Quantum simulation approach to implementing nuclear density functional theory via imaginary time evolution

The quantum imaginary time evolution (QITE) algorithm is a direct implementation of the classical imaginary time evolution algorithm on quantum computer. We implement the QITE algorithm for the case of nuclear Hartree-Fock equations in a formalism equivalent to nuclear density functional theory. We demonstrate the algorithm in the case of the helium-4 nucleus with a simplified effective interaction of the Skyrme kind and demonstrate that the QITE, as implemented on simulated quantum computer, gives identical results to the classical algorithm. Published by the American Physical Society 2024