Simulating Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics Using Variational Quantum Algorithms

TL;DR

This paper explores using variational quantum algorithms to simulate supersymmetric quantum mechanics, introducing an adaptive ansatz to reduce resources and demonstrating preliminary results on IBM quantum devices.

Contribution

It presents an adaptive ansatz construction for VQE in supersymmetric quantum mechanics and provides initial experimental results on real quantum hardware.

Findings

Adaptive ansatz reduces variational parameters.

Preliminary results on IBM devices show feasibility.

Error mitigation improves accuracy.

Abstract

The study of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking (SSB) on the lattice is obstructed by a severe sign problem. Quantum computing provides a promising alternative approach. In particular, properties of supersymmetry relate SSB to the ground-state energy, which can be probed using hybrid quantum--classical algorithms such as the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE). In this work we present VQE analyses for supersymmetric quantum mechanics with various superpotentials. A key new feature is an adaptive ansatz construction algorithm that reduces the number of variational parameters within our ans\"atze. This lowers the resource burden on both the classical optimizer and the noisy quantum processor, thereby improving the feasibility of these calculations in the NISQ era. Additionally, we present preliminary VQE results obtained from real IBM quantum devices, highlighting accuracy, resource constraints, and computational cost, both with and without the application of error mitigation techniques.