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

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.