The ground state of a quantum many-body system is physically significant because it predominates at low temperature. Given a Hamiltonian H, identifying its ground state is thus an important task in condensed matter physics. Classical computers face obstructions (including exponential growth of the Hilbert space and the fermion sign problem) that often make them generally unsuitable for solving this problem, but quantum computers inherently avoid these limitations, suggesting that they may be effective at preparing and studying ground states. In this talk, I will discuss how a quantum computer might be used to prepare in a quantum register the ground state of a generic Hamiltonian, and give an overview of the quantum algorithms that have been proposed for this purpose.
Note: this event will be
hybrid. The talk will be presented via Zoom. 276 Loomis will be used as a viewing room for those who wish to participate in person. The Zoom link will be sent to the Graduate Student and PDRA mailing lists. If you are not on one of those lists and are interested in attending, please email Cat Kengle at
ckengle2@illinois.edu for the link.
