Variational Gibbs State Preparation on Trapped-Ion Devices

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Robertson, Reece, Consiglio, Mirko, Stevens, Josey, Doucet, Emery, Apollaro, Tony J. G., Deffner, Sebastian
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Robertson, Reece
Consiglio, Mirko
Stevens, Josey
Doucet, Emery
Apollaro, Tony J. G.
Deffner, Sebastian
author_facet Robertson, Reece
Consiglio, Mirko
Stevens, Josey
Doucet, Emery
Apollaro, Tony J. G.
Deffner, Sebastian
contents We implement a variational quantum algorithm for Gibbs state preparation of a transverse-field Ising model on IonQ's quantum computers. To this end, we train the variational parameters via classical simulation and perform state tomography on the quantum devices to evaluate the fidelity of the prepared Gibbs state. As a main result, we find that fidelity decreases (non-monotonically) as a function of the inverse temperature $β$ of the system. Fidelity also decreases as a function of the size of the system. Interestingly, we find that a Gibbs state prepared for a specified $β$ is a better representative of a Gibbs state prepared for a $\textit{lower}$ $β$; or in other words, thermal fluctuations in the quantum hardware lead to digital heating, that is, an increase in the temperature of the prepared Gibbs state above what was intended.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_03801
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Variational Gibbs State Preparation on Trapped-Ion Devices
Robertson, Reece
Consiglio, Mirko
Stevens, Josey
Doucet, Emery
Apollaro, Tony J. G.
Deffner, Sebastian
Quantum Physics
We implement a variational quantum algorithm for Gibbs state preparation of a transverse-field Ising model on IonQ's quantum computers. To this end, we train the variational parameters via classical simulation and perform state tomography on the quantum devices to evaluate the fidelity of the prepared Gibbs state. As a main result, we find that fidelity decreases (non-monotonically) as a function of the inverse temperature $β$ of the system. Fidelity also decreases as a function of the size of the system. Interestingly, we find that a Gibbs state prepared for a specified $β$ is a better representative of a Gibbs state prepared for a $\textit{lower}$ $β$; or in other words, thermal fluctuations in the quantum hardware lead to digital heating, that is, an increase in the temperature of the prepared Gibbs state above what was intended.
title Variational Gibbs State Preparation on Trapped-Ion Devices
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.03801