String dynamics of a (2+1)D U(1) quantum link model on a digital quantum computer
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2606.19601 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 17 Jun 2026] Title:String dynamics of a (2+1)D U(1) quantum link model on a digital quantum computer Authors:Anthony Gandon, Alessandro Mariani, Debasish Banerjee, Emilie Huffman, Gurtej Kanwar, Francesco Tacchino, Uwe-Jens Wiese, Ivano Tavernelli View a PDF of the paper titled String dynamics of a (2+1)D U(1) quantum link model on a digital quantum computer, by Anthony Gandon and 7 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:The (2+1)D U(1) pure gauge theory always exists in the confining phase, with strings of non-zero string tension giving a characteristic linear potential between static charges. This makes it a useful testing ground for quantum computing methods designed to study string dynamics of confining gauge theories. Here we implement a minimal U(1) quantum link model on a quantum computer with qubit degrees of freedom representing the dual height variables of the model. This facilitates an efficient realization of plaquette interactions and enables effective calculations of real-time dynamics that are inaccessible to traditional quantum Monte Carlo. A specifically tailored lattice geometry is chosen to match the heavy-hexagonal geometry of the IBM quantum hardware used here, minimizing non-adjacent qubit interactions. By performing quantum quenches from a simple initial string state, we probe the transverse quantum fluctuations of the string before it thermalizes. Our experimental results from digital quantum simulations, with up to 112 qubits, show good agreement with reference tensor-network calculations at short times and with thermal averages at long times. Near the phase transition, the quench dynamics exhibit large fluctuations of the initial string that extend across both spatial dimensions of the lattice. Nonetheless, our error-mitigated estimators from the quantum hardware also give accurate predictions in that regime, with noise-induced violations of local gauge symmetries comparable to finite-bond-dimension tensor-network results. Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el); High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat); High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) Cite as: arXiv:2606.19601 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2606.19601v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.19601 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Anthony Gandon [view email] [v1] Wed, 17 Jun 2026 21:11:32 UTC (18,517 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled String dynamics of a (2+1)D U(1) quantum link model on a digital quantum computer, by Anthony Gandon and 7 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-06 Change to browse by: cond-mat cond-mat.str-el hep-lat hep-th 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?)