Presented is a quantum computing representation of Dirac particle dynamics. The approach employs an operator splitting method that is an analytically closed-form product decomposition of the unitary evolution operator. This allows the Dirac equation to be cast as a unitary finite-difference equation in a high-energy limit. The split evolution operator (with separate kinetic and interaction terms) is useful for efficient quantum simulation. For pedagogical purposes, here we restrict the treatment to Dirac particle dynamics in 1+1 spacetime dimensions. Independent derivations of the quantum algorithm are presented and the model's validity is tested in several quantum simulations by comparing the numerical results against analytical predictions. Using the relativistic quantum algorithm in the case when mc^2 >> pc, quantum simulations of a nonrelativistic particle in an external scalar square well and parabolic potential is presented.
Presented is a quantum computing representation of Dirac particle dynamics. The approach employs an operator splitting method that is an analytically closed-form product decomposition of the unitary evolution operator. This allows the Dirac equation to be cast as a unitary finite-difference equation in a high-energy limit. The split evolution operator (with separate kinetic and interaction terms) is useful for efficient quantum simulation. For pedagogical purposes, here we restrict the treatment to Dirac particle dynamics in 1+1 spacetime dimensions. Independent derivations of the quantum algorithm are presented and the model's validity is tested in several quantum simulations by comparing the numerical results against analytical predictions. Using the relativistic quantum algorithm in the case when mc^2 >> pc, quantum simulations of a nonrelativistic particle in an external scalar square well and parabolic potential is presented.
Presented are several example quantum computing representations of quantum systems with a relativistic energy relation. Basic unitary representations of free Dirac particles and BCS superconductivity are given. Then, these are combined into a novel unitary representation of a Fermi condensate superfluid. The modeling approach employs an operator splitting method that is an analytically closed-form product decomposition of the unitary evolution operator, applied in the high-energy limit. This allows the relativistic wave equations to be cast as unitary finite-difference equations. The split evolution operators (comprising separate kinetic and interaction energy evolution terms) serve as quantum lattice gas models useful for efficient quantum simulation.
Presented is a quantum lattice gas algorithm to efficiently model a system of Dirac particles interacting through an intermediary gauge field. The algorithm uses a fixed qubit array to represent both the spacetime and the particles contained in the spacetime. Despite being a lattice based algorithm, Lorentz invariance is preserved down to the grid scale, with the continuum Dirac Hamiltonian generating the local unitary evolution even at that scale: there is nonlinear scaling between the smallest observable time and that time measured in the quantum field theory limit, a kind of time dilation effect that emerges on small scales but has no effect on large scales. The quantum lattice gas algorithm correctly accounts for the anticommutative braiding of indistinguishable fermions|it does not suffer the Fermi-sign problem. It provides a highly convergent numerical simulation for strongly-correlated fermions equal to a covariant path integral, presented here for the case when a Dirac particle's Compton wavelength is large compared to the grid scale of the qubit array.
We consider a general class of discrete unitary dynamical models on the lattice. We show that generically such models give rise to a wave function satisfying a Schr\"odinger equation in the continuum limit, in any number of dimensions. There is a simple mathematical relationship between the mass of the Schr\"odinger particle and the eigenvalues of a unitary matrix describing the local evolution of the model. Second quantized versions of these unitary models can be defined, describing in the continuum limit the evolution of a nonrelativistic quantum many-body theory. An arbitrary potential is easily incorporated into these systems. The models we describe fall in the class of quantum lattice-gas automata and can be implemented on a quantum computer with a speedup exponential in the number of particles in the system. This gives an efficient algorithm for simulating general nonrelativistic interacting quantum many-body systems on a quantum computer.
We consider a general class of discrete unitary dynamical models on the lattice. We show that generically such models give rise to a wavefunction satisfying a Schroedinger equation in the continuum limit, in any number of dimensions. There is a simple mathematical relationship between the mass of the Schroedinger particle and the eigenvalues of a unitary matrix describing the local evolution of the model. Second quantized versions of these unitary models can be defined, describing in the continuum limit the evolution of a nonrelativistic quantum many-body theory. An arbitrary potential is easily incorporated into these systems. The models we describe fall in the class of quantum lattice gas automata, and can be implemented on a quantum computer with a speedup exponential in the number of particles in the system. This gives an efficient algorithm for simulating general nonrelativistic interacting quantum many-body systems on a quantum computer.
This document aims to describe the methodology of quantum lattice gas algorithm based quantum physics simulations with details on implementation using graphics processing units. A variety of examples illustrating the general application of these methods are included. These examples are used to highlight topics such as scaling, potentials, momentums, multiple particle and dimensions, and various Hamiltonians in quantum simulations. Although intended to fullfill the doctor of philosophy degree requirement, this document is well suited as an introduction to this approach to modeling physics. In recent times parallelization has significantly improved the available computational power. Graphics processing units (GPUs) are a shining example of this, with thousands of compute cores and continually improved general computational capabilities, these processors can outshine their central processing unit (CPU) counterparts by orders of magnitude. Presented here are a number of examples of efficient computational methods for simulating physics using GPUs. Our quantum simulation method involves the quantum lattice gas model of quantum computation [59, 68, 64], however much of the parallel technology implementation is applicable to other numerical approaches. The quantum lattice gas model of computation is based on a unitary stream-collide quantum algorithm applied repeatedly over time upon an ordered array of qubits [53, 56, 68, 61, 63, 67]. The stream-collide quantum algorithm represents local quantum evolution of the system of quantum particles whose motion is constrained to reside on a spacetime lattice. Each particle in the system undergoes a quantum walk, interacting locally with other particles in the system that may reside on the same point. We will first mathematically describe the basic idea of quantum lattice gas algorithms. Next we will discuss GPUs and the basic features needed for implementation. We will then describe several examples of quantum lattice gas algorithm approach to illustrate the various applications and implementation challenges. Of particular interest is a look at modeling time-dependent many-body quantum mechanics using quantum lattice gas methods. For practical purposes we focus on the case of two fermions governed by the nonrelativistic Schrödinger equation. Numerical comparisons to analytic prediction show the high accuracy of these methods. Quantum lattice gas methods are chosen as a unitary algorithm for time dependent quantum simulation as they are efficient, accurate, and avoid the Fermi sign problem. Our findings from two-particle simulations under various conditions include the physics of the one and two particle systems diverging in their respective time-dependent behavior with increasing entanglement. We also confirm the multiple particle extension of the Ehrenfest theorem. Using the examples discussed throughout this document, we will then describe our specific computational implementation utilizing the computational power of GPUs through Nvidia’s compute unified device architecture (CUDA) language. Here we will discuss the open source software our group is developing based on these methods, along with some implementation verification and debugging concepts. Education is another application peripherally connected to this work and our software. The applications of this type of modeling as a learning tool is not fully explored yet, but the opportunities are promising.
The Dirac equation can be modelled as a quantum walk (QW), whose main features are being: discrete in time and space (i.e. a unitary evolution of the wave-function of a particle on a lattice); homogeneous (i.e. translation-invariant and time-independent) and causal (i.e. information propagates at a bounded speed, in a strict sense). This link, which was proposed already by Succi and Benzi, Bialynicki-Birula and Meyer, is shown to hold for Bargmann–Wigner equations and symmetric hyperbolic systems in general. We then analytically prove the convergence of the solution of the QW to the solution of the Cauchy problem for the Dirac equation. We do so by adapting a powerful method from standard numerical analysis, which is of general interest to the field of quantum simulation. At the practical level, this result provides precise error bounds and convergence rates, thereby validating the QW as a quantum simulation scheme. At the theoretical level, it reinforces the status of this QW as a simple, discrete toy model of relativistic particles.