Experimental Implementation of Quantum Prisoner Dilemma on IBM Quantum Computers

Abstract

Theory of games is an important discipline of applied mathematics, which has found numerous applications in psychology, ecology, and social science. While a well-established framework has been established for classical game theory, extending, and generalizing it towards the quantum domain still has some open questions. In this project, we focus on the prisoner’s dilemma-a standard example of a game analyzed in game theory-in a quantum world. Here, we start with the quantum version of prisoner’s dilemma, explain the quantum circuit implementation for describing the behavior of quantum prisoners, and investigate how quantum entanglement can change their strategies. By using the IBM quantum computer, we experimentally study the quantum prisoner dilemma, and we conclude that the best quantum strategies will break the prisoner’s dilemma.