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arXiv:2602.15524

Observing quantum many-body dynamics in emergent curved spacetime using programmable quantum processors

Brendan Rhyno, Bastien Lapierre, Smitha Vishveshwara, Khadijeh Najafi, Ramasubramanian Chitra

quant-phcond-mat.stat-mechcond-mat.str-elSubmitted Feb 17, 2026• Announced Feb 18, 2026• 0 citations
v1 · Feb 17, 2026v2 · Feb 19, 2026
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Abstract

We digitally simulate quantum many-body dynamics in emergent curved backgrounds using 80 superconducting qubits on IBM Heron processors. By engineering spatially varying couplings in the spin-$\frac12$ XXZ chain, consistent with the low energy description of the model in terms of an inhomogeneous Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid, we realize excitations that follow geodesics of an effective metric inherited from the underlying spatial deformation. Following quenches from Néel and few-spin-flip states, we observe curved light-cone propagation, horizon-induced freezing in the local magnetization, and position-dependent oscillation frequencies set by the engineered spatial deformation. Despite strong spatial inhomogeneity, unequal-time correlators reveal ballistic quasiparticle propagation in the spin chain. These results establish large-scale digital quantum processors as a flexible platform for detailed and controlled exploration of many-body dynamics in tunable and synthetic curved spacetimes.

Comments
17 pages, 11 figures

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