Speaker
Description
I will present work in progress on the quantum simulation of false
vacuum decay in the O’Brien–Fendley lattice spin chain. This process
describes the decay of a higher-energy phase via quantum tunnelling,
leading to the formation and expansion of “bubbles” of a lower-energy
phase. We simulate these dynamics using Suzuki–Trotter decompositions of
the time evolution operator, implemented on current IBM quantum hardware
at the 100+ qubit scale. The decay is tracked through the time evolution
of a simple observable (magnetisation), and benchmarked against tensor
network simulations using the time-dependent variational principle
(TDVP), providing a direct comparison between quantum hardware and
classical methods. Beyond serving as a technical benchmark, this setup
explores false vacuum decay in a model with a well-defined continuum
limit, allowing current quantum devices to be assessed on a physically
meaningful phase transition in quantum field theory.