Empirical Demonstration of Quantum Contextuality on NISQ Computers

Abstract

We present definitive violations of non-contextual hidden variable bounds in the latest generation of IBM noisy intermediate-scale quantum computers (NISQ). These violations are based on known tests for contextuality such as the Rio Negro inequality and pseudo-telepathic Mermin games. These are the first violations of the classical Mermin game on IBM NISQ computers, and the largest such violations for the Rio Negro inequality. The use of finite geometries proves instrumental in the development of more effective tests, with larger geometries providing sizeable datasets from which multiple distinct experiments can be compared.