Interplay of Confinement and Localization in a Programmable Rydberg Atom Chain

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Main Authors: Rava, Andrea B., Montanez-Barrera, Jhon A., Michielsen, Kristel, Vodeb, Jaka
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Rava, Andrea B.
Montanez-Barrera, Jhon A.
Michielsen, Kristel
Vodeb, Jaka
author_facet Rava, Andrea B.
Montanez-Barrera, Jhon A.
Michielsen, Kristel
Vodeb, Jaka
contents Analog quantum simulators promise access to complex many-body dynamics, yet their performance is ultimately set by how device imperfections compete with intrinsic physical mechanisms. Here we present an end-to-end study of correlation spreading in a programmable Rydberg-atom chain realizing a longitudinal-field transverse-field Ising model, focusing on the joint impact of confinement and effective disorder. Experiments performed on QuEra's Aquila quantum processor are benchmarked against large-scale coherent emulations using the Juelich Quantum Annealing Simulator (JUQAS), enabling the controlled inclusion of realistic hardware imperfections. In the ideal coherent limit, a tunable longitudinal field induces confinement of domain-wall excitations into mesonic bound states, leading to a progressive truncation of the correlation light cone. When experimentally relevant inhomogeneities and fluctuations are included, correlations instead saturate at finite distance even in the nominally deconfined regime, revealing localization driven by emergent disorder. The close quantitative agreement between noisy emulations and experimental data allows us to attribute the observed saturation to specific hardware error channels and to identify the dominant contribution. Our results establish a practical framework for diagnosing and modeling error-induced localization in Rydberg quantum processors, while demonstrating that confinement remains a robust and programmable mechanism for engineering non-ergodic dynamics on near-term quantum hardware.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_18765
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Interplay of Confinement and Localization in a Programmable Rydberg Atom Chain
Rava, Andrea B.
Montanez-Barrera, Jhon A.
Michielsen, Kristel
Vodeb, Jaka
Quantum Physics
Analog quantum simulators promise access to complex many-body dynamics, yet their performance is ultimately set by how device imperfections compete with intrinsic physical mechanisms. Here we present an end-to-end study of correlation spreading in a programmable Rydberg-atom chain realizing a longitudinal-field transverse-field Ising model, focusing on the joint impact of confinement and effective disorder. Experiments performed on QuEra's Aquila quantum processor are benchmarked against large-scale coherent emulations using the Juelich Quantum Annealing Simulator (JUQAS), enabling the controlled inclusion of realistic hardware imperfections. In the ideal coherent limit, a tunable longitudinal field induces confinement of domain-wall excitations into mesonic bound states, leading to a progressive truncation of the correlation light cone. When experimentally relevant inhomogeneities and fluctuations are included, correlations instead saturate at finite distance even in the nominally deconfined regime, revealing localization driven by emergent disorder. The close quantitative agreement between noisy emulations and experimental data allows us to attribute the observed saturation to specific hardware error channels and to identify the dominant contribution. Our results establish a practical framework for diagnosing and modeling error-induced localization in Rydberg quantum processors, while demonstrating that confinement remains a robust and programmable mechanism for engineering non-ergodic dynamics on near-term quantum hardware.
title Interplay of Confinement and Localization in a Programmable Rydberg Atom Chain
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.18765