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 –dimensional 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.
- Received 12 December 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.99.032306
©2019 American Physical Society