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Abstract Interacting many-electron problems pose some of the greatest computational challenges in science, with essential applications across many fields. The solutions to these problems will offer accurate predictions of chemical reactivity and kinetics, and other properties of quantum systems 1–4 . Fermionic quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods 5,6 , which use a statistical sampling of the ground state, are among the most powerful approaches to these problems. Controlling the fermionic sign problem with constraints ensures the efficiency of QMC at the expense of potentially significant biases owing to the limited flexibility of classical computation. Here we propose an approach that combines constrained QMC with quantum computation to reduce such biases. We implement our scheme experimentally using up to 16 qubits to unbias constrained QMC calculations performed on chemical systems with as many as 120 orbitals. These experiments represent the largest chemistry simulations performed with the help of quantum computers, while achieving accuracy that is competitive with state-of-the-art classical methods without burdensome error mitigation. Compared with the popular variational quantum eigensolver 7,8 , our hybrid quantum-classical computational model offers an alternative path towards achieving a practical quantum advantage for the electronic structure problem without demanding exceedingly accurate preparation and measurement of the ground-state wavefunction.
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This content will become publicly available on December 1, 2025
Unleashed from constrained optimization: quantum computing for quantum chemistry employing generator coordinate inspired method
Abstract Hybrid quantum-classical approaches offer potential solutions to quantum chemistry problems, yet they often manifest as constrained optimization problems. Here, we explore the interconnection between constrained optimization and generalized eigenvalue problems through the Unitary Coupled Cluster (UCC) excitation generators. Inspired by the generator coordinate method, we employ these UCC excitation generators to construct non-orthogonal, overcomplete many-body bases, projecting the system Hamiltonian into an effective Hamiltonian, which bypasses issues such as barren plateaus that heuristic numerical minimizers often encountered in standard variational quantum eigensolver (VQE). Diverging from conventional quantum subspace expansion methods, we introduce an adaptive scheme that robustly constructs the many-body basis sets from a pool of the UCC excitation generators. This scheme supports the development of a hierarchical ADAPT quantum-classical strategy, enabling a balanced interplay between subspace expansion and ansatz optimization to address complex, strongly correlated quantum chemical systems cost-effectively, setting the stage for more advanced quantum simulations in chemistry.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2143915
- PAR ID:
- 10617035
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- npj Quantum Information
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2056-6387
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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