Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Kim, Yong Baek

Publications and source records attributed to Kim, Yong Baek.

4 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Measurement-induced entanglement phase transitions in variational quantum circuits

Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs), which classically optimize a parametrized quantum circuit to solve a computational task, promise to advance our understanding of quantum many-body systems and improve machine learning algorithms using near-term quantum computers. Prominent challenges associated with this family of quantum-classical hybrid algorithms are the control of quantum entanglement and quantum gradients linked to their classical optimization. Known as the barren plateau phenomenon, these quantum gradients may rapidly vanish in the presence of volume-law entanglement growth, which poses a serious obstacle to the practical utility of VQAs. Inspired by recent studies of measurement-induced entanglement transition in random circuits, we investigate the entanglement transition in variational quantum circuits endowed with intermediate projective measurements. Considering the Hamiltonian Variational Ansatz (HVA) for the XXZ model and the Hardware Efficient Ansatz (HEA), we observe a measurement-induced entanglement transition from volume-law to area-law with increasing measurement rate. Moreover, we provide evidence that the transition belongs to the same universality class of random unitary circuits. Importantly, the transition coincides with a “landscape transition” from severe to mild/no barren plateaus in the classical optimization. Our work may provide an avenue for improving the trainability of quantum circuits by incorporating intermediate measurement protocols in currently available quantum hardware.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Geometrical frustration versus Kitaev interactions in BaCo 2 (AsO 4 ) 2

Recently, Co-based honeycomb magnets have been proposed as promising candidate materials to host the Kitaev spin liquid (KSL) state. One of the front-runners is BaCo 2 (AsO 4 ) 2 (BCAO), where it was suggested that the exchange processes between Co 2+ ions via the surrounding edge-sharing oxygen octahedra could give rise to bond-dependent Kitaev interactions. In this work, we present and analyze a comprehensive inelastic neutron scattering (INS) study of BCAO with fields in the honeycomb plane. Combining the constraints from the magnon excitations in the high-field polarized state and the inelastic spin structure factor measured in zero magnetic field, we examine two leading theoretical models: the Kitaev-type JK Γ Γ ′ model and the XXZ - J 1 - J 3 model. We show that the existing experimental data can be consistently accounted for by the XXZ - J 1 - J 3 model but not by the JK Γ Γ ′ model, and we discuss the implications of these results for the realization of a spin liquid phase in BCAO and more generally for the realization of the Kitaev model in cobaltates.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗