• Abstract The Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model describes a strongly correlated quantum system that shows a strong signature of quantum chaos. • Due to its chaotic nature, the simulation of real-time dynamics becomes quickly intractable by means of classical numerics, and thus, quantum simulation is deemed to be an attractive alternative. • Nevertheless, quantum simulations of the SYK model on noisy quantum processors are severely limited by the complexity of its Hamiltonian. • In this work, we simulate the real-time dynamics of a sparsified version of the SYK model with 24 Majorana fermions on a trapped-ion quantum processor. • We adopt a randomized quantum algorithm, TETRIS, and develop an error mitigation technique tailored to the algorithm. • Leveraging the hardware’s high-fidelity quantum operations and all-to-all connectivity of the qubits, we successfully calculate the Loschmidt amplitude for sufficiently long times so that its decay is observed.

Article Summaries:

  • Researchers have successfully simulated the real‑time dynamics of a sparsified Sachdev‑Ye‑Kitaev (SYK) model containing 24 Majorana fermions on a trapped‑ion quantum computer. Using the randomized TETRIS algorithm and a custom error‑mitigation scheme, they measured the Loschmidt amplitude over long times, observing its expected decay-a hallmark of quantum chaos. The study also estimates the quantum resources needed for larger‑scale SYK simulations and introduces a scalable mirror‑circuit benchmark that better predicts fidelity loss for local observables than conventional methods. The work demonstrates the feasibility of chaotic many‑body simulations on near‑term quantum hardware and provides tools for future scaling.
  • Researchers have demonstrated the first real‑time simulation of a sparsified Sachdev‑Ye‑Kitaev (SYK) model on a trapped‑ion quantum processor. Using 24 Majorana fermions encoded in 12 qubits, they applied the randomized TETRIS algorithm and a custom error‑mitigation scheme to compute the Loschmidt amplitude over long times, observing its expected decay. The experiment leveraged the device’s high‑fidelity gates and all‑to‑all connectivity, enabling accurate dynamics that would be classically intractable. The team also introduced a scalable mirror‑circuit benchmark tailored to the SYK Hamiltonian, offering a more reliable estimate of fidelity loss for local observables than standard methods. Their resource estimates suggest feasible scaling to larger SYK systems on near‑term hardware.

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