Digital quantum simulation of quantum synchronization dynamics on NISQ hardware

Synchronization of nonlinear self-sustained oscillators is a wide-spread phenomenon in nonlinear dynamics, engineering, and biology. In the quantum regime, synchronization dynamics shows genuine quantum features, which stem from energy quantization and interference phenomena. Observing these effects experimentally is challenging because both coherent and dissipative dynamics of a nonlinear oscillator must be controlled in the quantum regime. However, recently, we demonstrated quantum synchronization effects by a digital quantum simulation of a spin-1 limit-cycle oscillator on the IBM Q system. In this talk, we will discuss how the perturbative structure of quantum synchronization dynamics can be used to simplify the well-known algorithm of digital quantum simulation. This modification renders the circuit compatible with current noisy intermediate-scale quantum hardware while it ensures that one can still observe quantum synchronization effects.