Simulating 0+1 Dimensional Quantum Gravity on Quantum Computers: Mini-Superspace Quantum Cosmology and the World Line Approach in Quantum Field Theory
Quantum computers are promising candidates to radically expand the domain of computational science by their increased computing power and more effective algorithms. In particular, quantum computing could have a tremendous impact on the field of quantum cosmology. The goal of quantum cosmology is to describe the evolution of the universe through the Wheeler-DeWitt equation or path integral methods without having to first formulate a full theory of quantum gravity. The quantum computer provides an advantage in this endeavor because it can perform path integrals directly in Lorentzian space and does not require constructing contour integrations in Euclidean gravity. Also, quantum computers can provide advantages in systems with fermions which are difficult to simulate on classical computers. In this study, we first employed classical computational methods to analyze a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker mini-superspace with a scalar field and visualize the calculated wavefunction of the universe for a variety of different values of the curvature of the universe and the cosmological constant. We then used IBM’s Quantum Information Science Kit Python library and the variational quantum eigensolver algorithm to study the same systems on a quantum computer. The framework was extended to the world line approach to quantum field theory.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (SC-21); Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0012704
- OSTI ID:
- 1619263
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-209523-2018-PUCP
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2018 New York Scientific Data Summit (NYSDS): Data-Driven Discovery in Science and Industry, Upton, NY, 8/6/2018 - 8/8/2018
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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