Engineering Papers⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Mueller, Niklas

Publications and source records attributed to Mueller, Niklas.

Randomized measurement protocols for lattice gauge theories

Randomized measurement protocols, including classical shadows, entanglement tomography, and randomized benchmarking are powerful techniques to estimate observables, perform state tomography, or extract the entanglement properties of quantum states. While unraveling the intricate structure of quantum states is generally difficult and resource-intensive, quantum systems in nature are often tightly constrained by symmetries. Furthermore, this can be leveraged by the symmetry-conscious randomized measurement schemes we propose, yielding clear advantages over symmetry-blind randomization such as reducing measurement costs, enabling symmetry-based error mitigation in experiments, allowing differentiated measurement of (lattice) gauge theory entanglement structure, and, potentially, the verification of topologically ordered states in existing and near-term experiments. Crucially, unlike symmetry-blind randomized measurement protocols, these latter tasks can be performed without relearning symmetries via full reconstruction of the density matrix.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

High-Energy Collision of Quarks and Mesons in the Schwinger Model: From Tensor Networks to Circuit QED

With the aim of studying nonperturbative out-of-equilibrium dynamics of high-energy particle collisions on quantum simulators, we investigate the scattering dynamics of lattice quantum electrodynamics in 1 + 1 dimensions. Working in the bosonized formulation of the model and in the thermodynamic limit, we use uniform-matrix-product-state tensor networks to construct multiparticle wave-packet states, evolve them in time, and detect outgoing particles post collision. This facilitates the numerical simulation of scattering experiments in both confined and deconfined regimes of the model at different energies, giving rise to rich phenomenology, including inelastic production of quark and meson states, meson disintegration, and dynamical string formation and breaking. We obtain elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections, together with time-resolved momentum and position distributions of the outgoing particles. Furthermore, we propose an analog circuit-QED implementation of the scattering process that is native to the platform, requires minimal ingredients and approximations, and enables practical schemes for particle wave-packet preparation and evolution. Furthermore, this study highlights the role of classical and quantum simulation in enhancing our understanding of scattering processes in quantum field theories in real time.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Towards Quantum Computing Phase Diagrams of Gauge Theories with Thermal Pure Quantum States

The phase diagram of strong interactions in nature at finite temperature and chemical potential remains largely theoretically unexplored due to inadequacy of Monte-Carlo–based computational techniques in overcoming a sign problem. Quantum computing offers a sign-problem-free approach, but evaluating thermal expectation values is generally resource intensive on quantum computers. To facilitate thermodynamic studies of gauge theories, we propose a generalization of the thermal-pure-quantum-state formulation of statistical mechanics applied to constrained gauge-theory dynamics, and numerically demonstrate that the phase diagram of a simple low-dimensional gauge theory is robustly determined using this approach, including mapping a chiral phase transition in the model at finite temperature and chemical potential. Quantum algorithms, resource requirements, and algorithmic and hardware error analysis are further discussed to motivate future implementations. Thermal pure quantum states, therefore, may present a suitable candidate for efficient thermal simulations of gauge theories in the era of quantum computing.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Quantum Computation of Dynamical Quantum Phase Transitions and Entanglement Tomography in a Lattice Gauge Theory

Strongly coupled gauge theories far from equilibrium may exhibit unique features that could illuminate the physics of the early universe and of hadron and ion colliders. Studying real-time phenomena has proven challenging with classical-simulation methods but is a natural application of quantum simulation. To demonstrate this prospect, we quantum compute nonequal-time correlation functions and perform entanglement tomography of nonequilibrium states of a simple lattice gauge theory, the Schwinger model, using a trapped-ion quantum computer by IonQ Inc. As an ideal target for near-term devices, a recently predicted dynamical quantum phase transition in this model is studied by preparing, quenching, and tracking the subsequent nonequilibrium dynamics in three ways: (i) overlap echos signaling dynamical transitions, (ii) nonequal-time correlation functions with an underlying topological nature, and (iii) the entanglement structure of nonequilibrium states, including entanglement Hamiltonians. These results constitute the first observation of a dynamical quantum phase transition in a lattice gauge theory on a quantum computer and are a first step toward investigating topological phenomena in nuclear and high-energy physics using quantum technologies.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Thermalization of Gauge Theories from their Entanglement Spectrum

Using dual theories embedded into a larger unphysical Hilbert space along entanglement cuts, we study the entanglement structure of Z 2 lattice gauge theory in (2 + 1) spacetime dimensions. Here we demonstrate Li and Haldane’s conjecture, and show consistency of the entanglement Hamiltonian with the Bisognano-Wichmann theorem. Studying nonequilibrium dynamics after a quench, we provide an extensive description of thermalization in Z 2 gauge theory which proceeds in a characteristic sequence: Maximization of the Schmidt rank and spreading of level repulsion at early times, self-similar evolution with scaling coefficients α = 0.8 ± 0.2 and β = 0.0 ± 0.1 at intermediate times, and finally thermal saturation of the von Neumann entropy.

2-dimensional systems↗

Single-particle digitization strategy for quantum computation of a Φ 4 scalar field theory

Motivated by the parton picture of high-energy quantum chromodynamics, we develop a single-particle digitization strategy for the efficient quantum simulation of relativistic scattering processes in a d + 1-dimensional scalar Φ 4 field theory. Here, we work out quantum algorithms for initial state preparation, time evolution, and final state measurements. We outline a nonperturbative renormalization strategy in this single-particle framework.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Chirality transfer and chiral turbulence in gauge theories

Chirality transfer between fermions and gauge fields plays a crucial role for understanding the dynamics of anomalous transport phenomena such as the Chiral Magnetic Effect. In this proceeding we present a first principles study of these processes based on classical-statistical real-time lattice simulations of strongly coupled QED (e 2 N f = 64). Furthermore, our simulations demonstrate that a chirality imbalance in the fermion sector triggers chiral plasma instabilities in the gaugefield sector, which ultimately lead to the generation of long range helical magnetic fields via an self-similar turbulent cascade of the magnetic helicity.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Computing real time correlation functions on a hybrid classical/quantum computer

Quantum devices may overcome limitations of classical computers in studies of nuclear structure functions and parton Wigner distributions of protons and nuclei. In this talk, we discuss a worldline approach to compute nuclear structure functions in the high energy Regge limit of QCD using a hybrid quantum computer, by expressing the fermion determinant in the QCD path integral as a quantum mechanical path integral over 0 + 1-dimensional fermionic and bosonic world-lines in background gauge fields. Our simplest example of computing the well-known dipole model result for the structure function F 2 in the high energy Regge limit is feasible with NISQ era technology using few qubits and shallow circuits. We note this example can be scaled up in complexity and extended in scope to compute structure functions, scattering amplitudes and other real-time correlation functions in QCD, relevant for example to describe non-equilibrium transport of quarks and gluons in a Quark-Gluon-Plasma.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗