Quantum Computing for Quantum Chemistry

Oleksandr Kyriienko, Assistant Professor at the University of Exeter gives a lecture titled Quantum Computing for Quantum Chemistry 

Abstract:
Quantum computing has the potential to revolutionize the fields of quantum chemistry and material science. Yet, modern quantum hardware cannot perform calculations in the fault-tolerant fashion, and is susceptible to errors and external noise. Given the rapid development of currently available quantum platforms, proposing efficient quantum software for near-term devices becomes the key to their successful operation. For instance, using the hybrid quantum-classical variational algorithms, which combine quantum gate operations and classical optimization procedure, first experimental demonstrations of ground state energy estimation became possible. At the same time, more algorithmic developments are needed for tackling larger scale problems and exploiting analog quantum simulation.

In the talk, Dr. Kyriienko will describe the quantum inverse iteration algorithm which allows to access the ground state properties of a quantum system. It relies on the simple evolution of the quantum state with a quantum simulator, followed by the measurement of overlap with the initial state. Designed to be run with imperfect noisy circuits, it has efficient polynomial performance, does not require ancillary qubits and controlled operations, allows for the error mitigation, and favors analog quantum simulation.

When applied to quantum chemistry problems, the proposed protocol demonstrates an efficient performance for the present-day noisy circuits, and holds promise for intermediate scale computation. Given the ever-increasing scale of analog quantum simulators for material science models, it can offer capabilities to study ground state physics of highly correlated matter.