Long-lived topological time-crystalline order on a quantum processor

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2401.04333
• Publication Date: 2024-01-01
• Authors: Liang Xiang; Wenjie Jiang; Zehang Bao; Zixuan Song; Shibo Xu; Ke Wang; Jiachen Chen; Feitong Jin; Xuhao Zhu; Zitian Zhu; Fanhao Shen; Ning Wang; Chuanyu Zhang; Yaozu Wu; Yiren Zou; Jiarun Zhong; Zhengyi Cui; Aosai Zhang; Ziqi Tan; Tingting Li; Yu Gao; Jinfeng Deng; Xu Zhang; Hang Dong; Pengfei Zhang; Si Jiang; Weikang Li; Zhide Lu; Zheng-Zhi Sun; Hekang Li; Zhen Wang; Chao Song; Qiujiang Guo; Fangli Liu; Zhe-Xuan Gong; Alexey V. Gorshkov; Norman Y. Yao; Thomas Iadecola; Francisco Machado; H. Wang; Dong-Ling Deng
• Keywords: Topological defect; Toric code

Topologically ordered phases of matter elude Landau's symmetry-breaking theory, featuring a variety intriguing properties such as long-range entanglement and intrinsic robustness against local perturbations. Their extension to periodically driven systems gives rise exotic new phenomena that are forbidden in thermal equilibrium. Here, we report the observation signatures phenomenon -- prethermal topologically time crystal with programmable superconducting qubits arranged on square lattice. By driving surface-code Hamiltonian, observe discrete time-translation symmetry breaking dynamics is only manifested subharmonic temporal response nonlocal logical operators. We further connect observed underlying topological order by measuring nonzero entropy studying its subsequent dynamics. Our results demonstrate potential explore nonequilibrium noisy intermediate-scale quantum processors.