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Prof. Dr. Simon Trebst

University of Cologne
Institute for Theoretical Physics
Zülpicher Str. 77a, 50937 Köln
Tel.: +49 (0) 221 470 - 7420
Email: trebst(at)thp.uni-koeln.de
URL: www.thp.uni-koeln.de/trebst
ORCID: 0000-0002-1479-9736

CDS Research Areas

The computational physics group of Prof. Trebst studies collective phenomena in quantum many-body systems that arise from the intricate interplay of strong correlations, long-range entanglement, and quantum topology. The work of his group typically complements analytical approaches by a variety of sophisticated numerical techniques that exploit concepts from statistical physics, quantum information theory, and computer science. Recent themes include the hierarchical classification of quantum critical points in monitored quantum circuits, the discussion of chaotic instabilities in coupled transmon arrays, and the application of machine learning techniques to build scalable decoders for quantum error correction.

Dr. Trebst is speaker of the collaborative research center CRC 183 “Entangled States of Matter” with nodes in Cologne, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Rehovot. He serves as a member of the Proposal Review Committee for the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is a member of the Peer Review Board, John von Neumann Institute for Computing at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, and has been appointed to the Selection Committee for the Allocation of Humboldt Research Fellowships.

Before joining the Institute for Theoretical Physics in 2012, Dr. Trebst spent six years at Microsoft Research Station Q in Santa Barbara where he explored the theoretical foundations of a topological quantum computer. 

More research details can be found at: www.thp.uni-koeln.de/trebst/

Schematic illustration of entangled state preparation using an elementary quantum circuit.

Selected publications

  1. Edward H. Chen, Guo-Yi Zhu, Ruben Verresen, Alireza Seif, Elisa Bäumer, David Layden, Nathanan Tantivasadakarn, Guanyu Zhu, Sarah Sheldon, Ashvin Vishwanath, Simon Trebst, and Abhinav Kandala, Realizing the Nishimori transition across the error threshold for constant-depth quantum circuits , Nature Physics 21, 161 (2025).
  2. Finn Eckstein, Bo Han, Simon Trebst, and Guo-Yi Zhu, Robust Teleportation of a Surface Code and Cascade of Topological Quantum Phase Transitions, PRX Quantum 5, 040313 (2024).
  3. Guo-Yi Zhu, Nathanan Tantivasadakarn, Ashvin Vishwanath, Simon Trebst, and Ruben Verresen, Nishimori’s Cat: Stable Long-Range Entanglement from Finite-Depth Unitaries and Weak Measurements, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 200201 (2023).
  4. Christoph Berke, Evangelos Varvelis, Simon Trebst, Alexander Altland, and David P. DiVincenzo, Transmon platform for quantum computing challenged by chaotic fluctuations, Nature Comm. 13, 2495 (2022).
  5. Kai Meinerz, Chae-Yeun Park, and Simon Trebst, Scalable Neural Decoder for Topological Surface Codes, Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 080505 (2022).
  6. Simon Trebst and Ciarán Hickey, Kitaev Materials, Physics Reports 950, 1 (2022).
  7. T. Yokoi, S. Ma, Y. Kasahara, S. Kasahara, T. Shibauchi, N. Kurita, H. Tanaka, J. Nasu, Y. Motome, C. Hickey, S. Trebst, and Y. Matsuda, Half-integer quantized anomalous thermal Hall effect in the Kitaev material candidate α-RuCl3, Science 373, 568 (2021).
  8. Ciarán Hickey and Simon Trebst, Emergence of a field-driven U(1) spin liquid in the Kitaev honeycomb model, Nature Comm. 10, 530 (2019).
  9. Yoni Schattner, Max H. Gerlach, Simon Trebst, and Erez Berg, Competing Orders in a Nearly Antiferromagnetic Metal, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 097002 (2016).
  10. A. Feiguin, S. Trebst, A. Ludwig, M. Troyer, A. Kitaev, Z. Wang, and M. Freedman, Interacting anyons in topological quantum liquids: The golden chain, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 160409 (2007).