Preparing the thermal density matrix ρ β ∝ e − β H corresponding to a given Hamiltonian H is a task of central interest across quantum many-body physics, and is particularly salient when attempting to study it with quantum computers. Although solved in principle by recent constructions of efficiently simulable Lindblad master equations—that provably have ρ β as a steady state [C.-F. Chen , ]—the implementation of these “exact Gibbs samplers” requires large-scale quantum computing resources and is hence challenging in practice on current or even near-term quantum devices. Here, we propose a scheme for approximately simulating an exact Gibbs sampler up to a rigorously bounded error that only requires the (repeated) implementation of three readily available ingredients: (a) analog simulation of H ; (b) strictly local but time-dependent couplings to ancilla qubits; and (c) reset of the ancillas. We give rigorous guarantees on the difference between the fixed point reached by our protocol and the exact thermal state, which only depend on parameters of the protocol and its . The procedure is efficiently implementable on near-term devices if H is local and the mixing time scales mildly with both system size and protocol parameters. While guaranteeing the latter for Hamiltonians of interest remains an important problem for future work, here we lay the groundwork for developing fully efficient thermal state preparation protocols on quantum simulators.
Preparing the thermal density matrix ρ β ∝ e − β H corresponding to a given Hamiltonian H is a task of central interest across quantum many-body physics, and is particularly salient when attempting to study it with quantum computers. Although solved in principle by recent constructions of efficiently simulable Lindblad master equations—that provably have ρ β as a steady state [C.-F. Chen , ]—the implementation of these “exact Gibbs samplers” requires large-scale quantum computing resources and is hence challenging in practice on current or even near-term quantum devices. Here, we propose a scheme for approximately simulating an exact Gibbs sampler up to a rigorously bounded error that only requires the (repeated) implementation of three readily available ingredients: (a) analog simulation of H ; (b) strictly local but time-dependent couplings to ancilla qubits; and (c) reset of the ancillas. We give rigorous guarantees on the difference between the fixed point reached by our protocol and the exact thermal state, which only depend on parameters of the protocol and its . The procedure is efficiently implementable on near-term devices if H is local and the mixing time scales mildly with both system size and protocol parameters. While guaranteeing the latter for Hamiltonians of interest remains an important problem for future work, here we lay the groundwork for developing fully efficient thermal state preparation protocols on quantum simulators.
Thermal state preparation is a central challenge in the simulation of quantum many-body systems. Yet, provably efficient algorithms for this task were only introduced recently [Chen et al. Nature 646, 561 (2025)]. These algorithms are based on dissipative Lindbladian evolution which exactly fixes the thermal state. Controlled and efficient digital simulation of this evolution, although possible in principle, remains out of reach for present-day quantum hardware. Subsequent work has therefore focused on analog approximations of the proposed Lindbladians via `collision models' with relatively modest requirements -- a resettable bath of ancilla qubits whose couplings to the system can be tuned in time-dependent fashion -- while still admitting rigorous fixed-point error bounds. Existing rigorous approaches, however, do not exploit the fact that these constructions generically implement not only the desired Lindblad dynamics, but also an additional unitary evolution generated by the system Hamiltonian which may aid convergence to the thermal state [Lloyd and Abanin arXiv:2506.21318 (2025)]. Here, we show that this unitary contribution does indeed tighten the fixed-point error bound and demonstrate that it is rigorously controlled by the system-bath coupling strength J, scaling as J2. This demonstrates that the effect of the spurious `Lamb shift' term generated by the system-bath interaction can be controlled by tuning J. We clarify the role, previously observed, of a randomized implementation in suppressing possible resonances of the drive with the many-body spectrum, and bound the additional variance that this randomization imposes on observables. Finally, we numerically study aspects of the protocol which are relevant for its practical realization, such as the mixing time.
The problem of simulating the thermal behavior of quantum systems remains a central open challenge in quantum computing. Unlike well-established quantum algorithms for unitary dynamics, algorithms for preparing thermal states—crucial for probing equilibrium behavior—became available only recently with breakthrough algorithms based on the simulation of well-designed dissipative processes, a quantum-analog to Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms. We show a way to implement these algorithms avoiding expensive block encoding and relying only on dense local circuits, akin to Hamiltonian simulation. Specifically, our method leverages spatial truncation and Trotterization of exact quasilocal dissipative processes. We rigorously prove that the approximations we use have little effect on rapid mixing at high temperatures and allow convergence to the thermal state with small bounded error. Moreover, we accompany our analytical results with numerical simulations that show that this method, unlike previously thought, is within the reach of current generation of quantum hardware. These results provide the first provably efficient quantum thermalization protocol implementable on near-term quantum devices, offering a concrete path toward practical simulation of equilibrium quantum phenomena.
Preparing ground states and thermal states is essential for simulating quantum systems on quantum computers. Despite the hope for practical quantum advantage in quantum simulation, popular state preparation approaches have been challenged. Monte Carlo-style quantum Gibbs samplers have emerged as an alternative, but prior proposals have been unsatisfactory due to technical obstacles rooted in energy-time uncertainty. We introduce simple continuous-time quantum Gibbs samplers that overcome these obstacles by efficiently simulating Nature-inspired quantum master equations (Lindbladians). In addition, we construct the first provably accurate and efficient algorithm for preparing certain purified Gibbs states (called thermal field double states in high-energy physics) of rapidly thermalizing systems; this algorithm also benefits from a quantum walk speedup. Our algorithms' costs have a provable dependence on temperature, accuracy, and the mixing time (or spectral gap) of the relevant Lindbladian. We complete the first rigorous proof of finite-time thermalization for physically derived Lindbladians by developing a general analytic framework for nonasymptotic secular approximation and approximate detailed balance. Given the success of classical Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms and the ubiquity of thermodynamics, we anticipate that quantum Gibbs sampling will become indispensable in quantum computing.
Preparation of quantum thermal states of many-body systems is a key computational challenge for quantum processors, with applications in physics, chemistry, and classical optimization. We provide a simple and efficient algorithm for thermal state preparation, combining engineered bath resetting and modulated system-bath coupling to derive a quantum channel approximately satisfying quantum detailed balance relations. We show that the fixed point σ ^ of the channel approximates the Gibbs state as ∥ σ ^ − σ ^ β ∥ ∼ θ 2 , where θ is the system-bath coupling and σ ^ β ∝ e − β H ^ S . We provide extensive numerics, for the example of the 2D quantum Ising model, confirming that the protocol successfully prepares the thermal state throughout the finite-temperature phase diagram, including near the quantum phase transition. Simulations for free-fermion systems provide further evidence for the accuracy of the protocol for large system sizes in the weak-coupling limit. Our algorithm provides a path to efficient quantum simulation of quantum-correlated states at finite temperature with current and near-term quantum processors.
Learning quantum interactions from finite-temperature many-body systems is a central task in emerging quantum platforms. Recently, the problem of learning from lattice quantum Gibbs states has found rigorous, efficient protocols. Nevertheless, exact Gibbs states, as the input premise, are in fact computationally intractable to prepare and may not faithfully represent generic finite-temperature quantum systems. In contrast, a system coupled to a heat bath can be stuck at an approximate stationary state (metastable state) long before it truly equilibrates. Here, we formulate a physically and algorithmically consistent alternative: learning from such metastable states of detailed-balanced master equations (Lindbladians) arising from system-bath interactions. We distill the algorithmic mechanism and structural condition underlying Gibbs-state learning and extend it in full to metastable states, attaining nearly optimal sample and computational complexity (in the system size and the precision). More broadly, we sharpen notions of metastability and develop a unified framework for finite-temperature learning.
Preparing thermal and ground states is an essential quantum algorithmic task for quantum simulation. In this work, we construct the first efficiently implementable and exactly detailed-balanced Lindbladian for Gibbs states of arbitrary noncommutative Hamiltonians. Our construction can also be regarded as a continuous-time quantum analog of the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. To prepare the quantum Gibbs state, our algorithm invokes Hamiltonian simulation for a time proportional to the mixing time and the inverse temperature β, up to polylogarithmic factors. Moreover, the gate complexity reduces significantly for lattice Hamiltonians as the corresponding Lindblad operators are (quasi-) local (with radius ∼β) and only depend on local Hamiltonian patches. Meanwhile, purifying our Lindbladians yields a temperature-dependent family of frustration-free "parent Hamiltonians", prescribing an adiabatic path for the canonical purified Gibbs state (i.e., the Thermal Field Double state). These favorable features suggest that our construction serves as a quantum algorithmic counterpart to classical Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling.