Interacting non-Hermitian edge and cluster bursts on a digital quantum processor

Interacting non-Hermitian edge and cluster bursts on a digital 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 Article Interacting non-Hermitian edge and cluster bursts on a digital quantum processor Ching Hua Lee, Jin Ming Koh, wentan xue, Tommy Tai, Dax Enshan Koh This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8331861/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Dissipation can drive striking dynamics in lossy quantum systems. Instead of a uniform decay, the system’s energy density can transiently surge toward its boundaries, a phenomenon known as the non-Hermitian edge burst. Thus far, this effect has only been observed in single-particle contexts. Extending it to an interacting, many-body setting is challenging as tunable interactions are difficult to realize in conventional platforms, and simulating non-Hermitian evolution is demanding on quantum processors. Here, we overcome these challenges by developing a digital quantum simulation approach that, for the first time in non-Hermitian simulation, composes a linear combination of unitaries scheme and product formulae. Our framework is efficient in classical preprocessing costs and circuit sizes, thus enabling the study of long-time behavior on large systems. By realizing an interacting quantum ladder model on a superconducting quantum processor, we uncover novel interaction-driven phenomena of spatially extended edge patterns and cluster bursts emerging deep within the bulk, which are unexpected departures from single-particle behavior. Our experiments reveal clear edge-burst signatures in systems of up to 64 unit cells and directly probe the closing of the dissipative gap, a necessary condition for the edge burst. Beyond establishing these generalized forms of edge burst phenomena, our study opens a pathway for digital quantum processors to be harnessed as a versatile platform for non-Hermitian physics. Physical sciences/Physics/Condensed-matter physics/Topological matter Physical sciences/Physics/Quantum physics/Quantum simulation Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files supp.pdf Supplementary Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review 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-8331861","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":569544243,"identity":"498fcfca-4fd6-4cf9-be37-589ab0c61417","order_by":0,"name":"Ching Hua Lee","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCQbGA4wNNhAOD5FaGIBa0kjXcpgELebSPQYHfu44n2dw/gDjg7dtDPbyDgS0WM45Y3Cw98ztYoMbCcyGc9sYEjceIKDF4EaOwWHGttuJG24wsEnztjEkGDYQp+Vc4obzB9h/A7XYE6vlQOKGAwlszEAtjPMJ6GCwnJFWcLC3LTlx5o3EZsk55yQSNxDSYi6RvPHBzza7xL7zhw9+eFNmYy9P0GEMHAZQJiNIrQSDwQGCWtgfoIoQtGUUjIJRMApGHAAAeodH1RxXXKQAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0690-3238","institution":"National University of Singapore","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ching","middleName":"Hua","lastName":"Lee","suffix":""},{"id":569544244,"identity":"8db66e5c-b82e-4f98-875d-ccb616b2f2ee","order_by":1,"name":"Jin Ming Koh","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6130-5591","institution":"Harvard University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jin","middleName":"Ming","lastName":"Koh","suffix":""},{"id":569544245,"identity":"95e1b26e-7106-44c0-8431-8200abaab22e","order_by":2,"name":"wentan xue","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7823-9888","institution":"National University of Singapore","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"wentan","middleName":"","lastName":"xue","suffix":""},{"id":569544246,"identity":"72a06e22-50c0-4029-ae24-5927f45599a7","order_by":3,"name":"Tommy Tai","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9478-5499","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tommy","middleName":"","lastName":"Tai","suffix":""},{"id":569544247,"identity":"34ae5fa8-d62a-4c36-a8c5-e09aafe80624","order_by":4,"name":"Dax Enshan Koh","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8968-591X","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dax","middleName":"Enshan","lastName":"Koh","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-11 02:51:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8331861/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8331861/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":101398375,"identity":"dc66980b-0bd7-486f-ae45-1ce27921834d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-29 09:41:12","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":4507737,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"main.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8331861/v1_covered_45a31951-dbf9-4dcc-84b2-463754dd7ed6.pdf"},{"id":101369797,"identity":"a3d8dbbf-aa0e-486e-a343-a8961982e1f2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-29 02:37:24","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":6370637,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information","description":"","filename":"supp.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8331861/v1/c0c36433b6ad69891413438b.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Interacting non-Hermitian edge and cluster bursts on a digital quantum processor","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8331861/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8331861/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Dissipation can drive striking dynamics in lossy quantum systems. Instead of a uniform decay, the system’s energy density can transiently surge toward its boundaries, a phenomenon known as the non-Hermitian edge burst. Thus far, this effect has only been observed in single-particle contexts. Extending it to an interacting, many-body setting is challenging as tunable interactions are difficult to realize in conventional platforms, and simulating non-Hermitian evolution is demanding on quantum processors. Here, we overcome these challenges by developing a digital quantum simulation approach that, for the first time in non-Hermitian simulation, composes a linear combination of unitaries scheme and product formulae. Our framework is efficient in classical preprocessing costs and circuit sizes, thus enabling the study of long-time behavior on large systems. 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