We argue that usual quantum statics and the dynamical equivalence of mixed quantum states to {\it probabilistic mixtures}suffice to guarantee a linear evolution law, which necessarily complies with the no-signaling condition. Alternatively, there are nonlinear dynamical extensions that treat mixed states as {\it elementary mixtures} and evolve {\it every}pure state linearly and unitarily. But if all {\it entangled} pure states evolve linearly, then elementary mixtures cannot evolve nonlinearly without challenging quantum locality. Conversely, any such extension that is relativistically well behaved demands a nonlinear evolution [decoherence] of pure entangled states. Wherefrom follows that the linear evolution of entangled pure states provides an unequivocal signature of linear quantum dynamics.
From fluid flow and transport to collective dynamics, numerical simulation of nonlinear partial differential equations underpins modern scientific computing. Extending this capability to quantum computers remains a longstanding challenge because nonlinear and non-Hermitian evolution is fundamentally incompatible with conventional Hamiltonian-based quantum simulation. Here we experimentally realize the time evolution of nonlinear fluid dynamics on a quantum processor using a hybrid variational framework for the viscous and inviscid Burgers equations. Our approach directly encodes the nonlinear dynamics into a variational optimization procedure, avoiding the enlarged linear embeddings and truncation overhead associated with Carleman linearization-based quantum algorithms. We further demonstrate convection-dominated dynamics corresponding to Reynolds numbers of order
102. We encode the governing evolution into parametrized quantum circuits and iteratively reconstruct the time-dependent field through quantum-classical optimization. By introducing a zero-noise extrapolation method without additional circuit-folding overhead, we accurately execute deep error-circuits with entangling-gate counts beyond those typical of Hadamard test circuits. We accurately reconstruct the time evolution across multiple timesteps despite hardware noise and finite device coherence. Our results constitute, to our knowledge, the first experimental realization of nonlinear time propagation on a quantum processor, extending quantum simulation beyond predominantly linear settings and establishing a route toward quantum computation for nonlinear continuum dynamics.
Abstract In this work a nonlinear evolution of pure states of a finite dimensional quantum system is introduced, in particular a Riccati evolution equation. It is shown how this class of dynamics is actually a Hamiltonian dynamics in the complex projective space. In this projective space it is shown that there is a nonlinear superposition rule, consistent with its linear counterpart in the Hilbert space. As an example, the developed nonlinear formalism is applied to the semiclassical Jaynes–Cummings model.