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Title: Quantum simulation of real-space dynamics
Quantum simulation is a prominent application of quantum computers. While there is extensive previous work on simulating finite-dimensional systems, less is known about quantum algorithms for real-space dynamics. We conduct a systematic study of such algorithms. In particular, we show that the dynamics of a d -dimensional Schrödinger equation with η particles can be simulated with gate complexity O ~ ( η d F poly ( log ⁡ ( g ′ / ϵ ) ) ) , where ϵ is the discretization error, g ′ controls the higher-order derivatives of the wave function, and F measures the time-integrated strength of the potential. Compared to the best previous results, this exponentially improves the dependence on ϵ and g ′ from poly ( g ′ / ϵ ) to poly ( log ⁡ ( g ′ / ϵ ) ) and polynomially improves the dependence on T and d , while maintaining best known performance with respect to η . For the case of Coulomb interactions, we give an algorithm using η 3 ( d + η ) T poly ( log ⁡ ( η d T g ′ / ( Δ ϵ ) ) ) / Δ one- and two-qubit gates, and another using η 3 ( 4 d ) d / 2 T poly ( log ⁡ ( η d T g ′ / ( Δ ϵ ) ) ) / Δ one- and two-qubit gates and QRAM operations, where T is the evolution time and the parameter Δ regulates the unbounded Coulomb interaction. We give applications to several computational problems, including faster real-space simulation of quantum chemistry, rigorous analysis of discretization error for simulation of a uniform electron gas, and a quadratic improvement to a quantum algorithm for escaping saddle points in nonconvex optimization.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1813814 2120757
NSF-PAR ID:
10389410
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Quantum
Volume:
6
ISSN:
2521-327X
Page Range / eLocation ID:
860
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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