IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) and researchers from the University of Washington’s InQubator for Quantum Simulation (IQuS) have performed the first known simulation of a process called “neutrinoless double-beta decay” using a quantum computer. This simulation, conducted on IonQ’s Forte Enterprise quantum system, observed a “lepton-number violation”—a phenomenon never directly simulated before on a quantum computer—which has implications for understanding the universe’s imbalance between matter and antimatter.
The simulation technique employed by the team allows for the modeling of nuclear dynamics on yocto-second (10⁻²⁴ seconds) timescales. The approach was co-designed and customized for IonQ’s trapped-ion quantum hardware, leveraging its all-to-all connectivity and native gates. The problem was mapped onto 32 qubits, with an additional 4 qubits dedicated to error mitigation. Novel quantum circuit compilation and error-mitigation techniques were utilized to support this simulation, which involved 2,356 two-qubit gates, contributing to the high precision of the observations. This effort also involved the U.S. Department of Energy’s Quantum Science Center.
This demonstration provides evidence that quantum computers can model fundamental physics processes that are currently beyond the reach of classical systems, thereby opening a new path in the global pursuit of understanding the universe’s predominant matter composition. The findings validate the application of quantum modeling in nuclear and particle physics. This work is intended to set the stage for future research into other symmetry-breaking phenomena, aiming to advance the frontier of quantum-enabled fundamental physics.
Read the full announcement here, and the research paper on arXiv here.
June 25, 2025
