Recent advances have defined nontrivial phases of matter in open quantum systems such as many-body quantum states subject to environmental noise. In this work, we experimentally probe and characterize mixed-state phases on Quantinuum's H1 quantum computer using two measures: Renyi correlators and the coding performance of a quantum error-correcting code associated with the phase. As a concrete example, we probe the low-energy states of the critical transverse field Ising model under different dephasing noise channels. First, we employ shadow tomography to extract a newly proposed Renyi correlator in two distinct phases obtained by applying two different channels, observing one with faster decay and the other with slower decay. Second, we investigate the decoding fidelity of the associated quantum error-correcting code using a variational quantum circuit. We find that a shallow circuit of depth-3 is sufficient to distinguish the above-mentioned two mixed-state phases, up to L = 24. Experimentally, we observe this distinction for system sizes up to L = 8 with a depth-1 decoder. Our work is a proof of concept for the quantum simulation and characterization of mixed-state phases.
Recent advances have defined nontrivial phases of matter in open quantum systems such as many-body quantum states subject to environmental noise. In this work, we experimentally probe and characterize mixed-state phases on Quantinuum's H1 quantum computer using two measures: Renyi correlators and the coding performance of a quantum error-correcting code associated with the phase. As a concrete example, we probe the low-energy states of the critical transverse field Ising model under different dephasing noise channels. First, we employ shadow tomography to extract a newly proposed Renyi correlator in two distinct phases obtained by applying two different channels, observing one with faster decay and the other with slower decay. Second, we investigate the decoding fidelity of the associated quantum error-correcting code using a variational quantum circuit. We find that a shallow circuit of depth-3 is sufficient to distinguish the above-mentioned two mixed-state phases, up to L = 24. Experimentally, we observe this distinction for system sizes up to L = 8 with a depth-1 decoder. Our work is a proof of concept for the quantum simulation and characterization of mixed-state phases.
Open system quantum dynamics can generate a variety of long-range entangled mixed states, yet it has been unclear in what sense they constitute phases of matter. To establish that two mixed states are in the same phase, as defined by their two-way connectivity via local quantum channels, we use the renormalization group (RG) and decoders of quantum error correcting codes. We introduce a real-space RG scheme for mixed states based on local channels which ideally preserve correlations with the complementary system, and we prove this is equivalent to the reversibility of the channel’s action. As an application, we demonstrate an exact RG flow of finite temperature toric code in two dimensions to infinite temperature, thus proving it is in the trivial phase. In contrast, for toric code subject to local dephasing, we establish a mixed-state toric code phase using local channels obtained by truncating an RG-type decoder and the minimum weight perfect matching decoder. We also discover a precise relation between mixed-state phase and decodability, by proving that local noise acting on toric code cannot destroy logical information without bringing the state out of the toric code phase. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Rényi coherent information, a computable proxy for the von Neumann coherent information, is widely used to study mixed-state phases of matter and decodability transitions in noisy quantum error-correcting codes. However, being a difference of two Rényi entropies, it need not be monotonic in the Rényi index, and lacks the operational meaning of its von Neumann counterpart. Here we address both issues for stabilizer codes. First, for Pauli noise generated by independent Bernoulli events, we prove that the Rényi-n coherent information is nondecreasing in n∈Z+. This follows from a general theorem: if independent random bits are mapped linearly to a fine label T and a coarse label C, then the Rényi entropy difference Hn(C)−Hn(T) is nondecreasing in n. For stabilizer codes, T is the joint syndrome--logical class and C is the syndrome, and the difference is the Rényi-n coherent information up to a constant. The same theorem covers classical linear codes and independent detector error models. Second, for arbitrary stochastic Pauli noise, we give the Rényi-n coherent information an operational meaning via postselection on matching syndromes between one data block and n−1 auxiliary blocks. We determine when this defines a quantum channel and show that saturation of the Rényi-n coherent information is equivalent to asymptotically perfect recovery of the postselected channel. Moreover, the Rényi-n coherent information also upper-bounds the ordinary coherent information achievable after any syndrome-conditioned recovery.
We analyze the effect of decoherence, modeled by local quantum channels, on quantum critical states and we find universal properties of the resulting mixed state's entanglement, both between system and environment and within the system. Renyi entropies exhibit volume law scaling with a subleading constant governed by a "g function" in conformal field theory, allowing us to define a notion of renormalization group (RG) flow (or "phase transitions") between quantum channels. We also find that the entropy of a subsystem in the decohered state has a subleading logarithmic scaling with subsystem size, and we relate it to correlation functions of boundary condition changing operators in the conformal field theory. Finally, we find that the subsystem entanglement negativity, a measure of quantum correlations within mixed states, can exhibit log scaling or area law based on the RG flow. When the channel corresponds to a marginal perturbation, the coefficient of the log scaling can change continuously with decoherence strength. We illustrate all these possibilities for the critical ground state of the transverse-field Ising model, in which we identify four RG fixed points of dephasing channels and verify the RG flow numerically. Our results are relevant to quantum critical states realized on noisy quantum simulators, in which our predicted entanglement scaling can be probed via shadow tomography methods.
Random unitaries scramble quantum information into highly nonlocal degrees of freedom, thereby providing protection from local noise. However, as demonstrated by Turkeshi and Sierant (Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 140401, 2024 and arXiv:2603.00235), this protection may fail once local noise grows sufficiently strong. These works describe a phase transition in a noisy random encoding-decoding circuit model between an error-protecting phase, in which encoded information is recoverable, and an error-vulnerable phase, in which encoded information is lost, with the transition occurring at a critical coherent noise angle αc≈1.14. Here, we present the first experimental observation of this transition, conducted on IBM's ibm_pittsburgh Heron r3 device for system sizes of up to N=26 qubits. We detect this transition via three order parameters: fidelity, Rényi-2 entanglement entropy, and stabilizer Rényi-2 entropy. For the latter two, we employ randomized measurement protocols to construct estimators, and for all three, we rely on zero-noise extrapolation and M3 SPAM error mitigation. We then jointly model the finite-size scaling collapse across all three order parameters with a Gaussian process regression, yielding a critical angle αc≈1.01, well below the theoretical value. Inputting noiseless simulated data into the same model yields αc≈1.05, implying that the discrepancy between experiment and theory is due to our encoding circuits, which are not deep enough to be truly Haar-random. Finally, we observe that the same model cannot adequately identify critical behavior in unmitigated, raw experimental data. This indicates that error mitigation techniques are crucial for detecting the transition on hardware.
The quantum phase transitions provide a paradigm for studying collective quantum phenomena that are a result of competing non-commuting interactions. This paper will study the ground state properties and quantum critical dynamics of the one-dimensional transverse field Ising model through a combined perspective that includes exact diagonalisation, variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) simulations, and simulations on realistic physical quantum devices. We focus on a lattice of four spins, where we calculate the ground-state energies, magnetic order parameters and correlation functions at uniformly applied conditions, which is repeated by all systems. Precise diagonalisation provides both a benchmark, which is symmetry-conserving, and a depth-two, physics inspired variational approximation, which provides simulations accessible to hardware. The circuits that have been optimised identically are then placed on the IQM Garnet quantum processor, using a resource-efficient batched protocol. We find that the ground-state energies of shallow variational circuits are reliably captured by the circuit over the entire parameter space; the magnetic arrangement parameters and observables sensitive to correlation signal significantly more noise. The error analysis of quantitative analysis reveals a strong broadening of critical crossover on hardware, which is consistent with the noise attenuation of long-range correlations. These findings highlight the current capabilities as well as the fundamental limitations of noisy intermediate-scale quantum systems in modelling quantum critical phenomena as a benchmark to future enhancements in obtaining quantum hardware and quantum algorithms development.
Quantum phase transitions in many-body systems give rise to highly entangled states, and understanding their quantum correlations is crucial for characterizing quantum materials. However, traditional entanglement measures such as entanglement entropy are difficult to interpret for noisy or mixed states and require complex circuits to evaluate. Therefore, we explore the Positive Partial Transpose (PPT) criterion, coupled with overlapping state tomography, as an efficient and scalable spin-spin entanglement witness. It detects pairwise entanglement from reduced density matrices, distinguishes quantum from classical correlations, and applies to both pure and mixed states. It is ideal for studying condensed matter systems prepared on noisy quantum devices as well as future extensions to finite temperatures. We demonstrate the approach on quantum hardware, using variational circuits to prepare quantum critical states with up to 20 qubits and completely map their two-spin entanglement across various quantum phase transitions.