Stirring the false vacuum via interacting quantized bubbles on a 5564-qubit quantum annealer

White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York)

Abstract

False vacuum decay is a potential mechanism governing the evolution of the early Universe, with profound connections to non-equilibrium quantum physics, including quenched dynamics, the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, and dynamical metastability. The non-perturbative character of the false vacuum decay and the scarcity of its experimental probes make the effect notoriously difficult to study, with many basic open questions, such as how the bubbles of true vacuum form, move and interact with each other. Here we utilize a quantum annealer with 5564 superconducting flux qubits to directly observe quantized bubble formation in real time -- the hallmark of false vacuum decay dynamics. Moreover, we develop an effective model that describes the initial bubble creation and subsequent interaction effects. We demonstrate that the effective model remains accurate in the presence of dissipation, showing that our annealer can access coherent scaling laws in driven many-body dynamics of 5564 qubits for over $1μ$s, i.e., more than 1000 intrinsic qubit time units. This work sets the stage for exploring late-time dynamics of the false vacuum at computationally intractable system sizes, dimensionality, and topology in quantum annealer platforms.

Authors 10

1. Jaka Vodeb

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Jülich Supercomputing Centre , Institute for Advanced Simulation , Forschungszentrum Jülich , 52425 Jülich , Germany

2. Jean-Yves Desaules

   University of Leeds · Institute of Science and Technology Austria

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) , Am Campus 1 , 3400 Klosterneuburg , Austria

   School of Physics and Astronomy , University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT , UK

3. Andrew Hallam

   University of Leeds

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Physics and Astronomy , University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT , UK

4. Andrea Rava Aachen

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Jülich Supercomputing Centre , Institute for Advanced Simulation , Forschungszentrum Jülich , 52425 Jülich , Germany

   RWTH Aachen University , 52056 Aachen , Germany

5. Gregor Humar

   University of Ljubljana · Jožef Stefan Institute

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Complex Matter , Jožef Stefan Institute , Jamova 39 , 1000 Ljubljana , Slovenia

   Department of Physics , Faculty for Mathematics and Physics , Jadranska 19 , University of Ljubljana , 1000 Ljubljana , Slovenia

6. Dennis Willsch

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Jülich Supercomputing Centre , Institute for Advanced Simulation , Forschungszentrum Jülich , 52425 Jülich , Germany

7. Fengping Jin

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Jülich Supercomputing Centre , Institute for Advanced Simulation , Forschungszentrum Jülich , 52425 Jülich , Germany

8. Madita Willsch

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   AIDAS , 52425 Jülich , Germany

   Jülich Supercomputing Centre , Institute for Advanced Simulation , Forschungszentrum Jülich , 52425 Jülich , Germany

9. Kristel F. L. Michielsen
10. Zlatko Papić