Realization of a discrete time crystal on 57 qubits of a quantum computer
Abstract
Unconventional dynamical phases that violate ergodicity have been a subject of extensive research in recent years. A periodically driven system is naively expected to lose all memory of its initial state due to thermalization, yet this can be avoided in the presence of many-body localization. A discrete time crystal represents a driven system whose local observables spontaneously break time translation symmetry and retain memory of the initial state indefinitely. Here, we report the observation of a discrete time crystal on a chain consisting of 57 superconducting qubits on a state-of-the-art quantum computer. We probe random initial states and compare the cases of vanishing and finite disorder to distinguish many-body localization from prethermal dynamics. We further report results on the dynamical phase transition between the discrete time crystal and a thermal regime, which is observed via critical fluctuations in the system's subharmonic frequency response and a substantial speedup of spin depolarization. The time crystal phase has been observed, and a first step toward establishing a dynamical phase diagram has been obtained.
- Publication:
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Science Advances
- Pub Date:
- March 2022
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2105.06632
- Bibcode:
- 2022SciA....8M7652F
- Keywords:
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- Quantum Physics;
- Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics;
- Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons
- E-Print:
- v3: Details regarding process tomography and additional interactions added