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Main Authors: Kuanysheva, Tamila, Andrade-Plascencia, Jonathan, Sahoo, Jayakrushna, Kendrick, Brian, Babikov, Dmitri
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.20078
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author Kuanysheva, Tamila
Andrade-Plascencia, Jonathan
Sahoo, Jayakrushna
Kendrick, Brian
Babikov, Dmitri
author_facet Kuanysheva, Tamila
Andrade-Plascencia, Jonathan
Sahoo, Jayakrushna
Kendrick, Brian
Babikov, Dmitri
contents Digital quantum simulation offers a promising route for studying quantum dynamics, but efficient operator representations and circuit depth remain key challenges for near-term hardware. We investigate one-dimensional wave packet dynamics using a grid-based encoding of the wave function onto qubit registers. Time evolution is implemented via split-operator approach, with kinetic energy operator applied using Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT) with polynomial scaling and potential energy operator expressed through commuting Pauli-Z gates, improving accuracy and enabling incorporation of arbitrary discretized potentials. While the full Pauli decomposition of Hamiltonian scales exponentially as O(4^n ), the present approach reduces the operator scaling to O(2^n) for n qubits. We benchmark this approach on classical simulators and quantum hardware (IBM Quantum and IonQ) for two- to five-qubit implementations. For two- and three-qubit cases, all platforms qualitatively reproduce the benchmarked dynamics; at larger qubit counts, the IBM results deviate more strongly, whereas IonQ remains closer to the benchmark.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_20078
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On Performance and Limitations of NISQ Hardware for Simulations of Quantum Wave Packet Dynamics
Kuanysheva, Tamila
Andrade-Plascencia, Jonathan
Sahoo, Jayakrushna
Kendrick, Brian
Babikov, Dmitri
Quantum Physics
Digital quantum simulation offers a promising route for studying quantum dynamics, but efficient operator representations and circuit depth remain key challenges for near-term hardware. We investigate one-dimensional wave packet dynamics using a grid-based encoding of the wave function onto qubit registers. Time evolution is implemented via split-operator approach, with kinetic energy operator applied using Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT) with polynomial scaling and potential energy operator expressed through commuting Pauli-Z gates, improving accuracy and enabling incorporation of arbitrary discretized potentials. While the full Pauli decomposition of Hamiltonian scales exponentially as O(4^n ), the present approach reduces the operator scaling to O(2^n) for n qubits. We benchmark this approach on classical simulators and quantum hardware (IBM Quantum and IonQ) for two- to five-qubit implementations. For two- and three-qubit cases, all platforms qualitatively reproduce the benchmarked dynamics; at larger qubit counts, the IBM results deviate more strongly, whereas IonQ remains closer to the benchmark.
title On Performance and Limitations of NISQ Hardware for Simulations of Quantum Wave Packet Dynamics
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.20078