Vedika Khemani

While limitations on quantum computation by Markovian environmental noise are well-understood in generality, their behavior for different quantum circuits and noise realizations can be less universal. Here we consider a canonical quantum algorithm - Grover's algorithm for unordered search on $L$ qubits - in the presence of systematic noise. This allows us to write the behavior as a random Floquet unitary, which we show is well-characterized by random matrix theory (RMT). The RMT analysis enables analytical predictions for phases and phase transitions of the many-body dynamics. We find two separate transitions. At moderate disorder $δ_{c,\mathrm{gap}}\sim L^{-1}$, there is a ergodicity breaking transition such that a finite-dimensional manifold remains non-ergodic for $δ< δ_{c,\mathrm{gap}}$. Computational power is lost at a much smaller disorder, $δ_{c,\mathrm{comp}} \sim L^{-1/2}2^{-L/2}$. We comment on relevance to non-systematic noise in realistic quantum computers, including cold atom, trapped ion, and superconducting platforms.

The Letter by N. Y. Yao et. al. [1,2] presents three models for realizing a many-body localized discrete time-crystal (MBL DTC): a short-ranged model [1], its revised version [2], as well as a long-range model of a trapped ion experiment [1,3]. We show that none of these realize an MBL DTC for the parameter ranges quoted in Refs. [1,2]. The central phase diagrams in [1] therefore cannot be reproduced. The models show rapid decay of oscillations from generic initial states, in sharp contrast to the robust period doubling dynamics characteristic of an MBL DTC. Long-lived oscillations from special initial states (such as polarized states) can be understood from the familiar low-temperature physics of a static transverse field Ising model, rather than the nonequilibrium physics of an eigenstate-ordered MBL DTC. Our results on the long-range model also demonstrate, by extension, the absence of an MBL DTC in the trapped ion experiment of Ref. [3].

Recent progress in the realm of noisy, intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) devices represents an exciting opportunity for many-body physics, by introducing new laboratory platforms with unprecedented control and measurement capabilities. We explore the implications of NISQ platforms for many-body physics in a practical sense: we ask which {\it physical phenomena}, in the domain of quantum statistical mechanics, they may realize more readily than traditional experimental platforms. As a particularly well-suited target, we identify discrete time crystals (DTCs), novel non-equilibrium states of matter that break time translation symmetry. These can only be realized in the intrinsically out-of-equilibrium setting of periodically driven quantum systems stabilized by disorder induced many-body localization. While precursors of the DTC have been observed across a variety of experimental platforms - ranging from trapped ions to nitrogen vacancy centers to NMR crystals - none have \emph{all} the necessary ingredients for realizing a fully-fledged incarnation of this phase, and for detecting its signature long-range \emph{spatiotemporal order}. We show that a new generation of quantum simulators can be programmed to realize the DTC phase and to experimentally detect its dynamical properties, a task requiring extensive capabilities for programmability, initialization and read-out. Specifically, the architecture of Google's Sycamore processor is a remarkably close match for the task at hand. We also discuss the effects of environmental decoherence, and how they can be distinguished from `internal' decoherence coming from closed-system thermalization dynamics. Already with existing technology and noise levels, we find that DTC spatiotemporal order would be observable over hundreds of periods, with parametric improvements to come as the hardware advances.