Theory of the phase transition in random unitary circuits with measurements

Abstract

The interplay of entanglement, measurement, and noise in near-term quantum devices may lead to novel emergent phenomena. This work presents a theoretical framework to understand collective effects in the dynamics of quantum entanglement and information, using the tools of statistical mechanics. The new effective description of generic quantum circuits lends insight into a measurement-induced phase transition in the information content of the system and points toward novel schemes to identify this transition in experiments.