LANL, Cornell researchers propose reusing quantum simulations to study quantum information

LOS ALAMOS - Five Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists and three Cornell University researchers say the quantum states that simulations already produce could double as laboratories for studying quantum information, in a paper posted Oct. 27 to arXiv, an online server for research papers. The paper is a preprint and has not yet been peer reviewed.

Simulations of quantum systems are usually built to measure one specific property. The authors argue the many-particle states those simulations prepare hold far more information than that one answer.

As a test case, they studied chains of interacting quantum spins and treated a local pulse as writing a single bit of information into the chain. They tracked how that bit spreads and how well different kinds of measurements can read it back.

The LANL authors are Su Yeon Chang, Brian Barch, Luis Pedro García-Pintos and Martin Larocca of the Theoretical Division and M. Cerezo of Information Sciences. The Cornell authors are Hailey S. Murray, Greeshma Oruganti and Mark M. Wilde. The paper says the work was funded in part by LANL's Laboratory Directed Research and Development program and the Department of Energy's Quantum Science Center.