Simulation of Lennard-Jones Potential on a Quantum Computer

Abstract

Simulation of time dynamical physical problems has been a challenge for classical computers due to their time-complexity. To demonstrate the dominance of quantum computers over classical computers in this regime, here we simulate a semi-empirical model where two neutral particles interact through Lennard-Jones potential in a one-dimensional system. We implement the above scenario on the IBM quantum experience platform using a 5-qubit real device. We construct the Hamiltonian and then efficiently map it to quantum operators onto quantum gates using the time-evolutionary unitary matrix obtained from the Hamiltonian. We verify the results collected from the QASM-simulator and compare it with that of the 5-qubit real chip ibmqx2.