Stochastic nonlinear dynamics underlie many models in engineering and computational physics, yet accurate high-dimensional simulation remains challenging. We present a quantum algorithm for a broad class of
N-dimensional stochastic differential equations with dissipation and quadratic drift. The algorithm applies to strongly nonlinear systems with all-to-all interactions, thereby extending the scope of previously known quantum algorithms that were limited to weak nonlinearity and sparse systems. For norm-preserving drifts, a condition satisfied by key fluid dynamics discretizations, our method approximates expectation values of low-order correlation functions with rigorous error bounds at a cost polynomial in
log(N) and linear in the evolution time. Our main technical advance is a subroutine for simulating an auxiliary system of
N interacting quantum harmonic oscillators with cost polylogarithmic in
N. Finally, we formulate turbulence models, including Navier-Stokes and damped Euler equations, within this framework, opening a route to quantum simulation of strongly nonlinear SDEs governing turbulence and nonlinear wave dynamics.
In the preceding paper we have developed a formal theoretical approach to describe the dynamics of stochastic systems in nonlinear optics. The main emphasis has been on the description of the equation of motion of the free system, since the optical fields are usually treated by perturbation expansion. Here we explicitly develop the dynamics of complex models, which should be helpful in realistic situations. Two different models are considered. The dynamics of a stochastic three-level system is introduced first. Then the case of two configurations stochastically coupled is explicitly treated. This last model is of interest in order to understand the effects of nonradiative transitions on the nonlinear-optical properties of stochastic systems.