JSI researchers achieve a breakthrough in quantum simulation by using a quantum annealer to model quantum dynamics in real materials useful for quantum computing. A study, recently published in Nature Communications, explores the transition from thermally driven dynamics to dynamics induced by quantum fluctuations. The study directly describes the process by which memory loses information due to quantum noise. Using time-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy at the Nanocenter, the team first experimentally studied the quantum rearrangement of domains in an electronically ordered crystal discovered several years ago at the JSI. To model these processes, they used a programmable superconducting quantum annealer that closely mimics the interactions between electrons in real matter. The research has important implications for the fundamental understanding of quantum processes in non-equilibrium quantum systems, and in particular for the development of energy-efficient memory devices and the control of quantum data processing. It is also the first study in which a calculation on a quantum computer describes an actual experiment.