Repeated local measurements typically have adversarial effects on entangling unitary dynamics, as local measurements usually degrade entanglement. However, recent works on measurement-only dynamics have shown that strongly entangled states can be generated solely through non-commuting random multi-site and multi-spin projective measurements. In this work, we explore a generalized measurement setup in a system without intrinsic unitary dynamics and show that volume-law entangled states can be generated through local, non-random, yet non-commuting measurements. Specifically, we construct a one-dimensional model comprising a main fermionic chain and an auxiliary (ancilla) chain, where generalized measurements are performed by locally coupling the system to detector qubits. Our results demonstrate that long-time states with volume-law entanglement or mutual information are generated between different parts of the main chain purely through non-unitary measurement dynamics. Remarkably, we find that such large-entanglement generation can be achieved using only the measurements of one-body operators. Moreover, we show that measurements of non-local higher-body operators can be used to control and reduce entanglement generation by introducing kinetic constraints to the dynamics. We discuss the statistics of entanglement measures along the quantum trajectories, the approach to stationary distributions of entanglement or long-time steady states, and the associated notions of limited ergodicity in the measurement-only dynamics. Our findings highlight the potential of non-random measurement protocols for controlled entanglement generation and the study of non-unitary many-body dynamics.
Repeated local measurements typically have adversarial effects on entangling unitary dynamics, as local measurements usually degrade entanglement. However, recent works on measurement-only dynamics have shown that strongly entangled states can be generated solely through non-commuting random multi-site and multi-spin projective measurements. In this work, we explore a generalized measurement setup in a system without intrinsic unitary dynamics and show that volume-law entangled states can be generated through local, non-random, yet non-commuting measurements. Specifically, we construct a one-dimensional model comprising a main fermionic chain and an auxiliary (ancilla) chain, where generalized measurements are performed by locally coupling the system to detector qubits. Our results demonstrate that long-time states with volume-law entanglement or mutual information are generated between different parts of the main chain purely through non-unitary measurement dynamics. Remarkably, we find that such large-entanglement generation can be achieved using only the measurements of one-body operators. Moreover, we show that measurements of non-local higher-body operators can be used to control and reduce entanglement generation by introducing kinetic constraints to the dynamics. We discuss the statistics of entanglement measures along the quantum trajectories, the approach to stationary distributions of entanglement or long-time steady states, and the associated notions of limited ergodicity in the measurement-only dynamics. Our findings highlight the potential of non-random measurement protocols for controlled entanglement generation and the study of non-unitary many-body dynamics.
Measurement-only circuits provide a minimal setting in which repeated local projections can either generate or suppress many-body entanglement, giving rise to measurement-induced phase transitions and dynamical regimes, that might have no unitary counterpart. Here we investigate entanglement and information transitions in one-dimensional measurement-only Clifford circuits with long-range two-qubit parity checks. By tuning both the measurement range and density per layer, we uncover a broad set of phases whose classification requires probes beyond entanglement entropy, such as mutual information, tripartite mutual information, purification from an ancilla, and Bell-cluster statistics. We map phase diagrams using large-scale Clifford simulations for two protocols: a random-basis design in which each measurement is randomly chosen from {XX,YY,ZZ}, and a single-basis design in which the basis is fixed within each layer but varies between layers, hence introducing more structure to the circuit.
We map the trajectory-averaged entanglement entropy to a two-dimensional statistical mechanics model by extending a replica-based method to random-basis measurement-only circuits, and show that a continuous-time limit yields an effective long-range XX hamiltonian in the steady state. This connection links the observed volume-law to sub-volume-law entanglement transition to the boundary between a continuous symmetry broken phase and a critical XY phase. Strikingly, in structured (single-basis) circuits we find a phase in which volume-law and long-range entanglement coexists with rapid, size-independent purification of an ancilla qubit, and the absence of scrambling, highlighting measurement-only circuits as a promising route to efficiently preparing highly entangled and technologically useful quantum states.
We introduce and explore a one-dimensional ``hybrid'' quantum circuit model consisting of both unitary gates and projective measurements. While the unitary gates are drawn from a random distribution and act uniformly in the circuit, the measurements are made at random positions and times throughout the system. By varying the measurement rate we can tune between the volume law entangled phase for the random unitary circuit model (no measurements) and a ``quantum Zeno phase'' where strong measurements suppress the entanglement growth to saturate in an area law. Extensive numerical simulations of the quantum trajectories of the many-particle wave functions (exploiting Clifford circuitry to access systems up to 512 qubits) provide evidence for a stable ``weak measurement phase'' that exhibits volume-law entanglement entropy, with a coefficient decreasing with increasing measurement rate. We also present evidence for a continuous quantum dynamical phase transition between the ``weak measurement phase'' and the ``quantum Zeno phase,'' driven by a competition between the entangling tendencies of unitary evolution and the disentangling tendencies of projective measurements. Detailed steady-state and dynamic critical properties of this quantum entanglement transition are accessed.
Starting from a state of low quantum entanglement, local unitary time evolution increases the entanglement of a quantum many-body system. In contrast, local projective measurements disentangle degrees of freedom and decrease entanglement. We study the interplay of these competing tendencies by considering time evolution combining both unitary and projective dynamics. We begin by constructing a toy model of Bell pair dynamics which demonstrates that measurements can keep a system in a state of low, i.e., area-law, entanglement, in contrast with the volume-law entanglement produced by generic pure unitary time evolution. While the simplest Bell pair model has area-law entanglement for any measurement rate, as seen in certain noninteracting systems, we show that more generic models of entanglement can feature an area-to-volume law transition at a critical value of the measurement rate, in agreement with recent numerical investigations. As a concrete example of these ideas, we analytically investigate Clifford evolution in qubit systems which can exhibit an entanglement transition. We are able to identify stabilizer size distributions characterizing the area law, volume law, and critical ``fixed points.'' We also discuss a Floquet random unitary circuit, where the answers depend on the order of limits---one order of limits yields area-law entanglement for any nonzero measurement rate, whereas a different order of limits allows for an arealaw--volumelaw transition. Finally, we provide a rigorous argument that a system subjected to projective measurements can only exhibit a volume-law entanglement entropy if it also features a subleading correction term, which provides a universal signature of projective dynamics in the high-entanglement phase.
We identify a phase transition between two kinds of volume-law entangled phases in non-local but few-body unitary dynamics with local projective measurements. In one phase, a finite fraction of the system belongs to a fully-entangled state, one for which no subsystem is in a pure state, while in the second phase, the steady-state is a product state over extensively many, finite subsystems. We study this "separability" transition in a family of solvable models in which we analytically determine the transition point, the evolution of certain entanglement properties of interest, and relate this to a mean-field percolation transition. Since the entanglement entropy density does not distinguish these phases, we introduce the entangling power - which measures whether local measurements outside of two finite subsystems can boost their mutual information - as an order parameter, after considering its behavior in tensor network states, and numerically studying its behavior in a model of Clifford dynamics with measurements. We argue that in our models, the separability transition coincides with a transition in the computational "hardness" of classically determining the output probability distribution for the steady-state in a certain basis of product states. A prediction for this distribution, which is accurate in the separable phase, and should deviate from the true distribution in the fully-entangled phase, provides a possible benchmarking task for quantum computers.
Unitary circuits subject to repeated projective measurements can undergo an entanglement phase transition (EPT) as a function of the measurement rate.This transition is generally understood in terms of a competition between the scrambling effects of unitary dynamics and the disentangling effects of measurements.We find that, surprisingly, EPTs are possible even in the absence of scrambling unitary dynamics, where they are best understood as arising from measurements alone.This finding motivates us to introduce measurement-only models, in which the "scrambling" and "unscrambling" effects driving the EPT are fundamentally intertwined and cannot be attributed to physically distinct processes.These models represent a novel form of an EPT, conceptually distinct from that in hybrid unitary-projective circuits.We explore the entanglement phase diagrams, critical points, and quantum code properties of some of these measurement-only models.We find that the principle driving the EPTs in these models is frustration, or mutual incompatibility, of the measurements.Surprisingly, an entangling (volume-law) phase is the generic outcome when measuring sufficiently long but still local (≳3-body) operators.We identify a class of exceptions to this behavior ("bipartite ensembles") which cannot sustain an entangling phase but display dual area-law phases, possibly with different kinds of quantum order, separated by self-dual critical points.Finally, we introduce a measure of information spreading in dynamics with measurements and use it to demonstrate the emergence of a statistical light cone, despite the nonlocality inherent to quantum measurements.
Random quantum circuits provide a framework for probing universal dynamical phenomena in chaotic quantum many-body systems, by circumventing the microscopic details of Hamiltonian evolution. Bipartite entanglement measures can be used to characterize the dynamical phases that emerge in these systems. Typically, under random unitary evolution, bipartite entanglement entropies exhibit a linear growth, and attain steady-state values that scale extensively with the system volume. However, when local projective measurements are introduced, a suppression of steady-state bipartite entropies occurs, leading to a sub-extensive scaling with the system volume. This class of entanglement scaling transitions, from an extensive to a sub-extensive scaling regime, has sparked interest in a broader class of measurement-induced phase transitions, with a potential to further our understanding of fault-tolerance in quantum computing, and in realizing synthetic quantum phases on digital quantum simulators. In this work, we characterize entanglement scaling transitions in one-dimensional random quantum circuits composed of q-level systems, with the local Hilbert space dimension q ≥ 2. This predominantly numerical study employs generalizations of the stabilizer formalism and the Clifford group to higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces to simulate the measurement-induced transitions. We find that the nature of the entanglement scaling transition remains invariant under changes in the local Hilbert space dimension. However, the critical measurement rate inducing the transition increases with q, asymptotically approaching 1/2 in the limit q → ∞. To further explore this classical limit, we develop a minimal dynamical model that captures entanglement structures under unitary evolution. We analyze the entanglement structures in thermal stabilizer states using this model, and propose an approach for incorporating measurements within this framework.