EPJ D Colloquium - Simulating lattice gauge theories within quantum technologies

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Published on 17 August 2020

Lattice gauge theories, which originated from particle physics in the context of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), provide an important intellectual stimulus to further develop quantum information technologies. While one long-term goal is the reliable quantum simulation of currently intractable aspects of QCD itself, lattice gauge theories also play an important role in condensed matter physics and in quantum information science. In this way, lattice gauge theories provide both motivation and a framework for inter-disciplinary research towards the development of special purpose digital and analog quantum simulators, and ultimately of scalable universal quantum computers.

In a new Colloquium article just published in EPJD, authors participating in the EU-QuantERA project QTFLAG (https://qt.eu/qtflag/) review recent results and new tools from a quantum science approach to study lattice gauge theories. Two new complementary approaches are discussed: first, tensor network methods are presented - a classical simulation approach - applied to the study of lattice gauge theories together with some results on Abelian and non-Abelian lattice gauge theories. Then, recent proposals for the implementation of lattice gauge theory quantum simulators in different quantum hardware are reported, e.g., trapped ions, Rydberg atoms, and superconducting circuits. Finally, the first proof-of-principle trapped ions experimental quantum simulations of the Schwinger model are reviewed.