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Quantum algorithms for quantum field theories
Stephen P Jordan1, Keith S M Lee, John Preskill
1Applied and Computational Mathematics Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA. stephen.jordan@nist.gov
Abstract:
Quantum field theory reconciles quantum mechanics and special relativity, and plays a central role in many areas of physics. We developed a quantum algorithm to compute relativistic scattering probabilities in a massive quantum field theory with quartic self-interactions (φ(4) theory) in spacetime of four and fewer dimensions. Its run time is polynomial in the number of particles, their energy, and the desired precision, and applies at both weak and strong coupling. In the strong-coupling and high-precision regimes, our quantum algorithm achieves exponential speedup over the fastest known classical algorithm.
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