Quantum computing of chirality imbalance in SU(2) gauge theory

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a variational quantum algorithm to study chiral symmetry phenomena in a 1+1D SU(2) gauge theory, showing promising results for future quantum simulations of QCD at finite temperature and density.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum algorithm combined with Monte Carlo sampling for simulating non-Abelian gauge theories on quantum hardware, enabling exploration of chiral phenomena.

Findings

Quantum simulations agree with exact diagonalization results.

Chiral symmetry breaking and restoration observed as functions of temperature and chemical potential.

Potential for studying QCD systems at finite temperature and density using near-term quantum computers.

Abstract

We implement a variational quantum algorithm to investigate the chiral condensate in a 1+1 dimensional SU(2) non-Abelian gauge theory. The algorithm is evaluated using a proposed Monte Carlo sampling method, which allows the extension to large qubit systems. The obtained results through quantum simulations on classical and actual quantum hardware are in good agreement with exact diagonalization of the lattice Hamiltonian, revealing the phenomena of chiral symmetry breaking and restoration as functions of both temperature and chemical potential. Our findings underscore the potential of near-term quantum computing for exploring QCD systems at finite temperature and density in non-Abelian gauge theories.