arXiv subjects

Vittorio Vitale

Publications and source records attributed to Vittorio Vitale.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Noise-aware emulation and cross-device validation of neutral atom analog quantum processing units

Analog quantum processors based on Rydberg atom arrays are a powerful platform for many-body quantum simulation, combinatorial optimization, and graph machine learning. As these devices become increasingly accessible, establishing confidence in their outputs requires predictive models that quantitatively connect microscopic hardware imperfections to empirical results. Here, we present a noise-aware emulation framework that propagates the dominant noise mechanisms throughout the full computation cycle to predict device behavior. We validate the framework by benchmarking two representative protocols, quantum annealing and post-quench dynamics, on three Pasqal quantum processors where classical simulations still provide ground truth. Across all three devices, the measured observables fall within the uncertainty envelopes predicted by the emulator. Beyond reproducing the data, the framework isolates which physical mechanism dominates in each operating regime, provides quantitative guidance for algorithm design and hardware improvements, and establishes a foundation for verifying analog processors in regimes beyond classical reach.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Quantum Fisher Information under decoherence with explicit wavefunctions

We present a method to estimate the quantum Fisher information (QFI) of many-body quantum states in the presence of decoherence, where its direct evaluation requires the full spectral resolution of the density matrix. We show that, for many-body wave functions known analytically in the occupation-number basis, systematic lower bounds to the QFI can be mapped onto expectation values over a classical probability distribution defined by the wave function amplitudes. This mapping enables efficient estimation via Markov-chain Monte Carlo sampling, with a computational cost that scales as a `slow' exponential ($e^{b L}$ with $b \lesssim 0.6$) and remains manageable for system sizes well beyond exact diagonalization. We specify this framework to Jastrow-Gutzwiller wave functions. We characterize their metrological content by identifying the observables that maximize the QFI and the corresponding scaling with $L$. Then, we analyze the QFI under three physically motivated noise channels: local dephasing, local amplitude damping, and global depolarizing. We compare polynomial and Krylov-based lower bounds across these channels, relating their behavior to the effective rank of the noisy density matrix and to the structure of the operator generating the parameter encoding. The framework extends naturally to other analytically known wave functions and to a broader class of information-theoretic quantities beyond the QFI.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Network theory classification of quantum matter based on wave function snapshots

Quantum computers and simulators offer unparalleled capabilities of probing quantum many-body states, by obtaining snapshots of the many-body wave function via collective projective measurements. The probability distribution obtained by such snapshots (which are fundamentally limited to a negligible fraction of the Hilbert space) is of fundamental importance to determine the power of quantum computations. However, its relation to many-body collective properties is poorly understood. Here, we develop a theoretical framework to link quantum phases of matter to their snapshots, based on a combination of data complexity and network theory analyses. The first step in our scheme consists of applying Occam's razor principle to quantum sampling: given snapshots of a wave function, we identify a minimal-complexity measurement basis by analyzing the information compressibility of snapshots over different measurement bases. The second step consists of analyzing arbitrary correlations using network theory, building a wave-function network from the minimal-complexity basis data. This approach allows us to stochastically classify the output of quantum computers and simulations, with no assumptions on the underlying dynamics, and in a fully interpretable manner. We apply this method to quantum states of matter in one-dimensional translational invariant systems, where such classification is exhaustive, and where it reveals an interesting interplay between algorithmic and computational complexity for many-body states. Our framework is of immediate experimental relevance, and can be further extended both in terms of more advanced network mathematics, including discrete homology, as well as in terms of applications to physical phenomena, such as time-dependent dynamics and gauge theories.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Quantum Optimization on Rydberg Atom Arrays with Arbitrary Connectivity: Gadgets Limitations and a Heuristic Approach

Programmable quantum systems based on Rydberg atom arrays have recently emerged as a promising testbed for combinatorial optimization. Indeed, the Maximum Weighted Independent Set problem on unit-disk graphs can be efficiently mapped to such systems due to their geometric constraints. However, extending this capability to arbitrary graph instances typically necessitates the use of reduction gadgets, which introduce additional experimental overhead and complexity. Here, we analyze the complexity-theoretic limits of polynomial reductions from arbitrary graphs to unit-disk instances. We prove any such reduction incurs a quadratic blow-up in vertex count and degrades solution approximation guarantees. As a practical alternative, we propose a divide-and-conquer heuristic with only linear overhead which leverages precalibrated atomic layouts. We benchmark it on Erdös-Rényi graphs, and demonstrate feasibility on the Orion Alpha processor.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

The quantum Mpemba effect in free-fermionic mixed states

Recently, a novel probe to study symmetry breaking, known as entanglement asymmetry, has emerged and has been utilized to explore how symmetry is dynamically restored following quantum quenches. Interestingly, it has been shown that, in certain scenarios, greater initial symmetry breaking leads to faster restoration, akin to a quantum Mpemba effect. This study focuses on investigating the effect of mixed initial states and non-unitary dynamics on symmetry restoration. The mixedness of a state can arise from different sources. We consider dephasing or dissipative processes affecting initial pure states or unitary dynamics of initially thermal states. In the former case, the stationary state after the quench is independent of the initial configuration, resembling the phenomenology of the classical Mpemba effect. Investigating the XY spin chain model, through a combination of analytical calculations and numerical simulations, we identify the conditions for the occurrence of the quantum Mpemba effect. It turns out that this phenomenon still occurs in the presence of dissipation or at finite temperature, even though it will be eventually suppressed as the state becomes more mixed.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2025

Identifying hard native instances for the maximum independent set problem on neutral atoms quantum processors

The Maximum Independent Set (MIS) problem is a fundamental combinatorial optimization task that can be naturally mapped onto the Ising Hamiltonian of neutral atom quantum processors. Given its connection to NP-hard problems and real-world applications, there has been significant experimental interest in exploring quantum advantage for MIS. Pioneering experiments on King's Lattice graphs suggested a quadratic speed-up over simulated annealing, but recent benchmarks using state-of-the-art methods found no clear advantage, likely due to the structured nature of the tested instances. In this work, we generate hard instances of unit-disk graphs by leveraging complexity theory results and varying key hardness parameters such as density and treewidth. For a fixed graph size, we show that increasing these parameters can lead to prohibitive classical runtime increases of several orders of magnitude. We then compare classical and quantum approaches on small instances and find that, at this scale, quantum solutions are slower than classical ones for finding exact solutions. Based on extended classical benchmarks at larger problem sizes, we estimate that scaling up to a thousand atoms with a 1 kHz repetition rate is a necessary step toward demonstrating a computational advantage with quantum methods.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Robust estimation of the Quantum Fisher Information on a quantum processor

We present the experimental measurement, on a quantum processor, of a series of polynomial lower bounds that converge to the quantum Fisher information (QFI), a fundamental quantity for certifying multipartite entanglement that is useful for metrological applications. We combine advanced methods of the randomized measurement toolbox to obtain estimators that are robust against drifting errors caused uniquely during the randomized measurement protocol. We estimate the QFI for Greenberg-Horne-Zeilinger states, observing genuine multipartite entanglement. Then, we prepare the ground state of the transverse field Ising model at the critical point using a variational circuit. We estimate its QFI and investigate the interplay between state optimization and noise induced by increasing the circuit depth.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Thermalization and Criticality on an Analog-Digital Quantum Simulator

Understanding how interacting particles approach thermal equilibrium is a major challenge of quantum simulators. Unlocking the full potential of such systems toward this goal requires flexible initial state preparation, precise time evolution, and extensive probes for final state characterization. We present a quantum simulator comprising 69 superconducting qubits which supports both universal quantum gates and high-fidelity analog evolution, with performance beyond the reach of classical simulation in cross-entropy benchmarking experiments. Emulating a two-dimensional (2D) XY quantum magnet, we leverage a wide range of measurement techniques to study quantum states after ramps from an antiferromagnetic initial state. We observe signatures of the classical Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition, as well as strong deviations from Kibble-Zurek scaling predictions attributed to the interplay between quantum and classical coarsening of the correlated domains. This interpretation is corroborated by injecting variable energy density into the initial state, which enables studying the effects of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) in targeted parts of the eigenspectrum. Finally, we digitally prepare the system in pairwise-entangled dimer states and image the transport of energy and vorticity during thermalization. These results establish the efficacy of superconducting analog-digital quantum processors for preparing states across many-body spectra and unveiling their thermalization dynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Topological Kolmogorov complexity and the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless mechanism

Topology plays a fundamental role in our understanding of many-body physics, from vortices and solitons in classical field theory, to phases and excitations in quantum matter. Topological phenomena are intimately connected to the distribution of information content - that, differently from ordinary matter, is now governed by non-local degrees of freedom. However, a precise characterization of how topological effects govern the complexity of a many-body state - i.e., its partition function - is presently unclear. In this work, we show how topology and complexity are directly intertwined concepts in the context of classical statistical mechanics. In concrete, we present a theory that shows how the Kolmogorov complexity of a classical partition function sampling carries unique, distinctive features depending on the presence of topological excitations in the system. We confront two-dimensional Ising, Heisenberg, and XY models on several topologies and study the corresponding samplings as high-dimensional manifolds in configuration space, quantifying their complexity via the intrinsic dimension. While for the Ising and Heisenberg models the intrinsic dimension is independent of the real-space topology, for the XY model it depends crucially on temperature: across the Berezkinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition, complexity becomes topology dependent. In the BKT phase, it displays a characteristic dependence on the homology of the real-space manifold, and, for $g$-torii, it follows a scaling that is solely genus dependent. We argue that this behavior is intimately connected to the emergence of an order parameter in data space, the conditional connectivity, that displays scaling behavior.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

A universal formula for the entanglement asymmetry of matrix product states

Symmetry breaking is a fundamental concept in understanding quantum phases of matter, studied so far mostly through the lens of local order parameters. Recently, a new entanglement-based probe of symmetry breaking has been introduced under the name of \textit{entanglement asymmetry}, which has been employed to investigate the mechanism of dynamical symmetry restoration. Here, we provide a universal formula for the entanglement asymmetry of matrix product states with finite bond dimension, valid in the large volume limit. We show that the entanglement asymmetry of any compact -- discrete or continuous -- group depends only on the symmetry breaking pattern, and is not related to any other microscopic features.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

An analysis of localization transitions using non-parametric unsupervised learning

We propose a new viewpoint on the study of localization transitions in disordered quantum systems, showing how critical properties can be seen also as a geometric transition in the data space generated by the classically encoded configurations of the disordered quantum system. We showcase our approach to the Anderson model on regular random graphs, known for displaying features of interacting systems, despite being a single-particle problem. We estimate the transition point and critical exponents in agreement with the best-known results in the literature. We provide a simple and coherent explanation of our findings, discussing the applicability of the method in real-world scenarios with a modest number of measurements.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2022

Entanglement phase diagrams from partial transpose moments

We present experimentally and numerically accessible quantities that can be used to differentiate among various families of random entangled states. To this end, we analyze the entanglement properties of bipartite reduced states of a tripartite pure state. We introduce a ratio of simple polynomials of low-order moments of the partially transposed reduced density matrix and show that this ratio takes well-defined values in the thermodynamic limit for various families of entangled states. This allows to sharply distinguish entanglement phases, in a way that can be understood from a quantum information perspective based on the spectrum of the partially transposed density matrix. We analyze in particular the entanglement phase diagram of Haar random states, states resulting form the evolution of chaotic Hamiltonians, stabilizer states, which are outputs of Clifford circuits, Matrix Product States, and fermionic Gaussian states. We show that for Haar random states the resulting phase diagram resembles the one obtained via the negativity and that for all the cases mentioned above a very distinctive behaviour is observed. Our results can be used to experimentally test necessary conditions for different types of mixed-state randomness, in quantum states formed in quantum computers and programmable quantum simulators.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Entanglement barrier and its symmetry resolution: theory and experiment

The operator entanglement (OE) is a key quantifier of the complexity of a reduced density matrix. In out-of-equilibrium situations, e.g. after a quantum quench of a product state, it is expected to exhibit an entanglement barrier. The OE of a reduced density matrix initially grows linearly as entanglement builds up between the local degrees of freedom, it then reaches a maximum, and ultimately decays to a small finite value as the reduced density matrix converges to a simple stationary state through standard thermalization mechanisms. Here, by performing a new data analysis of the published experimental results of [Brydges et al., Science 364, 260 (2019)], we obtain the first experimental measurement of the OE of a subsystem reduced density matrix in a quantum many-body system. We employ the randomized measurements toolbox and we introduce and develop a new efficient method to post-process experimental data in order to extract higher-order density matrix functionals and access the OE. The OE thus obtained displays the expected barrier as long as the experimental system is large enough. For smaller systems, we observe a barrier with a double-peak structure, whose origin can be interpreted in terms of pairs of quasi-particles being reflected at the boundary of the qubit chain. As $U(1)$ symmetry plays a key role in our analysis, we introduce the notion of symmetry resolved operator entanglement (SROE), in addition to the total OE. To gain further insights into the SROE, we provide a thorough theoretical analysis of this new quantity in chains of non-interacting fermions, which, in spite of their simplicity, capture most of the main features of OE and SROE. In particular, we uncover three main physical effects: the presence of a barrier in any charge sector, a time delay for the onset of the growth of SROE, and an effective equipartition between charge sectors.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Experimental violations of Leggett-Garg's inequalities on a quantum computer

Leggett-Garg's inequalities predict sharp bounds for some classical correlation functions that address the quantum or classical nature of real-time evolutions. We experimentally observe the violations of these bounds on single- and multi-qubit systems, in different settings, exploiting the IBM Quantum platform. In the multi-qubit case we introduce the Leggett-Garg-Bell's inequalities as an alternative to the previous ones. Measuring these correlation functions, we find quantum error mitigation to be essential to spot inequalities violations. Accessing only two qubit readouts, we assess Leggett-Garg-Bell's inequalities to emerge as the most efficient quantum coherence witnesses to be used for investigating quantum hardware, as the complexity of their calculation does not scale with the number of constituents of the system. Our analysis highlights the limits of nowadays quantum platforms, showing that the above-mentioned correlation functions deviate from theoretical prediction as the number of qubits and the depth of the circuit grow.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Symmetry-resolved dynamical purification in synthetic quantum matter

When a quantum system initialized in a product state is subjected to either coherent or incoherent dynamics, the entropy of any of its connected partitions generically increases as a function of time, signalling the inevitable spreading of (quantum) information throughout the system. Here, we show that, in the presence of continuous symmetries and under ubiquitous experimental conditions, symmetry-resolved information spreading is inhibited due to the competition of coherent and incoherent dynamics: in given quantum number sectors, entropy decreases as a function of time, signalling dynamical purification. Such dynamical purification bridges between two distinct short and intermediate time regimes, characterized by a log-volume and log-area entropy law, respectively. It is generic to symmetric quantum evolution, and as such occurs for different partition geometry and topology, and classes of (local) Liouville dynamics. We then develop a protocol to measure symmetry-resolved entropies and negativities in synthetic quantum systems based on the random unitary toolbox, and demonstrate the generality of dynamical purification using experimental data from trapped ion experiments [Brydges et al., Science 364, 260 (2019)]. Our work shows that symmetry plays a key role as a magnifying glass to characterize many-body dynamics in open quantum systems, and, in particular, in noisy-intermediate scale quantum devices.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

The Negativity Hamiltonian: An operator characterization of mixed-state entanglement

In the context of ground states of quantum many-body systems, the locality of entanglement between connected regions of space is directly tied to the locality of the corresponding entanglement Hamiltonian: the latter is dominated by local, few-body terms. In this work, we introduce the negativity Hamiltonian as the (non hermitian) effective Hamiltonian operator describing the logarithm of the partial transpose of a many-body system. This allows us to address the connection between entanglement and operator locality beyond the paradigm of bipartite pure systems. As a first step in this direction, we study the structure of the negativity Hamiltonian for fermionic conformal field theories and a free fermion chain: in both cases, we show that the negativity Hamiltonian assumes a quasi-local functional form, that is captured by simple functional relations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2021

Symmetry-resolved entanglement detection using partial transpose moments

We propose an ordered set of experimentally accessible conditions for detecting entanglement in mixed states. The $k$-th condition involves comparing moments of the partially transposed density operator up to order $k$. Remarkably, the union of all moment inequalities reproduces the Peres-Horodecki criterion for detecting entanglement. Our empirical studies highlight that the first four conditions already detect mixed state entanglement reliably in a variety of quantum architectures. Exploiting symmetries can help to further improve their detection capabilities. We also show how to estimate moment inequalities based on local random measurements of single state copies (classical shadows) and derive statistically sound confidence intervals as a function of the number of performed measurements. Our analysis includes the experimentally relevant situation of drifting sources, i.e. non-identical, but independent, state copies.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Topological entanglement properties of disconnected partitions in the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model

We study the disconnected entanglement entropy, $S^D$, of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. $S^D$ is a combination of both connected and disconnected bipartite entanglement entropies that removes all area and volume law contributions, and is thus only sensitive to the non-local entanglement stored within the ground state manifold. Using analytical and numerical computations, we show that $S^D$ behaves as a topological invariant, i.e., it is quantized to either $0$ or $2 \log (2)$ in the topologically trivial and non-trivial phases, respectively. These results also hold in the presence of symmetry-preserving disorder. At the second-order phase transition separating the two phases, $S^D$ displays a system-size scaling behavior akin to those of conventional order parameters, that allows us to compute entanglement critical exponents. To corroborate the topological origin of the quantized values of $S^D$, we show how the latter remain quantized after applying unitary time evolution in the form of a quantum quench, a characteristic feature of topological invariants.

cond-mat.str-el↗