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Physical Review C

Restoring broken symmetries using quantum search “oracles”

Edgar Andres Ruiz Guzman, Denis Lacroix A

Published Mar 16, 2023• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a new method to perform variation after projection in many-body systems on quantum computers that does not require performing explicit projection. The technique employs the notion of ``oracle'', generally used in quantum search algorithms. We show how to construct the oracle and the projector associated with a symmetry operator. The procedure is illustrated for the parity, particle number, and total spin symmetries. The oracle is used to restore symmetry by indirect measurements using a single ancillary qubit. An illustration of the technique is made to obtain the approximate ground state energy for the pairing model Hamiltonian.

DOI
10.1103/physrevc.107.034310

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•Sep 30, 2024•0 citations
We present a new method to perform variation after projection in many-body systems on quantum computers that does not require performing explicit projection. The technique employs the notion of ``oracle'', generally used in quantum search algorithms. We show how to construct the oracle and the projector associated with a symmetry operator. The procedure is illustrated for the parity, particle number, and total spin symmetries. The oracle is used to restore symmetry by indirect measurements using a single ancillary qubit. An illustration of the technique is made to obtain the approximate ground state energy for the pairing model Hamiltonian.
We present a new method to perform variation after projection in many-body systems on quantum computers that does not require performing explicit projection. The technique employs the notion of ``oracle'', generally used in quantum search algorithms. We show how to construct the oracle and the projector associated with a symmetry operator. The procedure is illustrated for the parity, particle number, and total spin symmetries. The oracle is used to restore symmetry by indirect measurements using a single ancillary qubit. An Illustration of the technique is made to obtain the approximate ground state energy for the pairing model Hamiltonian.
This thesis explores the application of the Symmetry-Breaking/Symmetry-Restoration methodology on quantum computers to better approximate a Hamiltonian's ground state energy within a variational framework in many-body physics. This involves intentionally breaking and restoring the symmetries of the wave function ansatz at different stages of the variational search for the ground state. The Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) is utilized for the variational component together with an ansatz inspired by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. The applications were demonstrated using the pairing and Hubbard Hamiltonians. Two approaches were identified with the VQE method: varying the symmetry-breaking ansatz parameters before or after symmetry restoration, termed Quantum Projection After Variation and Quantum Variation After Projection, respectively. The main contribution of this thesis was the development of a variety of symmetry restoration techniques based on the principles of the Quantum Phase Estimation algorithm, the notion of a Quantum "Oracle," and the Classical Shadow formalism. In the final part, hybrid quantum-classical techniques were introduced to extract an approximation of the low-lying spectrum of a Hamiltonian. Assuming accurate Hamiltonian moment extraction from their generating function with a quantum computer, two methods were presented for spectral analysis: the t-expansion method and the Krylov method, which provides, in particular, information about the evolution of the survival probability. Furthermore, the Quantum Krylov method was introduced, offering similar insights without the need to estimate Hamiltonian moments, a task that can be difficult on near-term quantum computers.
We explore the possibility to perform symmetry restoration with the variation after projection technique on a quantum computer followed by additional postprocessing. The final goal is to develop configuration interaction techniques based on many-body trial states preoptimized on a quantum computer. We show how the projection method used for symmetry restoration can prepare optimized states that could then be employed as initial states for quantum or hybrid quantum-classical algorithms. We use the quantum phase estimation and the quantum Krylov approaches for the postprocessing. The latter method combined with the quantum variation after projection leads to very fast convergence toward the ground-state energy. The possibility to access excited states energies is also discussed. Illustrations of the different techniques are made using the pairing Hamiltonian.
We explore the possibility to perform symmetry restoration with the variation after projection technique on a quantum computer followed by additional post-processing. The final goal is to develop configuration interaction techniques based on many-body trial states pre-optimized on a quantum computer. We show how the projection method used for symmetry restoration can prepare optimized states that could then be employed as initial states for quantum or hybrid quantum-classical algorithms. We use the quantum phase estimation and quantum Krylov approaches for the post-processing. The latter method combined with the quantum variation after projection (Q-VAP) leads to very fast convergence towards the ground-state energy. The possibility to access excited states energies is also discussed. Illustrations of the different techniques are made using the pairing hamiltonian.
Solving the electronic structure problem on a universal-gate quantum computer within the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) methodology requires constraining the search procedure to a subspace defined by relevant physical symmetries. Ignoring symmetries results in convergence to the lowest eigenstate of the Fock space for the second quantized electronic Hamiltonian. Moreover, this eigenstate can be symmetry broken due to limitations of the wavefunction ansatz. To address this VQE problem, we introduce and assess methods of exact and approximate projectors to irreducible eigensubspaces of available physical symmetries. Feasibility of symmetry projectors in the VQE framework is discussed, and their efficiency is compared with symmetry constraint optimization procedures. Generally, projectors introduce a higher number of terms for VQE measurement compared to the constraint approach. On the other hand, the projection formalism improves accuracy of the variational wavefunction ansatz without introducing additional unitary transformations, which is beneficial for reducing depths of quantum circuits.
Quantum chemistry aims to understand and predict molecular structure and properties by solving the time-independent Schr\"odinger equation within fixed nuclei (Born-Oppenheimer) approximation. The Hamiltonian may have continuous symmetries (e.g., spin) or discrete symmetries (for example, point group). Mean-field wave functions may break some or all of these symmetries. By taking the symmetry-adapted pieces of these broken symmetry states, one can restore the physical character of the wave function while also treating relevant strong correlations. On the other hand, mean-field methods lack dynamic correlation arising from short-range interactions. Still, single-reference methods such as configuration interaction or coupled cluster theory can handle these correlations efficiently. Ideally, we would like to combine these approaches: performing configuration interaction or coupled cluster theory on a broken symmetry reference while restoring the desired symmetries. This work introduces a new approach to integrating symmetry projection and coupled cluster theory. By borrowing techniques from previous research, the new method can restore continuous symmetries like UUU(1) and SUSUSU(2) and discrete symmetries like point group and time reversal. This method achieves accurate results in challenging systems and has the same computational scaling as traditional coupled cluster theory. Jordan-Wigner transformation is a potent tool in spin models, but its application is challenging due to the inherent strings. The same techniques we use to combine symmetry projection and coupled cluster theory can be used to combine Jordan-Wigner transformation and coupled cluster. The strings are the ' symmetry projection ' operator when constructing the Hartree-Fock and coupled cluster wave functions for a Jordan-Wigner transformed Hamiltonian. Leveraging the method of symmetry projection, we obtain excellent results for both 1-D and 2-D spin models.