Quantum Quench Dynamics of Geometrically Frustrated Ising Models

Geometric frustration in two-dimensional Ising models allows for a wealth of exotic universal behavior, both Ising and non-Ising, in the presence of quantum fluctuations. In particular, the Villain model and triangular antiferromagnet in a transverse field can be understood through distinct XY pseudospins, but have qualitatively similar phase diagrams including a quantum phase transition in the three-dimensional XY universality class. While the quantum dynamics of modestly-sized systems can be simulated classically using tensor-based methods, these methods become infeasible for larger lattices. Here we perform both classical and quantum simulations of these dynamics, where our quantum simulator is a superconducting quantum annealer. Our observations suggest that the dominant quench dynamics are not described by the quantum Kibble-Zurek scaling of the quantum phase transition, but rather faster coarsening dynamics in an effective two-dimensional XY model in the ordered phase. These results demonstrate the ability of quantum annealers to simulate phenomena that are beyond the reach of classical approaches.