and the spectral norm bounds. Therefore, our improvement is due to asking a qualitatively different question from the spectral norm bounds. Our results give evidence that product formulas in practice may generically work much better than expected.Comment: 43 pages, 1 figur