Topological prethermal strong zero modes on superconducting processors.

Symmetry-protected topological phases cannot be described by any local order parameter and are beyond the conventional symmetry-breaking model. They are characterized by topological boundary modes that remain stable under symmetry respecting perturbations. In clean, gapped systems without disorder, the stability of these edge modes is restricted to the zero-temperature manifold; at finite temperatures, interactions with mobile thermal excitations lead to their decay.

Measuring the Spectral Form Factor in Many-Body Chaotic and Localized Phases of Quantum Processors.

The spectral form factor (SFF) captures universal spectral fluctuations as signatures of quantum chaos, and has been instrumental in advancing multiple frontiers of physics including the studies of black holes and quantum many-body systems. The measurement of the SFF in many-body systems is however challenging due to the difficulty in resolving level spacings that become exponentially small with increasing system size. Here, we utilize the random measurement toolbox to perform a direct experimental measurement of the SFF, and hence probe the presence or absence of chaos in quantum many-body systems on superconducting quantum processors.

Observation of minimal and maximal speed limits for few and many-body states.

Tracking the time evolution of a quantum state allows one to verify the thermalization rate or the propagation speed of correlations in generic quantum systems. Inspired by the energy-time uncertainty principle, bounds have been demonstrated on the maximal speed at which a quantum state can change, resulting in immediate and practical tasks. Based on a programmable superconducting quantum processor, we test the dynamics of various emulated quantum mechanical systems encompassing single- and many-body states.