Quantum Simulations of Hadron Dynamics in the Schwinger Model using 112 Qubits

Quantum computers are promising tools for addressing problems in nuclear and particle physics whose solutions lie beyond classical computing. For example, simulating the real-time dynamics of strongly interacting particles, described by QCD, is believed to be intractable using classical computers, but efficient using quantum computers. Aspects of QCD can be learned from the Schwinger model which is also a confining gauge theory, possesses multi-hadron bound states (“nuclei”) and a chiral condensate. Toward QCD, I will present recent work on simulating hadron dynamics in the Schwinger model on a 56-site lattice (112 qubits) using IBM’s quantum computers. I will discuss how the symmetries and hierarchy of length scales in the Schwinger model inspire efficient protocols for simulating the real-time dynamics of hadrons on a quantum computer. The quantum computations required for these simulations are among the most complex that have ever been performed (up to 13,858 CNOT gates), and I will discuss how we recover results from a noisy quantum device.