Quantum Simulation of Coupled Harmonic Oscillators: From Theory to Implementation

TL;DR

This paper explores practical implementations of a quantum algorithm for simulating coupled harmonic oscillators, demonstrating resource-efficient methods and potential for quantum advantage in physical applications.

Contribution

It develops and compares three concrete quantum simulation approaches for coupled oscillators, bridging theory and practical implementation.

Findings

Complex initial state preparation can be avoided in linear chains.

Resource benchmarks for different implementations are provided.

Physical applications like normal modes extraction are demonstrated.

Abstract

We investigate the quantum algorithm of Babbush et al. (arXiv:2303.13012v3) for simulating coupled harmonic oscillators, which promises exponential speedups over classical methods. Focusing on linearly connected oscillator chains, we bridge the gap between theory and implementation by developing and comparing three concrete realizations of the algorithm. First, we implement a sparse initial state preparation combined with product-formula (Suzuki-Trotter) Hamiltonian simulation. Second, we implement a fully quantum, oracle-based framework in which classical data are accessed via oracles, the Hamiltonian is block-encoded, and time evolution is performed using QSVT-based Hamiltonian simulation. Third, we propose an efficient alternative that combines the sparse state-preparation routine of the first approach with the oracle and block-encoding-based simulation pipeline of the second. We provide these implementations on Classiq, a high-level quantum design platform and provide appropriate resource benchmarks. Our simulation results show that the complex initial state preparation proposed by Babbush et al. can be circumvented at least in the linear-chain case. Finally, we illustrate two physical applications-extracting normal modes and simulating coarse-grained energy propagation-demonstrating how the algorithm connects to measurable observables. Our results clarify the resource requirements of the algorithm and provide concrete pathways toward practical quantum advantage.