Dicke simulators with emergent collective quantum computational abilities

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that multimode disordered Dicke models can emulate quantum Hopfield networks, enabling scalable quantum pattern storage and potential solutions to complex optimization problems.

Contribution

It establishes the equivalence between the disordered Dicke model and quantum Hopfield networks, proposing variational ground states and exploring their physical and computational implications.

Findings

Disordered Dicke models are equivalent to quantum Hopfield networks.

Proposed variational ground states may be exact in the thermodynamic limit.

Potential to build scalable quantum pattern-storing systems and solve hard optimization problems.

Abstract

Using an approach inspired from Spin Glasses, we show that the multimode disordered Dicke model is equivalent to a quantum Hopfield network. We propose variational ground states for the system at zero temperature, which we conjecture to be exact in the thermodynamic limit. These ground states contain the information on the disordered qubit-photon couplings. These results lead to two intriguing physical implications. First, once the qubit-photon couplings can be engineered, it should be possible to build scalable pattern-storing systems whose dynamics is governed by quantum laws. Second, we argue with an example how such Dicke quantum simulators might be used as a solver of "hard" combinatorial optimization problems.