arXiv subjects

Scott N. Genin

Publications and source records attributed to Scott N. Genin.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A variational hybrid continuous-variable discrete-variable quantum algorithm for adiabatic nuclear dynamics

Gaussian wavepacket (GWP) methods are prevalent means of solving the nuclear time-dependent Schrodinger equation (TDSE) on classical computers. They consist of representing the nuclear wave function as a superposition of Gaussians. Here, we present a variational hybrid continuous-variable discrete-variable (CV-DV) algorithm for simulating adiabatic nuclear dynamics on qubit-oscillator quantum hardware. It encodes a superposition of frozen Gaussians (FGs) onto the qubit-oscillator register and evolves it according to the time-dependent variational principle (VP). We test two variants of the approach, one that evolves a single FG and another that evolves a superposition of FGs, on a set of prototypical 1D harmonic and anharmonic systems. We simulate the photoexcited state dynamics of SO2 using the single FG variant of the algorithm and compute its autocorrelation function on physical quantum hardware. For harmonic and Morse potentials, the variant evolving the superposition of FGs converges to the numerically exact solution as the number of Gaussians increases. In the case of the double-well potential, the algorithm simulates wavepacket bifurcation and recurrence correctly, and the ensuing irregular dynamics moderately well. Overall, this work establishes a pathway for simulating molecular dynamics on noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2026

Open-shell frozen natural orbital approach for quantum eigensolvers

We present an open-shell frozen natural orbital (FNO) approach, which utilizes the second-order Z-averaged perturbation theory (ZAPT2), to reduce the restricted opten-shell Hartree-Fock virtual space size with controllable accuracy. Our ZAPT2 frozen natural orbital (ZAPT-FNO) selection scheme significantly outperforms the canonical molecular orbital virtual space truncation scheme based on Hartree-Fock orbital energies, especially when using large multiple-polarized and augmented basis sets. We demonstrate that the ZAPT-FNO-selected virtual orbitals lead to a systematic convergence of the correlation energies, but more importantly to the singlet-triplet T$_1$-S$_ 0$ energy gaps with respect to the complete active space (CAS) [occupied + virtual] size. We confirm our findings by simulating T$_1$-S$_ 0$ gaps in H$_2$O$_2$ and O$_2$ molecules using the traditional complete active space configuration interaction (CASCI) approach, as well as in stretched CH$_2$, for which we also employed the iterative qubit coupled cluster (iQCC) method as a quantum eigensolver. Finally, we applied the iQCC method with ZAPT-FNO-selected active space to the phosphorescent Ir(ppy)$_3$ complex with 260 electrons, where extended basis sets are required to achieve chemical (ca. 1 m$E_h$) accuracy. In this case, CASCI results are not available; however, the iQCC-computed T$_1$-S$_ 0$ gaps show robust convergence with enlarging basis set and CAS size, approaching the experimental value. Thus, the ZAPT-FNO method is very promising for improving the accuracy of quantum chemical modelling in a resource-efficient manner, and opens the door to simulating open-shell states of large materials within realistic active space sizes and without compromising on basis-set quality.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2026

Parallel iQCC Enables 200 Qubit Scale Quantum Chemistry on Accelerated Computing Platforms Surpassing Classical Benchmarks in Ruthenium Catalysts

We introduce a parallel, GPU-accelerated implementation of the iterative qubit coupled cluster (iQCC) method that overcomes the exponential growth of the transformed Hamiltonian -- the principal bottleneck for classical emulation of quantum chemistry circuits. By distributing Hamiltonian terms across compute nodes via bit-wise partitioning and offloading Pauli contractions to GPUs, we achieve speedups exceeding two orders of magnitude over the serial CPU approach. Crucially, iQCC confines the variational evolution to a classically simulable operator subspace by selecting entanglers exclusively from the Direct Interaction Space, which guarantees non-vanishing energy gradients at every iteration and thereby naturally avoids the barren-plateau phenomenon that renders highly expressive quantum circuits untrainable. Leveraging these algorithmic and hardware advances, we simulate electronic-structure Hamiltonians for industrially relevant ruthenium catalysts in the 100--124 qubit regime, completing full ground-state calculations on NVIDIA GPUs in the ranges of 1.2 - 45 hrs and surpassing the accuracy of Density Matrix Renormalization Group. These results effectively de-quantize a significant portion of the NISQ roadmap: quantum advantage for chemistry is often assumed to emerge beyond ${\sim}50$ qubits, yet our work demonstrates that this frontier lies significantly further -- potentially past 200 qubits -- reshaping expectations for where genuine quantum advantage may first appear.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Towards Quantum Advantage in Chemistry

Molecular simulations are widely regarded as leading candidates to demonstrate quantum advantage--defined as the point at which quantum methods surpass classical approaches in either accuracy or scale. Yet the qubit counts and error rates required to realize such an advantage remain uncertain; resource estimates for ground-state electronic structure span orders of magnitude, and no quantum-native method has been validated at a commercially relevant scale. Here we address this uncertainty by executing the iterative qubit coupled-cluster (iQCC) algorithm, designed for fault-tolerant quantum hardware, at unprecedented scale using a quantum solver on classical processors, enabling simulations of transition organo-metallic complexes requiring hundreds of logical qubits and millions of entangling gates. Using this approach, we compute the lowest triplet excited state (T$_1$) energies of Ir(III) and Pt(II) phosphorescent organometallic compounds and show that iQCC achieves the lowest mean absolute error (0.05 eV) and highest R$^2$ (0.94) relative to experiment, outperforming leading classical methods. We find these systems remain classically tractable up to $\sim$200 logical qubits, establishing the threshold at which quantum advantage in computational chemistry may emerge and clarifying resource requirements for future quantum computers.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2025

Sparse Simulation of VQE Circuits

The Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) is a promising algorithm for future Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices to simulate chemical systems. In this paper, we consider the classical simulation of the iterative Qubit Coupled Cluster (iQCC) ansatz. To this end, we implement a multi-threaded sparse wave function simulator and simulate iQCC circuits with up to 80 qubits and 980 entanglers to compare our results to experimental values and previous approximate simulations. In contrast to previous iQCC simulations, e.g., for computing the emission spectra of a phosphorescent emitting material, our approach features a variational guarantee, such that the resulting energies are true upper bounds on the exact energies. Additionally, our method is two orders of magnitude more memory efficient because it does not store the transformed Hamiltonians. Our theoretical analysis also enables the construction of ansätze with a limited number of nonzero amplitudes, for which our simulator can obtain exact results.This will allow one to generate complex benchmarking instances for future NISQ devices and simulators.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Optimization of the Qubit Coupled Cluster Ansatz on classical computers

Immense interest in quantum computing has prompted development of electronic structure methods that are suitable for quantum hardware. However, the slow pace at which quantum hardware progresses, forces researchers to implement their ideas on classical computers despite the obvious loss of any "quantum advantage." As a result, the so-called quantum inspired methods emerge. They allow one to look at the electronic structure problem from a different angle; yet, to fully exploit their capacity, efficient implementations are highly desirable. Here we report two schemes for improving the amplitude optimisation in the iterative qubit coupled cluster (iQCC) method -- a variational quantum eigensolver-type approach which is based on the qubit coupled cluster (QCC) Ansatz. Our first scheme approximates the QCC unitary as a sum of symmetrical polynomials of generators up to a given order. The resulting energy expression allows for a flexible control of computational complexity via the order parameter. It also guaranties smoothness of trial energies and their derivatives, which is important for gradient-based optimization strategies. The second scheme limits the size of the expansion space in which the QCC unitary is generated. It provides better control of memory requirements, but in general may lead to the non-smooth variation of energy estimates upon changes in amplitudes. It can be used to extrapolate energies for a given set of amplitudes towards the exact QCC value. Both schemes allow for a larger number of generators to be included into the QCC form compared to the exact formulation. This reduces the number of iterations in the iQCC method and/or leads to higher accuracy. We assess capabilities of the new schemes to perform QCC amplitudes optimization for a few molecular systems: N$_2$ (16 qubits), H$_2$O (36 qubits), and tris(2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)pyridine) iridium(III), (80 qubits).

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Thawed Gaussian wave packet dynamics: a critical assessment of three propagation schemes

We assessed three schemes for propagating a variable-width (thawed) Gaussian wave packet moving under the influence of Morse or double-well potentials with parameters that are chemically representative. The most rigorous scheme is based on the time-dependent variational principle (TDVP); it leads to realistic behaviour of the center and width of a wave packet in all investigated regimes. Two other approximate schemes, Heller's and the extended semiclassical ones, demonstrate various aberrations. Heller's scheme does not properly account for various zero-point energy-related effects, is unable to predict tunneling, and more importantly, exhibits completely nonphysical unbound width oscillations. The extended semiclassical scheme, which was developed to address some of the shortcomings of the Heller counterpart, demonstrates another unphysical behaviour: self-trapping of a trajectory in both Morse and double-well potentials. We conclude that only the TDVP-based scheme is suitable for problem-free dynamical simulations. This, however, raises the question of how to utilize it efficiently in high-dimensional systems.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2024

Thawed Gaussian wavepacket dynamics with $Δ$-machine learned potentials

A method for performing variable-width (thawed) Gaussian wavepacket (GWP) variational dynamics on machine-learned potentials is presented. Instead of fitting the potential energy surface (PES), the anharmonic correction to the global harmonic approximation (GHA) is fitted using kernel ridge regression -- this is a $Δ$-machine learning approach. The training set consists of energy differences between ab initio electronic energies and values given by the GHA. The learned potential is subsequently used to propagate a single thawed GWP using the time-dependent variational principle to compute the autocorrelation function, which provides direct access to vibronic spectra via its Fourier transform. We applied the developed method to simulate the photoelectron spectrum of ammonia and found excellent agreement between theoretical and experimental spectra. We show that fitting the anharmonic corrections requires a smaller training set as compared to fitting total electronic energies. We also demonstrate that our approach allows to reduce the dimensionality of the nuclear space used to scan the PES when constructing the training set. Thus, only the degrees of freedom associated with large amplitude motions need to be treated with $Δ$-machine learning, which paves a way for reliable simulations of vibronic spectra of large floppy molecules.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2023

Efficient construction of involutory linear combinations of anti-commuting Pauli generators for large-scale iterative qubit coupled cluster calculations

We present an efficient method for construction of a fully anti-commutative set of Pauli generators (elements of the Pauli group) from a commutative set of operators that are composed exclusively from Pauli $\hat x_i$ operators (purely X generators) and sorted by an associated numerical measure, such as absolute energy gradients. Our approach uses the Gauss-Jordan elimination applied to a binary matrix that encodes the set of X generators to bring it to the reduced row echelon form, followed by the construction of an anti-commutative system in a standard basis by means of a modified Jordan-Wigner transformation and returning to the original basis. The algorithm complexity is linear in the size of the X set and quadratic in the number of qubits. The resulting anti-commutative sets are used to construct the qubit coupled cluster Ansatz with involutory linear combinations of anti-commuting Paulis (QCC-ILCAP) proposed in [J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2021, 17, 1, 66-78]. We applied the iterative qubit coupled cluster method with the QCC-ILCAP Ansatz to calculations of ground-state potential energy curves for symmetric stretching of the water molecule (36 qubits) and dissociation of N$_2$ (56 qubits).

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

On the Importance of Well-Defined Thermal Correlation Functions in Simulating Vibronic Spectra

Two difficulties associated with the computations of thermal vibrational correlation functions are discussed. The first one is the lack of a well-behaved expression that is valid at both high-temperature and $T \to 0$ K limits. Specifically, if the partition function and the propagator are considered separately, then thermal vibrational correlation functions may have an indeterminate form 0/0 in the limit $T \to 0$ K. This difficulty is resolved when the partition function and the propagator are jointly considered in the harmonic approximation, which allows a problematic term that emanates from the zero-point energy to be cancelled out thereby producing a thermal correlation function with a determinate form in $T \to 0$ K limit. The second difficulty is related to the multivaluedness of the vibrational correlation function. We show numerically that an improper selection of branch leads to discontinuities in the computed correlation function and an incorrect vibronic spectra. We propose a phase tracking procedure that ensures continuity of both real and imaginary parts of the correlation function to recover the correct spectra. We support our findings by simulating the UV-vis absorption spectra of pentacene at 4 K and benzene at 298 K. Both are found to be in good agreement with their experimental counterparts.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2021

Estimating Phosphorescent Emission Energies in Ir(III) Complexes using Large-Scale Quantum Computing Simulations

Quantum chemistry simulations that accurately predict the properties of materials are among the most highly anticipated applications of quantum computing. It is widely believed that simulations running on quantum computers will allow for higher accuracy, but there has not yet been a convincing demonstration that quantum methods are competitive with existing classical methods at scale. Here we apply the iterative qubit coupled cluster (iQCC) method on classical hardware to the calculation of the $T_1 \to S_0$ transition energies in nine phosphorescent iridium complexes, to determine if quantum simulations have any advantage over traditional computing methods. Phosphorescent iridium complexes are integral to the widespread commercialization of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology, yet accurate computational prediction of their emission energies remains a challenge. Our simulations would require a gate-based quantum computer with a minimum of 72 fully-connected and error-corrected logical qubits. Since such devices do not yet exist, we demonstrate the iQCC quantum method using a special purpose quantum simulator on classical hardware. The results are compared to a selection of common density-functional theory (DFT) functionals (B3LYP, CAM-B3LYP, LC-wHPBE), ab initio methods (HF and MP2), and experimental data. The iQCC quantum method is found to match the accuracy of the fine-tuned DFT functionals, has a better Pearson correlation coefficient, and still has considerable potential for systematic improvement. Based on these results, we anticipate that the iQCC quantum method will have the required accuracy to design organometallic complexes when deployed on emerging quantum hardware.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

A posteriori corrections to the Iterative Qubit Coupled Cluster method to minimize the use of quantum resources in large-scale calculations

The iterative qubit coupled cluster (iQCC) method is a systematic variational approach to solve the electronic structure problem on universal quantum computers. It is able to use arbitrarily shallow quantum circuits at expense of iterative canonical transformation of the Hamiltonian and rebuilding a circuit. Here we present a variety of a posteriori corrections to the iQCC energies to reduce the number of iterations to achieve the desired accuracy. Our energy corrections are based on a low-order perturbation theory series that can be efficiently evaluated on a classical computer. Moreover, capturing a part of the total energy perturbatively, allows us to formulate the qubit active-space concept, in which only a subset of all qubits is treated variationally. As a result, further reduction of quantum resource requirements is achieved. We demonstrate the utility and efficiency of our approach numerically on the examples of 10-qubit N$_2$ molecule dissociation, the 24-qubit H$_2$O symmetric stretch, and 56-qubit singlet-triplet gap calculations for the technologically important complex, tris-(2-phenylpyridine)iridium(III), Ir(ppy)$_3$.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Iterative Qubit Coupled Cluster approach with efficient screening of generators

An iterative version of the qubit coupled cluster (QCC) method [I.G. Ryabinkin et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput. 14, 6317 (2019)] is proposed. The new method seeks to find ground electronic energies of molecules on noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices. Each iteration involves a canonical transformation of the Hamiltonian and employs constant-size quantum circuits at the expense of increasing the Hamiltonian size. We numerically studied the convergence of the method on ground-state calculations for LiH, H$_2$O, and N$_2$ molecules and found that the exact ground-state energies can be systematically approached only if the generators of the QCC ansatz are sampled from a specific set of operators. We report an algorithm for constructing this set that scales linearly with the size of a Hamiltonian.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Quantum chemistry on quantum annealers

Quantum chemistry calculations for small molecules on quantum hardware have been demonstrated to date only on universal-gate quantum computers, not quantum annealers. The latter devices are limited to finding the lowest eigenstate of the Ising Hamiltonian whereas the electronic Hamiltonian could not be mapped to the Ising form without exponential growth of the Ising Hamiltonian with the size of the system [J. Phys. Chem. B 122, 3384 (2018)]. Here we propose a novel mixed discrete-continuous optimization algorithm, which finds the lowest eigenstate of the qubit coupled cluster (QCC) method using a quantum annealer for solving a discrete part of the problem. The QCC method is a potentially exact approach for constructing the electronic wave function in the qubit space. Therefore, our methodology allows for systematically improvable quantum chemistry calculations using quantum annealears. We illustrate capabilities of our approach by calculating QCC ground electronic states for the LiH, H$_2$O, and C$_6$H$_6$ molecules. C$_6$H$_6$ calculations involve 36 qubits and are the largest quantum chemistry calculations made on a quantum annealer (the D-Wave 2000Q system) to date. Our findings opens up a new perspective for use quantum annealers in high-throughput material discovery.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2018

Symmetry adaptation in quantum chemistry calculations on a quantum computer

Quantum chemistry calculations on a quantum computer frequently suffer from symmetry breaking: the situation when a state of assumed spin and number of electrons is contaminated with contributions of undesired symmetry. The situation may even culminate in convergence to a state of completely unexpected symmetry, e.g. that of for a neutral species while a cation was expected. Previously, the constrained variational quantum eigensolver (CVQE) approach was proposed to alleviate this problem [Ryabinkin et al. (2018), J. Chem. Theory Comput. DOI:10.1021/acs.jctc.8b00943] here we analyze alternative, more robust solutions. In particular, we investigate how symmetry information can be incorporated directly into qubit Hamiltonians. We identify three essentially different techniques, the symmetry projection, spectral shift, and spectral reflection methods, which are all capable of solving the problem albeit at different computational cost, measured as the length of the resulting qubit operators. On the examples of LiH and H$_2$O molecules we show that the spectral shift method, which is equivalent to penalizing states of wrong symmetry, is the most efficient, followed by spectral reflection, and symmetry projection.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Qubit coupled-cluster method: A systematic approach to quantum chemistry on a quantum computer

A unitary coupled-cluster (UCC) form for the wavefunction in the variational quantum eigensolver has been suggested as a systematic way to go beyond the mean-field approximation and include electron correlation in solving quantum chemistry problems on a quantum computer. Although being exact in the limit of including all possible coupled-cluster excitations, practically, the accuracy of this approach depends on how many and what kind of terms are included in the wavefunction parametrization. Another difficulty of UCC is a growth of the number of simultaneously entangled qubits even at the fixed fermionic excitation rank. Not all quantum computing architectures can cope with this growth. To address both problems we introduce a qubit coupled-cluster (QCC) method that starts directly in the qubit space and uses energy response estimates for ranking the importance of individual entanglers for the variational energy minimization. Also, we provide an exact factorization of a unitary rotation of more than two qubits to a product of two-qubit unitary rotations. Thus, the QCC method with the factorization technique can be limited to only two-qubit entanglement gates and allows for very efficient use of quantum resources in terms of the number of coupled-cluster operators. The method performance is illustrated by calculating ground-state potential energy curves of H$_2$ and LiH molecules with chemical accuracy, $\le 1$ kcal/mol.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Constrained variational quantum eigensolver: Quantum computer search engine in the Fock space

Variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) is an efficient computational method promising chemical accuracy in electronic structure calculations on a universal-gate quantum computer. However, such a simple task as computing the electronic energy of a hydrogen molecular cation, H$_2^+$, is not possible for a general VQE protocol because the calculation will invariably collapse to a lower energy of the corresponding neutral form, H$_2$. The origin of the problem is that VQE effectively performs an unconstrained energy optimization in the Fock space of the original electronic problem. We show how this can be avoided by introducing necessary constraints directing VQE to the electronic state of interest. The proposed constrained VQE can find an electronic state with a certain number of electrons, spin, or any other property. The new algorithm does not require any additional quantum resources. We demonstrate performance of the constrained VQE by simulating various states of H$_2$ and H$_2$O on Rigetti Computing Inc's 19Q-Acorn quantum processor.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2018

Relation between fermionic and qubit mean fields in the electronic structure problem

For quantum computing applications, the electronic Hamiltonian for the electronic structure problem needs to be unitarily transformed to a qubit form. We found that mean-field procedures on the original electronic Hamiltonian and on its transformed qubit counterpart can give different results. We establish conditions of when fermionic and qubit mean fields provide the same or different energies. In cases when the fermionic mean-field (Hartree-Fock) approach provides an accurate description (electronic correlation effects are small), the choice of molecular orbitals for the electron Hamiltonian representation becomes the determining factor in whether the qubit mean-field energy will be equal to or higher than that of the fermionic counterpart. In strongly correlated cases, the qubit mean-field approach has a higher chance to undergo symmetry breaking and lower its energy below the fermionic counterpart.

physics.chem-ph↗