Robust preparation of ground state phases under noisy imaginary time evolution

Nonunitary state preparation protocols such as imaginary time evolution (ITE) offer substantial advantages relative to unitary ones, including the ability to prepare certain long-range correlated states more efficiently. Here, we ask whether such protocols are also robust to noise arising due to cou...

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Main Authors: Aleksei Khindanov, Yongxin Yao, Thomas Iadecola
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2025-03-01
Series:Physical Review Research
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.013263
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author Aleksei Khindanov
Yongxin Yao
Thomas Iadecola
author_facet Aleksei Khindanov
Yongxin Yao
Thomas Iadecola
author_sort Aleksei Khindanov
collection DOAJ
description Nonunitary state preparation protocols such as imaginary time evolution (ITE) offer substantial advantages relative to unitary ones, including the ability to prepare certain long-range correlated states more efficiently. Here, we ask whether such protocols are also robust to noise arising due to coupling to the environment. We consider a nonunitary ITE “circuit” subjected to a variety of noise models and investigate whether the resulting steady state remains in the same phase as the target state of the ITE at finite noise strength. Taking the one-dimensional quantum Ising model as a concrete example, we find that the ground-state order and associated phase transition persist in the presence of noise, provided the noise does not explicitly break the symmetry that protects the phase transition. That is, the noise must possess the protecting symmetry in a weak (or average) form. Our analysis is facilitated by a mapping to an effective Hamiltonian picture in a doubled Hilbert space. We discuss possible implications of these findings for quantum simulation on noisy quantum hardware.
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spelling doaj-art-a8d50a65e4a146b8b1cc0ac3f2c6cfe02025-08-20T02:59:16ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Research2643-15642025-03-017101326310.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.013263Robust preparation of ground state phases under noisy imaginary time evolutionAleksei KhindanovYongxin YaoThomas IadecolaNonunitary state preparation protocols such as imaginary time evolution (ITE) offer substantial advantages relative to unitary ones, including the ability to prepare certain long-range correlated states more efficiently. Here, we ask whether such protocols are also robust to noise arising due to coupling to the environment. We consider a nonunitary ITE “circuit” subjected to a variety of noise models and investigate whether the resulting steady state remains in the same phase as the target state of the ITE at finite noise strength. Taking the one-dimensional quantum Ising model as a concrete example, we find that the ground-state order and associated phase transition persist in the presence of noise, provided the noise does not explicitly break the symmetry that protects the phase transition. That is, the noise must possess the protecting symmetry in a weak (or average) form. Our analysis is facilitated by a mapping to an effective Hamiltonian picture in a doubled Hilbert space. We discuss possible implications of these findings for quantum simulation on noisy quantum hardware.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.013263
spellingShingle Aleksei Khindanov
Yongxin Yao
Thomas Iadecola
Robust preparation of ground state phases under noisy imaginary time evolution
Physical Review Research
title Robust preparation of ground state phases under noisy imaginary time evolution
title_full Robust preparation of ground state phases under noisy imaginary time evolution
title_fullStr Robust preparation of ground state phases under noisy imaginary time evolution
title_full_unstemmed Robust preparation of ground state phases under noisy imaginary time evolution
title_short Robust preparation of ground state phases under noisy imaginary time evolution
title_sort robust preparation of ground state phases under noisy imaginary time evolution
url http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.013263
work_keys_str_mv AT alekseikhindanov robustpreparationofgroundstatephasesundernoisyimaginarytimeevolution
AT yongxinyao robustpreparationofgroundstatephasesundernoisyimaginarytimeevolution
AT thomasiadecola robustpreparationofgroundstatephasesundernoisyimaginarytimeevolution