We describe a quantum chemistry simulation software program BQ-Chem, which can calculate the low-energy spectrum and potential energy surface of molecules on a quantum computer. BQ-Chem is based on the full quantum eigensolver (FQE), which is implemented with a quantum gradient descent algorithm. Benefiting from FQE, BQ-Chem can perform all the calculations on a quantum computer. Compared with the classical optimization methods which encounter the optimization difficulty of high-dimensional and multivariable functions in dealing with multielectron orbitals of macromolecules, FQE provides an exponential speedup. FQE works fully on a quantum computer; thus, BQ-Chem can be smoothly transited to future large-scale quantum computers.
We describe a quantum chemistry simulation software program BQ-Chem, which can calculate the low-energy spectrum and potential energy surface of molecules on a quantum computer. BQ-Chem is based on the full quantum eigensolver (FQE), which is implemented with a quantum gradient descent algorithm. Benefiting from FQE, BQ-Chem can perform all the calculations on a quantum computer. Compared with the classical optimization methods which encounter the optimization difficulty of high-dimensional and multivariable functions in dealing with multielectron orbitals of macromolecules, FQE provides an exponential speedup. FQE works fully on a quantum computer; thus, BQ-Chem can be smoothly transited to future large-scale quantum computers.
Quantum simulation of quantum chemistry is one of the most compelling applications of quantum computing. It is of particular importance in areas ranging from materials science, biochemistry, and condensed matter physics. Here, we propose a full quantum eigensolver (FQE) algorithm to calculate the molecular ground energies and electronic structures using quantum gradient descent. Compared to existing classical-quantum hybrid methods such as variational quantum eigensolver (VQE), our method removes the classical optimizer and performs all the calculations on a quantum computer with faster convergence. The gradient descent iteration depth has a favorable complexity that is logarithmically dependent on the system size and inverse of the precision. Moreover, the FQE can be further simplified by exploiting a perturbation theory for the calculations of intermediate matrix elements and obtaining results with a precision that satisfies the requirement of chemistry application. The full quantum eigensolver can be implemented on a near-term quantum computer. With the rapid development of quantum computing hardware, the FQE provides an efficient and powerful tool to solve quantum chemistry problems.
The variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) typically optimizes variational parameters in a quantum circuit to prepare eigenstates for a quantum system. Its application to many problems may involve a group of Hamiltonians, e.g., a Hamiltonian of a molecule is a function of the nuclear configurations. In this paper we incorporate derivatives of the Hamiltonian into the VQE and develop some hybrid quantum-classical algorithms, which explore both Hamiltonian and wave-function spaces for solving quantum chemistry problems more efficiently. For geometry optimization, we propose a mutual gradient-descent algorithm that updates the parameters of the Hamiltonian and wave function alternately, which can give a rapid convergence towards equilibrium structures of molecules as demonstrated in numerical simulations. Moreover, to speed up the calculation of the energy potential surface, we establish differential equations that govern how the optimized variational parameters of the wave function change with the intrinsic parameters of the Hamiltonian. Our study suggests a direction for a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm for solving quantum systems more efficiently by considering spaces of both the Hamiltonian and the wave function.
For a complex quantum system, the dimensionality of the Hamiltonian grows exponentially with the size of the system, making it difficult to perform fast large-scale simulations and calculations on a classical computer. The first Variational Quantum Eigenvalue solver (VQE) proposed by Peruzzo et al. This gives the possibility of highly accurate molecular simulations and calculations in the field of quantum chemical computing. VQE is roughly based on the principle of using a quantum computer and set up a trial wave function |ψ(θ)⟩=U(θ)|ψ0⟩ to measure the energy expectation of the wave function |ψ(θ)⟩ at the corresponding initialization parameter, and then using a classical optimization algorithm to iterate θ0→θn over the energy to minimum until convergence. The significance of this paper is to verify the accuracy as well as the feasibility of the VQE algorithm for the calculation of LiH molecules in STO-3g basis, and to perform an error analysis and to verify the exponential acceleration of the classical algorithm implementation. These results shed light on guiding further exploration focusing on quantum computingt.
The electronic energies of molecules have been successfully evaluated on quantum computers. However, more attention is paid to the dynamics simulation of molecules in practical applications. Based on the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm, Fedorov et al. proposed a correlated sampling (CS) method and demonstrated the vibrational dynamics of H2 molecules [J. Chem. Phys. 154, 164103 (2021)]. In this study, we have developed a quantum approach by extending the CS method based on the VQE algorithm (labeled eCS-VQE) for simulating chemical reaction dynamics. First, the CS method is extended to the three-dimensional cases for calculation of first-order energy gradients, and then, it is further generalized to calculate the second-order gradients of energies. By calculating atomic forces and vibrational frequencies for H2, LiH, H+ + H2, and Cl- + CH3Cl systems, we have seen that the approach has achieved the CCSD level of accuracy. Thus, we have simulated dynamics processes for two typical chemical reactions, hydrogen exchange and chlorine substitution, and obtained high-precision reaction dynamics trajectories consistent with the classical methods. Our eCS-VQE approach, as measurement expectations and ground-state wave functions can be reused, is less demanding in quantum computing resources and is, therefore, a feasible means for the dynamics simulation of chemical reactions on the current noisy intermediate-scale quantum-era quantum devices.
Quantum chemistry is envisioned as an early and disruptive application for quantum computers. Yet, closer scrutiny of the proposed algorithms shows that there are considerable difficulties along the way. Here, we propose two criteria for evaluating two leading quantum approaches for finding the ground state of molecules. The first criterion applies to the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm. It sets an upper bound to the level of imprecision/decoherence that can be tolerated in quantum hardware as a function of the targeted precision, the number of gates and the typical energy contribution from states populated by decoherence processes. We find that decoherence is highly detrimental to the accuracy of VQE and performing relevant chemistry calculations would require performances that are expected for fault-tolerant quantum computers, not mere noisy hardware, even with advanced error mitigation techniques. Physically, the sensitivity of VQE to decoherence originates from the fact that, in VQE, the spectrum of the studied molecule has no correlation with the spectrum of the quantum hardware used to perform the computation. The second criterion applies to the quantum phase estimation (QPE) algorithm, which is often presented as the go-to replacement of VQE upon availability of (noiseless) fault-tolerant quantum computers. QPE requires an input state with a large enough overlap with the sought-after ground state. We provide a criterion to estimate quantitatively this overlap based on the energy and the energy variance of said input state. Using input states from a variety of state-of-the-art classical methods, we show that the scaling of this overlap with system size does display the standard orthogonality catastrophe, namely an exponential suppression with system size. This in turns leads to an exponentially reduced QPE success probability.
The development of quantum algorithms to solve quantum chemistry problems has offered a promising new paradigm of performing computer simulations at the scale of atoms and molecules. Although majority of the research so far has focused on designing quantum algorithms to compute ground and excited state energies and forces, it is useful to run different simulation tasks, such as geometry optimization, with these algorithms as subroutines. Towards this end, we have created an interface for the Variational Quantum Eigensolver based molecular Energy (VQE-E) and molecular Force (VQE-F) code to the Atomic Simulation Environment (ASE). We demonstrate the working of this hybrid quantum-classical interface by optimizing the geometry of water molecule using a native optimizer implemented in ASE. Furthermore, this interface enables one to compare, combine and use quantum algorithms in conjunction with related classical methods quite easily with minimal coding effort.