Abstract for Talk1:

Quantum thermal states are ubiquitous in physics and quantum algorithms. They serve as the state of the system at a given temperature and are therefore useful primitives in simulating quantum chemistry and condensed matter. It is still an open question to develop a complete theory for how quantum systems approach thermal equilibrium and an open problem to develop algorithms for preparing these states on digital quantum computers. In our talk we will demonstrate how an extension of the theory of Repeated Interactions can be used to build completely analyzable algorithms for quantum computers. We will present an introduction to our algorithm, a brief analysis on the harmonic oscillator, and finally sketch theoretic and numeric results for generic systems.

Abstract for Talk 2:

Quantum platforms like circuit QED devices can utilize harmonic oscillator modes, instead of qubits, to store and process information. This talk highlights a framework to simulate anharmonic vibrational dynamics on these bosonic quantum devices. We leverage Lie algebraic properties of bosonic operators to decompose the vibrational Hamiltonian into solvable fragments. These fragments are constructed such that they can be easily exponentiated for Hamiltonian simulation using gates available on current bosonic devices. The approach is tested using a simulation of tunneling dynamics in a model two-dimensional double-well potential and calculations of vibrational eigenenergies for small molecules.