Empirical Demonstration of Quantum Contextuality on NISQ Computers

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates quantum contextuality violations on IBM NISQ computers using known tests like the Rio Negro inequality and Mermin games, highlighting the potential of current quantum hardware to explore foundational quantum phenomena.

Contribution

First experimental violations of the classical Mermin game and largest violations of the Rio Negro inequality on IBM NISQ devices, utilizing finite geometries for improved testing.

Findings

Violations of non-contextual bounds achieved on IBM NISQ hardware.

Largest violations of Rio Negro inequality reported to date.

Multiple experiments enabled by finite geometry approaches.

Abstract

We present definitive violations of non-contextual hidden variable bounds in the latest generation of IBM noisy intermediate-scale quantum computers (NISQ). These violations are based on known tests for contextuality such as the Rio Negro inequality and pseudo-telepathic Mermin games. These are the first violations of the classical Mermin game on IBM NISQ computers, and the largest such violations for the Rio Negro inequality. The use of finite geometries proves instrumental in the development of more effective tests, with larger geometries providing sizeable datasets from which multiple distinct experiments can be compared.