Effect of Successive Observation on Quantum Cellular Automaton

Abstract

A quantum cellular automaton, which is extended from a classical cellular automaton with Wolfram’s rule 150, is studied. In contrast to the classical cellular automaton, all possible configurations exist in a quantum superposition before measurement. We show that measuring the state of only one qubit significantly aeffects the time evolution in the quantum cellular automaton. In particular, we demonstrate that, occasionally, repeating the measurement enhances the appearance of the configurations found in the classical cellular automaton. The occurrence of this enhancement is primarily determined by the results of the measurement in the early time steps, and it is sustained by a feedback mechanism.