Abstract
Quantum field theory (QFT) simulations are a potentially important application for noisy intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) computers. The ability of a quantum computer to emulate a QFT therefore constitutes a natural application-centric benchmark. Foundational quantum algorithms to simulate QFT processes rely on fault-tolerant computational resources, but to be useful on NISQ machines, error-resilient algorithms are required. Here we outline and implement a hybrid algorithm to calculate the lowest energy levels of the paradigmatic 1+1-dimensional φ4 interacting scalar QFT. We calculate energy splittings and compare results with experimental values obtained on currently available quantum hardware. We show that the accuracy of mass-renormalization calculations represents a useful metric with which near-term hardware may be benchmarked. We also discuss the prospects of scaling the algorithm to full simulation of interacting QFTs on future hardware.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 032306 |
| Journal | Physical Review A |
| Volume | 99 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 4 2019 |
Funding
We acknowledge useful discussions with M. Savage, N. Klco, and T. Morris. K.Y.-A. was supported in part by an appointment to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory HERE Faculty Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. E.F.D., A.J.M., R.S.B., R.C.P.,and K.Y.-A. acknowledge DOE ASCR funding under the Testbed Pathfinder program, FWP number ERKJ332. G.S. acknowledges support from the U.S. Office of Naval Research under award number N00014-15-1-2646. This research used quantum computing system resources supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research program office. Oak Ridge National Laboratory manages access to the IBM Q System as part of the IBM Q Network. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of IBM or the IBM Q team. We acknowledge useful discussions with M. Savage, N. Klco, and T. Morris. K.Y.-A. was supported in part by an appointment to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory HERE Faculty Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. E.F.D., A.J.M., R.S.B., R.C.P., and K.Y.-A. acknowledge DOE ASCR funding under the Testbed Pathfinder program, FWP number ERKJ332. G.S. acknowledges support from the U.S. Office of Naval Research under award number N00014-15-1-2646. This research used quantum computing system resources supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research program office. Oak Ridge National Laboratory manages access to the IBM Q System as part of the IBM Q Network. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of IBM or the IBM Q team.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| DOE ASCR | |
| FWP | ERKJ332 |
| U.S. Office of Naval Research | N00014-15-1-2646 |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Science | |
| Advanced Scientific Computing Research | |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | |
| Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education |