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The Journal of Chemical Physics

Quantum algorithm for the simulation of non-Markovian quantum dynamics using Feynman–Vernon influence functional

Avin Seneviratne, Peter Walters, Fei Wang

Published May 15, 2025• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

In this work, we developed a quantum algorithm for the simulation of non-Markovian quantum dynamics based on the Feynman-Vernon's path integral formulation. The algorithm performs the full path sum and proves to be polynomial either in time or in space, compared to the same classical algorithm, which is exponential in time. In addition, the algorithm has no classical overhead and is equally applicable regardless of whether the temporal entanglement due to non-Markovianity is low or high, making it a unified framework for simulating non-Markovian dynamics in open quantum systems.

DOI
10.1063/5.0258227

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In this work, we developed a quantum algorithm for the simulation of non-Markovian quantum dynamics based on the Feynman-Vernon's path integral formulation. The algorithm performs the full path sum and proves to be polynomial either in time or in space, compared to the same classical algorithm, which is exponential in time. In addition, the algorithm has no classical overhead and is equally applicable regardless of whether the temporal entanglement due to non-Markovianity is low or high, making it a unified framework for simulating non-Markovian dynamics in open quantum systems.
In this work, we developed an efficient quantum algorithm for the simulation of non-Markovian quantum dynamics, based on the Feynman path integral formulation. The algorithm scales polynomially with the number of native gates and the number of qubits, and has no classical overhead. It demonstrates the quantum advantage by overcoming the exponential cost on classical computers. In addition, the algorithm is efficient regardless of whether the temporal entanglement due to non-Markovianity is low or high, making it a unified framework for simulating non-Markovian dynamics in open quantum system.
In this work, we present a quantum algorithm for simulating non-Markovian quantum dynamics based on the Feynman-Vernon influence functional formalism, which provides an exact description of the dynamics of a quantum system linearly coupled to a harmonic bath. In condensed-phase environments, the bath correlation functions typically decay over time, allowing them to be truncated beyond a finite time scale and enabling an iterative propagation scheme. We implement the finite-memory propagator using a fast-forwarding algorithm that achieves constant circuit depth with respect to the number of propagation steps, while the nonunitary matrices are realized on quantum circuits using unitary dilation. We further exploit the structure of the unitary dilation to show that the additional circuit complexity introduced by the dilation scales polynomially with the number of dilation ancilla qubits, while the dominant computational cost arises from the implementation of the underlying 1-dilation. The algorithm is compared with classical benchmark calculations for the spin-boson model and shows close agreement. Together, these developments establish a quantum-circuit framework for fast forwarding non-Markovian dynamics and identify the principal computational bottlenecks that must be overcome to achieve quantum advantage.
We establish a direct connection between the Feynman-Vernon path integral formalism for open quantum systems and the Wiener path integral used in classical stochastic dynamics. By considering a generalized influence functional in the strong decoherence limit, we demonstrate that integrating over the quantum coherence length leads to a derivation of stochastic Langevin dynamics. Specifically, we show that the quantum Feynman measure transforms into the stochastic Wiener measure. Applying this framework to the Wigner function representation, we show that the system follows a stochastic path interpretable via classical probability theory. Finally, we address the inverse problem: constructing an equivalent quantum influence functional from a given classical Langevin equation.
Abstract We establish a formal connection between the Feynman–Vernon path integral formalism for open quantum systems and the Wiener path integral used in classical stochastic dynamics, further exploring its applications. By considering a generalized influence functional in the strong decoherence limit, we demonstrate that integrating over the quantum coherence length leads to stochastic Langevin dynamics. Specifically, under our model, we show that the quantum Feynman differential transforms into an underdamped multiplicative non-Markovian Langevin dynamics. Applying this framework to the Wigner function representation, we show that the system follows a stochastic path interpretable via classical probability theory, allowing for the investigation of decoherence through classical dynamics. Finally, we address the inverse problem: constructing an equivalent quantum influence functional from a given classical Langevin equation.
Research in open quantum system dynamics has received growing interest in recent years, and its ongoing investigation has uncovered many intriguing physics departing from closed systems. A particularly useful application of the open quantum system theory is to simulate quantum dynamical processes in condensed phase materials. As the quantum degree of freedom is constantly under the influence of its thermal environment, the accurate description of the dynamics often requires non-Markovian time evolution at finite temperature. Such calculation is usually quite challenging on classical computers as extensive memory storage is required. In this work, we focus on a quantum system linearly coupled to its harmonic bath and present a path integral based quantum algorithm that time-evolves the reduced density matrix under finite temperature non-Markovian dynamics. To treat the nonunitary time evolution, the Sz.-Nagy dilation scheme is used for the conversion to unitary dynamics that can be implementable on gate-based quantum computers. The modified Hadamard test is then used to retrieve all the information of the reduced density matrix. Complexity analysis shows that the memory requirement has exponential reduction on the quantum machine whereas the runtime complexity stays roughly the same as for the classical computer. It points to the possibility of using this algorithm to simulate multilevel and multisite non-Markovian quantum dynamics that are beyond the reach of classical computers. The algorithm makes no ad hoc assumptions and extends naturally beyond Markovian and weak coupling regimes. We validated the algorithm on the quantum simulator with the spin-boson model and demonstrated its excellent agreement with the classical computer benchmark. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Existing quantum algorithms for simulating dynamical systems -- from Hamiltonian simulation to linear and nonlinear differential equations solvers -- simulate Markovian dynamics, in which the system's future evolution depends solely on its current state. We turn our attention to developing quantum algorithms for non-Markovian dynamical systems where the system's future evolution depends on its past history and thus has memory. Specifically, we develop efficient algorithms for linear Volterra integro-differential equations (VIDEs) with a convolution memory kernel that output a quantum state encoding the state description over a time interval or at a particular time. Given efficient circuits for the problem inputs, our algorithms achieve an exponential speedup in system size over existing classical algorithms. We develop an algorithm for general kernels assuming that M<1\textsf{M} < 1M<1, where M\textsf{M}M characterizes the strength of the memory term relative to the dissipation of the Markovian part of the dynamics. We complement this with lower bounds for general-kernel VIDEs when M≥1\textsf{M} \geq 1M≥1, showing that the problem becomes intractable for a family of systems. However, by specializing to structured kernels which admit concise decompositions over exponentials, we develop efficient quantum algorithms even when M≥1\textsf M \geq 1M≥1 by converting the VIDE into a larger set of ODEs, a procedure which we call Markovianization. As an application of the overall framework, we discuss the Mori-Zwanzig formalism used in open quantum systems and fluid dynamics. Overall, our results expand the range of dynamical systems that quantum computers can simulate efficiently.