Muschik, Christine

Date: Friday, Decmber 4, 2015
Time: 11:00
Place: ETH Zurich, Hönggerberg, HPF G 6
Host:Jonathan Home/ Christa Flühmann

Quantum Simulation of a Wilson lattice gauge theory

Christine Muschik

co-authors: M. Heyl, P. Hauke, M. Dalmonte, P. Zoller, E. Martinez, P. Schindler, T. Monz, R. Blatt
Institute für Theoretische Physik, Universität Innsbruck, Austria

The quantum simulation of models from high-energy physics is a rapidly growing field. A major interest is the simulation of gauge theories, where one considers particles coupled to dynamical gauge fields.

Wilson's lattice gauge theory represents the most advanced, non-perturbative technique to investigate the physics of strongly coupled gauge theories, such as quantum chromodynamics. However, numerical calculations are severely limited by the sign problem, which has motivated intensive research on the question how gauge theories could be simulated on a quantum simulator. 

So far, gauge theories could not yet be implemented in the laboratory. We propose and experimentally study the quantum simulation of a Wilson lattice gauge theory in a system of trapped ions. Our Ansatz has a number of advantages over alternative approaches, such as quantum link models, that are based on truncating the gauge fields. 

To our knowledge, this is the first proposal of this type, as well as the first experimental quantum simulation of a lattice gauge theory. 

We expect the simulation scheme to build a strong bridge to the high-energy physics community and to allow for the direct comparison with quantities discussed in the lattice gauge theory literature.