From Linear Differential Equations to Unitaries: A Moment-Matching Dilation Framework with Near-Optimal Quantum Algorithms

TL;DR

This paper introduces a universal dilation framework that embeds non-unitary linear flows into unitary evolutions, enabling near-optimal quantum algorithms for simulating complex physical systems.

Contribution

It develops a moment-matching dilation method that generalizes existing schemes and offers a flexible, tunable design space for quantum simulation of non-Hermitian dynamics.

Findings

Finite-difference dilation achieves near-optimal oracle complexity.

Numerical experiments confirm accuracy and robustness.

Framework unifies and extends previous dilation methods.

Abstract

Quantum speed-ups for dynamical simulation usually demand unitary time-evolution, whereas the large ODE/PDE systems encountered in realistic physical models are generically non-unitary. We present a universal moment-fulfilling dilation that embeds any linear, non-Hermitian flow $\dot x = L x$ with $L=-iH+K$ into a strictly unitary evolution on an enlarged Hilbert space: \[ ( (l| \otimes I ) \mathcal T e^{-i \int ( I_A\otimes H +i F\otimes K) dt} ( |r) \otimes I ) = \mathcal T e^{\int L dt}, \] provided the triple $( F, (l|, |r) )$ satisfies the compact moment identities $(l| F^{k}|r) =1$ for all $k\ge 0$ in the ancilla space. This algebraic criterion recovers both \emph{Schr\"odingerization} [Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 230602 (2024)] and the linear-combination-of-Hamiltonians (LCHS) scheme [Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 150603 (2023)], while also unveiling whole families of new dilations built from differential, integral, pseudo-differential, and difference generators. Each family comes with a continuous tuning parameter \emph{and} is closed under similarity transformations that leave the moments invariant, giving rise to an overwhelming landscape of design space that allows quantum dilations to be co-optimized for specific applications, algorithms, and hardware. As concrete demonstrations, we prove that a simple finite-difference dilation in a finite interval attains near-optimal oracle complexity. Numerical experiments on Maxwell viscoelastic wave propagation confirm the accuracy and robustness of the approach.