Collider Events on a Quantum Computer

TL;DR

This paper introduces a quantum computing approach to simulate particle collision events, leveraging quantum walks and NISQ devices, marking a novel application in high-energy physics data synthesis.

Contribution

It presents the first use of a NISQ device to simulate realistic high-energy particle collision events using a quantum algorithm for parton shower generation.

Findings

Successful sampling of parton shower configurations on IBM quantum device

Comparison shows quantum-generated data aligns with experimental measurements

Demonstrates feasibility of quantum algorithms in high-energy physics simulations

Abstract

High-quality simulated data is crucial for particle physics discoveries. Therefore, parton shower algorithms are a major building block of the data synthesis in event generator programs. However, the core algorithms used to generate parton showers have barely changed since the 1980s. With quantum computers' rapid and continuous development, dedicated algorithms are required to exploit the potential that quantum computers provide to address problems in high-energy physics. This paper presents a novel approach to synthesising parton showers using the Discrete QCD method. The algorithm benefits from an elegant quantum walk implementation which can be embedded into the classical toolchain. We use the ibm_algiers device to sample parton shower configurations and generate data that we compare against measurements taken at the ALEPH, DELPHI and OPAL experiments. This is the first time a Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) device has been used to simulate realistic high-energy particle collision events.