arXiv subjects

John Preskill

Publications and source records attributed to John Preskill.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Universal equilibrium magic in quantum many-body systems

Thermalization conventionally describes local properties of isolated many-body systems at equilibrium. Magic, or nonstabilizerness $\unicode{x2013}$ the resource enabling universal quantum computation $\unicode{x2013}$ is by contrast encoded in the global structure of the many-body wavefunction. We show that, despite its global nature, the magic of equilibrium pure states of chaotic many-body systems, including late-time evolved states and energy eigenstates, is universal: it is captured by the thermal Scrooge ensemble, the minimally informative ensemble of pure states consistent with the Gibbs state at the same effective temperature. Therefore, for systems with no conserved quantities other than the total energy, equilibrium magic is a function of temperature alone, independent of the initial state and other microscopic features of the equilibrium state. This yields concrete universal predictions for the stabilizer R\'enyi entropies (SREs). At infinite temperature, the SRE is set by Haar-like fluctuations of the Pauli spectrum, while at finite temperature energy conservation induces a volume-law thermodynamic correction controlled by the thermal Pauli spectrum. We support these predictions with analytical arguments and extensive numerical simulations. We further show that chaotic many-body systems at high temperatures possess long-range magic and entanglement that cannot be removed by finite-depth local quantum circuits. Our results establish magic as a thermodynamic property of chaotic many-body systems and suggest that Scrooge ensembles may provide a unified framework for quantum many-body resources.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Near-optimal quantum metrology with few-qubit measurements

Quantum metrology, which addresses parameter estimation in quantum systems, has broad applications across science and technology. Conventional metrology protocols for multi-qubit states in the multi-parameter regime typically require highly complex quantum measurements, leading to substantial quantum-resource costs. In this work, we introduce a family of metrology protocols that use only few-qubit measurements, thereby significantly reducing the required resources. For arbitrary pure states, one of our protocols approaches the quantum Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound up to an overhead in sample complexity that scales linearly with the number of qubits, irrespective of the number of parameters to be estimated. For typical Haar-random states, this overhead can be reduced to a constant. Our results build on recent advances in quantum state certification protocols with few-qubit measurements: we establish a universal connection between certification and metrology in which the precision of the certification protocol determines the metrological overhead. We also illustrate our approach through an example of Hamiltonian estimation from ground states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

High-rate qLDPC processors

Despite significant progress on quantum low-density parity-check (qLDPC) codes, building qLDPC processors that are high-rate, high-throughput, hardware-friendly, and fast-to-decode remains a challenge. We introduce mitten codes, a family of qLDPC processor codes of encoding rate $20\%$ and check weight $9$, based on non-abelian groups. Their non-abelian structure evades distance bounds constraining abelian counterparts, allowing mitten codes to reach distance $18$ and beyond with just a few hundred data qubits. The logical operators of a mitten code are related by the group action, yielding a modular, low-overhead logical toolkit: full Clifford operations follow from bridging two reusable seed surgery gadgets or from a single fixed extractor. Furthermore, qLDPC processors based on mitten codes support high-rate surgery that executes many logical measurements in parallel, and parallel magic-state injection into all logical qubits at once. Under circuit-level noise, with our fast decoder, the $[\![300,60,14]\!]$ mitten code achieves, without extrapolation, a block logical error rate of ${\sim}10^{-11}$ per round at $0.1\%$ physical error rate (PER), while the $[\![ 975,195,\leq 24 ]\!]$ code reaches ${\sim}10^{-8}$ at $0.4\%$ PER. Decoding $15$ billion surgery experiments on the $[\![540,108,18]\!]$ code at $0.1\%$ PER, we observe only two logical failures, demonstrating a qLDPC processor capable of running ${\sim}10^{10}$ logical operations. Our decoder is compatible with sub-millisecond average latency per logical cycle, sufficient for real-time decoding on neutral atom hardware. Discovered by an end-to-end design pipeline built on sQetch, a distance estimator orders of magnitude faster than existing tools, and mapping efficiently onto near-term neutral atom and superconducting hardware, mitten codes open a practical path toward fault-tolerant quantum computation.

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arXiv2026

State preparation and detection for quantum simulation of particle collisions

Simulating the real-time dynamics of particle collisions is a promising application of quantum simulators, because classical methods such as tensor networks struggle to capture the highly entangled states generated in high-energy scattering. Realizing such simulations requires both the preparation of incoming wave packets and the detection of the outgoing scattering products. In this work, we propose protocols that address both challenges on programmable analog and digital quantum simulation platforms. Our state-preparation scheme uses a weakly coupled auxiliary qubit - or, more generally, a customized local quench - to inject a single quasiparticle with well-defined momentum. Because it relies only on conservation of energy, this scheme requires no fine-tuning or prior knowledge about particle eigenstates, making it robust against errors in calibration and implementation. The momenta of scattering products are then extracted, using only local measurements, from the interference pattern that arises when particles are reflected at the system's boundary. We validate our protocols through numerical simulations, first in a simple single-particle model and subsequently in two interacting many-body systems: a Rydberg atom chain and an Ising chain in a mixed field. We demonstrate how high-energy regimes, necessary to access inelastic scattering processes, can be reached through an adiabatic ramp, and how the wave packet shape can be optimized by spatially modulating the Hamiltonian. Finally, we show how the protocol can be generalized to systems with more than one spatial dimension. Our proposal provides a versatile approach to the quantum simulation of scattering phenomena, and is compatible with several quantum simulation platforms that are already experimentally available.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Observation of gravity-like signatures in holographic codes on a quantum computer

The unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity remains one of the major open problems of theoretical physics. The Anti-de Sitter/Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence provides a valuable theoretical framework for this effort via a holographic duality between a theory of quantum gravity in asymptotically AdS spacetime and a conformal quantum field theory on the lower-dimensional boundary. Here, we implement a toy model of this duality called the HaPPY code, a quantum error-correcting code in the form of a tensor network with hyperbolic entanglement patterns, on a trapped-ion quantum computer. We present the first experimental confirmation of the Faulkner-Lewkowycz-Maldacena formula in this model - a key test of the holographic correspondence. We then enrich it with non-stabilizerness, or magic, and observe entropic precursors expected of emergent gravity. Finally, we present and measure a code construction whose entropic behavior is reminiscent of a highly quantum wormhole. Our experiments illustrate how quantum computers can serve as testbeds for modeling the emergence of spacetime.

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arXiv2026

Exponential quantum advantage in processing massive classical data

Broadly applicable quantum advantage, particularly in classical data processing and machine learning, has been a fundamental open problem. In this work, we prove that a small quantum computer of polylogarithmic size can perform large-scale classification and dimension reduction on massive classical data by processing samples on the fly, whereas any classical machine achieving the same prediction performance requires exponentially larger size. Furthermore, classical machines that are exponentially larger yet below the required size need superpolynomially more samples and time. We validate these quantum advantages in real-world applications, including single-cell RNA sequencing and movie review sentiment analysis, demonstrating four to six orders of magnitude reduction in size with fewer than 60 logical qubits. These quantum advantages are enabled by quantum oracle sketching, an algorithm for accessing the classical world in quantum superposition using only random classical data samples. Combined with classical shadows, our algorithm circumvents the data loading and readout bottleneck to construct succinct classical models from massive classical data, a task provably impossible for any classical machine that is not exponentially larger than the quantum machine. These quantum advantages persist even when classical machines are granted unlimited time or if BPP=BQP, and rely only on the correctness of quantum mechanics. Together, our results establish machine learning on classical data as a broad and natural domain of quantum advantage and a fundamental test of quantum mechanics at the complexity frontier.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Shor's algorithm is possible with as few as 10,000 reconfigurable atomic qubits

Quantum computers have the potential to perform computational tasks beyond the reach of classical machines. A prominent example is Shor's algorithm for integer factorization and discrete logarithms, which is of both fundamental importance and practical relevance to cryptography. However, due to the high overhead of quantum error correction, optimized resource estimates for cryptographically relevant instances of Shor's algorithm require millions of physical qubits. Here, by leveraging advances in high-rate quantum error-correcting codes, efficient logical instruction sets, and circuit design, we show that Shor's algorithm can be executed at cryptographically relevant scales with as few as 10,000 reconfigurable atomic qubits. Increasing the number of physical qubits improves time efficiency by enabling greater parallelism; under plausible assumptions, the runtime for discrete logarithms on the P-256 elliptic curve could be just a few days for a system with 26,000 physical qubits, while the runtime for factoring RSA-2048 integers is one to two orders of magnitude longer. Recent neutral-atom experiments have demonstrated universal fault-tolerant operations below the error-correction threshold, computation on arrays of hundreds of qubits, and trapping arrays with more than 6,000 highly coherent qubits. Although substantial engineering challenges remain, our theoretical analysis indicates that an appropriately designed neutral-atom architecture could support quantum computation at cryptographically relevant scales. More broadly, these results highlight the capability of neutral atoms for fault-tolerant quantum computing with wide-ranging scientific and technological applications.

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arXiv2026

Negative energies and the breakdown of bulk geometry

One central question in quantum gravity is to understand how and why predictions from semiclassical gravity can break down in regimes with low spacetime curvature. One diagnostic of such a breakdown is that states which are orthonormal at the semiclassical level can receive large corrections to their inner products from quantum fluctuations. We study this effect by examining inner products in pure 2D JT gravity. Previous work showed that black hole states with long interiors exhibit a breakdown at length scales of order $e^{S_0}$, where $S_0$ is a parameter analogous to $1/G_N$ in higher dimensions. This breakdown is caused by the discreteness of the spectrum of the dual boundary random matrix theory. We show that the full sum over quantum fluctuations indicates a more dramatic breakdown at parametrically shorter lengths of order $e^{S_0/3}$. In the dual boundary description, these corrections arise from negative energy states appearing in rare members of the random matrix ensemble. These results demonstrate that non-perturbative effects can invalidate the semiclassical description at much smaller length scales than previously expected, providing a new mechanism for the breakdown of effective gravitational theories.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Towards sample-optimal learning of bosonic Gaussian quantum states

Continuous-variable systems enable key quantum technologies in computation, communication, and sensing. Bosonic Gaussian states emerge naturally in various such applications, including gravitational-wave and dark-matter detection. A fundamental question is how to characterize an unknown bosonic Gaussian state from as few samples as possible. Despite decades-long exploration, the ultimate efficiency limit remains unclear. In this work, we study the necessary and sufficient number of copies to learn an $n$-mode Gaussian state, with energy less than $E$, to $\varepsilon$ trace distance with high probability. We prove a lower bound of $\Omega(n^3/\varepsilon^2)$ for Gaussian measurements, matching the best known upper bound up to doubly-log energy dependence, and ${\Omega}(n^2/\varepsilon^2)$ for arbitrary measurements. We further show an upper bound of $\widetilde{O}(n^2/\varepsilon^2)$ given that the Gaussian state is promised to be either pure or passive. Interestingly, while Gaussian measurements suffice for nearly optimal learning of pure Gaussian states, non-Gaussian measurements are provably required for optimal learning of passive Gaussian states. Finally, focusing on learning single-mode Gaussian states via non-entangling Gaussian measurements, we provide a nearly tight bound of $\widetilde\Theta(E/\varepsilon^2)$ for any non-adaptive schemes, showing adaptivity is indispensable for nearly energy-independent scaling. As a byproduct, we establish sharp bounds on the trace distance between Gaussian states in terms of the total variation distance between their Wigner distributions, and obtain a nearly tight sample complexity bound for learning the Wigner distribution of any Gaussian state to $\varepsilon$ total variation distance. Our results greatly advance quantum learning theory in the bosonic regimes and have practical impact in quantum sensing and benchmarking applications.

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arXiv2026

State-dependent geometries from magic-enriched quantum codes

Quantum error-correcting codes provide a powerful framework for emergent spacetime, yet existing holographic code models describe only quantum fields on a fixed background: in subsystem erasure-correcting codes, the entropic area term is state independent and cannot capture gravitational backreaction. We argue that this limitation is intrinsic to exact subsystem complementary recovery and that incorporating backreaction instead requires approximate quantum error correction. We introduce a Ryu-Takayanagi-like entropy decomposition for approximate subsystem erasure-correcting codes, defining bulk matter entropy via optimal recovery and a complementary proto-area entropy as the difference between boundary entropy and recoverable bulk entropy. For a broad class of skewed quantum codes obtained by small nonlocal perturbations of exact codes, the proto-area increases monotonically with bulk entropy, closely aligning with the behavior of quantum extremal surfaces. We identify the origin of this response as a form of tripartite non-local magic in the Choi state of the encoding map, which vanishes in stabilizer codes and controls the leading matter-geometry coupling in approximate subsystem erasure-correcting codes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Chiral Lattice Gauge Theories from Symmetry Disentanglers

We propose a Hamiltonian framework for constructing chiral gauge theories on the lattice based on symmetry disentanglers: constant-depth circuits of local unitaries that transform not-on-site symmetries into on-site ones. When chiral symmetry can be realized not-on-site and such a disentangler exists, the symmetry can be implemented in a strictly local Hamiltonian and gauged by standard lattice methods. Using lattice rotor models, we realize this idea in 1+1 and 3+1 spacetime dimensions for $U(1)$ symmetries with mixed 't Hooft anomalies, and show that symmetry disentanglers can be constructed when anomalies cancel. As an example, we present an exactly solvable Hamiltonian lattice model of the (1+1)-dimensional "3450" chiral gauge theory, and we argue that a related construction applies to the $U(1)$ hypercharge symmetry of the Standard Model fermions in 3+1 dimensions. Our results open a new route toward fully local, nonperturbative formulations of chiral gauge theories.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Nature is stingy: Universality of Scrooge ensembles in quantum many-body systems

Recent advances in quantum simulators allow direct experimental access to ensembles of pure states generated by measuring part of an isolated quantum many-body system. These projected ensembles encode fine-grained information beyond thermal expectation values and provide a new window into quantum thermalization. In chaotic dynamics, projected ensembles exhibit universal statistics governed by maximum-entropy principles, known as deep thermalization. At infinite temperature this universality is characterized by Haar-random ensembles. More generally, physical constraints such as finite temperature or conservation laws lead to Scrooge ensembles, which are maximally entropic distributions of pure states consistent with these constraints. Here we introduce Scrooge $k$-designs, which approximate Scrooge ensembles, and use this framework to sharpen the conditions under which Scrooge-like behavior emerges. We first show that global Scrooge designs arise from long-time chaotic unitary dynamics alone, without measurements. Second, we show that measuring a complementary subsystem of a scrambled global state drawn from a global Scrooge $2k$-design induces a local Scrooge $k$-design. Third, we show that a local Scrooge $k$-design arises from an arbitrary entangled state when the complementary system is measured in a scrambled basis induced by a unitary drawn from a Haar $2k$-design. These results show that the resources required to generate approximate Scrooge ensembles scale only with the desired degree of approximation, enabling efficient implementations. Complementing our analytical results, numerical simulations identify coherence, entanglement, non-stabilizerness, and information scrambling as essential ingredients for the emergence of Scrooge-like behavior. Together, our findings advance theoretical explanations for maximally entropic, information-stingy randomness in quantum many-body systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Mind the gaps: The fraught road to quantum advantage

Quantum computing is advancing rapidly, yet substantial gaps separate today's noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices from tomorrow's fault-tolerant application-scale quantum (FASQ) machines. We identify four related hurdles along the road ahead: (i) from error mitigation to active error detection and correction, (ii) from rudimentary error correction to scalable fault tolerance, (iii) from early heuristics to mature, verifiable algorithms, and (iv) from exploratory simulators to credible advantage in quantum simulation. Targeting these transitions will accelerate progress toward broadly useful quantum computing.

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arXiv2025

Transversal dimension jump for product qLDPC codes

We introduce transversal dimension jump, a code-switching protocol for lifted product (LP) quantum low-density parity-check (qLDPC) codes across different chain-complex dimensions, enabling universal fault-tolerant quantum computation with low overhead. The construction leverages the product structure of LP codes to implement one-way transversal CNOTs between a 3D code and its 2D component codes, enabling teleportation-based switching with geometrically nonlocal gates. Combined with constant-depth CCZ gates in 3D LP codes and low-overhead transversal Clifford gates in 2D LP codes, this yields universal, high-rate quantum logical computation with high thresholds and low space-time costs. Beyond asymptotic schemes, we identify explicit 3D-2D LP code pairs supporting cup-product CCZ gates, including bivariate tricycle-bicycle families such as the $[[81,3,5]]$-$[[54,2,6]]$ pair, where the 3D tricycle codes admit depth-2 CCZ, weight-6 stabilizers, and pseudo-thresholds $\gtrsim 0.4\%$. As a byproduct, we show that the 3D codes enable highly efficient magic-state preparation: a single round of stabilizer measurements followed by depth-2 CCZ and postselection produces states with error $<10^{-9}$ and success probability $\sim 35\%$. Our results establish a native integration of qLDPC codes with complementary transversal gates-covering nearly all practically relevant families known so far-and open a broad design space for scalable, low-overhead universal quantum computation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Batched high-rate logical operations for quantum LDPC codes

High-rate quantum LDPC (qLDPC) codes reduce memory overhead by densely packing many logical qubits into a single block of physical qubits. Here we extend this concept to high-rate computation by constructing \emph{batched} fault-tolerant operations that apply the same logical gate across many code blocks in parallel. By leveraging shared physical resources to execute many logical operations in parallel, these operations realize high rates in space-time and significantly reduce computational costs. For \emph{arbitrary} CSS qLDPC codes, we build batched gadgets with \emph{constant space-time overhead} (assuming fast classical computation) for (i) single-shot error correction, state preparation, and code surgeries (ii) code switching, and (iii) addressable Clifford gates. Using these batched gadgets we also construct parallel non-Clifford gates with low space-time cost. We outline principles for designing parallel quantum algorithms optimized for a batched architecture, and show in particular how lattice Hamiltonian dynamical simulations can be compiled efficiently. We also propose a near-term implementation using new self-dual Bivariate-Bicycle codes with high encoding rates ($\sim 1/10$), transversal Clifford gates, and global $T$ gates via parallel magic state cultivation, enabling Hamiltonian simulations with a lower space-time cost than analogous surface-code protocols and low-rate qLDPC protocols. These results open new paths toward scalable quantum computation via co-design of parallel quantum algorithms and high-rate fault-tolerant protocols.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

The vast world of quantum advantage

The quest to identify quantum advantages lies at the heart of quantum technology. While quantum devices promise extraordinary capabilities, from exponential computational speedups to unprecedented measurement precision, distinguishing genuine advantages from mere illusions remains a formidable challenge. In this endeavor, quantum theorists are like prophets attempting to foretell the future, yet the boundary between visionary insight and unfounded fantasy is perilously thin. In this perspective, we examine our mathematical tools for navigating the vast world of quantum advantages across computation, learning, sensing, and communication. We explore five keystone properties: predictability, typicality, robustness, verifiability, and usefulness that define an ideal quantum advantage, and envision what new quantum advantages could arise in a future with ubiquitous quantum technology. We prove that some quantum advantages are inherently unpredictable using classical resources alone, suggesting a landscape far richer than what we can currently foresee. While mathematical rigor remains our indispensable guide, the ultimate power of quantum technologies may emerge from advantages we cannot yet conceive.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Simple and efficient end-to-end quantum thermal and ground state preparation

Quantum computing algorithms for many-body physics, chemistry and materials science typically require the preparation of thermal or ground states for a given Hamiltonian. We propose quantum algorithms based on system-bath interactions to prepare thermal and ground states for a range of physically relevant Hamiltonians. These algorithms require only forward evolution under a system-bath Hamiltonian in which the bath is a single reusable ancilla qubit, making them especially well-suited for early fault-tolerant quantum devices. By carefully designing the bath and interaction Hamiltonians, we prove that the fixed point of the dynamics accurately approximates the desired quantum state. Furthermore, we establish theoretical guarantees on the mixing time, and thereby provide a rigorous justification for the end-to-end efficiency of system-bath interaction models in thermal and ground state preparation for the physically relevant models we consider.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Digital quantum simulations of scattering in quantum field theories using W states

High-energy particle collisions can convert energy into matter through the inelastic production of new particles. Quantum computers are an ideal platform for simulating the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of collisions and the formation of subsequent many-particle states. In this work, evidence for inelastic particle production is observed in one-dimensional Ising field theory using IBM's quantum computers. The scattering experiment is performed on 104 qubits of ibm_marrakesh and uses up to 5,589 two-qubit gates to access the post-collision dynamics. An outgoing heavy particle produced in the collision is identified from the skewness of the measured energy density. Integral to this computation is a new quantum algorithm for preparing the initial state (wavepackets) of a quantum field theory scattering simulation. This method efficiently prepares wavepackets by extending recent protocols for creating W states with mid-circuit measurement and feedforward. The required circuit depth is independent of wavepacket size and spatial dimension, representing a superexponential improvement over previous methods. Our wavepacket preparation algorithm can be applied to a wide range of lattice models and is demonstrated in one-dimensional Ising field theory, scalar field theory, the Schwinger model and two-dimensional Ising field theory.

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