[HN Gopher] Quantum dynamics on your laptop? New technique moves...
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Quantum dynamics on your laptop? New technique moves us closer
Author : ceolin
Score : 60 points
Date : 2025-10-12 09:26 UTC (9 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.buffalo.edu)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.buffalo.edu)
| hershkumar wrote:
| Reading their paper, it does seem like this method is
| significantly simpler than using something like MPS, my main
| concern is the practical coupling regime for which this method
| works, I would imagine that it would fail closer to critical
| points in theories with phase transitions?
| nyeah wrote:
| I'm curious, are any quantum simulators accessible to sort of
| hobbyists?
|
| I have a background in solid state physics from coursework, but
| I've never really used QM for almost anything outside of
| school.
| krastanov wrote:
| I think you will have best luck by searching for "open
| quantum systems" toolboxes in your language of choice. My
| preferences are, in order:
|
| - QuantumOptics.jl in Julia
|
| - QuantumToolbox.jl in Julia
|
| - qutip in python
|
| These are all "just" nice domain specific wrappers around
| linear algebra and differential equation tools. They do the
| "silly" exponentially expensive simulation technique that
| works for any quantum system. If you are interested in
| efficient (not exponential) simulation techniques that
| support only a subset of all quantum dynamics try out:
|
| - stabilizer formalism (e.g. for error correction) with
| QuantumClifford.jl or stim
|
| - Gaussian quantum optics (e.g. for laser physics) with
| Gabs.jl
|
| - tensor networks (e.g. for arbitrary low-rank entanglement)
| with ITensors.jl
| nyeah wrote:
| Thanks a lot!
| hershkumar wrote:
| If you prefer python, tenpy is quite nice for tensor
| networks as well.
| nyeah wrote:
| Thanks! I am kind of stuck in Python, or at least stuck
| outside of Julia.
| Bengalilol wrote:
| Not perfectly answering your request, but did you look at
| https://github.com/topics/quantum-computing?o=desc&s=updated
| nyeah wrote:
| I haven't, thanks.
| the__alchemist wrote:
| Try ORCA and GROMACS. Accessible as you can DL them and there
| are lots of docs. But very high learning curve, and not
| graphical on their own.
| nyeah wrote:
| Thanks a lot.
| quantumtwist wrote:
| This is a nice practical technique for open quantum systems
| with relatively low entanglement. The introduction lays out
| exactly what regime they're aiming at: 1. Affordable (laptop
| scale) 2. Captures "sufficient" quantum effects (low
| entanglement regime; you accurately can't simulate a quantum
| computer with this) 3. Straightforward to implement. From a
| cursory glance, it does all three. I'm slightly surprised that
| TWA hasn't been applied to open systems extensively before, but
| it was always a relatively obscure technique. I'm guessing this
| should be quite useful in practice for e.g. AMO and cavity
| systems with relatively large dissipation terms that prevent
| entanglement build up. However, I'd guess this wouldn't do very
| well near phase transitions. All-in-all, a nice new technique
| for a regime that didn't have too many options.
| hershkumar wrote:
| Yeah this seems like a very useful technique for ground state
| properties, I'm also surprised in retrospect, having never
| heard of TWA before now.
| andyferris wrote:
| With _quantum_ phase transitions, yes.
| the__alchemist wrote:
| I'm very interested in this class of approximations on consumer
| hardware from a different perspective: Simulating (simple)
| biological systems and organic molecules. Background: I'm
| building out the rust structural bio OSS ecosystem, and a GUI/3D
| CAD-style visualizer. It has molecular dynamics integrated
| tightly, and is designed to "just work" without fuss, setup, or
| errors.
|
| The problem: It is reliant on atom-centered partial charge, and
| pre-calculated parameters for its Newtonian forces. These are
| available for a set of 30k or so organic molecules, and most
| protein, lipid, and nucleic acid configurations. The problems:
| Making it work for arbitrary systems, and doing better than these
| specifically-tuned models. I want the general case, and it to
| work in a no-fuss way.
|
| I am now looking into the TWA, and am interested in this class of
| approximation in general. I have the UI and traditional MD system
| mostly ready; getting ready to tackle this problem. This is a
| much simpler setup than the ones physicists are interested, and
| that the article covers, since we can focus on stable covalent-
| bonded systems of atoms.
| gilleain wrote:
| That's Daedalus is it? Went to look up how your project is
| doing, and had to go through github stars - might be worth
| putting a link to it in your HN profile? Assuming you don't
| mind making that link explicit :)
| the__alchemist wrote:
| Yep! it's a grind. Good call on the profile!
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