Description
Title: Quantum Simulation of Real-Time Dynamics in High-Energy Physics
Abstract: Real-time dynamics plays a central role in high-energy physics, underlying processes such as particle scattering and the calculation of light-cone parton distribution functions (PDFs), and providing deep insights into the structure of matter. However, its nonperturbative simulation remains difficult for classical methods because of sign problems and rapidly growing entanglement. Quantum computing offers a promising alternative.
In this talk, I will present our recent progress on quantum simulations of particle scattering in (1+1) dimensional lattice field theories. I will discuss the construction of stable particle creation operators and efficient quantum circuits for simulating inelastic meson scattering. These developments enable direct access to the quantum state around the collision region, and provide dynamical information complementary to conventional Lüscher’s formula, and to asymptotic observables in scattering experiments. I will also present elastic fermion scattering simulations on IBM quantum hardware, including a full 40-qubit scattering process and an 80-qubit state-preparation demonstration, with results in good agreement with ideal simulations after error mitigation. Finally, I will briefly discuss ongoing projects, including resonance states in scattering and the calculation of scalar-meson PDFs in the Schwinger model.
Brief introduction about the speaker: Dr. Yahui Chai is a researcher in quantum simulation and lattice field theory, with a focus on quantum computing applications to high-energy physics. She received her B.Sc. from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2016 and her Ph.D. from Peking University in 2021, where her research focused on lattice QCD. She was a postdoctoral researcher at DESY and will join the RIKEN Center for Quantum Computing as a research scientist. Her recent work develops quantum algorithms and tensor-network-assisted methods for simulating real-time dynamics in lattice field theories. She is particularly interested in using quantum computers to study nonperturbative dynamical processes and to explore new perspectives that Hamiltonian simulation can bring to high-energy physics.
