Scale-Invariant Continuous Entanglement Renormalization of a Chern Insulator

Multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA) is a quantum circuit that renormalizes entanglement in real space at different length scales. It is widely believed that chiral topologically ordered states cannot have a scale-invariant MERA circuit. In this talk, we show that the continuous MERA (cMERA), a modified version of MERA adapted for field theories, possesses a fixed point wavefunction with nonzero Chern number. Additionally, it is well known that reversed MERA circuits can be used to prepare quantum states efficiently in time that scales logarithmically with the size of the system. However, state preparation via MERA typically requires the advent of a full-fledged universal quantum computer. In this talk, we demonstrate that our cMERA circuit can potentially be realized in existing analog quantum computers, i.e., ultracold atomic gas systems. This is done by loading fermions into an optical lattice and introducing spin-orbit coupling and synthetic selection rules. 

Notes: Snacks and drinks at 4:00 pm, talk at 4:10 pm.