Simulating plasma wave propagation on a superconducting quantum chip

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Sundar, Bhuvanesh, Evert, Bram, Geyko, Vasily, Patterson, Andrew, Joseph, Ilon, Shi, Yuan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Sundar, Bhuvanesh
Evert, Bram
Geyko, Vasily
Patterson, Andrew
Joseph, Ilon
Shi, Yuan
author_facet Sundar, Bhuvanesh
Evert, Bram
Geyko, Vasily
Patterson, Andrew
Joseph, Ilon
Shi, Yuan
contents Quantum computers may one day enable the efficient simulation of strongly coupled plasmas that lie beyond the reach of classical computation in regimes where quantum effects are important and the scale separation is large. In this article, we take a first step toward efficient simulation of quantum plasmas by demonstrating linear plasma wave propagation on a superconducting quantum chip. Using high-fidelity and highly expressive device-native gates, combined with an error-mitigation technique, we simulate the scattering of laser pulses from inhomogeneous plasmas. Our approach is made feasible by the identification of a suitable local spin model whose excitations mimic plasma waves, and whose circuit implementation requires a lower gate count than other proposed approaches that would require a future fault-tolerant quantum computer. This work opens avenues to study more complicated phenomena that cannot be simulated efficiently on classical computers, such as nonlinear quantum dynamics when strongly coupled plasmas are driven out of equilibrium.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_09479
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Simulating plasma wave propagation on a superconducting quantum chip
Sundar, Bhuvanesh
Evert, Bram
Geyko, Vasily
Patterson, Andrew
Joseph, Ilon
Shi, Yuan
Quantum Physics
Plasma Physics
Quantum computers may one day enable the efficient simulation of strongly coupled plasmas that lie beyond the reach of classical computation in regimes where quantum effects are important and the scale separation is large. In this article, we take a first step toward efficient simulation of quantum plasmas by demonstrating linear plasma wave propagation on a superconducting quantum chip. Using high-fidelity and highly expressive device-native gates, combined with an error-mitigation technique, we simulate the scattering of laser pulses from inhomogeneous plasmas. Our approach is made feasible by the identification of a suitable local spin model whose excitations mimic plasma waves, and whose circuit implementation requires a lower gate count than other proposed approaches that would require a future fault-tolerant quantum computer. This work opens avenues to study more complicated phenomena that cannot be simulated efficiently on classical computers, such as nonlinear quantum dynamics when strongly coupled plasmas are driven out of equilibrium.
title Simulating plasma wave propagation on a superconducting quantum chip
topic Quantum Physics
Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.09479