Linyuan Wei | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Quantum simulation of bottomonium dynamics in the quark-gluon plasma via the Lindblad equation

Quantum computing provides a powerful framework for simulating real-time dynamics in open quantum systems, offering key advantages for modeling heavy-quarkonium transport in high-energy nuclear collisions. In this work, we perform quantum simulations of the isotropic next-to-leading-order Lindblad equation for bottomonium in the quark-gluon plasma using a reduced spherical coordinate representation. We discretize operators and wavefunctions, map the physical state onto qubits, and execute time evolution via parameterized quantum gate operations. By extracting the $\Upsilon(1S)$ survival probability, we quantitatively isolate the color-octet contribution, demonstrating that its overall impact is small in the final production of the bottomonium ground state $\Upsilon(1S)$ in the hot QCD medium at temperatures accessible at the Large Hadron Collider. Additionally, we have further optimized the quantum simulation algorithm for the Lindblad equation. The improved algorithm requires only a single ancillary qubit to realize the Lindblad evolution, thereby minimizing the circuit significantly.

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arXiv2026

Effects of event-by-event hydrodynamic fluctuations on bottomonium dynamics in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV

We investigate the effects of event-by-event hydrodynamic fluctuations on bottomonium nuclear modification factors and elliptic flow in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV. The internal evolution of the heavy quarkonium is described by a time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation with a temperature-dependent complex heavy-quark potential, while the hot QCD medium evolution is simulated using the iEBE-VISHNU event-by-event viscous hydrodynamic framework. By incorporating both fluctuating and smooth hot media, we find that the bottomonium nuclear modification factor $R_{AA}$ is only marginally affected by event-by-event fluctuations, whereas the elliptic flow $v_2$ is systematically enhanced, with the enhancement growing from the tightly bound $\Upsilon(1S)$ to the more weakly bound $\Upsilon(2S)$ and $\Upsilon(3S)$. This enhancement arises from the more pronounced participant-plane anisotropy of the fluctuating medium relative to the smooth optical-Glauber reference geometry. These results indicate that a smooth hydrodynamic background reproduces the bottomonium $R_{AA}$ but underestimates its $v_2$, so that the bottomonium $v_2$ retains a discernible imprint of event-by-event medium fluctuations.

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