Lesovik G B, Sadovskyy I A, Suslov M V, Lebedev A V, Vinokur V M
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Institutskii per. 9, Dolgoprudny, 141700, Moscow District, Russia.
Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois, 60637, USA.
Sci Rep. 2019 Mar 13;9(1):4396. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-40765-6.
Uncovering the origin of the "arrow of time" remains a fundamental scientific challenge. Within the framework of statistical physics, this problem was inextricably associated with the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which declares that entropy growth proceeds from the system's entanglement with the environment. This poses a question of whether it is possible to develop protocols for circumventing the irreversibility of time and if so to practically implement these protocols. Here we show that, while in nature the complex conjugation needed for time reversal may appear exponentially improbable, one can design a quantum algorithm that includes complex conjugation and thus reverses a given quantum state. Using this algorithm on an IBM quantum computer enables us to experimentally demonstrate a backward time dynamics for an electron scattered on a two-level impurity.
揭示“时间之箭”的起源仍然是一项基本的科学挑战。在统计物理学的框架内，这个问题与热力学第二定律紧密相关，该定律宣称熵的增长源于系统与环境的纠缠。这就提出了一个问题，即是否有可能开发出规避时间不可逆性的方案，如果可以，是否能实际实施这些方案。在这里我们表明，虽然在自然界中时间反转所需的复共轭可能极不可能出现，但人们可以设计一种包含复共轭的量子算法，从而反转给定的量子态。在IBM量子计算机上使用这种算法使我们能够通过实验证明电子在两能级杂质上散射的时间逆向动力学。
