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arXiv:2510.18150

A Quantum Algorithm for the Finite Element Method

Ahmad M. Alkadri, Tyler Kharazi, K. Birgitta Whaley, Kranthi K. Mandadapu

Published Oct 20, 2025• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The finite element method (FEM) is a cornerstone numerical technique for solving partial differential equations (PDEs). Here, we present $\textbf{Qu-FEM}$, a fault-tolerant era quantum algorithm for the finite element method. In contrast to other quantum PDE solvers, Qu-FEM preserves the geometric flexibility of FEM by introducing two new primitives, the unit of interaction and the local-to-global indicator matrix, which enable the assembly of global finite element arrays with a constant-size linear combination of unitaries. We study the modified Poisson equation as an elliptic problem of interest, and provide explicit circuits for Qu-FEM in Cartesian domains. For problems with constant coefficients, our algorithm admits block-encodings of global arrays that require only $\tilde{\mathcal{O}}\left(d^2 p^2 n\right)$ Clifford+$T$ gates for $d$-dimensional, order-$p$ tensor product elements on grids with $2^n$ degrees of freedom in each dimension, where $n$ is the number of qubits representing the $N=2^n$ discrete grid points. For problems with spatially varying coefficients, we perform numerical integration directly on the quantum computer to assemble global arrays and force vectors. Dirichlet boundary conditions are enforced via the method of Lagrange multipliers, eliminating the need to modify the block-encodings that emerge from the assembly procedure. This work presents a framework for extending the geometric flexibility of quantum PDE solvers while preserving the possibility of a quantum advantage.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2510.18150

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The finite element method (FEM) is a cornerstone numerical technique for solving partial differential equations (PDEs). Here, we present Qu-FEM\textbf{Qu-FEM}Qu-FEM, a fault-tolerant era quantum algorithm for the finite element method. In contrast to other quantum PDE solvers, Qu-FEM preserves the geometric flexibility of FEM by introducing two new primitives, the unit of interaction and the local-to-global indicator matrix, which enable the assembly of global finite element arrays with a constant-size linear combination of unitaries. We study the modified Poisson equation as an elliptic problem of interest, and provide explicit circuits for Qu-FEM in Cartesian domains. For problems with constant coefficients, our algorithm admits block-encodings of global arrays that require only O~(d2p2n)\tilde{\mathcal{O}}\left(d^2 p^2 n\right)O~(d2p2n) Clifford+TTT gates for ddd-dimensional, order-ppp tensor product elements on grids with 2n2^n2n degrees of freedom in each dimension, where nnn is the number of qubits representing the N=2nN=2^nN=2n discrete grid points. For problems with spatially varying coefficients, we perform numerical integration directly on the quantum computer to assemble global arrays and force vectors. Dirichlet boundary conditions are enforced via the method of Lagrange multipliers, eliminating the need to modify the block-encodings that emerge from the assembly procedure. This work presents a framework for extending the geometric flexibility of quantum PDE solvers while preserving the possibility of a quantum advantage.
Quantum computing offers the potential to solve computational mechanics problems with a more favourable complexity scaling than classically possible. To realise this potential, a quantum-compatible formulation of the finite element method is essential. We present such a formulation for Poisson problems with spatially varying coefficients on general domains discretised by an immersed uniform Cartesian grid. The resulting banded sparse system matrices are encoded as the sum of diagonal matrices with polynomial entries and their products with shift matrices. The sum of the matrices is formed using the linear combination of unitaries (LCU) technique. The resulting block-encoded system matrix can be implemented using a polylogarithmic number of elementary gates. For immersed boundaries, the block-encoded system matrix is further processed using a diagonal indicator matrix with zeros and ones. The indicator matrix is defined in terms of an integer-valued level-set function composed of simple geometric primitives via Boolean set operations. The required integer operations are computed on the fly using quantum arithmetic. The resulting block-encoded linear system of equations is solved using quantum singular value transformation (QSVT). The overall gate count, including the QSVT, is O(Ntot2/dpolylog⁡(Ntot))O(N_{\text{tot}}^{2/d} \operatorname{polylog}(N_{\text{tot}}))O(Ntot2/d​polylog(Ntot​)), where ddd is the problem dimension and NtotN_{\text{tot}}Ntot​ the number of grid points. In numerical examples that confirm the theoretical complexity estimates, the solutions converge approximately linearly for immersed problems and quadratically for simply connected domains.
This manuscript presents the Quantum Finite Element Method (Q-FEM) developed for use in noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers and employs the variational quantum linear solver (VQLS) algorithm. The proposed method leverages the classical FEM procedure to perform the unitary decomposition of the stiffness matrix and employs generator functions to design explicit quantum circuits corresponding to the unitaries. Q-FEM keeps the structure of the finite element discretization intact allowing for the use of variable element lengths and material coefficients in FEM discretization. The proposed method is tested on a steady-state heat equation discretized using linear and quadratic shape functions. Numerical verification studies are performed on the IBM QISKIT simulator and it is demonstrated that Q-FEM is effective in converging to the correct solution for a variety of problems and model discretizations, including with different element lengths, variable coefficients, and different boundary conditions. The formalism developed herein is general and can be extended to problems with higher dimensions. However, numerical examples also demonstrate that the number of parameters for the variational ansatz scale exponentially with the number of qubits, and increases the odds of convergence. Moreover, the deterioration of system conditioning with problem size results in barren plateaus and convergence difficulties.
Partial differential equations are a promising application area for fault-tolerant quantum algorithms, but the subject lies between two communities with different languages: numerical analysis and quantum computation. These lecture notes provide a numerically grounded introduction for readers entering from either field. Block encoding is the organizing principle: once a discretized differential operator is embedded in a unitary, primitives such as quantum singular value transformation, Hamiltonian simulation, linear combinations of unitaries, amplitude amplification, and measurement can be assembled into algorithms for elliptic, hyperbolic, and parabolic PDEs. Each chapter begins with a standard finite difference or finite element discretization and follows the full pipeline from the continuous PDE to quantum encoding, transformation, and extraction of a quantity of interest. Particular attention is paid to the factors governing end-to-end performance, including discretization error, state preparation, normalization, postselection, and measurement cost. A final chapter introduces nonlinear problems through Carleman and Koopman-von Neumann linearizations. The aim is not a comprehensive survey or a claim of universal quantum advantage, but a mathematically transparent entry point and a shared vocabulary for researchers in both communities.
Abstract This paper introduces a quantum-enhanced finite element method (FEM) designed for noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices, leveraging variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) to solve engineering partial differential equations. We demonstrate the framework by solving the Euler–Bernoulli beam and the NAFEMS T4 heat transfer problems, which involve Dirichlet, Neumann, and Robin boundary conditions. A key innovation is a ‘set-to-zero’ strategy that incorporates boundary conditions through a correction matrix, K bc , allowing for flexible imposition at any node without domain decomposition. The global stiffness matrix is decomposed into a constant number of Pauli terms, O (1), using the method by Sato et al while boundary terms are handled with a sublinearly scaling partial Pauli measurement technique. The algorithm achieves logarithmic qubit scaling ( n = ⌈ log 2 ⁡ N ⌉ qubits for N degrees of freedom(DOF)) and employs shallow, hardware-efficient circuits with empirically trainable depth for small-scale systems. Validation on the Qiskit statevector simulator shows high accuracy. For the Euler–Bernoulli beam problem with 4 to 64 DOF, the algorithm achieves relative errors of 0.5%–1.5% and fidelities of 0.998–0.999. For the NAFEMS T4 heat transfer benchmark, a 5.4% relative error is observed. The VQA converges robustly within 77–350 iterations, though barren plateaus are a known challenge for scaling to larger systems. This work establishes a scalable framework for quantum FEM, offering a significant memory advantage over classical methods and advancing the potential for quantum-enhanced engineering simulations.
This paper presents a quantum algorithm for the solution of prototypical second-order linear elliptic partial differential equations discretized by d d -linear finite elements on Cartesian grids of a bounded d d -dimensional domain. An essential step in the construction is a BPX preconditioner, which transforms the linear system into a sufficiently well-conditioned one, making it amenable to quantum computation. We provide a constructive proof demonstrating that, for any fixed dimension, our quantum algorithm can compute suitable functionals of the solution to a given tolerance t o l \mathtt {tol} with an optimal complexity of order t o l − 1 \mathtt {tol}^{-1} up to logarithmic terms, significantly improving over existing approaches. Notably, this approach does not rely on the regularity of the solution and achieves a quantum advantage over classical solvers already in two dimensions, whereas prior quantum methods required at least four dimensions for asymptotic benefits. We further detail the design and implementation of a quantum circuit capable of executing our algorithm, present simulator results, and report numerical experiments on current quantum hardware, confirming the feasibility of preconditioned finite element methods for near-term quantum computing.
Applying quantum computation to solve electromagnetic (EM) problems is still at an early age. Recently, an initial study on applying quantum computation to solve the finite element method (FEM) equations in the EM domain has been made. This article makes a further development beyond the initial study. Specifically, we first develop an approach to systematically prepare the quantum state to represent the right-hand side (RHS) vector of the finite element equation in EM problems. Then, to reduce the number of gates needed in the quantum state preparation process, we propose a quantum-gate-reduction method, which explores the fact that the FEM cells in the input port are a small portion of the total cells in the 3-D EM structure and that the number of gates needed for state preparation depends on the RHS vector’s sparsity pattern. Based on the proposed quantum-gate-reduction method, we further derive the upper and lower bounds analytically for the number of gates needed in the quantum state preparation circuit. Furthermore, to deal with the large condition number of the finite element matrix in EM, we leverage a matrix preconditioner to modify the original linear equations, so as to reduce the number of qubits required in using quantum computation to solve EM problems. Two EM examples are used to illustrate how the proposed quantum computing method can be used to find solutions to EM problems.