High-Energy Collision of Quarks and Mesons in the Schwinger Model: From Tensor Networks to Circuit QED

TL;DR

This paper explores nonperturbative high-energy particle collision dynamics in 1+1D lattice QED using tensor networks and proposes a circuit-QED implementation for quantum simulation, revealing rich scattering phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a tensor network approach to simulate scattering in lattice QED and proposes a practical circuit-QED platform for experimental realization.

Findings

Simulation of elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections

Observation of meson disintegration and string breaking

Time-resolved momentum and position distributions

Abstract

With the aim of studying nonperturbative out-of-equilibrium dynamics of high-energy particle collisions on quantum simulators, we investigate the scattering dynamics of lattice quantum electrodynamics in 1+1 dimensions. Working in the bosonized formulation of the model and in the thermodynamic limit, we use uniform-matrix-product-state tensor networks to construct multi-particle wave-packet states, evolve them in time, and detect outgoing particles post collision. This facilitates the numerical simulation of scattering experiments in both confined and deconfined regimes of the model at different energies, giving rise to rich phenomenology, including inelastic production of quark and meson states, meson disintegration, and dynamical string formation and breaking. We obtain elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections, together with time-resolved momentum and position distributions of the outgoing particles. Furthermore, we propose an analog circuit-QED implementation of the scattering process that is native to the platform, requires minimal ingredients and approximations, and enables practical schemes for particle wave-packet preparation and evolution. This study highlights the role of classical and quantum simulation in enhancing our understanding of scattering processes in quantum field theories in real time.