Quantum spacetimes on a quantum computer

Tuesday, Mar 20th

Keren Li, Tsinghua University
Title: Quantum spacetime on a quantum simulator 
PDF of the talk (3M)
Audio+Slides [.mp4 11MB]

By Jorge Pullin, LSU


In loop quantum gravity the quantum states are labeled by objects known as "spin networks". These are graphs in space with intersections. If one evolves a spin network in time one gets a "spin foam". If one had a static situation, the various spatial slices of a spin foam would be the same, as shown in the figure,

If one were in a dynamical situation, new vertices are created,

To compute the probability of transitioning from a spin network to another is what calculations in spin foams are about. The details of these computations resemble computations people do in quantum mechanics of systems with spins. This allows to make a parallel between these computations and the ones that are involved in setting up a quantum computer, specifically the qubits that are constructed using nuclear magnetic resonance systems (NMR). In this talk it was described how the evolution of a very simple spin foam known as the tetrahedron can be simulated on an NMR quantum computer of four qubits and how the experimental measurements reproduce very well theoretical calculations of spin foam models.