Quantum Simulator for Transport Phenomena in Fluid Flows

Sci Rep. 2015 Aug 17:5:13153. doi: 10.1038/srep13153.

Abstract

Transport phenomena still stand as one of the most challenging problems in computational physics. By exploiting the analogies between Dirac and lattice Boltzmann equations, we develop a quantum simulator based on pseudospin-boson quantum systems, which is suitable for encoding fluid dynamics transport phenomena within a lattice kinetic formalism. It is shown that both the streaming and collision processes of lattice Boltzmann dynamics can be implemented with controlled quantum operations, using a heralded quantum protocol to encode non-unitary scattering processes. The proposed simulator is amenable to realization in controlled quantum platforms, such as ion-trap quantum computers or circuit quantum electrodynamics processors.