Quantum algorithms for solution of coupled system of differential equations

• Grant number: 20/07561-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2020
• End date: July 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics
• Principal Investigator: Celso Jorge Villas-Bôas
• Grantee: Guilherme Fernando Fialho
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Quantum computing was firstly proposed in the 1980s. Since then, several experiments have been carried out implementing quantum algorithms on small scales, until we reach the quantum supremacy announced by Google last October. In this work, a problem was solved in approximately three minutes that, if solved in SUMIT (the biggest IBM supercomputer that exists tnowadays), the same task would take ten thousand years to be performed. This result makes clear the potential of this new technology in solving complex problems. So big hightech companies (e.g. Google,IBM, Amazon, Toshiba, Microsoft), in addition to specific new companies such as D-Wave, Rigetti, IonQ, Aqtion, have invested massively in this theme. It is within this context that our project fits: to investigate quantum algorithms and their implementations in commercial quantum platforms (for example in quantum computers from IBM) to solve systems of coupled differential equations, a problem with immediate applications for example in the simulation of dynamics of fluids and, consequently, of great interest to industries such as oil and aeronautics. (AU)