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Title: Neutrino oscillations in a quantum processor

Abstract

Quantum computing technologies promise to revolutionize calculations in many areas of physics, chemistry, and data science. Their power is expected to be especially pronounced for problems where direct analogs of a quantum system under study can be encoded coherently within a quantum computer. A first step toward harnessing this power is to express the building blocks of known physical systems within the language of quantum gates and circuits. In this paper we present a quantum calculation of an archetypal quantum system: neutrino oscillations. We define gate arrangements that implement the neutral lepton mixing operation and neutrino time evolution in two-, three-, and four-flavor systems. We then calculate oscillation probabilities by coherently preparing quantum states within the processor, time evolving them unitarily, and performing measurements in the flavor basis, with close analogy to the physical processes realized in neutrino oscillation experiments. Evaluations on publicly available quantum processors obtain excellent agreement with classical calculations. We provide recipes for modeling oscillation in the standard three-flavor paradigm as well as beyond-standard-model scenarios, including systems with sterile neutrinos, nonstandard interactions, Lorentz symmetry violation, and anomalous decoherence.

Authors:
; ORCiD logo
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1579428
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1908625
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0019054; SC0019223; PHY-1801996
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Physical Review Research
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Physical Review Research Journal Volume: 1 Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 2643-1564
Publisher:
American Physical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS

Citation Formats

Argüelles, C. A., and Jones, B. J. P.. Neutrino oscillations in a quantum processor. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevResearch.1.033176.
Argüelles, C. A., & Jones, B. J. P.. Neutrino oscillations in a quantum processor. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.1.033176
Argüelles, C. A., and Jones, B. J. P.. Fri . "Neutrino oscillations in a quantum processor". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.1.033176.
@article{osti_1579428,
title = {Neutrino oscillations in a quantum processor},
author = {Argüelles, C. A. and Jones, B. J. P.},
abstractNote = {Quantum computing technologies promise to revolutionize calculations in many areas of physics, chemistry, and data science. Their power is expected to be especially pronounced for problems where direct analogs of a quantum system under study can be encoded coherently within a quantum computer. A first step toward harnessing this power is to express the building blocks of known physical systems within the language of quantum gates and circuits. In this paper we present a quantum calculation of an archetypal quantum system: neutrino oscillations. We define gate arrangements that implement the neutral lepton mixing operation and neutrino time evolution in two-, three-, and four-flavor systems. We then calculate oscillation probabilities by coherently preparing quantum states within the processor, time evolving them unitarily, and performing measurements in the flavor basis, with close analogy to the physical processes realized in neutrino oscillation experiments. Evaluations on publicly available quantum processors obtain excellent agreement with classical calculations. We provide recipes for modeling oscillation in the standard three-flavor paradigm as well as beyond-standard-model scenarios, including systems with sterile neutrinos, nonstandard interactions, Lorentz symmetry violation, and anomalous decoherence.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevResearch.1.033176},
journal = {Physical Review Research},
number = 3,
volume = 1,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {12}
}

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