Large-scale quantum simulations of dissipative spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains

Quantum Physics arXiv:2609.16108 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 14 Sep 2026] Title:Large-scale quantum simulations of dissipative spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains Authors:João C. Getelina, Andrew Cox, Muhammad Asaduzzaman, Omar Alsheikh, Ryan S. Bennink, James K. Freericks, Alexander F. Kemper View a PDF of the paper titled Large-scale quantum simulations of dissipative spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains, by Jo\~ao C. Getelina and 6 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:A quantum many-body system coupled to an environment relaxes to a nonequilibrium steady state that can sustain order with no equilibrium counterpart. Computing such steady states is harder than closed-system dynamics as the density matrix problem squares the Hilbert-space dimension, and no free energy selects the steady state. The dissipative spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain is a benchmark example for nonequilibrium steady state physics; various methods have each calculated its phase diagram but do not agree, and a controlled determination at large system size has remained out of reach. Here we simulate the Lindblad dynamics of chains of up to 50 sites on the superconducting processor ibm_kingston -- 100 simultaneously active qubits at up to 1700 entangling-gate depths -- realizing the dissipation via Stinespring dilation. The system's dissipative evolution is a self-correcting mechanism that effectively erases errors, so hardware noise enters only as a weak competing dissipator. We measure static structure factors and resolve ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic, spin-density-wave, and paramagnetic steady states, mapping the phase diagram with 117 quantum hardware data points across the $J_x$--$J_y$ plane. We uncover a rich non-equilibrium phase diagram of ordered phases with only remnants of the mean-field order, and where sharp transitions give way to the crossovers expected in one dimension. We also find the existence of an incipient (Trotter-induced) spin density wave phase, highlighting the potential of controlled Trotterization as a tool to engineer various magnetic phases in dissipative spin systems. Our quantum simulations largely settle the lingering uncertainty regarding the correct phase diagram of this benchmark system. Moreover, they show that quantum computers are now a feasible tool for addressing scientific questions involving dissipative quantum systems. Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) Cite as: arXiv:2609.16108 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2609.16108v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.16108 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Alexander Kemper [view email] [v1] Mon, 14 Sep 2026 18:00:00 UTC (3,804 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Large-scale quantum simulations of dissipative spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains, by Jo\~ao C. Getelina and 6 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-09 Change to browse by: cond-mat cond-mat.str-el References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)