Conventional lattice formulations of $\theta$ vacua in the $1+1$-dimensional $O(3)$ nonlinear sigma model suffer from a sign problem. Here, we construct the first sign-problem-free regularization for \emph{arbitrary} $\theta$. Using efficient lattice \ac{MC} computations, we demonstrate how a Hamiltonian model of spin-$\tfrac12$ degrees of freedom on a 2-dimensional spatial lattice reproduces both the infrared sector for arbitrary $\theta$, as well as the ultraviolet physics of asymptotic freedom. Furthermore, as a model of qubits on a two-dimensional square lattice with only nearest neighbor interactions, it is naturally suited for studying the physics of $\theta$ vacua and asymptotic freedom on near-term quantum devices. Our construction generalizes to $\theta$-vacua in all $\CP(N-1)$ models, solving a long standing sign problem.

 In the Kogut-Susskind formulation of lattice gauge theories, a set of quantum numbers resides at the ends of each link to characterize the vertex-local gauge field. We discuss the role of these quantum numbers in propagating correlations and generating entanglement that ensures each vertex remains gauge invariant, despite time evolution induced by operators with (only) partial access to each vertex  Hilbert space. Applied to recent proposals for eliminating vertex-local Hilbert spaces in quantum simulation, we describe how the required entanglement is generated via delocalization of the time evolution operator with nearest-neighbor controls. These hybridizations, organized with qudits or qubits, exchange classical operator pre-processing for reductions in resource requirements that extend throughout the lattice volume.

(Contribution to proceedings of the 2021 Quantum Simulation for Strong Interactions (QuaSi) Workshops at the InQubator for Quantum Simulation (IQuS))

Collective neutrino oscillations play a crucial role in transporting lepton flavor in astrophysical settings like supernovae and neutron star binary merger remnants, which are characterized by large neutrino densities. In these settings, simulations in the mean-field approximation show that neutrino-neutrino interactions can overtake vacuum oscillations and give rise to fast collective flavor evolution on time-scales t ~ μ^-1, with μ proportional to the local neutrino density. In this work, we study the full out-of-equilibrium flavor dynamics in simple multi-angle geometries displaying fast oscillations. Focusing on simple initial conditions, we analyze the production of pair correlations and entanglement in the complete many-body-dynamics as a function of the number N of neutrinos in the system.
Similarly to simpler geometries with only two neutrino beams, we identify three regimes: stable configurations with vanishing flavor oscillations, marginally unstable configurations with evolution occurring at long time scales τ~μ^-1√N and unstable configurations showing flavor evolution on short time scales τ~μ^-1log(N). We present evidence that these fast collective modes are generated by the same dynamical phase transition which leads to the slow bipolar oscillations, establishing a connection between these two phenomena and explaining the difference in their time scales.
We conclude by discussing a semi-classical approximation which reproduces the entanglement entropy at short to medium time scales and can be potentially useful in situations with more complicated geometries where classical simulation methods starts to become inefficient.

Recent work using a large-charge effective field theory (EFT) for the O(N) Wilson-Fisher conformal field theory has shown that the anomalous dimensions of large-charge operators can be expressed in terms of a few low-energy constants (LECs) of the EFT. By performing lattice Monte Carlo computations at the O(N) Wilson-Fisher critical point, we compute the anomalous dimensions of large-charge operators up to charge Q=10, and extract the leading and subleading LECs of the O(N) large-charge EFT for N=2,4,6,8. To alleviate the signal-to-noise ratio problem present in the large-charge sector of conventional lattice formulations of the O(N) theory, we employ a recently developed qubit formulation of the O(N) nonlinear sigma models with a worm algorithm. This enables us to test the validity of the large-charge expansion, and the recent predictions of large-N expansion for the coefficients of the large-charge EFT.

Motivated by the prospect of quantum simulation of quantum field theories, we formulate the O(N) nonlinear sigma model as a “qubit” model with an (N+1)-dimensional local Hilbert space at each lattice site. Using an efficient worm algorithm in the worldline formulation, we demonstrate that the model has a second-order critical point in 2+1 dimensions, where the continuum physics of the nontrivial O(N) Wilson-Fisher fixed point is reproduced. We compute the critical exponents nu and eta for the O(N) qubit models up to N=8, and find excellent agreement with known results in literature from various analytic and numerical techniques for the O(N) Wilson-Fisher universality class. Our models are suited for studying O(N) nonlinear sigma models on quantum computers up to N=8 in d=2,3 spatial dimensions.

We explore the potential of D-Wave’s quantum annealers for computing basic components required for quantum simulations of Standard Model physics.  By implementing a basic multigrid (including zooming) and specializing Feynman-clock algorithms, D-Wave’s Advantage is used to study harmonic and anharmonic oscillators relevant for lattice scalar field theories and effective field theories, the time evolution of a single plaquette of SU(3) Yang-Mills lattice gauge field theory, and the dynamics of flavor entanglement in four neutrino systems.

In this work we provide a new approach for approximating an ordered operator exponential using
an ordinary operator exponential that acts on the Hilbert space of the simulation as well as a finite-
dimensional clock register. We show that as the number of qubits used for the clock grows, the error in
the ordered operator exponential vanishes, as well as the entanglement between the clock register and
the register of the state being acted upon. Hence, the clock is a convenient device that allows us to
translate results for simulating time-independent systems to the time-dependent case. As an application,
we provide a new family of multiproduct formulas (MPFs) for time-dependent Hamiltonians that yield
both commutator scaling and poly-logarithmic error scaling. This in turn, means that this method
outperforms existing methods for simulating physically-local, time-dependent Hamiltonians. Finally, we
apply the formalism to show how qubitization can be generalized to the time-dependent case and show
that such a translation can be practical if the second derivative of the Hamiltonian is sufficiently small.

The U(1) quantum link model on the triangular lattice has two rotation-symmetry-breaking nematic confined phases. Static external charges are connected by confining strings consisting of individual strands with fractionalized electric flux. The two phases are separated by a weak first order phase transition with an emergent almost exact SO(2) symmetry. We construct a quantum circuit on a chip to facilitate near-term quantum computations of the non-trivial string dynamics.

Studying QCD and other gauge theories on quantum hardware requires the preparation of physically interesting states. The Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) provides a way of performing vacuum state preparation on quantum hardware. In this work, VQE is applied to pure SU(3) lattice Yang-Mills on a single plaquette and one dimensional plaquette chains. Bayesian optimization and gradient descent were investigated for performing the classical optimization. Ansatz states for plaquette chains are constructed in a scalable manner from smaller systems using domain decomposition and a stitching procedure analogous to the Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG). Small examples are performed on IBM’s superconducting Manila processor.

The extraordinary neutrino flux produced in extreme astrophysical environments like the early universe, core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers may produce coherent quantum neutrino oscillations on macroscopic length scales. The Hamiltonian describing this evolution can be mapped into quantum spin models with all-to-all couplings arising from neutrino-neutrino forward scattering. To date many studies of these oscillations have been performed in a mean-field limit where the neutrinos time evolve in a product state.

We examine a simple two-beam model evolving from an initial product state and compare the mean-field and many-body evolution. The symmetries in this model allow us to solve the real-time evolution for the quantum many-body system for hundreds or thousands of spins, far beyond what would be possible in a more general case with an exponential number (2^N) of quantum states. We compare mean-field and many-body solutions for different initial product states and ratios of one- and two-body couplings, and find that in all cases in the limit of infinite spins the mean-field (product state) and many-body solutions coincide for simple observables. This agreement can be understood as a consequence of the spectrum of the Hamiltonian and the initial energy distribution of the product states. We explore quantum information measures like entanglement entropy and purity of the many-body solutions, finding intriguing relationships between the quantum information measures and the dynamical behavior of simple physical observables.