Robust Chiral Edge Dynamics of a Kitaev Honeycomb on a Trapped Ion Processor
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866917104520790016 |
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| author | Ali, Ammar Gibbs, Joe Kumaran, Keerthi Muruganandam, Varadharajan Xiao, Bo Kairys, Paul Halász, Gábor Banerjee, Arnab Lotshaw, Phillip C. |
| author_facet | Ali, Ammar Gibbs, Joe Kumaran, Keerthi Muruganandam, Varadharajan Xiao, Bo Kairys, Paul Halász, Gábor Banerjee, Arnab Lotshaw, Phillip C. |
| contents | Kitaev's honeycomb model is a paradigmatic exactly solvable system hosting a quantum spin liquid with non-Abelian anyons and topologically protected edge modes, offering a platform for fault-tolerant quantum computation. However, real candidate Kitaev materials invariably include complex secondary interactions that obscure the realization of spin-liquid behavior and demand novel quantum computational approaches for efficient simulation. Here we report quantum simulations of a 22-site Kitaev honeycomb lattice on a trapped-ion quantum processor, without and with non-integrable Heisenberg interactions that are present in real materials. We develop efficient quantum circuits for ground-state preparation, achieving high accuracy with energy errors equivalent to an effective temperature of 0.2 (in units of the Kitaev interactions), consistent with the experimentally relevant spin-liquid regime. Starting from these states, we apply controlled perturbations and measure time-dependent spin correlations along the system's edge. In the non-Abelian phase, we observe chiral edge dynamics consistent with a non-zero Chern number, a hallmark of topological order, which vanishes upon transition to the Abelian toric code phase. Extending to the non-integrable Kitaev-Heisenberg model, we find that weak Heisenberg interactions preserve chiral edge dynamics, while stronger couplings suppress them, signaling the breakdown of topological protection. Our work demonstrates a viable route for probing dynamical signatures of topological order in quantum spin liquids using programmable quantum hardware, opening new pathways for quantum simulation of strongly correlated materials. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_08939 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Robust Chiral Edge Dynamics of a Kitaev Honeycomb on a Trapped Ion Processor Ali, Ammar Gibbs, Joe Kumaran, Keerthi Muruganandam, Varadharajan Xiao, Bo Kairys, Paul Halász, Gábor Banerjee, Arnab Lotshaw, Phillip C. Quantum Physics Strongly Correlated Electrons Computational Physics Kitaev's honeycomb model is a paradigmatic exactly solvable system hosting a quantum spin liquid with non-Abelian anyons and topologically protected edge modes, offering a platform for fault-tolerant quantum computation. However, real candidate Kitaev materials invariably include complex secondary interactions that obscure the realization of spin-liquid behavior and demand novel quantum computational approaches for efficient simulation. Here we report quantum simulations of a 22-site Kitaev honeycomb lattice on a trapped-ion quantum processor, without and with non-integrable Heisenberg interactions that are present in real materials. We develop efficient quantum circuits for ground-state preparation, achieving high accuracy with energy errors equivalent to an effective temperature of 0.2 (in units of the Kitaev interactions), consistent with the experimentally relevant spin-liquid regime. Starting from these states, we apply controlled perturbations and measure time-dependent spin correlations along the system's edge. In the non-Abelian phase, we observe chiral edge dynamics consistent with a non-zero Chern number, a hallmark of topological order, which vanishes upon transition to the Abelian toric code phase. Extending to the non-integrable Kitaev-Heisenberg model, we find that weak Heisenberg interactions preserve chiral edge dynamics, while stronger couplings suppress them, signaling the breakdown of topological protection. Our work demonstrates a viable route for probing dynamical signatures of topological order in quantum spin liquids using programmable quantum hardware, opening new pathways for quantum simulation of strongly correlated materials. |
| title | Robust Chiral Edge Dynamics of a Kitaev Honeycomb on a Trapped Ion Processor |
| topic | Quantum Physics Strongly Correlated Electrons Computational Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.08939 |