Partonic collinear structure by quantum computing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a quantum algorithm for calculating parton distribution functions, demonstrating its effectiveness through simulations in a simplified model and showing promise for future quantum computations in high energy physics.

Contribution

The paper presents the first quantum algorithm integrating hadronic state preparation and real-time correlator evaluation for PDFs, validated by classical and quantum simulations.

Findings

Quantum algorithm accurately simulates PDFs in a 1+1D model.

Results agree with classical exact diagonalization.

Potential for application in QCD PDF calculations on near-term quantum devices.

Abstract

We present a systematic quantum algorithm, which integrates both the hadronic state preparation and the evaluation of real-time light-front correlators, to study parton distribution functions (PDFs). As a proof of concept, we demonstrate the first direct simulation of the PDFs in the 1+1 dimensional Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. We show the results obtained by exact diagonalization and by quantum computation using classical hardware. The agreement between these two distinct methods and the qualitative consistency with QCD PDFs validate the proposed quantum algorithm. Our work suggests the encouraging prospects of calculating QCD PDFs on current and near-term quantum devices. The presented quantum algorithm is expected to have many applications in high energy particle and nuclear physics.