Noise-induced thermalization in quantum systems
- 1Los Alamos National Laboratory
- 2University of Houston
- 3Rice University
Abstract
In the current noisy intermediate-scale quantum era, noise is widely regarded as the primary obstacle to achieving fault-tolerant quantum computation. However, certain stages of the quantum computing pipeline can, in fact, benefit from this noise. In this work, we exploit the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis to show that an O ( 1 ) number of noise occurrences can accelerate a fundamental task in quantum computing—the preparation of Gibbs states. We demonstrate this behavior using classical simulations with Haar-random and phase-flip noise, respectively, on a spin-1/2 chain with a local Hamiltonian. Our non-integrable model sees ∼ 3.5 x faster thermalization in the presence of noise, while our integrable model reaches a state that lies between a generalized Gibbs state and a Gibbs state due to noise. Since certifying a local Gibbs state is relatively easy on a quantum computer, our approach provides a new practical solution to a key problem in quantum computing. More broadly, these results establish a new paradigm in which noise can be harnessed on quantum computers, enabling practical advantages before the years of fault-tolerance.
Related
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BibTeX
@article{dambal2026noiseinduced,
title = {{Noise-induced thermalization in quantum systems}},
author = {Sameer Dambal and Yu Zhang and Eric R Bittner and Pavan Hosur},
journal = {New Journal of Physics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1088/1367-2630/aeb8b3},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1367-2630/aeb8b3},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Noise-induced thermalization in quantum systems
AU - Sameer Dambal
AU - Yu Zhang
AU - Eric R Bittner
AU - Pavan Hosur
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - New Journal of Physics
DO - 10.1088/1367-2630/aeb8b3
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1367-2630/aeb8b3
AB - In the current noisy intermediate-scale quantum era, noise is widely regarded as the primary obstacle to achieving fault-tolerant quantum computation. However, certain stages of the quantum computing pipeline can, in fact, benefit from this noise. In this work, we exploit the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis to show that an O ( 1 ) number of noise occurrences can accelerate a fundamental task in quantum computing—the preparation of Gibbs states. We demonstrate this behavior using classical simulations with Haar-random and phase-flip noise, respectively, on a spin-1/2 chain with a local Hamiltonian. Our non-integrable model sees ∼ 3.5 x faster thermalization in the presence of noise, while our integrable model reaches a state that lies between a generalized Gibbs state and a Gibbs state due to noise. Since certifying a local Gibbs state is relatively easy on a quantum computer, our approach provides a new practical solution to a key problem in quantum computing. More broadly, these results establish a new paradigm in which noise can be harnessed on quantum computers, enabling practical advantages before the years of fault-tolerance.
SN - 1367-2630
ER -