Polaronic correlations from optimized ancilla wave functions for the Fermi-Hubbard model.

We employ a family of ancilla qubit variational wave functions [Y.-H. Zhang and S. Sachdev, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 023172 (2020)] to describe the polaronic correlations in the pseudogap metal phase of a hole-doped 2D Fermi-Hubbard model. Comparison to ultracold atom quantum simulator data [J. Koepsell et al., Science 374, 82 (2021)] reveals both qualitative and quantitative agreement with the numerical analysis from half-filling up to 80% hole-doping, capturing the crossover from the polaronic regime to the Fermi liquid observed around 40% doping.