Quantum algorithms for compact polymer thermodynamics

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Rattacaso, Davide, Jaschke, Daniel, Trovato, Antonio, Siloi, Ilaria, Montangero, Simone
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Rattacaso, Davide
Jaschke, Daniel
Trovato, Antonio
Siloi, Ilaria
Montangero, Simone
author_facet Rattacaso, Davide
Jaschke, Daniel
Trovato, Antonio
Siloi, Ilaria
Montangero, Simone
contents Efficient sampling from ensembles of Hamiltonian cycles is critical for predicting the thermodynamic properties of compact polymers, with applications including modeling protein and RNA folding and designing soft materials. Although classical Monte Carlo methods are widely regarded as the standard approach, their efficiency is strongly limited when applied to compact polymers. In this work, we enable a quadratic speedup in the estimation of thermodynamic properties of maximally compact polymers and heteropolymers by quantum computation. To this end, we encode the target thermodynamic ensemble into the amplitudes of a quantum state, i.e., a quantum sample, which can be processed via amplitude amplification. Using quantum equational reasoning, we construct a local parent Hamiltonian whose unique ground state realizes a quantum sample of all Hamiltonian cycles. This state can be prepared on quantum hardware using ground-state preparation methods, such as quantum annealing, and subsequently manipulated to generate quantum samples of polymers and heteropolymers at a target temperature. Finally, we approximate the quantum sample as a tensor network, revealing an entanglement area law. For fixed-width rectangular lattices, we obtain a time-efficient and compact encoding of the full ensemble of Hamiltonian cycles, enabling the efficient evaluation of expectation values, partition functions, and configuration probabilities via tensor contractions, without resorting to sampling.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_12334
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Quantum algorithms for compact polymer thermodynamics
Rattacaso, Davide
Jaschke, Daniel
Trovato, Antonio
Siloi, Ilaria
Montangero, Simone
Quantum Physics
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Efficient sampling from ensembles of Hamiltonian cycles is critical for predicting the thermodynamic properties of compact polymers, with applications including modeling protein and RNA folding and designing soft materials. Although classical Monte Carlo methods are widely regarded as the standard approach, their efficiency is strongly limited when applied to compact polymers. In this work, we enable a quadratic speedup in the estimation of thermodynamic properties of maximally compact polymers and heteropolymers by quantum computation. To this end, we encode the target thermodynamic ensemble into the amplitudes of a quantum state, i.e., a quantum sample, which can be processed via amplitude amplification. Using quantum equational reasoning, we construct a local parent Hamiltonian whose unique ground state realizes a quantum sample of all Hamiltonian cycles. This state can be prepared on quantum hardware using ground-state preparation methods, such as quantum annealing, and subsequently manipulated to generate quantum samples of polymers and heteropolymers at a target temperature. Finally, we approximate the quantum sample as a tensor network, revealing an entanglement area law. For fixed-width rectangular lattices, we obtain a time-efficient and compact encoding of the full ensemble of Hamiltonian cycles, enabling the efficient evaluation of expectation values, partition functions, and configuration probabilities via tensor contractions, without resorting to sampling.
title Quantum algorithms for compact polymer thermodynamics
topic Quantum Physics
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.12334