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arXiv:0809.0589 · Physical Review Letters

Quantum Simulation of a System with Competing Two- and Three-Body Interactions

Xinhua Peng, Jingfu Zhang, Jiangfeng Du, Dieter Suter

Published Sep 29, 2009• 156 citations
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Abstract

Quantum phase transitions occur at zero temperature, when the ground state of a Hamiltonian undergoes a qualitative change as a function of a control parameter. We consider a particularly interesting system with competing one-, two-, and three-body interactions. Depending on the relative strength of these interactions, the ground state of the system can be a product state, or it can exhibit genuine tripartite entanglement. We experimentally simulate such a system in a NMR quantum simulator and observe the different ground states. By adiabatically changing the strength of one coupling constant, we push the system from one ground state to a qualitatively different ground state. We show that these ground states can be distinguished and the transitions between them observed by measuring correlations between the spins or the expectation values of suitable entanglement witnesses.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.103.140501

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Quantum phase transitions occur at zero temperature, when the ground state of a Hamiltonian undergoes a qualitative change as a function of a control parameter. We consider a particularly interesting system with competing one-, two-, and three-body interactions. Depending on the relative strength of these interactions, the ground state of the system can be a product state, or it can exhibit genuine tripartite entanglement. We experimentally simulate such a system in a NMR quantum simulator and observe the different ground states. By adiabatically changing the strength of one coupling constant, we push the system from one ground state to a qualitatively different ground state. We show that these ground states can be distinguished and the transitions between them observed by measuring correlations between the spins or the expectation values of suitable entanglement witnesses.
Entanglement refers to the inability of many-body quantum mechanical systems to be separated into independent subsystems. This has been well investigated in systems consisting of two entangled subsystems. In larger systems, more complex types of entanglement exist. In a system consisting of three subsystems (e.g., qubits), it is possible that all three subsystems are entangled with each other in a way that cannot be reduced to bipartite entanglement, and it is known that two different, inequivalent forms of tripartite entanglement exist such as the GHZ and WWW states (GHZ denotes ``Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger''). Here, we investigate a particularly interesting system with competing one-, two-, and three-body interactions. Its ground state can be a product state, a GHZ state, or a WWW state, depending on the type and strength of the spin-spin couplings. By varying an external control parameter, the system can be made to undergo quantum transitions between the various ground-state-entanglement phases. We implement the system in an NMR quantum simulator and use adiabatic evolution of the effective Hamiltonian to drive the system through the quantum transitions. In the experimental and numerical simulations, we check the suitability of different observables for making the quantum transitions visible and for characterizing the different phases.
Quantum phase transitions occur when the ground state of a Hamiltonian undergoes qualitative changes with a control parameter changing. In this paper we consider a particular system--an Isng-type spin ring with competing many-body interactions. Depending on the relative strength interactions, the ground state of the system is either a product state or entangled state. We implement the system in a cavity-assisted neutral atomic simulator and study the non-locality and entanglement of the simulated ground state of an Ising-type three-spin ring with the control parameter changing. The simplicity of the setup and its robustness to noise give it a great practicality within the framework of current experimental technology.
Quantum phase transitions occur when the ground state of a quantum system undergoes a qualitative change when an external control parameter reaches a critical value. Here, we demonstrate a technique for studying quantum systems undergoing a phase transition by coupling the system to a probe qubit. It uses directly the increased sensibility of the quantum system to perturbations when it is close to a critical point. Using an NMR quantum simulator, we demonstrate this measurement technique for two different types of quantum phase transitions in an Ising spin chain.
We employ a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) quantum information processor to simulate the ground state of an XXZ spin chain and measure its NMR analog of entanglement, or pseudoentanglement. The observed pseudoentanglement for a small-size system already displays a singularity, a signature which is qualitatively similar to that in the thermodynamical limit across quantum phase transitions, including an infinite-order critical point. The experimental results illustrate a successful approach to investigate quantum correlations in many-body systems using quantum simulators.
Quantum phase transitions are sudden changes in the ground-state wavefunction of a many-body system that can occur as a control parameter such as a concentration or a field strength is varied. They are driven purely by the competition between quantum fluctuations and mutual interactions among constituents of the system, not by thermal fluctuations; hence they can occur even at zero temperature. Examples of quantum phase transitions in many-body physics may be found in systems ranging from high-temperature superconductors to topological insulators. A quantum phase transition usually can be characterized by nonanalyticity/discontinuity in certain order parameters or divergence of the ground state energy eigenvalue and/or its derivatives with respect to certain physical quantities. Here in a circular one-dimensional spin model with Heisenberg XY interaction and no magnetic field, we observe critical phenomena for the n0=1/N→0n_0=1/N\rightarrow0n0​=1/N→0 Mott insulator caused by a qualitative change of the boundary condition. We demonstrate in the vicinity of the transition point a sudden change in ground-state properties accompanied by an avoided level-crossing between the ground and the first excited states. Notably, our result links conventional quantum phase transitions to microscopic boundary conditions, with significant implications for quantum information, quantum control, and quantum computing.
We investigate superpositions of quantum Ising ground states generated through a quantum interaction, in which the nearest-neighbor coupling strength is promoted to an operator acting on a central auxiliary spin. We prepare the central spin in a superposition, which allows the chain to evolve coherently under different effective interaction strengths. The states are prepared by adiabatic evolution of the joint system comprising the central spin and the many-body spin chain, followed by a measurement on the central spin and post-selection of a specific outcome. It is possible to prepare superpositions of transverse-field quantum Ising ground states belonging to the three magnetic phases, namely, the paramagnetic, ferromagnetic, and anti-ferromagnetic phases. For a spin-1/2 central system, it is possible to prepare superpositions of ground states belonging to any two phases, while for the spin-1 case, the superpositions may contain three ground states, each belonging to one of the three phases. We analytically derive expressions for the magnetization, spin correlations, and entanglement of such states. The magnetization and spin correlations show distinct features in different superposition sectors. The nearest-neighbor entanglement is largest where the transverse field and Ising interaction compete, and its behavior differs from that of the magnetic observables. We also derive the quantum Fisher information relevant to estimating the Ising interaction strength. And it exhibits multiple peaks near the critical points of the constituent ground states, with the maximum value showing Heisenberg scaling, for the parameters and system sizes examined.