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As we begin to reach the limits of classical computing, quantum computing has emerged as a technology that has captured the imagination of the scientific world. While for many years, the ability to execute quantum algorithms was only a theoretical possibility, recent advances in hardware mean that quantum computing devices now exist that can carry out quantum computation on a limited scale. Thus it is now a real possibility, and of central importance at this time, to assess the potential impact of quantum computers on real problems of interest. One of the earliest and most compelling applications for quantum computers is Feynmans idea of simulating quantum systems with many degrees of freedom. Such systems are found across chemistry, physics, and materials science. The particular way in which quantum computing extends classical computing means that one cannot expect arbitrary simulations to be sped up by a quantum computer, thus one must carefully identify areas where quantum advantage may be achieved. In this review, we briefly describe central problems in chemistry and materials science, in areas of electronic structure, quantum statistical mechanics, and quantum dynamics, that are of potential interest for solution on a quantum computer. We then take a detailed snapshot of current progress in quantum algorithms for ground-state, dynamics, and thermal state simulation, and analyze their strengths and weaknesses for future developments.
Quantum computational chemistry is a potential application of quantum computers that is expected to effectively solve several quantum-chemistry problems, particularly the electronic structure problem. Quantum computational chemistry can be compared to the conventional computational devices. This review comprehensively investigates the applications and overview of quantum computational chemistry, including a review of the Hartree-Fock method for quantum information scientists. Quantum algorithms, quantum phase estimation, and variational quantum eigensolver, have been applied to the post-Hartree-Fock method.
Fault-tolerant quantum computation promises to solve outstanding problems in quantum chemistry within the next decade. Realizing this promise requires scalable tools that allow users to translate descriptions of electronic structure problems to optimized quantum gate sequences executed on physical hardware, without requiring specialized quantum computing knowledge. To this end, we present a quantum chemistry library, under the open-source MIT license, that implements and enables straightforward use of state-of-art quantum simulation algorithms. The library is implemented in Q#, a language designed to express quantum algorithms at scale, and interfaces with NWChem, a leading electronic structure package. We define a standardized schema for this interface, Broombridge, that describes second-quantized Hamiltonians, along with metadata required for effective quantum simulation, such as trial wavefunction ansatzes. This schema is generated for arbitrary molecules by NWChem, conveniently accessible, for instance, through Docker containers and a recently developed web interface EMSL Arrows. We illustrate use of the library with various examples, including ground- and excited-state calculations for LiH, H$_{10}$, and C$_{20}$ with an active-space simplification, and automatically obtain resource estimates for classically intractable examples.
Variational quantum eigensolver~(VQE) typically optimizes variational parameters in a quantum circuit to prepare eigenstates for a quantum system. Its applications to many problems may involve a group of Hamiltonians, e.g., Hamiltonian of a molecule is a function of nuclear configurations. In this paper, we incorporate derivatives of Hamiltonian into VQE and develop some hybrid quantum-classical algorithms, which explores both Hamiltonian and wavefunction spaces for optimization. Aiming for solving quantum chemistry problems more efficiently, we first propose mutual gradient descent algorithm for geometry optimization by updating parameters of Hamiltonian and wavefunction alternatively, which shows a rapid convergence towards equilibrium structures of molecules. We then establish differential equations that governs how optimized variational parameters of wavefunction change with intrinsic parameters of the Hamiltonian, which can speed up calculation of energy potential surface. Our studies suggest a direction of hybrid quantum-classical algorithm for solving quantum systems more efficiently by considering spaces of both Hamiltonian and wavefunction.
We develop a resource efficient step-merged quantum imaginary time evolution approach (smQITE) to solve for the ground state of a Hamiltonian on quantum computers. This heuristic method features a fixed shallow quantum circuit depth along the state evolution path. We use this algorithm to determine binding energy curves of a set of molecules, including H$_2$, H$_4$, H$_6$, LiH, HF, H$_2$O and BeH$_2$, and find highly accurate results. The required quantum resources of smQITE calculations can be further reduced by adopting the circuit form of the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) technique, such as the unitary coupled cluster ansatz. We demonstrate that smQITE achieves a similar computational accuracy as VQE at the same fixed-circuit ansatz, without requiring a generally complicated high-dimensional non-convex optimization. Finally, smQITE calculations are carried out on Rigetti quantum processing units (QPUs), demonstrating that the approach is readily applicable on current noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices.
Universal gate sets for quantum computing have been known for decades, yet no universal gate set has been proposed for particle-conserving unitaries, which are the operations of interest in quantum chemistry. In this work, we show that controlled single-excitation gates in the form of Givens rotations are universal for particle-conserving unitaries. Single-excitation gates describe an arbitrary $U(2)$ rotation on the two-qubit subspace spanned by the states $|01rangle, |10rangle$, while leaving other states unchanged -- a transformation that is analogous to a single-qubit rotation on a dual-rail qubit. The proof is constructive, so our result also provides an explicit method for compiling arbitrary particle-conserving unitaries. Additionally, we describe a method for using controlled single-excitation gates to prepare an arbitrary state of a fixed number of particles. We derive analytical gradient formulas for Givens rotations as well as decompositions into single-qubit and CNOT gates. Our results offer a unifying framework for quantum computational chemistry where every algorithm is a unique recipe built from the same universal ingredients: Givens rotations.