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APS

A Quantum Lattice-Gas Model for Computational Fluid Dynamics

Jeffrey Yepez

Published Mar 1, 2000• 2 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Quantum-computing ideas are applied to the practical and ubiquitous problem of fluid dynamics simulation. Hence, this paper addresses two separate areas of physics: quantum mechanics and fluid dynamics (or specifically, the computational simulation of fluid dynamics). The quantum algorithm is called a quantum lattice gas. An analytical treatment of the microscopic quantum lattice-gas system is carried out to predict its behavior at the mesoscopic scale. At the mesoscopic scale, a lattice Boltzmann equation with a nonlocal collision term that depends on the entire system wave function, governs the dynamical system. Numerical results obtained from an exact simulation of a one-dimensional quantum lattice model are included to illustrate the formalism. A symbolic mathematical method is used to implement the quantum mechanical model on a conventional work- station The numerical simulation indicates that classical viscous damping is not present in the one-dimensional quantum lattice-gas system.

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Quantum-computing ideas are applied to the practical and ubiquitous problem of fluid dynamics simulation. Hence, this paper addresses two separate areas of physics: quantum mechanics and fluid dynamics (or specifically, the computational simulation of fluid dynamics). The quantum algorithm is called a quantum lattice gas. An analytical treatment of the microscopic quantum lattice-gas system is carried out to predict its behavior at the mesoscopic scale. At the mesoscopic scale, a lattice Boltzmann equation with a nonlocal collision term that depends on the entire system wave function, governs the dynamical system. Numerical results obtained from an exact simulation of a one-dimensional quantum lattice model are included to illustrate the formalism. A symbolic mathematical method is used to implement the quantum mechanical model on a conventional work- station The numerical simulation indicates that classical viscous damping is not present in the one-dimensional quantum lattice-gas system.
An algorithm is presented to simulate fluid dynamics on a three qubit type II quantum computer: a lattice of small quantum computers that communicate classical information. The algorithm presented is called a three qubit factorized quantum lattice gas algorithm. It is modeled after classical lattice gas algorithms which move virtual particles along an imaginary lattice and change the particles' momentums using collision rules when they meet at a lattice node. Instead of moving particles, the quantum algorithm presented here moves probabilities, which interact via a unitary collision operator. Probabilities are determined using ensemble measurement and are moved with classical communications channels. The lattice node spacing is defined to be a microscopic scale length. A mesoscopic governing equation for the lattice is derived for the most general three qubit collision operator which preserves particle number. In the continuum limit of the lattice, a governing macroscopic partial differential equation-the diffusion equation-is derived for a particular collision operator using a Chapman-Enskog expansion. A numerical simulation of the algorithm is carried out on a conventional desktop computer and compared to the analytic solution of the diffusion equation. The simulation agrees very well with the known solution.
Presented is a quantum lattice gas for Navier-Stokes fluid dynamics simulation. The quantum lattice-gas transport equation at the microscopic scale is presented as a generalization of the classical lattice-gas transport equation. A special type of quantum computer network is proposed that is suitable for implementing the quantum lattice gas. The quantum computer network undergoes a partial collapse of the wavefunction at every time step of the dynamical evolution. Each quantum computer in the network comprises only a few qubits, which are entangled for only a short time period. A Chapman-Enskog type analysis of the quantum computer network indicates that the total system of qubits behaves exactly like a viscous lattice-gas fluid at the macroscopic scale. Because of the quantum mechanical nature of the scattering process, superposition of outgoing collisional possibilities occurs. The quantum lattice gas obeys detail balance in its collisions and is therefore an unconditionally stable algorithm for fluid dynamics simulation.
Presented is a factorized quantum lattice-gas algorithm to model the diffusion equation. It is a minimal model with two qubits per node of a one-dimensional lattice and it is suitable for implementation on a large array of small quantum computers interconnected by nearest-neighbor classical communication channels. The quantum lattice-gas system is described at the mesoscopic scale by a lattice-Boltzmann equation whose collision term is unconditionally stable and obeys the principle of detailed balance. An analytical treatment of the model is given to predict a macroscopic effective field theory. The numerical simulations are in excellent agreement with the analytical results. In particular, numerical simulations confirm the value of the analytically calculated diffusion constant. The algorithm is time-explicit with numerical convergence that is first-order accurate in time and second-order accurate in space.
Quantum computing holds transformative potential for simulating nonlinear physical systems, such as fluid turbulence. However, mapping nonlinear dynamics to the linear operations required by quantum hardware remains a fundamental challenge. Here, we bridge this gap by introducing a novel node-level ensemble description of a lattice gas, which enables the simulation of nonlinear fluid dynamics on quantum computers. This approach combines the advantages of the lattice Boltzmann method with low-dimensional representation (computational cost) and lattice gas cellular automata with linear collision treatment (quantum compatibility). Building on this framework, we propose a quantum lattice Boltzmann method that relies on linear operations with medium dimensionality, offering the potential for quantum speedup. We validated the algorithm through simulations of vortex-pair merging and decaying turbulence on up to 16.8 million computational grid points. The results demonstrate remarkable agreement with direct numerical simulation, effectively capturing the essential nonlinear mechanisms of fluid dynamics. This work potentially advances the development of quantum algorithms for other nonlinear problems across various transport phenomena in engineering.
We present a quantum lattice-gas model for a quantum computer operating with continual wavefunction collapse; entanglement of the wavefunction occurs locally over small spatial regions between nearby qubits for only a short time period. The quantum lattice-gas is a noiseless method that directly models the lattice-gas particle dynamics at the mesoscopic scale. The system behaves like a viscous Navier–Stokes fluid. Numerical simulations indicate the viscosity of the quantum lattice-gas fluid is lower than its classical lattice-gas counterpart's.
A quantum algorithm is presented for modeling the time evolution of a continuous field governed by the nonlinear Burgers equation in one spatial dimension. It is a microscopic-scale algorithm for a type-II quantum computer, a large lattice of small quantum computers interconnected in nearest neighbor fashion by classical communication channels. A formula for quantum state preparation is presented. The unitary evolution is governed by a conservative quantum gate applied to each node of the lattice independently. Following each quantum gate operation, ensemble measurements over independent microscopic realizations are made resulting in a finite-difference Boltzmann equation at the mesoscopic scale. The measured values are then used to re-prepare the quantum state and one time step is completed. The procedure of state preparation, quantum gate application, and ensemble measurement is continued ad infinitum. The Burgers equation is derived as an effective field theory governing the behavior of the quantum computer at its macroscopic scale where both the lattice cell site and the time step interval become infinitesimal. A numerical simulation of shock formation is carried out and agrees with the exact analytical solution.