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arXiv:1904.10559 · Physical Review Research

Neutrino oscillations in a quantum processor

Carlos A. Argüelles, B. J. P. Jones

Published Dec 13, 2019• 31 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In this paper the authors demonstrate the emulation of neutrino oscillations on a quantum processor, directly encoding three-neutrino flavor evolution onto the two-qubit system of a publicly available quantum computer and time-evolving the system analogously to the physical neutrino. Excellent agreement with with the standard classical calculation is found, and extensions to more complex systems including beyond-standard-model physics involving sterile neutrinos, anomalous decoherence, and matter effects are explored.

DOI
10.1103/physrevresearch.1.033176

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In this paper the authors demonstrate the emulation of neutrino oscillations on a quantum processor, directly encoding three-neutrino flavor evolution onto the two-qubit system of a publicly available quantum computer and time-evolving the system analogously to the physical neutrino. Excellent agreement with with the standard classical calculation is found, and extensions to more complex systems including beyond-standard-model physics involving sterile neutrinos, anomalous decoherence, and matter effects are explored.
Neutrino oscillations can be efficiently simulated on a quantum computer using the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) theory in close analogy to the physical processes realized in experiments. We simulate three-flavor neutrino oscillations on a two-qubit NMR quantum information processor. The three-flavor neutrino states were encoded into the two-qubit system, leaving one redundant basis state (representing an unphysical sterile neutrino). We simulated the neutrino oscillations in different scenarios, including propagation in vacuum and through surrounding matter, and both with and without a CP violating phase δδδ at a Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) baseline distance of L = 1285 km. The oscillation probabilities were obtained after unitarily time evolving the initial flavor state and and comparisons were performed between different scenarios. Further, we design and implement an optimized quantum circuit encoding all four parameters (three mixing angles-θ12,θ23,θ13θ_{12},θ_{23},θ_{13}θ12​,θ23​,θ13​ and one complex phase δδδ) to implement the PMNS unitary matrix, which relates the flavor and mass eigenstates. The interaction with matter is considered as a perturbation to the vacuum Hamiltonian, and the same quantum circuit is employed with an approximation of two mixing angles (θ12θ_{12}θ12​ and θ13θ_{13}θ13​ ) and mass eigenvalues. Our experimental results match well with numerical simulations and highlight the potential of quantum computers for exploring the physics of neutrino oscillations.
Abstract Neutrino oscillations can be efficiently simulated on a quantum computer using the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) theory in close analogy to the physical processes realized in experiments. We simulate three-flavor neutrino oscillations on a two-qubit NMR quantum information processor. The three-flavor neutrino states were encoded into the two-qubit system, leaving one redundant basis state (representing an unphysical sterile neutrino). The neutrino oscillations were experimentally simulated in different scenarios, including propagation in vacuum and through surrounding matter, and both with and without a CP violating phase δ at a Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) baseline distance of L = 1285 km. The oscillation probabilities were obtained after unitarily time evolving the initial flavor state and comparisons were performed between different scenarios. The interaction with matter is considered as a perturbation to the vacuum Hamiltonian, and the same quantum circuit is employed with an approximation of two mixing angles (θ 12 and θ 13) and mass eigenvalues. Our experimental results match well with numerical simulations and highlight the potential of quantum computers for exploring the physics of neutrino oscillations.
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