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Theoretical framework for new magnetic materials for quantum computing and information storage. Final report for the Award No. DE-SC0018910

The focus of this grant was on molecular magnetic materials for information storage and quantum computing. We have been developing robust, first-principle methods for computing relevant electronic and magnetic properties of molecular building blocks (SMMs) of novel magnetic materials and quantum computers. These tools enable theoretical modeling of SMMs’ behavior, facilitating the interpretation of experimental studies and aiding the design of novel magnetic materials. Our strategy is based on the spin-flip (SF) approach, which extends the hierarchy of black-box single-reference methods to strongly correlated systems. Specifically, we developed general scalable algorithms and computer codes for calculating molecular properties, with an emphasis on spin-related properties, such as zero-field splittings, hyperfine couplings, and g-tensors. While our primary focus was on SF wave functions and SF-TDDFT, the underlying theory and computer codes were formulated using reduced density matrices, such that these tools are applicable to a broader class of methods. To extend the scope of applicability of wave-function-based SF methods to larger systems, we developed reduced-scaling approaches for the equation-of-motion coupled-cluster (EOM-CC) methods and continue developing libtensor (our open-source general tensor contraction library for many-body methods). We carried out extensive benchmarks and also carried out several applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Quantum Alternating Operator Ansatz (QAOA) Phase Diagrams and Applications for Quantum Chemistry

Determining Hamiltonian ground states and energies is a challenging task with many possible approaches on quantum computers. While variational quantum eigensolvers are popular approaches for near term hardware, adiabatic state preparation is an alternative that does not require noisy optimization of parameters. Beyond adiabatic schedules, QAOA is an important method for optimization problems. In this work we modify QAOA to apply to finding ground states of molecules and empirically evaluate the modified algorithm on several molecules. This modification applies physical insights used in classical approximations to construct suitable QAOA operators and initial state. We find robust qualitative behavior for QAOA as a function of the number of steps and size of the parameters, and demonstrate this behavior also occurs in standard QAOA applied to combinatorial search. To this end we introduce QAOA phase diagrams that capture its performance and properties in various limits. In particular we show a region in which non-adiabatic schedules perform better than the adiabatic limit while employing lower quantum circuit depth. We further provide evidence our results and insights also apply to QAOA applications beyond chemistry.

Kremenetski, Vladimir↗

Probabilistic simulation of quantum circuits using a deep-learning architecture

The fundamental question of how to best simulate quantum systems using conventional computational resources lies at the forefront of condensed matter and quantum computation. It impacts both our understanding of quantum materials and our ability to emulate quantum circuits. Here we present an exact formulation of quantum dynamics via factorized generalized measurements which maps quantum states to probability distributions with the advantage that local unitary dynamics and quantum channels map to local quasistochastic matrices. This representation provides a general framework for using state-of-the-art probabilistic models in machine learning for the simulation of quantum many-body dynamics. Using this framework, we have developed a practical algorithm to simulate quantum circuits using an attention network based on a powerful neural network ansatz responsible for the most recent breakthroughs in natural language processing. We demonstrate our approach by simulating circuits that build Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and linear graph states of up to 60 qubits, as well as a variational quantum eigensolver circuit for preparing the ground state of the transverse field Ising model on several system sizes. Our methodology constitutes a modern machine learning approach to the simulation of quantum physics with applicability both to quantum circuits as well as other quantum many-body systems.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Quantum logic gate synthesis as a Markov decision process

Reinforcement learning has witnessed recent applications to a variety of tasks in quantum programming. The underlying assumption is that those tasks could be modeled as Markov decision processes (MDPs). Here, we investigate the feasibility of this assumption by exploring its consequences for single-qubit quantum state preparation and gate compilation. By forming discrete MDPs, we solve for the optimal policy exactly through policy iteration. We find optimal paths that correspond to the shortest possible sequence of gates to prepare a state or compile a gate, up to some target accuracy. Our method works in both the absence and presence of noise and compares favorably to other quantum compilation methods, such as the Ross–Selinger algorithm. This work provides theoretical insight into why reinforcement learning may be successfully used to find optimally short gate sequences in quantum programming.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

ARQUIN: Architectures for Multinode Superconducting Quantum Computers

Many proposals to scale quantum technology rely on modular or distributed designs wherein individual quantum processors, called nodes, are linked together to form one large multinode quantum computer (MNQC). One scalable method to construct an MNQC is using superconducting quantum systems with optical interconnects. However, internode gates in these systems may be two to three orders of magnitude noisier and slower than local operations. Surmounting the limitations of internode gates will require improvements in entanglement generation, use of entanglement distillation, and optimized software and compilers. Still, it remains unclear what performance is possible with current hardware and what performance algorithms require. In this article, we employ a systems analysis approach to quantify overall MNQC performance in terms of hardware models of internode links, entanglement distillation, and local architecture. We show how to navigate tradeoffs in entanglement generation and distillation in the context of algorithm performance, lay out how compilers and software should balance between local and internode gates, and discuss when noisy quantum internode links have an advantage over purely classical links. Here, we find that a factor of 10–100× better link performance is required and introduce a research roadmap for the co-design of hardware and software towards the realization of early MNQCs. While we focus on superconducting devices with optical interconnects, our approach is general across MNQC implementations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Tensor network representation of non-abelian gauge theory coupled to reduced staggered fermions

We show how to construct a tensor network representation of the path integral for reduced staggered fermions coupled to a non-abelian gauge field in two dimensions. The resulting formulation is both memory and computation efficient because reduced staggered fermions can be represented in terms of a minimal number of tensor indices while the gauge sector can be approximated using Gaussian quadrature with a truncation. Numerical results obtained using the Grassmann TRG algorithm are shown for the case of SU(2) lattice gauge theory and compared to Monte Carlo results.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Bayesian inference of nonlinear unsteady aerodynamics from aeroelastic limit cycle oscillations

A Bayesian model selection and parameter estimation algorithm is applied to investigate the influence of nonlinear and unsteady aerodynamic loads on the limit cycle oscillation (LCO) of a pitching airfoil in the transitional Reynolds number regime. At small angles of attack, laminar boundary layer trailing edge separation causes negative aerodynamic damping leading to the LCO. The fluid–structure interaction of the rigid, but elastically mounted, airfoil and nonlinear unsteady aerodynamics is represented by two coupled nonlinear stochastic ordinary differential equations containing uncertain parameters and model approximation errors. Several plausible aerodynamic models with increasing complexity are proposed to describe the aeroelastic system leading to LCO. The likelihood in the posterior parameter probability density function (pdf) is available semi-analytically using the extended Kalman filter for the state estimation of the coupled nonlinear structural and unsteady aerodynamic model. The posterior parameter pdf is sampled using a parallel and adaptive Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm. The posterior probability of each model is estimated using the Chib–Jeliazkov method that directly uses the posterior MCMC samples for evidence (marginal likelihood) computation. The Bayesian algorithm is validated through a numerical study and then applied to model the nonlinear unsteady aerodynamic loads using wind-tunnel test data at various Reynolds numbers.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Role of electron correlation on the adenine dimer interaction for non-equilibrium geometries: a benchmark Quantum Monte Carlo study

The accurate description of non-covalent interactions is critical for understanding the structure, dynamics, and eventual function of biomolecules. The adenine dimer serves as a benchmark system for computational methods due to its role in nucleic acid structures and its rich conformational landscape. In this study, we employ benchmark diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (DMC) methods to investigate the relative energies and role of electron correlation on a set of adenine dimer conformations generated via a search of the potential energy landscape using the global optimizer algorithm. Relative DMC energies are compared against a wide range of density functional theory (DFT) approximation results. We find that although most of the DFT functionals perform well for low-energy structures, their accuracy varies significantly for higher-energy conformations, including stacked and T-shaped structures. A large fraction of the variation is due to the treatment of the van der Waals interaction. BLYP, B3LYP, and PBE0 significantly improve with added D4 dispersion, while the recent r2SCAN-D4 and ωB97M-V functionals show the least scatter and closest agreement with the DMC. These findings highlight the delicate nature of these interactions in biomolecular systems and provide guidance for simulations of their structure and dynamics and for the development of machine learned interatomic potentials.

Washburn, Laurel [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000324179335)↗

Integrating subsystem embedding subalgebras and coupled cluster Green’s function: a theoretical foundation for quantum embedding in excitation manifold

Here, in this study, we introduce a novel approach to coupled-cluster Green's function (CCGF) embedding by seamlessly integrating conventional CCGF theory with the state-of-the-art sub-system embedding sub-algebras coupled cluster (SES-CC) formalism. This integration focuses primarily on delineating the characteristics of the sub-system and the corresponding segments of the Green's function, defined explicitly by active orbitals. Crucially, our work involves the adaptation of the SES-CC paradigm, addressing the left eigenvalue problem through a distinct form of Hamiltonian similarity transformation. This advancement not only facilitates a comprehensive representation of the interaction between the embedded sub-system and its surrounding environment but also paves the way for the quantum mechanical description of multiple embedded domains, particularly by employing the emergent quantum flow algorithms. Our theoretical underpinnings further set the stage for a generalization to multiple embedded sub-systems. This expansion holds significant promise for the exploration and application of non-equilibrium quantum systems, enhancing the understanding of system–environment interactions. In doing so, the research underscores the potential of SES-CC embedding within the realm of quantum computations and multi-scale simulations, promising a good balance between accuracy and computational efficiency.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Search for New Phenomena Using W/Z + (b)-Jets Measurements Performed with the ATLAS Detector

The Project proposed to use data of the ATLAS experiment, obtained during the 2011 and 2012 data-taking campaigns, to pursue studies of the strong interaction (QCD) and to examine promising signatures for new physics. The Project also contains a service component dedicated to a detector development initiative. The objective of the strong interaction studies is to determine how various predictions from the main theory (QCD) compare to the data. Results of a set of measurements developed by the Tufts team indicate that the dominant factor of discrepancy between data and QCD predictions come from the mis-modeling of the low energy gluon radiation as described by algorithms called parton showers. The discrepancies introduced by parton showers on LHC predictions could even be larger than the effect due to completely new phenomena (dark matter, supersymmetry, etc.) and could thus block further discoveries at the LHC. Some of the results obtained in the course of this Project also specify how QCD predictions must be improved in order to open the possibility for the discovery of something completely new at the LHC during Run-II. This has been integrated in the Run-II ATLAS physics program. Another objective of Tufts studies of the strong interaction was to determine how the hypothesis about an intrinsic heavy-quark component of the proton (strange, charm or bottom quarks) could be tested at the LHC. This hypothesis has been proposed by theorists 30 years ago and is still controversial. The Tufts team demonstrated that intrinsic charms can be observed, or severely constrained, at the LHC, and determine how the measurement should be performed in order to maximize its sensitivity to such an intrinsic heavy-quark component of the proton. Tufts also embarked on performing the measurement that is in progress, but final results are not yet available. They should shade a light of understanding on the fundamental structure of the proton. Determining the nature of dark matter particles, composing about 25% of all the matter in the universe, is one of the most exciting research goals at the LHC. Within this Project, the Tufts team proposed a way to improve over the standard approach used to look for dark matter at the LHC in events involving jets and a large amount of unbalanced energy in the detector (jets+ETmiss). The Tufts team has developed a measurement to test these improvements on data available (ATLAS 2012 dataset), in order to be ready to apply them on the new Run-II data that will be available at the end of 2015. Preliminary results on the proposed measurement indicate that a very high precision can be obtained on results free of detector effects. That will allow for better constrains of dark matter theories and will spare the needs for huge computing resources in order to compare dark matter theories to data. Finally, the Tufts team played a leading role in the development and the organization of the 6Et trigger, the detector component needed to collect the data used in dark matter searches and in many other analyses. The team compared the performance of the various algorithms capable of reconstructing the value of the ETmiss on each LHC collision event, and developed a strategy to commission these algorithms online. Tufts also contributed in the development of the ETmiss trigger monitoring software. Finally, the PI of this Project acted as the co-coordinator of the group of researchers at CERN taking care of the development and the operation of this detector component. The ETmiss trigger is now taking data, opening the possibility for the discovery of otherwise undetectable particles at the LHC.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Computational strategies and improvements in the linear algebraic variational approach to rearrangement scattering

The computational steps in calculating quantum mechanical reactive scattering amplitudes by the L2 generalized Newton variational principle are discussed with emphasis on computational strategies and recent improvements that make the calculations more efficient. Special emphasis is placed on quadrature techniques, storage management strategies, use of symmetry, and boundary conditions. It is concluded that an efficient implementation of these procedures provides a powerful algorithm for the accurate solution of the Schroedinger equation for rearrangements.

Schwenke, David W.↗

Advanced Modeling of Ions in Solutions, on Surfaces, and in Biological Environments (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

The research supported by this grant focused on modeling liquid water from basic microscopic theory and on developing advanced methodologies for molecular simulation and electronic structure calculation of large and disordered systems. Water is arguably the most important molecule on earth: without it there would be no life, as we know it. Water does not behave as a simple liquid. Understanding its unique and anomalous properties at the molecular level has been the focus of intense study during the entire last century and still is a major goal of research today. To address the problem we adopted a multipronged approach that included methodological and algorithmic developments as well as simulations of important model systems. We made progress on several key issues. (i) We implemented accurate electronic structure schemes for modeling water from quantum mechanical theory that make accessible in simulations processes driven by formation and breaking of chemical bonds. We studied in this way neat bulk water and simple solvated ions. We could understand, in particular, why hydronium, i.e. the positive water ion, diffuses faster than its negative counterpart, the hydroxyl, solving a 200-year-old ionic mystery of water, as reported in a news article featuring our study on Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry (U.K.). (ii) Using advanced statistical mechanical techniques we studied water in the deeply undercooled regime, which may hold the clue to understanding many of the water anomalies. These conditions are currently only accessible to simulations based on empirical force fields. We found that deeply undercooled water, as described by the popular force field ST2, possesses a secondary critical point, below which it would spontaneously separate into two liquids, one of low-density (LDL) and one of high-density (HDL), much in the same way in which water and oil phase-separate at room temperature. The secondary critical point is supported indirectly by many experiments, but rapid ice nucleation has so far hindered direct observation. In related studies we gained new insight on the connection of the two metastable liquids with the two corresponding amorphous ice phases, LDA and HDA, which are observed experimentally. (iii) We developed and implemented several new algorithms for computing the electronic structure of large systems and to accelerate the calculation of electron exchange energies. We applied these methodologies to model nanomaterials, such as nanoribbons and nanoflakes, and to study water absorption and splitting on nanomaterials. (iv) We developed new local order descriptors. (v) In the last year of the project we developed a methodology based on deep neural networks to construct model interatomic potentials that can accurately reproduce ab-initio quantum mechanical simulations at the computational cost of empirical force fields. These potentials will make possible to access the size and time scales that are currently only accessible with empirical force fields without loosing the predictive power of ab-initio simulations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Gradient-based optimization for regression in the functional tensor-train format

Predictive analysis of complex computational models, such as uncertainty quantification (UQ), must often rely on using an existing database of simulation runs. In this paper we consider the task of performing low-multilinear-rank regression on such a database. Specifically we develop and analyze an efficient gradient computation that enables gradient-based optimization procedures, including stochastic gradient descent and quasi-Newton methods, for learning the parameters of a functional tensor-train (FT). We compare our algorithms with 22 other nonparametric and parametric regression methods on 10 real-world data sets and show that for many physical systems, exploiting low-rank structure facilitates efficient construction of surrogate models. Here, we use a number of synthetic functions to build insight into behavior of our algorithms, including the rank adaptation and group-sparsity regularization procedures that we developed to reduce overfitting. Finally we conclude the paper by building a surrogate of a physical model of a propulsion plant on a naval vessel.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Extended Lagrangian Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics using a Krylov subspace approximation

It is shown how the electronic equations of motion in extended Lagrangian Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations can be integrated using low-rank approximations of the inverse Jacobian kernel. This kernel determines the metric tensor in the harmonic oscillator extension of the Lagrangian that drives the evolution of the electronic degrees of freedom. The proposed kernel approximation is derived from a pseudoinverse of a low-rank estimate of the Jacobian, which is expressed in terms of a generalized set of directional derivatives with directions that are given from a Krylov subspace approximation. The approach allows a tunable and adaptive approximation that can take advantage of efficient preconditioning techniques. The proposed kernel approximation for the integration of the electronic equations of motion makes it possible to apply extended Lagrangian first-principles molecular dynamics simulations to a broader range of problems, including reactive chemical systems with numerically sensitive and unsteady charge solutions. This can be achieved without requiring exact full calculations of the inverse Jacobian kernel in each time step or relying on iterative non-linear self-consistent field optimization of the electronic ground state prior to the force evaluations as in regular direct Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics. We note the low-rank approximation of the Jacobian is directly related to Broyden’s class of quasi-Newton algorithms and Jacobian-free Newton–Krylov methods and provides a complementary formulation for the solution of nonlinear systems of equations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Twisty-puzzle-inspired approach to Clifford synthesis

The problem of decomposing an arbitrary Clifford element into a sequence of Clifford gates is known as Clifford synthesis. Drawing inspiration from similarities between this and the famous Rubik's cube twisty puzzle, here we develop a machine learning approach for Clifford synthesis based on learning an approximation to the distance to the identity. This approach is probabilistic and computationally intensive. However, when a decomposition is successfully found, it often involves fewer gates than the decomposition methods used in the Qiskit decomposition protocol, which uses a combination of several well-known Clifford decomposition schemes. Additionally, our approach is much more flexible than existing algorithms in that arbitrary gate sets, device topologies, and gate fidelities may be incorporated, thus allowing for the approach to be tailored to a specific device.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Adversarial sampling of unknown and high-dimensional conditional distributions

Many engineering problems require the prediction of realization-to-realization variability or a refined description of modeled quantities. In that case, it is necessary to sample elements from unknown high-dimensional spaces with possibly millions of degrees of freedom. While there exist methods able to sample elements from probability density functions (PDF) with known shapes, several approximations need to be made when the distribution is unknown. In this paper the sampling method, as well as the inference of the underlying distribution, are both handled with a data-driven method known as generative adversarial networks (GAN), which trains two competing neural networks to produce a network that can effectively generate samples from the training set distribution. In practice, it is often necessary to draw samples from conditional distributions. When the conditional variables are continuous, only one (if any) data point corresponding to a particular value of a conditioning variable may be available, which is not sufficient to estimate the conditional distribution. This work handles this problem using an a priori estimation of the conditional moments of a PDF. Herein, two approaches, stochastic estimation, and an external neural network are compared for computing these moments; however, any preferred method can be used. The algorithm is demonstrated in the case of the deconvolution of a filtered turbulent flow field. It is shown that all the versions of the proposed algorithm effectively sample the target conditional distribution with minimal impact on the quality of the samples compared to state-of-the-art methods. Additionally, the procedure can be used as a metric for the diversity of samples generated by a conditional GAN (cGAN) conditioned with continuous variables.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Optimizing temperature distributions for training neural quantum states using parallel tempering

Parametrized artificial neural networks (ANNs) can be very expressive ansatzes for variational algorithms, reaching state-of-the-art energies on many quantum many-body Hamiltonians. Nevertheless, the training of the ANN can be slow and stymied by the presence of local minima in the parameter landscape. One approach to mitigate this issue is to use parallel tempering methods, and in this work, we focus on the role played by the temperature distribution of the parallel tempering replicas. Using an adaptive method that adjusts the temperatures in order to equate the exchange probability between neighboring replicas, we show that this temperature optimization can significantly increase the success rate of the variational algorithm with negligible computational cost by eliminating bottlenecks in the replicas' random walk. Furthermore, we demonstrate this using two different neural networks, a restricted Boltzmann machine and a feedforward network, which we use to study a toy problem based on a permutation invariant Hamiltonian with a pernicious local minimum and the 𝐽 1 −𝐽 2 model on a rectangular lattice.

Neural network simulations↗