Analog quantum simulation of partial differential equations

Abstract

Abstract Quantum simulators were originally proposed for simulating one partial differential equation in particular -- Schrodinger's equation. Can quantum simulators also efficiently simulate other partial differential equations? While most computational methods for partial differential equations -- both classical and quantum -- are digital (they must be discretised first), partial differential equations have continuous degrees of freedom. This suggests that an analog representation can be more natural. While digital quantum degrees of freedom are usually described by qubits, the analog or continuous quantum degrees of freedom can be captured by qumodes. Based on a method called Schrodingerisation, we show how to directly map D-dimensional linear partial differential equations onto a (D+1)-qumode quantum system where analog or continuous-variable Hamiltonian simulation on D+1 qumodes can be used. This very simple methodology does not require one to discretise partial differential equations first, and it is not only applicable to linear partial differential equations but also to some nonlinear partial differential equations and systems of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. We show some examples using this method, including the Liouville equation, heat equation, Fokker-Planck equation, Black-Scholes equations, wave equation and Maxwell's equations. We also devise new protocols for linear partial differential equations with random coefficients, important in uncertainty quantification, where it is clear how the analog or continuous-variable framework is most natural. This also raises the possibility that some partial differential equations may be simulated directly on analog quantum systems by using Hamiltonians natural for those quantum systems.