Analyzing Common Electronic Structure Theory Algorithms for Distributed Quantum Computing

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the potential for distributing electronic structure algorithms across quantum computers, revealing limitations in current methods and emphasizing the need for new approaches to enable practical quantum chemistry applications.

Contribution

The study analyzes common electronic structure algorithms for distributed quantum computing, highlighting their inefficiencies and the necessity for developing new distributed methods.

Findings

Many algorithms cannot be efficiently parallelized with local operations.

Current methods are limited in their suitability for distributed quantum computing.

New algorithms are required for effective distribution in quantum chemistry applications.

Abstract

To move towards the utility era of quantum computing, many corporations have posed distributed quantum computing (DQC) as a framework for scaling the current generation of devices for practical applications. One of these applications is quantum chemistry, also known as electronic structure theory, which has been poised as a "killer application" of quantum computing, To this end, we analyze five electronic structure methods, found in common packages such as Tequila and ffsim, which can be easily interfaced with the Qiskit Circuit Cutting addon. Herein, we provide insights into cutting these algorithms using local operations (LO) to determine their aptitude for distribution. The key findings of our work are that many of these algorithms cannot be efficiently parallelized using LO, and new methods must be developed to apply electronic structure theory within a DQC framework.