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Entanglement evolution of the monitored Rule 54 quantum cellular automaton

Vincenzo Bisogno

Published Jun 17, 2026• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We investigate the entanglement dynamics of the Rule 54 quantum cellular automaton subject to stochastic projective measurements. Rule 54 is an interacting integrable model whose closed dynamics are exactly described by a semiclassical quasiparticle picture: entangled soliton pairs propagate ballistically and scatter elastically, generating entanglement at a rate determined analytically by the thermodynamic entropy density and the dressed quasiparticle velocity. We study how this picture is modified when measurements are interleaved with the unitary evolution, comparing two protocols that differ in their relationship to the conserved soliton charge. For measurements in the computational basis (Z-basis), which commute with the conserved charge, we derive an exact analytical prediction for the entanglement decay: the quasiparticle ansatz is modified by a measurement-induced exponential envelope exp(−4γt) , where γ is the measurement rate. This prediction is validated through finite-size scaling collapse across system sizes and measurement rates, with excellent agreement between analytics and Matrix Product State simulations. For measurements in the X-basis, which do not commute with the conserved charge, measurements act simultaneously as a source and a sink of entanglement through a quasiparticle reseeding mechanism. Our numerical results are consistent with a measurement-induced phase transition at a finite critical rate, in sharp contrast to the Z-basis case where any nonzero measurement rate drives the system to an area-law phase. A preliminary finite-size scaling analysis yields γc = 0.370 ± 0.004 (pc ≈ 0.31) and ν = 0.97 ± 0.03, though a complete characterization of the universality class requires larger system sizes.

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We investigate the entanglement dynamics of the Rule 54 quantum cellular automaton subject to stochastic projective measurements. Rule 54 is an interacting integrable model whose closed dynamics are exactly described by a semiclassical quasiparticle picture: entangled soliton pairs propagate ballistically and scatter elastically, generating entanglement at a rate determined analytically by the thermodynamic entropy density and the dressed quasiparticle velocity. We study how this picture is modified when measurements are interleaved with the unitary evolution, comparing two protocols that differ in their relationship to the conserved soliton charge. For measurements in the computational basis (Z-basis), which commute with the conserved charge, we derive an exact analytical prediction for the entanglement decay: the quasiparticle ansatz is modified by a measurement-induced exponential envelope exp(−4γt) , where γ is the measurement rate. This prediction is validated through finite-size scaling collapse across system sizes and measurement rates, with excellent agreement between analytics and Matrix Product State simulations. For measurements in the X-basis, which do not commute with the conserved charge, measurements act simultaneously as a source and a sink of entanglement through a quasiparticle reseeding mechanism. Our numerical results are consistent with a measurement-induced phase transition at a finite critical rate, in sharp contrast to the Z-basis case where any nonzero measurement rate drives the system to an area-law phase. A preliminary finite-size scaling analysis yields γc = 0.370 ± 0.004 (pc ≈ 0.31) and ν = 0.97 ± 0.03, though a complete characterization of the universality class requires larger system sizes.
We study the entanglement dynamics generated by quantum quenches in the quantum cellular automaton Rule 54. We consider the evolution from a recently introduced class of solvable initial states. States in this class relax (locally) to a one-parameter family of Gibbs states and the thermalisation dynamics of local observables can be characterised exactly by means of an evolution in space. Here we show that the latter approach also gives access to the entanglement dynamics and derive exact formulas describing the asymptotic linear growth of all Rényi entropies in the thermodynamic limit and their eventual saturation for finite subsystems. While in the case of von Neumann entropy we recover exactly the predictions of the quasiparticle picture, we find no physically meaningful quasiparticle description for other Rényi entropies. Our results apply to both homogeneous and inhomogeneous quenches.
We introduce a generalized classical long-range stochastic cellular automaton that exactly captures the entanglement dynamics and transitions of a measurement-only monitored quantum system. The corresponding quantum model consists of a one-dimensional qubit chain subject to competing single-site and long-range Bell measurements, with separations drawn from a power-law distribution. At every step of each trajectory, the state remains a tensor product of Bell pairs and unpaired qubits, with bipartite entanglement entropy fully encoded in a classical matching of the sites. This exact representation allows us to solve the dynamics analytically in several limits and to determine the steady-state scaling of the entanglement entropy. We find volume-law, fractal, and area-law regimes. Numerical results show that these regimes persist beyond the analytically solvable limit. Because Bell measurement outcomes change only the Bell-state labels and leave the matching unchanged, all subsystem entropies are outcome independent, avoiding the exponential cost of trajectory postselection often encountered in experimental studies of measurement-induced entanglement dynamics.
© 2019 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. We define dynamical universality classes for many-body systems whose unitary evolution is punctuated by projective measurements. In cases where such measurements occur randomly at a finite rate p for each degree of freedom, we show that the system has two dynamical phases: "entangling" and "disentangling." The former occurs for p smaller than a critical rate pc and is characterized by volume-law entanglement in the steady state and "ballistic" entanglement growth after a quench. By contrast, for p>pc the system can sustain only area-law entanglement. At p=pc the steady state is scale invariant, and in 1+1D, the entanglement grows logarithmically after a quench. To obtain a simple heuristic picture for the entangling-disentangling transition, we first construct a toy model that describes the zeroth Rényi entropy in discrete time. We solve this model exactly by mapping it to an optimization problem in classical percolation. The generic entangling-disentangling transition can be diagnosed using the von Neumann entropy and higher Rényi entropies, and it shares many qualitative features with the toy problem. We study the generic transition numerically in quantum spin chains and show that the phenomenology of the two phases is similar to that of the toy model but with distinct "quantum" critical exponents, which we calculate numerically in 1+1D. We examine two different cases for the unitary dynamics: Floquet dynamics for a nonintegrable Ising model, and random circuit dynamics. We obtain compatible universal properties in each case, indicating that the entangling-disentangling phase transition is generic for projectively measured many-body systems. We discuss the significance of this transition for numerical calculations of quantum observables in many-body systems.
We study the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of the quantum cellular automaton known as "Rule 54." For a class of low-entangled initial states, we provide an analytic description of the effect of the global evolution on finite subsystems in terms of simple quantum channels, which gives access to the full thermalization dynamics at the microscopic level. As an example, we provide analytic formulas for the evolution of local observables and Rényi entropies. We show that, in contrast to other known examples of exactly solvable quantum circuits, Rule 54 does not behave as a simple Markovian bath on its own parts, and displays typical nonequilibrium features of interacting integrable many-body quantum systems such as finite relaxation rate and interaction-induced dressing effects. Our study provides a rare example where the full thermalization dynamics can be solved exactly at the microscopic level.
Abstract Symmetry resolved entanglement and entanglement asymmetry are two measures of quantum correlations sensitive to symmetries of the system. Here we discuss their non-equilibrium dynamics in the Rule 54 cellular automaton, a simple, yet interacting, integrable model. Both quantities can be expressed in terms of the more analytically tractable ‘charged moments’, i.e. traces of powers of a suitably deformed density matrix, via a replica trick. We express them in terms of a tensor network, which we contract in space using a system of local algebraic relations. This gives the asymptotic form for the charged moments, valid in the regime of large but finite time that is shorter than all the relevant subsystem sizes. In this regime the charge moments decay exponentially with the rate given by the leading solution to a cubic equation.
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.