Physics Colloquium

Traditionally, quantum many-body theory has focussed on ground states and equilibrium prop.erties of spatially extended systems, such as electrons and spins in crystalline solids. In recent years "noisy intermediate scale quantum computers" (NISQ) have emerged, providing new opportunities for controllable non-equilibrium many-body systems. In such dynamical quantum systems the inexorable growth of non-local quantum entanglement is expected, but monitoring (by making projective measurements) can compete against entanglement growth. In this talk I will overview theoretical work exploring the behavior of "monitored" quantum circuits, which can exhibit a novel quantum dynamical phase transition between a weak measurement phase and a quantum Zeno phase, the former which we characterize in detail. Accessing such physics in the lab is challenged by the need for post-selection, which might be circumnavigated by decoding using active error correction.

All attendees must show valid Caltech ID upon entry.

Join via Zoom: https://caltech.zoom.us/j/89237465190. Meeting ID: 892 3746 5190