Quantum simulation of scattering amplitudes and interferences in perturbative QCD

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how quantum computers can simulate scattering amplitudes in perturbative QCD, including color interactions, showing potential advantages over classical methods and validating on simulated and real quantum hardware.

Contribution

It introduces quantum algorithms for calculating QCD Feynman diagrams and interferences, advancing toward full quantum simulation of perturbative QCD processes.

Findings

Potential quantum advantage for processes with identical particles

Validation on simulated quantum computers

Implementation on a 56-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer

Abstract

A flagship application of quantum computers is the simulation of other quantum systems, including quantum field theories. In this article, we show how quantum computers can be employed to naturally calculate Feynman diagrams and their interferences in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). We simulate the colour parts of the interactions directly on the quantum computer, while the kinematic parts are for now pre-computed classically. For processes where some of the external particles are identical, we find the first hints of a potential quantum advantage. We validate our techniques using simulated quantum computers. Furthermore, for toy examples we also demonstrate our algorithms on a 56-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer. The work constitutes a further key step towards a full quantum simulation of generic perturbative QCD processes.