QURELSIM · Quantum Simulations of Relativistic Systems

Quantum Simulations of Relativistic Systems

The Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (IEF) research project QURELSIM had as its main objective to propose and analyse novel and relevant scenarios for the simulation of relativistic quantum systems in controllable quantum systems, as trapped ions. Inside this broad line, the main subtopics that were scheduled to be addressed were new relativistic systems to simulate, including, but not exclusively, Dirac and Majorana fermions in interaction, phenomenological simulations of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) potentials with prospect applications in non-perturbative strong interaction, charge fractionalisation and topological effects for Dirac fields, and spontaneous symmetry breaking with interacting fermions. After the two-year period of the QURELSIM project, the main objective and the general tasks that were proposed have been fully successfully achieved, and, most importantly, a totally new and unexpected high-impact research line with far reaching implications has been discovered. Already during the first year of project the task of quantum simulation of interacting Dirac and Majorana fermions with trapped ions, including phenomenological QCD quantum simulations, was thoroughly addressed, and the results were published in a series of articles in high impact journals (Physical Review Letters, New Journal of Physics). During the second year of the project, its research line was further carried out, and unexpected, high-impact results with far-reaching consequences were found out: Dr Lamata, together with his Host at University of the Basque Country, Prof. Solano, and the PhD students Jorge Casanova and Antonio Mezzacapo, discovered a protocol for efficient quantum simulations of fermionic and bosonic theories in trapped ions, which span from relativistic quantum mechanics, to quantum field theories, to quantum chemistry, to condensed matter systems. This research, direct output from the main scientific line of the QURELSIM proposal, will have profound implications for the study of high energy, quantum chemistry or condensed matter systems making use of a trapped-ion quantum simulator. These results involve the quantum simulation of the Hubbard or the Fröhlich models, with implications in high-Tc superconductivity, as well as the use of Majorana fermions to encode topologically protected qubits in trapped ions, or the quantum simulation of computable but unphysical operations, which enhance the versatility of quantum simulations and establish communicating vessels among different fields. Summarising, the QURELSIM project has entirely fulfilled its objectives, and has also produced relevant outcome with implications in a wide variety of fields, like condensed matter, high-energy physics, quantum chemistry, quantum information, quantum optics, or computer simulations. The societal implications and the influence in the European Union (EU) economic area will be likely once this technology becomes a widespread platform for quantum simulations of relevant problems involving complex quantum systems.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union