Toward a quantum simulation of nonlinear sigma models with a topological term

Araz, Jack Y.; Schenk, Sebastian; Spannowsky, Michael

Abstract

We determine the mass gap of a two-dimensional O(3) nonlinear sigma model augmented with a topological θ-term using tensor network and digital quantum algorithms. As proof of principle, we consider the example θ=π and study its critical behavior on a quantum simulator by examining the entanglement entropy of the ground state. We confirm that the quantum theory is massless in the strong-coupling regime, in agreement with analytical results. However, we also highlight the limitations of current quantum algorithms, designed for noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices, in the theory simulation at weak coupling. Finally, we compare the performance of our quantum algorithms to classical tensor network methods.

Citation

Araz, J. Y., Schenk, S., & Spannowsky, M. (2023). Toward a quantum simulation of nonlinear sigma models with a topological term. Physical Review A, 107(3), https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.107.032619

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 14, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Mar 29, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023-03
• Deposit Date: Sep 20, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 20, 2023
• Journal: Physical Review A
• Print ISSN: 2469-9926
• Electronic ISSN: 2469-9934
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 107
• Issue: 3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.107.032619
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1744320