Simulating the quantum dynamics of molecules in the condensed phase represents a longstanding challenge in chemistry. Trapped-ion quantum systems may serve as a platform for the analog-quantum simulation of chemical dynamics that is beyond the reach of current classical-digital simulation. To identify a"quantum advantage"for these simulations, performance analysis of both analog-quantum simulation on noisy hardware and classical-digital algorithms is needed. In this Review, we make a comparison between a noisy analog trapped-ion simulator and a few choice classical-digital methods on simulating the dynamics of a model molecular Hamiltonian with linear vibronic coupling. We describe several simple Hamiltonians that are commonly used to model molecular systems, which can be simulated with existing or emerging trapped-ion hardware. These Hamiltonians may serve as stepping stones toward the use of trapped-ion simulators for systems beyond the reach of classical-digital methods. Finally, we identify dynamical regimes where classical-digital simulations seem to have the weakest performance compared to analog-quantum simulations. These regimes may provide the lowest hanging fruit to exploit potential quantum advantages.
Estimating properties of a quantum state is an indispensable task in various applications of quantum information processing. To predict properties in the post-processing stage, it is inherent to first perceive the quantum state with a measurement protocol and store the information acquired. In this work, we propose a general framework for constructing classical approximations of arbitrary quantum states with quantum reservoirs. A key advantage of our method is that only a single local measurement setting is required for estimating arbitrary properties, while most of the previous methods need exponentially increasing number of measurement settings. To estimate $M$ properties simultaneously, the size of the classical approximation scales as $\ln M$ . Moreover, this estimation scheme is extendable to higher-dimensional systems and hybrid systems with non-identical local dimensions, which makes it exceptionally generic. We support our theoretical findings with extensive numerical simulations.
Investigations of the boundary of the quantum correlation set through the derivation of quantum Bell inequalities have gained increased attention in recent years, which are related to Tsirelson's problem and have significant applications in DI information processing. However, determining quantum Bell inequalities is a notoriously difficult task and only isolated examples are known. In this paper, we present families of (almost-)quantum Bell inequalities and highlight three foundational and DI applications. Firstly, quantum correlations on the non-signaling boundary are crucial in the DI randomness extraction from weak sources. In the practical Bell scenario of two players with two k-outcome measurements, we derive quantum Bell inequalities that show a separation of the quantum boundary from nonlocal faces of the non-signaling polytope of dimension $\leq 4k-4$, extending previous results. As an immediate by-product of this, we give a general proof of Aumann's Agreement theorem for quantum systems and the almost-quantum correlations, which implies Aumann's agreement theorem is a reasonable physical principle in the context of epistemics to pick out both quantum theory and almost-quantum correlations from general no-signaling theories. Secondly, we present a family of quantum Bell inequalities in the two players with m binary measurements scenarios, that serve to self-test the two-qubit singlet and 2m measurements. Interestingly, this claim generalizes the result for m=2 discovered by Tsirelson-Landau-Masanes and shows an improvement over the state-of-the-art DIRA. Lastly, we use our quantum Bell inequalities to derive the general form of the principle of no advantage in nonlocal computation, which is an information-theoretic principle that serves to characterize the quantum correlation set. With this, we provide the most precise characterization of the quantum boundary known so far.
The use of ancillary quantum systems known as catalysts is known to be able to enhance the capabilities of entanglement transformations under local operations and classical communication. However, the limits of these advantages have not been determined, and in particular it is not known if such assistance can overcome the known restrictions on asymptotic transformation rates -- notably the existence of bound entangled (undistillable) states. Here we establish a general limitation of entanglement catalysis: we show that catalytic transformations can never allow for the distillation of entanglement from a bound entangled state with positive partial transpose, even if the catalyst may become correlated with the system of interest, and even under permissive choices of free operations. This precludes the possibility that catalysis can make entanglement theory asymptotically reversible. Our methods are based on new asymptotic bounds for the distillable entanglement and entanglement cost assisted by correlated catalysts.
Quantum Internet relies on quantum entanglement as a fundamental resource for secure and efficient quantum communication, reshaping data transmission. In this context, entanglement distillation emerges as a crucial process that plays a pivotal role in realizing the full potential of the quantum internet. Nevertheless, it remains challenging to accurately estimate the distillable entanglement and its closely related essential quantity, the quantum capacity. In this work, we consider a general resource measure known as the reverse divergence of resources which quantifies the minimum divergence between a target state and the set of free states. Leveraging this measure, we propose efficiently computable upper bounds for both quantities based on the idea that the useless entanglement within a state or a quantum channel does not contribute to the distillable entanglement or the quantum capacity, respectively. Our bounds can be computed via semidefinite programming and have practical applications for purifying maximally entangled states under practical noises, such as depolarizing and amplitude damping noises, leading to improvements in estimating the one-way distillable entanglement. Furthermore, we provide valuable benchmarks for evaluating the quantum capacities of qubit quantum channels, including the Pauli channels and the random mixed unitary channels, which are of great interest for the development of a quantum internet.
We present an invertible map between correlations in any bipartite Bell scenario and behaviors in a family of contextuality scenarios. The map takes local, quantum, and no-signaling correlations to noncontextual, quantum, and contextual behaviors, respectively. Consequently, we find that the membership problem of the set of quantum contextual behaviors is undecidable, the set cannot be fully realized via finite dimensional quantum systems and is not closed. Finally, we show that neither this set nor its closure is the limit of a sequence of computable supersets due to the result MIP^{*}=RE.
We investigate and ascertain the ideal inputs to any finite-time physical process. We demonstrate that the expectation values of entropy flow, heat, and work can all be determined via Hermitian observables of the initial state. These Hermitian operators encapsulate the breadth of behavior and the ideal inputs for common thermodynamic objectives. We show how to construct these Hermitian operators from measurements of thermodynamic output from a finite number of effectively arbitrary inputs. The behavior of a small number of test inputs thus determines the full range of thermodynamic behavior from all inputs. For any process, entropy flow, heat, and work can all be extremized by pure input states-eigenstates of the respective operators. In contrast, the input states that minimize entropy production or maximize the change in free energy are nonpure mixed states obtained from the operators as the solution of a convexoptimization problem. To attain these, we provide an easily implementable gradient-descent method on the manifold of density matrices, where an analytic solution yields a valid direction of descent at each iterative step. Ideal inputs within a limited domain, and their associated thermodynamic operators, are obtained with less effort. This allows analysis of ideal thermodynamic inputs within quantum subspaces of infinitedimensional quantum systems; it also allows analysis of ideal inputs in the classical limit. Our examples illustrate the diversity of "ideal" inputs: distinct initial states minimize entropy production, extremize the change in free energy, and maximize work extraction.
Finding the transient and steady state properties of open quantum systems is a central problem in various fields of quantum technologies. Here, we present a quantum-assisted algorithm to determine the steady states of open system dynamics. By reformulating the problem of finding the fixed point of Lindblad dynamics as a feasibility semidefinite program, we bypass several well-known issues with variational quantum approaches to solving for steady states. We demonstrate that our hybrid approach allows us to estimate the steady states of higher dimensional open quantum systems and discuss how our method can find multiple steady states for systems with symmetries.
