Simulating Gauge Theories on Quantum Computers

Despite remarkable success in the last decades, numerical simulations of lattice gauge theories still have significant challenges. The Hilbert space of a quantum system grows exponentially fast with the number of degrees of freedom, making direct real-time evolution of quantum field theories intractable on a classical computer. Secondly, Mote Carlo simulations for thermal field theories suffer from the sign problem at finite fermion density. Quantum computers are promising candidates to address both challenges. However, at least two requirements must be met. First, the degrees of freedom of the theory must be mapped efficiently onto the qubits. Secondly, low-cost quantum circuits must be constructed to perform the time evolution. This thesis addresses both issues. That is, I present an algorithm designed to construct efficient quantum circuits for the time evolution of arbitrary Hamiltonians and demonstrate its performance on some quantum field theories. Then, I will present a lattice gauge theory truncation method and construct its time evolution quantum circuit.

Author

• Murairi, Edison Murongani

Language

• English

Keyword

• Gauge theories
• Quantum computing
• Hamiltonian simulation

Date created

• 2024

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Physics

Degree

• Ph.D.

Advisor

• Alexandru, Andrei

Committee Member(s)

• Cohen, Thomas
• Peng, Weiqun
• Afanasev, Andrei
• Lee, Frank X

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/2j62s583t