Digital quantum simulation of dynamical topological invariants on near-term quantum computers

Abstract

Programmable quantum processors are suitable platforms for simulating quantum systems, of which topological phases are of particular interest. We simulate the quench dynamics of a one-dimensional system on IBM Q devices. The topological properties of the dynamics are described by the dynamical topological invariants, the dynamical winding number, and the time-dependent Berry phase, which are simulated with the quantum circuit model. The results show that despite the noise present in the current quantum computers, the dynamical topological invariants are robust. Moreover, to investigate the influence of open quantum system, we analytically solve the master equation in Lindblad form and show that the dynamical winding number and the change in Berry phase are not affected by the dissipation. This study sheds light on the robustness of topological phases on the noisy intermediate-scale quantum computers.