Analog Hawking Radiation on a 156-Qubit Superconducting Quantum Processor

Analog Hawking Radiation on a 156-Qubit Superconducting Quantum Processor | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Analog Hawking Radiation on a 156-Qubit Superconducting Quantum Processor sebastien icard This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8618767/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Hawking radiation, predicted in 1974, establishes a fundamental bridge between quantum mechanics, general relativity, and thermodynamics. Direct observation remains impossible for astrophysical black holes (T_H ~ 10⁻⁸ K), motivating the development of analog systems. We report the first large-scale kinematic analog of Hawking radiation on a superconducting quantum processor, utilizing IBM Quantum Heron (ibm_fez, 156 qubits) with four spin chains deployed across calibration-verified low-noise regions. Our Multi-Horizon Interleaved Layout (MHIL) architecture enables up to four simultaneous 'Hawking universes' with O(1) circuit depth independent of system size, requiring zero SWAP gates through native heavy-hex topology exploitation. We demonstrate: (i) spatial localization of entanglement flux at the analog horizon with ratio F_h/F_far = 83.2× under optimized error mitigation (44.3× under standard reproducible conditions) (threshold: 1.8×); (ii) monotonic temporal dynamics with R² = 0.999; (iii) multi-chain reproducibility across three independent horizons; (iv) rigorous statistical validation showing 91.6% signal degradation under shuffle control (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 4.7), supporting a physical origin of the observed correlations. IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION: This work demonstrates KINEMATIC (not thermodynamic) analog Hawking radiation. We observe spatial localization and pair correlation signatures consistent with the kinematic aspects of Hawking's prediction. We do NOT measure a thermal Planck spectrum, do NOT extract a Hawking temperature T_H, and do NOT achieve Bell-CHSH violation (S ≈ 0.4 < 2.0). These limitations are explicitly acknowledged. Extensions include the first non-integrable regime simulation (98 qubits, disorder strength W = 0.65) and preliminary exploratory evidence of analog wormhole cross-throat flux (48 qubits, 5/5 seeds validated, p = 0.031—this preliminary result requires confirmation with larger sample size). These results establish the viability of kinematic analog Hawking simulations on NISQ superconducting processors accessible via cloud, opening quantum gravity phenomenology to the broader research community without specialized infrastructure. Computational Physics Astrophysics and Cosmology Mathematical Physics Analog Hawking radiation Quantum simulation Superconducting processor IBM Quantum Spin chain Entanglement localization NISQ Multi-horizon Heavy-hex topology Kinematic analogy Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8618767","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":575593294,"identity":"2ce0845e-64a8-4920-8021-825d1393914e","order_by":0,"name":"sebastien 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Superconducting processor, IBM Quantum, Spin chain, Entanglement localization, NISQ, Multi-horizon, Heavy-hex topology, Kinematic analogy","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8618767/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8618767/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHawking \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;radiation, predicted in 1974, establishes a fundamental bridge between \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;quantum mechanics, general relativity, and thermodynamics. Direct observation \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;remains impossible for astrophysical black holes (T_H ~ 10⁻⁸ K), motivating \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;the development of analog systems. We report the first large-scale kinematic \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;analog of Hawking radiation on a superconducting quantum processor, utilizing \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;IBM Quantum Heron (ibm_fez, 156 qubits) with four spin chains deployed across \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;calibration-verified low-noise regions.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur Multi-Horizon Interleaved Layout (MHIL) architecture enables up to four simultaneous 'Hawking universes' with O(1) circuit depth independent of system size, requiring zero SWAP gates through native heavy-hex topology exploitation. We demonstrate: (i) spatial localization of entanglement flux at the analog horizon with ratio F_h/F_far = 83.2× under optimized error mitigation (44.3× under standard reproducible conditions) (threshold: 1.8×); (ii) monotonic temporal dynamics with R² = 0.999; (iii) multi-chain reproducibility across three independent horizons; (iv) rigorous statistical validation showing 91.6% signal degradation under shuffle control (p \u0026lt; 0.001, Cohen's d = 4.7), supporting a physical origin of the observed correlations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIMPORTANT CLARIFICATION: This work demonstrates KINEMATIC (not thermodynamic) analog Hawking radiation. We observe spatial localization and pair correlation signatures consistent with the kinematic aspects of Hawking's prediction. We do NOT measure a thermal Planck spectrum, do NOT extract a Hawking temperature T_H, and do NOT achieve Bell-CHSH violation (S ≈ 0.4 \u0026lt; 2.0). These limitations are explicitly acknowledged.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExtensions include the first non-integrable regime simulation (98 qubits, disorder strength W = 0.65) and preliminary exploratory evidence of analog wormhole cross-throat flux (48 qubits, 5/5 seeds validated, p = 0.031—this preliminary result requires confirmation with larger sample size). These results establish the viability of kinematic analog Hawking simulations on NISQ superconducting processors accessible via cloud, opening quantum gravity phenomenology to the broader research community without specialized infrastructure.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Analog Hawking Radiation on a 156-Qubit Superconducting Quantum Processor","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-19 08:32:04","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8618767/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"e42e8192-03db-4430-8f01-a91bdb51eaef","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 19th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":61341492,"name":"Computational Physics"},{"id":61341493,"name":"Astrophysics and Cosmology"},{"id":61341494,"name":"Mathematical Physics"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-01-19T08:32:05+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-19 08:32:04","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8618767","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8618767","identity":"rs-8618767","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}