Stirring the false vacuum via interacting quantized bubbles on a 5,564-qubit quantum annealer

Nature Physics, vol. 21, pp. 386–392

Abstract

False vacuum decay-the transition from a metastable quantum state to a true vacuum state-plays an important role in quantum field theory and non-equilibrium phenomena such as phase transitions and dynamical metastability. The non-perturbative nature of false vacuum decay and the limited experimental access to this process make it challenging to study, leaving several open questions regarding how true vacuum bubbles form, move and interact. Here we observe quantized bubble formation in real time, a key feature of false vacuum decay dynamics, using a quantum annealer with 5,564 superconducting flux qubits. We develop an effective model that captures both initial bubble creation and subsequent interactions, and remains accurate under dissipation. The annealer reveals coherent scaling laws in the driven many-body dynamics for more than 1,000 intrinsic qubit time units. This work provides a method for investigating false vacuum dynamics of large quantum systems in quantum annealers.

Authors 10

1. Jaka Vodeb corresponding

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Supercomputing Centre

   Affiliation as printed

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

2. Jean-Yves Desaules corresponding

   University of Leeds · Institute of Science and Technology Austria

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), Klosterneuburg, Austria

   School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

3. Andrew Hallam

   University of Leeds

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

4. Andrea Rava Aachen

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Supercomputing Centre · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

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

   RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

5. Gregor Humar

   University of Ljubljana · Jožef Stefan Institute · Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Complex Matter, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

   Department of Physics, Faculty for Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

6. Dennis Willsch Aachen Faculty of Medical Engineering and Technomathematics

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Supercomputing Centre · FH Aachen

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Medical Engineering and Technomathematics, University of Applied Sciences Aachen, Jülich, Germany

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

7. Fengping Jin

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Supercomputing Centre

   Affiliation as printed

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

8. Madita Willsch

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Supercomputing Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   AIDAS, Jülich, Germany

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

9. Kristel F. L. Michielsen Aachen

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Supercomputing Centre · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   AIDAS, Jülich, Germany

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

   RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

10. Zlatko Papić corresponding

    University of Leeds

    Affiliation as printed

    School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK