The Yang-Baxter equation (YBE) has created many applications in the integrable models of the statistical mechanics. It is recently shown that the YBE can be further applied in quantum information processing. Conversely, quantum simulation also provides novel approaches for effectively checking the YBE in quantum devices. Here, we adopted the method inspired by the previous work to experimentally perform the simulation of the YBE on a four-qubit nuclear magnetic resonance quantum processor. Whether the YBE is satisfied or not can be preliminarily determined by measuring the ancillary qubit without the assistance of quantum state tomography, and two hand sides of the YBE are concurrently simulated, not in separate forms involved in the existing protocols. The experimental result shows that the discrimination accuracy is over 98.1% when the condition of YBE is satisfied. The global and local entanglements in the YBE system are also studied by the numerical simulation and experiments. It is found that the YBE is not only a tool to yield the global entanglement but also the symptom when the local entanglement is equal to each other.

• Received 11 April 2020
• Accepted 19 June 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.102.012610