Quantum computing for high energy nuclear physics

Abstract

Quantum information science (QIS) offers a new set of conceptual and computational tools ideally suited to exploring the many-body, out-of-equilibrium, and real-time properties of strongly interacting quantum systems. These themes find a natural counterpart in high energy nuclear physics, whose central goal is to describe the properties of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of the strong interaction, under extreme conditions. Relevant examples range from the formation and internal structure of hadrons, to the collective and thermalization dynamics of strongly interacting QCD matter, and the properties of complex many-body scattering processes. Although tremendous progress has been made over the past decades in our understanding of QCD in the nuclear physics context, through perturbative methods, lattice QCD, and effective theory descriptions, phenomena that are intrinsically connected to real-time dynamics, highly entangled many-body evolution, or finite density regimes remain only partially accessible with existing approaches. In this article, we argue that QIS can help realize a new paradigm for addressing these open questions. With the aim of making the discussion accessible to both high energy nuclear physics and QIS audiences, we provide an overview of selected open problems in high energy nuclear physics, with emphasis on aspects motivated by collider phenomenology, and discuss how they can be approached using QIS tools. This connection is illustrated through representative examples drawn from the recent literature, making the case that QIS can become a driving force for discovery in nuclear physics in the coming years.