Experimental simulation of non-equilibrium quantum piston on a programmable photonic quantum computer

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Krishna, Govind, Yadgirkar, Rohan, Krishnakumar, Balakrishnan, Cataldo, Andrea, Xu, Ze-Sheng, Los, Johannes W. N., Zwiller, Val, Gao, Jun, Elshaari, Ali W.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Krishna, Govind
Yadgirkar, Rohan
Krishnakumar, Balakrishnan
Cataldo, Andrea
Xu, Ze-Sheng
Los, Johannes W. N.
Zwiller, Val
Gao, Jun
Elshaari, Ali W.
author_facet Krishna, Govind
Yadgirkar, Rohan
Krishnakumar, Balakrishnan
Cataldo, Andrea
Xu, Ze-Sheng
Los, Johannes W. N.
Zwiller, Val
Gao, Jun
Elshaari, Ali W.
contents Quantum fluctuation relations provide a microscopic formulation of thermodynamics beyond equilibrium, but experimentally accessing many-body quantum work statistics remains an outstanding challenge. The quantum piston constitutes a canonical model of boundary-driven nonequilibrium dynamics, where finite-time deformation of a confining potential generates non-adiabatic transitions, dissipation and irreversibility. Here we experimentally simulate the nonequilibrium dynamics of a two-boson quantum piston on a programmable photonic quantum computer. Using two indistinguishable photons, we encode a truncated piston propagator through a quasi-unitary embedding, with an ancilla mode representing leakage into higher-energy states outside the resolved manifold. This architecture enables direct reconstruction of thermodynamic transition statistics for both expansion and compression protocols as functions of driving speed and final trap length. We observe the crossover from quasi-adiabatic to strongly non-adiabatic evolution and show that bosonic interference restructures the resulting two-particle Fock-state populations and work distributions. The measured statistics are in close agreement with theoretical predictions and satisfy the Jarzynski equality across expansion and compression protocols for cyclic driving we further quantify irreversibility through dissipated work and state overlap. Our work identifies programmable photonic quantum hardware as a powerful platform for simulating nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics and for experimentally resolving how indistinguishability and many-body interference shape quantum work, dissipation and entropy production.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_10647
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Experimental simulation of non-equilibrium quantum piston on a programmable photonic quantum computer
Krishna, Govind
Yadgirkar, Rohan
Krishnakumar, Balakrishnan
Cataldo, Andrea
Xu, Ze-Sheng
Los, Johannes W. N.
Zwiller, Val
Gao, Jun
Elshaari, Ali W.
Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
Optics
Quantum fluctuation relations provide a microscopic formulation of thermodynamics beyond equilibrium, but experimentally accessing many-body quantum work statistics remains an outstanding challenge. The quantum piston constitutes a canonical model of boundary-driven nonequilibrium dynamics, where finite-time deformation of a confining potential generates non-adiabatic transitions, dissipation and irreversibility. Here we experimentally simulate the nonequilibrium dynamics of a two-boson quantum piston on a programmable photonic quantum computer. Using two indistinguishable photons, we encode a truncated piston propagator through a quasi-unitary embedding, with an ancilla mode representing leakage into higher-energy states outside the resolved manifold. This architecture enables direct reconstruction of thermodynamic transition statistics for both expansion and compression protocols as functions of driving speed and final trap length. We observe the crossover from quasi-adiabatic to strongly non-adiabatic evolution and show that bosonic interference restructures the resulting two-particle Fock-state populations and work distributions. The measured statistics are in close agreement with theoretical predictions and satisfy the Jarzynski equality across expansion and compression protocols for cyclic driving we further quantify irreversibility through dissipated work and state overlap. Our work identifies programmable photonic quantum hardware as a powerful platform for simulating nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics and for experimentally resolving how indistinguishability and many-body interference shape quantum work, dissipation and entropy production.
title Experimental simulation of non-equilibrium quantum piston on a programmable photonic quantum computer
topic Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.10647