Toward Exploring Phase Diagrams of Gauge Theories on Quantum Computers with Thermal Pure Quantum States

Abstract

Aiming at evading the notorious sign problem in classical Monte-Carlo approaches to lattice quantum chromodynamics, we present an approach for quantum computing finite-temperature lattice gauge theories at non-zero density. Based on the thermal pure-quantum-state formalism of statistical mechanics when extended to gauge-theory systems, our approach [1] allows for signproblem-free quantum computations of thermal expectation values and non-equal time correlation functions. By taking a simple lattice gauge theory for which classical benchmarks are possible, namely Z 2 lattice gauge theory in 1+1 dimensions at finite chemical potential, we discuss resource requirements and robustness to algorithmic and hardware imperfections for near-term quantumhardware realizations.