In the field of monitored quantum circuits, it has remained an open question whether finite-time protocols for preparing long-range entangled states lead to phases of matter that are stable to gate imperfections, that can convert projective into weak measurements. Here, we show that in certain cases, long-range entanglement persists in the presence of weak measurements, and gives rise to novel forms of quantum criticality. We demonstrate this explicitly for preparing the two-dimensional Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger cat state and the three-dimensional toric code as minimal instances. In contrast to random monitored circuits, our circuit of gates and measurements is deterministic; the only randomness is in the measurement outcomes. We show how the randomness in these weak measurements allows us to track the solvable Nishimori line of the random-bond Ising model, rigorously establishing the stability of the glassy long-range entangled states in two and three spatial dimensions. Away from this exactly solvable construction, we use hybrid tensor network and Monte Carlo simulations to obtain a nonzero Edwards-Anderson order parameter as an indicator of long-range entanglement in the two-dimensional scenario. We argue that our protocol admits a natural implementation in existing quantum computing architectures, requiring only a depth-3 circuit on IBM's heavy-hexagon transmon chips.
In the field of monitored quantum circuits, it has remained an open question whether finite-time protocols for preparing long-range entangled states lead to phases of matter that are stable to gate imperfections, that can convert projective into weak measurements. Here, we show that in certain cases, long-range entanglement persists in the presence of weak measurements, and gives rise to novel forms of quantum criticality. We demonstrate this explicitly for preparing the two-dimensional Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger cat state and the three-dimensional toric code as minimal instances. In contrast to random monitored circuits, our circuit of gates and measurements is deterministic; the only randomness is in the measurement outcomes. We show how the randomness in these weak measurements allows us to track the solvable Nishimori line of the random-bond Ising model, rigorously establishing the stability of the glassy long-range entangled states in two and three spatial dimensions. Away from this exactly solvable construction, we use hybrid tensor network and Monte Carlo simulations to obtain a nonzero Edwards-Anderson order parameter as an indicator of long-range entanglement in the two-dimensional scenario. We argue that our protocol admits a natural implementation in existing quantum computing architectures, requiring only a depth-3 circuit on IBM's heavy-hexagon transmon chips.
In circuit-based quantum state preparation, qubit loss and coherent errors are circuit imperfections that imperil the formation of long-range entanglement beyond a certain threshold. The critical theory at the threshold is a continuous entanglement transition known to be described by a ( 2 + 0 ) -dimensional nonunitary conformal field theory which, for the two types of imperfections of certain circuits, is described by either percolation or Nishimori criticality, respectively. Here we study the threshold behavior when the two types of errors occur and show that, when moving away from the Clifford regime of projective stabilizer measurements, the percolation critical point becomes unstable and the critical theory flows to Nishimori universality. We track this critical renormalization group (RG) crossover flow by mapping out the entanglement phase diagrams, parametrized by the probability and strength of random weak measurements, of two dual protocols preparing surface code or GHZ-class cat states from a parent cluster state via constant-depth circuits. Extensive numerical simulations, using hybrid Gaussian fermion and tensor network/Monte Carlo sampling techniques on systems with more than a million qubits, demonstrate that an infinitesimal deviation from the Clifford regime leads to a sudden, strongly nonmonotonic entanglement growth at the incipient nonunitary RG flow. We argue that spectra of scaling dimensions of both the percolation and Nishimori fixed points exhibit . For percolation, we provide the exact (nonquadratic) multifractal spectrum of exponents, while for the Nishimori fixed point we show high-precision numerical results for five leading exponents characterizing multifractality.
Long-range entangled states are vital for quantum information processing and quantum metrology. Preparing such states by combining measurements with unitary gates opened new possibilities for efficient protocols with finite-depth quantum circuits. The complexity of these algorithms is crucial for the resource requirements on a large-scale noisy quantum device, while their stability to perturbations decides the fate of their implementation. In this work, we consider stochastic quantum circuits in one and two dimensions comprising randomly applied unitary gates and local measurements. These operations preserve a class of discrete local symmetries, which are broken due to the stochasticity arising from timing and gate imperfections. In the absence of randomness, the protocol generates a symmetry-protected long-range entangled state in a finite-depth circuit. In the general case, by studying the time evolution under this hybrid circuit, we analyze the time to reach the target entangled state. We find two important time scales that we associate with the emergence of certain symmetry generators. The quantum trajectories embody the local symmetry with a time scaling logarithmically with system size, while global symmetries require exponentially long times. We devise error-mitigation protocols that significantly lower both time scales and investigate the stability of the algorithm to perturbations that naturally arise in experiments. We also generalize the protocol to realize toric code and Xu-Moore states in two dimensions, opening avenues for future studies of anyonic excitations. Our results unveil a fundamental relationship between symmetries and dynamics across a range of lattice geometries, which contributes to a broad understanding of the stability of preparation algorithms in terms of phase transitions. Our work paves the way for efficient error correction for quantum state preparation.
Long-range entanglement-the backbone of topologically ordered states-cannot be created in finite time using local unitary circuits, or, equivalently, adiabatic state preparation.Recently, it has come to light that single-site measurements provide a loophole, allowing for finite-time state preparation in certain cases.Here we show how this observation imposes a complexity hierarchy on long-range entangled states based on the minimal number of measurement layers required to create the state, which we call "shots."First, similar to Abelian stabilizer states, we construct single-shot protocols for creating any non-Abelian quantum double of a group with nilpotency class 2 (such as D 4 or Q 8 ).We show that after the measurement, the wave function always collapses into the desired non-Abelian topological order, conditional on recording the measurement outcome.Moreover, the clean quantum double ground state can be deterministically prepared via feedforward-gates that depend on the measurement outcomes.Second, we provide the first constructive proof that a finite number of shots can implement the Kramers-Wannier duality transformation (i.e., the gauging map) for any solvable symmetry group.As a special case, this gives an explicit protocol to prepare twisted quantum doubles for all solvable groups.Third, we argue that certain topological orders, such as nonsolvable quantum doubles or Fibonacci anyons, define nontrivial phases of matter under the equivalence class of finite-depth unitaries and measurement, which cannot be prepared by any finite number of shots.Moreover, we explore the consequences of allowing gates to have exponentially small tails, which enables, for example, the preparation of any Abelian anyon theory, including chiral ones.This hierarchy paints a new picture of the landscape of long-range entangled states, with practical implications for quantum simulators.
The preparation of long-range entangled states using unitary circuits is limited by Lieb-Robinson bounds, but circuits with projective measurements and feedback ("adaptive circuits") can evade such restrictions.We introduce three classes of local adaptive circuits that enable low-depth preparation of long-range entangled quantum matter characterized by gapped topological orders and conformal field theories (CFTs).The three classes are inspired by distinct physical insights, including tensor-network constructions, the multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz, and parton constructions.A large class of topological orders, including chiral topological order, can be prepared in constant depth or time, and onedimensional CFT states and non-Abelian topological orders with both solvable and nonsolvable groups can be prepared in depth scaling logarithmically with system size.We also build on a recently discovered correspondence between symmetry-protected topological phases and long-range entanglement to derive efficient protocols for preparing symmetry-enriched topological order and arbitrary Calderbank-Shor-Steane codes.Our work illustrates the practical and conceptual versatility of measurement for state preparation.
The preparation of long-range entangled (LRE) states via quantum measurements is a promising strategy, yet its stability against realistic, non-commuting measurement noise remains a critical open question. Here, we systematically investigate the rich phase structure emerging from a minimal model of competing, non-commuting weak measurements: nearest-neighbor Ising (ZiZj) and single-qubit transverse (Xi) operators. We analyze three experimentally relevant scenarios based on which measurement outcomes are read out: complete readout, no readout, and partial readout. Using a replica mean-field theory for higher dimensions, complemented by numerical simulations in one dimension, we derive the complete finite-time and stationary phase diagrams. Our analysis reveals a striking dependence on the readout protocol. Complete readout yields a direct transition between a short-range entangled (SRE) phase and a pure LRE phase. No readout (pure decoherence) precludes entanglement but exhibits a strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking (SWSSB) transition into a classically ordered mixed state. Most intriguingly, partial readout interpolates between these limits, featuring a mixed-state phase transition where the system can become trapped in the SWSSB phase or, for weaker non-commutativity, undergo successive symmetry breaking to reach a mixed LRE phase. A novel technical contribution is the use of a channel-fidelity-based partition function that allows us to simultaneously characterize both entanglement and SWSSB order, revealing a deep interplay between them in the replica limit. These results provide a cohesive picture for understanding measurement phase transitions, SWSSB, and mixed-state phase transitions, offering crucial insights for designing robust state preparation protocols on noisy quantum devices.
A fundamental distinction between many-body quantum states are those with short- and long-range entanglement (SRE and LRE). The latter cannot be created by finite-depth circuits, underscoring the nonlocal nature of Schrödinger cat states, topological order, and quantum criticality. Remarkably, examples are known where LRE is obtained by performing single-site measurements on SRE, such as the toric code from measuring a sublattice of a 2D cluster state. However, a systematic understanding of when and how measurements of SRE give rise to LRE is still lacking. Here, we establish that LRE appears upon performing measurements on symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases—of which the cluster state is one example. For instance, we show how to implement the Kramers-Wannier transformation by adding a cluster SPT to an input state followed by measurement. This transformation naturally relates states with SRE and LRE. An application is the realization of double-semion order when the input state is the Z 2 Levin-Gu SPT. Similarly, the addition of fermionic SPTs and measurement leads to an implementation of the Jordan-Wigner transformation of a general state. More generally, we argue that a large class of SPT phases protected by G × H symmetry gives rise to anomalous LRE upon measuring G -charges, and we prove that this persists for generic points in the SPT phase under certain conditions. Our work introduces a new practical tool for using SPT phases as resources for creating LRE, and we uncover the classification result that all states related by sequentially gauging Abelian groups or by Jordan-Wigner transformation are in the same equivalence class, once we augment finite-depth circuits with single-site measurements. In particular, any topological or fracton order with a solvable finite gauge group can be obtained from a product state in this way. Published by the American Physical Society 2024