We determine the mass gap of a two-dimensional O(3) nonlinear sigma model augmented with a topological θ-term using tensor network and digital quantum algorithms. As proof of principle, we consider the example θ=π and study its critical behaviour on a quantum simulator by examining the entanglement entropy of the ground state. We confirm that the quantum theory is massless in the strong-coupling regime, in agreement with analytical results. However, we also highlight the limitations of current quantum algorithms, designed for noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices, in the theory simulation at weak coupling. Finally, we compare the performance of our quantum algorithms to classical tensor network methods.
@article{arxiv.2210.03679,
title = {Towards a Quantum Simulation of Nonlinear Sigma Models with a Topological Term},
author = {Jack Y. Araz and Sebastian Schenk and Michael Spannowsky},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.03679},
year = {2023}
}