While quantum algorithms have been studied as an efficient tool for the stationary state energy determination in the case of molecular quantum systems, no similar study for analogical problems in computational nuclear physics (computation of energy levels of nuclei from empirical nucleon-nucleon or quark-quark potentials) have been realized yet. Although the difference between the above mentioned studies might seem negligible, it will be examined. First steps towards a particular simulation (on classical computer) of the Iterative Phase Estimation Algorithm for deuterium and tritium nuclei energy level computation will be carried out with the aim to prove algorithm feasibility (and extensibility to heavier nuclei) for its possible practical realization on a real quantum computer.
While quantum algorithms have been studied as an efficient tool for the stationary state energy determination in the case of molecular quantum systems, no similar study for analogical problems in computational nuclear physics (computation of energy levels of nuclei from empirical nucleon-nucleon or quark-quark potentials) have been realized yet. Although the difference between the above mentioned studies might seem negligible, it will be examined. First steps towards a particular simulation (on classical computer) of the Iterative Phase Estimation Algorithm for deuterium and tritium nuclei energy level computation will be carried out with the aim to prove algorithm feasibility (and extensibility to heavier nuclei) for its possible practical realization on a real quantum computer.
High-energy nuclear physics aims to explore and understand the physics of matter composed of quarks and gluons. However, it is intrinsically difficult to simulate high-energy nuclear physics from the first principle based quantum chromodynamics by using classical computers. In recent years, quantum computing has received intensive attention because it is expected to provide an ultimate solution for simulating high-energy nuclear physics. In this paper, we firstly review recent advances in quantum simulation of high-energy nuclear physics. Then we introduce some standard quantum algorithms, such as state preparation and measurements of light-cone correlation function. Finally, we demonstrate the advantage of quantum computing for solving the real-time evolution and the sign problems by studying hadronic scattering amplitude and phase structure of finite-temperature and finite-density matter, respectively.
No core Full Configurational Interaction (NCFCI) calculations of Nuclear Bonding energy are resource demanding, in particular, computational time scales exponentially with the nucleon number A. In contrast to that, usage of quantum computers would allow an efficient (in polynomial time) NCFCI calculation and speed-up for other beyond-Mean-Field (correlation energy including) methods. To initiate feasibility studies of given quantum algorithms, we present an introduction to preliminary classicalcomputer simulation for the case of spherical nuclei (and 4He in particular) within NCFCI with realistic chiral NNLO_opt potential.
To maximize the value of fault-tolerant quantum computers, it is essential to develop concrete applications beyond well-established domains such as chemistry and condensed-matter physics. Here we construct and compile quantum algorithms to simulate the structure of atomic nuclei -- a topic that has received relatively little attention from the quantum computing community despite its similarities to the electronic structure problem in chemistry -- via effective shell-model Hamiltonians and no-core-shell-model Hamiltonians with three-body interactions derived from chiral effective field theory. Furthermore, we provide quantum resource estimates, in terms of Toffoli gate and qubit counts, for these algorithms, which, to our knowledge, are the first such estimates for fault-tolerant quantum simulation of atomic nuclei. Notably, the estimates for 32Mg and 219At shell-model Hamiltonians are comparable to recent estimates of Femoco simulations, a standard benchmark in chemistry. For no-core-shell-model Hamiltonians suitable for light nuclei (up to 40Ca or so), we find that resource requirements are significantly higher, suggesting that more bespoke strategies are required to make such simulations practicable. Throughout this work, we draw upon the similarities between nuclear and electronic structure problems, while also highlighting challenges that are specific to the former. We hope this work will spur long-term collaborations between the nuclear and quantum computing community with the ultimate goal of realizing useful nuclear simulations on quantum computers.
Accurate calculations of nuclear binding energies in theory is a long-standing problem in nuclear physics, as it provides critical insights the effective interactions and structures of atomic nuclei. Currently, there are severe limitations in theory due to the exponential growth of the Hilbert space with increasing nucleon number, i.e., curse of the dimension. There are some effort to mitigate this problem by using the state-of-art methods, such as the machine learning and quantum computing. Recent advances in quantum computing have opened new avenues for addressing these challenges, enabling the direct simulation of nuclear many-body systems on quantum hardware. In this work, a detailed study on the calculation of nuclear binding energies using the full quantum eigensolver (FQE) algorithm, implemented on a real quantum processor, i.e. Quafu, was presented. Two nuclear systems (2H and 6He) were investigated. The deuteron, as the simplest bound nucleus with just one proton and one neutron, serves as an ideal benchmark for testing quantum algorithms, FQE. 6He, a light, two-valence neutron nucleus, was used for estimating the ability of the Quafu quantum cloud platform and its “Baihua” quantum chip. Our results demonstrate that for the deuteron, the FQE algorithm on the “Baihua” quantum processor achieves a higher level of accuracy compared to previously reported results obtained using the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) on the IBM_QX5 and IBM_19Q platforms, as discussed in Dumitrescu’s article. For 6He, the FQE-calculated binding energy shows accuracy comparable to recent VQE-based calculations reported in Yoshida’s article. These findings highlight the feasibility of performing precise nuclear structure calculations on near-term quantum devices and underscore the potential of the FQE approach for future applications in nuclear physics. Overall, this study extends the scope of quantum computing in nuclear physics by demonstrating that the FQE algorithm can serve as a practical and accurate tool for computing binding energies on real quantum hardware. The results provide a benchmark for future developments in quantum simulations of nuclei and suggest promising directions for scaling these methods to larger nuclear systems, ultimately contributing to a deeper understanding of nuclear structure and dynamics.
Background: Solving nuclear many-body problems with an ab initio approach is widely recognized as a computationally challenging problem. Quantum computers offer a promising path to address this challenge. There are urgent needs to develop quantum algorithms for this purpose. Objective: In this work, we explore the application of the quantum algorithm of adiabatic state preparation with quantum phase estimation in ab initio nuclear structure theory. We focus on solving the low-lying spectra (including both the ground and excited states) of simple nuclear systems. Ideas: The efficiency of this algorithm is hindered by the emergence of small energy gaps (level crossings) during the adiabatic evolution. In order to improve the efficiency, we introduce techniques to avoid level crossings: 1) by suitable design of the reference Hamiltonian; 2) by insertions of perturbation terms to modify the adiabatic path. Results: We illustrate this algorithm by solving the deuteron ground state energy and the spectrum of the deuteron bounded in a harmonic oscillator trap implementing the IBM Qiskit quantum simulator. The quantum results agree well the classical results obtained by matrix diagonalization. Outlook: With our improvements to the efficiency, this algorithm provides a promising tool for investigating the low-lying spectra of complex nuclei on future quantum computers.
Abstract Quantum computers have shown promise in simulating complex quantum systems, including nuclear processes that challenge even supercomputers. We summarize the key ingredients to demonstrate the feasibility of a full nuclear transition simulation, covering also ground and excited state preparation. The tritium nucleus has been used to model strong interactions between nucleons, with quantum circuits used to represent the initial and final states. Variational quantum algorithms aid in preparing such states, requiring four qubits to describe spin-isospin states. Our results show low relative errors in the energy estimation for the obtained eigenstates. Additionally, the transition probability between these states has been estimated as a function of dipole polarization angle. We also study the transition for the neutron capture d(n, γ)t and compare the result with the tritium de-excitation.