Fibonacci Anyons and Graph Coloring: Experiment

What do graph theory, many-body physics, the golden ratio, and Fibonacci anyons have in common?

 

In our experiment, arXiv link below, I’m excited how a very fundamental graph problem – How many colorings does a graph have? (chromatic polynomial, #P-hard, harder than NP) – and the world of topological many-body physics and QEC can mesh in an elegant way.

 

We realize the exotic Fibonacci string-net condensate state of matter, which allows for:

1) universal quantum computation, and

2) computing the chromatic polynomial in relation to the golden ratio.

 

It's incredible to see the elegant theory actually pan out in experiment! The theory is a beast. The experimental circuits are very deep and unlike what our team has executed on a quantum computer before. There were many challenges along the way.

 

I have learned a lot from our dream team spanning Cornell, Weizman, Harvard, and IBM colleagues. Thank you to the broad team support from IBM.

 

Our paper is just the first step. A first bridge between the complexity of many-body quantum states and algorithms. With follow-up work, maybe this can open a new way to experimental quantum advantage in the near term.

 

Thank you, team, Khadijeh Najafi,  Swarnadeep Majumder, Juven Wang, Ady Stern, Eun-Ah Kim,  Chao-Ming Jian, and Guanyu Zhu!

 

Paper: https://scirate.com/arxiv/2406.12820

Links:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.12820
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2406.12820.pdf
https://arxiv-vanity.com/papers/2406.12820