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1. Continuous symmetry breaking in a trapped-ion spin chain

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06656-7  

   Feng, Lei; Katz, Or; Haack, Casey; Maghrebi, Mohammad; Gorshkov, Alexey V.; Gong, Zhexuan; Cetina, Marko; Monroe, Christopher (November 2023, Nature)

   One-dimensional systems exhibiting a continuous symmetry can host quantum phases of matter with true long-range order only in the presence of sufficiently long-range interactions1. In most physical systems, however, the interactions are short-ranged, hindering the emergence of such phases in one dimension. Here we use a one-dimensional trapped-ion quantum simulator to prepare states with long-range spin order that extends over the system size of up to 23 spins and is characteristic of the continuous symmetry-breaking phase of matter2,3. Our preparation relies on simultaneous control over an array of tightly focused individual addressing laser beams, generating long-range spin–spin interactions. We also observe a disordered phase with frustrated correlations. We further study the phases at different ranges of interaction and the out-of-equilibrium response to symmetry-breaking perturbations. This work opens an avenue to study new quantum phases and out-of-equilibrium dynamics in low-dimensional systems. 

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2. Digital quantum simulation of Floquet symmetry-protected topological phases

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04854-3  

   Zhang, Xu; Jiang, Wenjie; Deng, Jinfeng; Wang, Ke; Chen, Jiachen; Zhang, Pengfei; Ren, Wenhui; Dong, Hang; Xu, Shibo; Gao, Yu; et al (July 2022, Nature)

   Abstract Quantum many-body systems away from equilibrium host a rich variety of exotic phenomena that are forbidden by equilibrium thermodynamics. A prominent example is that of discrete time crystals 1–8 , in which time-translational symmetry is spontaneously broken in periodically driven systems. Pioneering experiments have observed signatures of time crystalline phases with trapped ions 9,10 , solid-state spin systems 11–15 , ultracold atoms 16,17 and superconducting qubits 18–20 . Here we report the observation of a distinct type of non-equilibrium state of matter, Floquet symmetry-protected topological phases, which are implemented through digital quantum simulation with an array of programmable superconducting qubits. We observe robust long-lived temporal correlations and subharmonic temporal response for the edge spins over up to 40 driving cycles using a circuit of depth exceeding 240 and acting on 26 qubits. We demonstrate that the subharmonic response is independent of the initial state, and experimentally map out a phase boundary between the Floquet symmetry-protected topological and thermal phases. Our results establish a versatile digital simulation approach to exploring exotic non-equilibrium phases of matter with current noisy intermediate-scale quantum processors 21 . 

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3. Fractional matter coupled to the emergent gauge field in a quantum spin ice

   Porée, Victor; Yan, Han; Desrochers, Félix; Petit, Sylvain; Lhotel, Elsa; Appel, Markus; Ollivier, Jacques; Kim, Yong Baek; Nevidomskyy, Andriy H.; Sibille, Romain (May 2023, arXivorg)

   Electronic spins can form long-range entangled phases of condensed matter named quantum spin liquids. Their existence is conceptualized in models of two- or three-dimensional frustrated magnets that evade symmetry-breaking order down to zero temperature. Quantum spin ice (QSI) is a theoretically well-established example described by an emergent quantum electrodynamics, with excitations behaving like photon and matter quasiparticles. The latter are fractionally charged and equivalent to the `spinons' emerging from coherent phases of singlets in one dimension, where clear experimental proofs of fractionalization exist. However, in frustrated magnets it remains difficult to establish consensual evidence for quantum spin liquid ground states and their fractional excitations. Here, we use backscattering neutron spectroscopy to achieve extremely high resolution of the time-dependent magnetic response of the candidate QSI material Ce2Sn2O7. We find a gapped spectrum featuring a threshold and peaks that match theories for pair production and propagation of fractional matter excitations (spinons) strongly coupled to a background gauge field. The observed peaks provide evidence for a QSI through spectroscopic signatures of space-time symmetry fractionalization, while the threshold behavior corroborates the regime of strong light-matter interaction predicted for the emergent universe in a QSI. 

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4. Long-lived topological time-crystalline order on a quantum processor

   Xiang, Liang; Jiang, Wenjie; Bao, Zehang; Song, Zixuan; Xu, Shibo; Wang, Ke; Chen, Jiachen; Jin, Feitong; Zhu, Xuhao; Zhu, Zitian; et al (January 2024, arXiv)

   Topologically ordered phases of matter elude Landau's symmetry-breaking theory, featuring a variety of intriguing properties such as long-range entanglement and intrinsic robustness against local perturbations. Their extension to periodically driven systems gives rise to exotic new phenomena that are forbidden in thermal equilibrium. Here, we report the observation of signatures of such a phenomenon -- a prethermal topologically ordered time crystal -- with programmable superconducting qubits arranged on a square lattice. By periodically driving the superconducting qubits with a surface-code Hamiltonian, we observe discrete time-translation symmetry breaking dynamics that is only manifested in the subharmonic temporal response of nonlocal logical operators. We further connect the observed dynamics to the underlying topological order by measuring a nonzero topological entanglement entropy and studying its subsequent dynamics. Our results demonstrate the potential to explore exotic topologically ordered nonequilibrium phases of matter with noisy intermediate-scale quantum processors. 

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5. Long-lived topological time-crystalline order on a quantum processor

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53077-9  

   Xiang, Liang; Jiang, Wenjie; Bao, Zehang; Song, Zixuan; Xu, Shibo; Wang, Ke; Chen, Jiachen; Jin, Feitong; Zhu, Xuhao; Zhu, Zitian; et al (December 2024, Nature Communications)

   Abstract Topologically ordered phases of matter elude Landau’s symmetry-breaking theory, featuring a variety of intriguing properties such as long-range entanglement and intrinsic robustness against local perturbations. Their extension to periodically driven systems gives rise to exotic new phenomena that are forbidden in thermal equilibrium. Here, we report the observation of signatures of such a phenomenon—a prethermal topologically ordered time crystal—with programmable superconducting qubits arranged on a square lattice. By periodically driving the superconducting qubits with a surface code Hamiltonian, we observe discrete time-translation symmetry breaking dynamics that is only manifested in the subharmonic temporal response of nonlocal logical operators. We further connect the observed dynamics to the underlying topological order by measuring a nonzero topological entanglement entropy and studying its subsequent dynamics. Our results demonstrate the potential to explore exotic topologically ordered nonequilibrium phases of matter with noisy intermediate-scale quantum processors. 

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