Original title: Efficient Simulation of Nonreciprocal Many-body Physics via Quantum Feedback
Kseniia Vodenkova, Andrew Pocklington, Fan Yang, Andrew Lingenfelter +2 · September 2026
Simulating large quantum systems where forces act in only one direction, called nonreciprocalInteractions where the effect of A on B is different from B on A, lacking symmetry. systems, is difficult to scale up. Researchers developed a method to simulate these nonreciprocal spin models using just a single quantum emitter, which is a tiny source of light. They connect this emitter to a light channel that routes light back to it after a time delay. This delayed feedback lets the emitter influence its own future self, acting like a long chain of connected spins. By measuring the emitter and the escaping light, scientists can track all steady-state values. Adding a reset step allows simulation of dynamic changes. The setup reproduces directional edge effects, odd relaxation patterns, and light with special ordered states.
Imagine leaving yourself a series of voice messages where each message influences what you say next. Normally, a conversation involves two people, but here, one person's past words affect their future words. In this paper, the single quantum emitter is like that one person, and the delayed feedback is the voice message system. The emitter interacts with its own past states, creating the effect of many particles in a chain, which allows simulating complex quantum behaviors.
This work offers a way to study complex quantum behaviors involving many interacting particles without building large, intricate systems. It could help physicists and engineers explore exotic states of light and new quantum phenomena more easily in labs.
The abstract does not explicitly state limitations, but it presents a theoretical proposal that is described as amenable to experimental realization, suggesting it may not yet be experimentally verified. The work focuses on simulating spin models, so its applicability to other types of many-body systems is not covered.
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Efficient Simulation of Nonreciprocal Many-body Physics via Quantum Feedback — Kseniia Vodenkova, Andrew Pocklington, Fan Yang et al.
Abstract licence: CC0
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper. This is a preprint, so it hasn't necessarily been peer reviewed.