We have studied topology and dynamics of quantum vortices in spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensates. By computationally modeling controllable braiding and fusion of these vortices, we have demonstrated that certain vortices in such spinor condensates behave as non-Abelian anyons. We identify these anyons as fluxon, chargeon, and dyon quasiparticles. The pertinent anyon models are defined by the quantum double of the underlying discrete non-Abelian symmetry group of the condensate ground state order parameter.
We have studied topology and dynamics of quantum vortices in spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensates. By computationally modeling controllable braiding and fusion of these vortices, we have demonstrated that certain vortices in such spinor condensates behave as non-Abelian anyons. We identify these anyons as fluxon, chargeon, and dyon quasiparticles. The pertinent anyon models are defined by the quantum double of the underlying discrete non-Abelian symmetry group of the condensate ground state order parameter.
In this thesis, we study the non-Abelian anyons that emerge as vortices in Ki-taev's honeycomb spin lattice model. By generalizing the solution of the model, we explicity demonstrate the non-Abelian fusion rules and the braid statistics that charaterize the anyons. This is based on showing the presence of vortices leads to zero modes in the spectrum. These can acquire finite energy due to short range vortex-vortex interactions. By studying the spectral evolution as a function of the vortex seperation, we unambigously identify the zero modes with the fusion degrees of freedom of non-Abelian anyons. To calculate the non-Abelian statistics, we show how the vortex transport can be implemented through local manipulation of the couplings. This enables us to employ the eigenstates of the model to simulate a process where a vortex winds around another. The corresponding evolution of the degenerate ground state space is given by a Berry phase, which under suitable conditions coincides with the statistics. By considering a range of finite size systems, we find a physical regime where the Berry phase gives the predicted statistics of the anoyonic vortices with high fidelity. Finally we study the full-vortex sector of the model and find that is supports a previously undiscovered topological phase. This new phase emerges from the phase with non-Abelian anyons due to their interactions. To study the transitions between the different topological phases appearing in the model, we consider Fermi surface, whose topology captures the long-range properties. Each phase is found to be characterized by a distinct number of Fermi points, with the number depending on distinct global Hamiltonian symmetries. To study how the Fermi surfaces evolve into each other at phase transitions, we consider the low-energy field theory that is described by Dirac fermions. We show that phase transition driving perturbations translate to a coupling to chiral gauge fields, that always lead to Fermi point transport. By studying this transport, we obtain analytically the extended phase space of the model and its properties.
Non-Abelian anyons are exotic quasiparticle excitations hosted by certain topological phases of matter. They break the fermion-boson dichotomy and obey non-Abelian braiding statistics: their interchanges yield unitary operations, rather than merely a phase factor, in a space spanned by topologically degenerate wavefunctions. They are the building blocks of topological quantum computing. However, experimental observation of non-Abelian anyons and their characterizing braiding statistics is notoriously challenging and has remained elusive hitherto, in spite of various theoretical proposals. Here, we report an experimental quantum digital simulation of projective non-Abelian anyons and their braiding statistics with up to 68 programmable superconducting qubits arranged on a two-dimensional lattice. By implementing the ground states of the toric-code model with twists through quantum circuits, we demonstrate that twists exchange electric and magnetic charges and behave as a particular type of non-Abelian anyons, i.e., the Ising anyons. In particular, we show experimentally that these twists follow the fusion rules and non-Abelian braiding statistics of the Ising type, and can be explored to encode topological logical qubits. Furthermore, we demonstrate how to implement both single- and two-qubit logic gates through applying a sequence of elementary Pauli gates on the underlying physical qubits. Our results demonstrate a versatile quantum digital approach for simulating non-Abelian anyons, offering a new lens into the study of such peculiar quasiparticles.
Abstract Quantum many-body systems with a non-Abelian topological order can host anyonic quasiparticles. It has been proposed that anyons could be used to encode and manipulate information in a topologically protected manner that is immune to local noise, with quantum gates performed by braiding and fusing anyons. Unfortunately, realizing non-Abelian topologically ordered states is challenging, and it was not until recently that the signatures of non-Abelian statistics were observed through digital quantum simulation approaches. However, not all forms of topological order can be used to realize universal quantum computation. Here we use a superconducting quantum processor to simulate non-Abelian topologically ordered states of the Fibonacci string-net model and demonstrate braidings of Fibonacci anyons featuring universal computational power. We demonstrate the non-trivial topological nature of the quantum states by measuring the topological entanglement entropy. In addition, we create two pairs of Fibonacci anyons and demonstrate their fusion rule and non-Abelian braiding statistics by applying unitary gates on the underlying physical qubits. Our results establish a digital approach to explore non-Abelian topological states and their associated braiding statistics with current noisy intermediate-scale quantum processors.
The general formulation of quantum statistical mechanics hints at interesting generalizations of the usual Bose/Fermi framework in two spatial dimensions. Anyon statistics, which is essentially a continuous interpolation between Bose and Fermi statistics, is relevant to the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect in two-dimensional (i.e., thin layer) condensed matter systems. In addition, the possibility of non-abelian statistics, in which the multi-particle wavefunction transforms as a representation of a non-abelian group under the exchange of indistinguishable particles, has been explored. Spontaneously broken non-abelian gauge theories in (2 + 1) dimensions often have stable topological defects, called non-abelian vortices, that experience non-abelian statistics. In addition, it has been suggested that degenerate quasihole multiplets in Quantum Hall systems also transform as non-abelian representations of the braid group under particle exchange. In this thesis, I explore the braiding properties of systems of two-cycle flux vortices in a residual S₃ discrete gauge group. The individual vortices are uncharged, but multi-vortex states can have Cheshire charge. The uncharged sectors all have non-vanishing bosonic subspaces, as do the non-abelian charged trivial flux sectors. A kinetic Hamiltonian for vortices on a periodic lattice is constructed. There is a modification to the translational symmetry in the periodically identified direction for non-trivial Z₂ charged sectors. The ground state energies for various three and four vortex sectors is numerically determined. Typically, the ground state is bosonic, with a gap separating it from a non-abelian subspace.
The theory of topological quantum computation is underpinned by two important classes of models. One is based on non-abelian Chern–Simons theory, which yields the so-called SU(2)k anyon models that often appear in the context of electrically charged quantum fluids. The physics of the other is captured by symmetry broken Yang–Mills theory in the absence of a Chern–Simons term and results in the so-called quantum double models. Extensive resources have been invested into the search for SU(2)k anyon quasi-particles, in particular, the so-called Ising anyons (k = 2) of which Majorana zero modes are believed to be an incarnation. In contrast to the SU(2)k models, quantum doubles have attracted little attention in experiments despite their pivotal role in the theory of error correction. Beyond topological error correcting codes, the appearance of quantum doubles has been limited to contexts primarily within mathematical physics, and as such, they are of seemingly little relevance for the study of experimentally tangible systems. However, recent works suggest that quantum double anyons may be found in spinor Bose–Einstein condensates. In light of this, the core purpose of this article is to provide a self-contained exposition of the quantum double structure, framed in the context of spinor condensates, by constructing explicitly the quantum doubles for various ground state symmetry groups and discuss their experimental realisability. We also derive analytically an equation for the quantum double Clebsch–Gordan coefficients from which the relevant braid matrices can be worked out. Finally, the existence of a particle-vortex duality is exposed and illuminated upon in this context.
A quantum computer can perform exponentially faster than its classical counterpart. It works on the principle of superposition. But due to the decoherence effect, the superposition of a quantum state gets destroyed by the interaction with the environment. It is a real challenge to completely isolate a quantum system to make it free of decoherence. This problem can be circumvented by the use of topological quantum phases of matter. These phases have quasiparticles excitations called anyons. The anyons are charge-flux composites and show exotic fractional statistics. When the order of exchange matters, then the anyons are called non-Abelian anyons. Majorana fermions in topological superconductors and quasiparticles in some quantum Hall states are non-Abelian anyons. Such topological phases of matter have a ground state degeneracy. The fusion of two or more non-Abelian anyons can result in a superposition of several anyons. The topological quantum gates are implemented by braiding and fusion of the non-Abelian anyons. The fault-tolerance is achieved through the topological degrees of freedom of anyons. Such degrees of freedom are non-local, hence inaccessible to the local perturbations. In this dissertation, we provide a comprehensive review of the fundamentals of logic design in topological quantum computing. The braid group and knot invariants in the skein theory are discussed. The physical insight behind the braiding is explained by the geometric phases and the gauge transformation. The mathematical models for the fusion and braiding are presented in terms of the category theory and the quantum deformation of the recoupling theory. The topological phases of matter are described by the topology of band structure. The wave function of quasiparticles in the quantum Hall effect and the theory of Majorana fermions in topological superconductors are also discussed. The dynamics of the charge-flux composites and their Hilbert space are expressed through the Chern-Simons theory and the two-dimensional topological quantum field theory. The Ising and Fibonacci anyonic models for binary gates are briefly given. Ternary logic gates are more compact than their binary counterparts and naturally arise in a type of anyonic model called the metaplectic anyons. We reduced the quantum cost of the existing ternary quantum arithmetic gates and proposed that these gates can be implemented with the metaplectic anyons.