Quantum computation of stopping power for inertial fusion target design

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Rubin, Nicholas C.; Berry, Dominic W.; Kononov, Alina; Malone, Fionn D.; Khattar, Tanuj; White, Alec; Lee, Joonho; Neven, Hartmut; Babbush, Ryan; Baczewski, Andrew D.
• 署名单位: Alphabet Inc.; Google Incorporated; Macquarie University; United States Department of Energy (DOE); Sandia National Laboratories; Harvard University
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-9313
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2317772121
• 发表日期: 2024-06-04
• 关键词: dense-plasmas; velocity; particles; deuterium; matter; atoms

摘要

Stopping power is the rate at which a material absorbs the kinetic energy of a charged particle passing through it-one of many properties needed over a wide range of thermodynamic conditions in modeling inertial fusion implosions. First -principles stopping calculations are classically challenging because they involve the dynamics of large electronic systems far from equilibrium, with accuracies that are particularly difficult to constrain and assess in the warm -dense conditions preceding ignition. Here, we describe a protocol for using a fault -tolerant quantum computer to calculate stopping power from a first -quantized representation of the electrons and projectile. Our approach builds upon the electronic structure block encodings of Su et al. [ PRX Quant. 2, 040332 (2021)], adapting and optimizing those algorithms to estimate observables of interest from the non-Born-Oppenheimer dynamics of multiple particle species at finite temperature. We also work out the constant factors associated with an implementation of a high -order Trotter approach to simulating a grid representation of these systems. Ultimately, we report logical qubit requirements and leadingorder Toffoli costs for computing the stopping power of various projectile/target combinations relevant to interpreting and designing inertial fusion experiments. We estimate that scientifically interesting and classically intractable stopping power calculations can be quantum simulated with roughly the same number of logical qubits and about one hundred times more Toffoli gates than is required for state-of-the-art quantum simulations of industrially relevant molecules such as FeMoco or P450. Significance While nuclear fusion and quantum computing are high -profile research areas, very few concrete intersections have been identified. We draw a connection through a class of quantum dynamics simulations relevant to inertial confinement fusion microphysics modeling that enjoy a computational advantage using a quantum computer. To go beyond arguing a quantum simulation advantage based on asymptotic scaling, we describe the complete quantum algorithm necessary to compute a material's stopping power, quantify the constant factors associated with this computation, and describe resources needed for systems relevant to current inertial confinement fusion experiments. These calculations highlight the prospective applicability of large fault -tolerant quantum computers to a high -value simulation target with classical computing investments in the hundreds of millions of CPU hours annually.