Simulation of anyonic statistics and its topological path independence using a 7-qubit quantum simulator

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the simulation of anyonic statistics and their topological path independence using a 7-qubit NMR quantum simulator, providing experimental evidence for their potential in fault-tolerant quantum computing.

Contribution

It presents the first experimental simulation of anyonic braiding and topological path independence in a 7-qubit system, advancing the study of topological quantum computation.

Findings

Phase acquired by anyons is path-independent

Experimental results match theoretical predictions

Demonstrates feasibility of simulating anyonic properties

Abstract

Anyons, quasiparticles living in two-dimensional spaces with exotic exchange statistics, can serve as the fundamental units for fault-tolerant quantum computation. However, experimentally demonstrating anyonic statistics is a challenge due to the technical limitations of current experimental platforms. Here, we take a state perpetration approach to mimic anyons in the Kitaev lattice model using a 7-qubit nuclear magnetic resonance quantum simulator. Anyons are created by dynamically preparing the ground and excited states of the 7-qubit Kitaev lattice model, and are subsequently braided along two distinct, but topologically equivalent, paths. We observe that the phase acquired by the anyons is independent of the path, and coincides with the ideal theoretical predictions when decoherence and implementation errors are taken into account. As the first demonstration of the topological path independence of anyons, our experiment helps to study and exploit the anyonic properties towards the goal of building a topological quantum computer.