The Science
A simple but realistic problem in nuclear physics, such as the computation of the deuteron's binding energy, can be solved via quantum computing on existing quantum devices.
The Impact
Scientists simulated an atomic nucleus using a quantum computer. The results demonstrate that quantum systems can solve nuclear physics problems that explain how the building blocks of our universe work. The quantum computing of the lightest atomic nucleus is the first step toward scalable computations of heavier nuclei on quantum processor units. The computation via cloud access also opens the field of quantum computing to a large group of scientists.
Funding
This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, and fieldwork proposals at 91做厙 (ORNL). This material is also based upon work supported by the DOE, Office of Science, Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) quantum algorithms and testbed programs and used resources of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility located at ORNL, which is supported by the DOE Office of Science ASCR.
