A Mathematical Framework for Quantum Hamiltonian Simulation and Duality

Abstract Analogue Hamiltonian simulation is a promising near-term application of quantum computing and has recently been put on a theoretical footing alongside experiencing wide-ranging experimental success. These ideas are closely related to the notion of duality in physics, whereby two superficially different theories are mathematically equivalent in some precise sense. However, existing characterisations of Hamiltonian simulations are not sufficiently general to extend to all dualities in physics. We give a generalised duality definition encompassing dualities transforming a strongly interacting system into a weak one and vice versa. We characterise the dual map on operators and states and prove equivalence ofduality formulated in terms of observables, partition functions and entropies. A building block is a strengthening of earlier results on entropy preserving maps—extensions of Wigner’s celebrated theorem- –to maps that are entropy preserving up to an additive constant. We show such maps decompose as a direct sum of unitary and antiunitary components conjugated by a further unitary, a result that may be of independent mathematical interest.