Demonstration of a quantum-classical coprocessing protocol for simulating nuclear reactions

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: Quantum computers hold great promise for exact simulations of nuclear dynamical processes (e.g., scattering and reactions), which are paramount to the study of nuclear matter at the limit of stability and in the formation of chemical elements in stars. However, quantum simulations of the unitary (real) time dynamics of fermionic many-body systems require a currently prohibitive number of reliable and long-lived qubits. We propose a co-processing algorithm for the simulation of real-time dynamics in which the time evolution of the spatial coordinates is carried out on a classical processor, while the evolution of the spin degrees of freedom is carried out on quantum hardware. We demonstrate this hybrid scheme with the simulation of two neutrons scattering at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Quantum Testbed. After implementing error mitigation strategies to improve the accuracy of the algorithm in addition to a combination of circuit compression techniques and tomography as methods to elucidate the onset of decoherence, our results validate the principle of the proposed co-processing scheme. A generalization of this present scheme will open the way for (real-time) path integral simulations of nuclear scattering.

Source: Physical Review A

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.108.032417

Authors: F. Turro, T. Chistolini, A. Hashim, Y. Kim, W. Livingston, J. M. Kreikebaum, K. A. Wendt, J. L. Dubois, F. Pederiva, S. Quaglioni, D. I. Santiago, I. Siddiqi

Institutions: University of Trento, University of Washington, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics And Applications, University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Language: English

Topic: Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture

Subfield: Artificial Intelligence

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, National Nuclear Security Administration, Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Nuclear Physics, Laboratory Directed Research and Development, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

OpenAlex ID: W4386863692