Quantinuum introduces hybrid solver for industrially relevant chemical modelling

November 1, 2022

New solution could have significant impacts for the automotive, aerospace, semiconductor and oil and gas industries

It’s believed that quantum computing will transform the way we solve chemistry problems, and the Quantinuum scientific team continues to push the envelope towards making that a reality. 

In their latest research paper published on the arXiv, Quantinuum scientists describe a new hybrid classical-quantum solver for chemistry. The method they developed can model complex molecules at a new level of efficiency and precision.  

Dr. Michał Krompiec, Scientific Project Manager, and his colleague Dr. David Muñoz Ramo, Head of Quantum Chemistry, co-authored the paper, Strongly Contracted N-Electron Valence State Perturbation Theory Using Reduced Density Matrices from a Quantum Computer.

The implications are significant as their innovation “tackles one of the biggest bottlenecks in modelling molecules on quantum computers,” according to Dr. Krompiec.

Quantum computers are a natural platform to solve chemistry problems. Chemical molecules are made of many interacting electrons, and quantum mechanics can describe the behavior and energies of these electrons. 

As Dr. Krompiec explains, “nature is not classical, it is quantum. We want to map the quantum system of interacting electrons into a quantum system of interacting qubits, and then solve it.” 

Solving the full picture of electron interactions is extremely difficult, but fortunately it is not always necessary. Scientists usually simplify the task by focusing on the active space of the molecule, a smaller subset of the problem which matters most. 

Even with these simplifications, difficulties remain. One challenge is carefully choosing this smaller subset, which describes strongly correlated electrons and is therefore more complex.  Another challenge is accurately solving the rest of the system. Solving the chemistry of the complex subset can often be done from perturbation theory using so-called “multi-reference” methods.

In their work, the Quantinuum team came up with a new multi-reference technique. They maintain that only the strongly correlated part of the molecule should be calculated on a quantum computer. This is important, as this part usually scales exponentially with the size of the molecule, making it classically intractable.  

The quantum algorithm they used on this part relied on measuring reduced density matrices and feeding them into a multi-reference perturbation theory calculation, a combination that had never been used in this context.  Implementing the quantum electronic structure solver on the active space and using measured reduced density matrices makes the problem less computationally expensive and the solution more accurate.

The team tested their workflow on two molecules - H2 and Li2 – using Quantinuum’s hybrid solver implemented in the InQuanto quantum computational chemistry platform and IBM’s 27-qubit device. Quantinuum software is platform inclusive and is often tested on both its own H Series ion-trap quantum systems as well as others.

The non-strongly correlated regions of the molecules were run classically, as they would not benefit from a quantum speedup. The team’s results showed excellent agreement with previous models, meaning their method worked. Beyond that, the method showed great promise for reaching new levels of speed and accuracy for larger molecules. 

The future impact of this work could create a new paradigm to perform quantum chemistry. The authors of the paper believe it may represent the best way of computing dynamic correlation corrections to active space-type quantum methods. 

As Dr. Krompiec said, “Quantum chemistry can finally be solved with an application of a quantum solver. This can remove the factorial scaling which limits the applicability of this rigorous method to a very small subsystem.”  

The idea to use a multi-reference method along with reduced density matrix measurement is quite novel and stems from the diverse backgrounds of the team at Quantinuum. It is a unique application of well-known quantum algorithms to a set of theoretical quantum chemistry problems. 

What’s Next

The use cases are vast. Analysis of catalyst and material properties may first benefit from this new method, which will have a tremendous impact in the automotive, aerospace, fine chemicals, semiconductor, and energy industries. 

Implementing this method on real hardware is limited by the current noise levels. But as the quality of the qubits increases, the method will unleash its full potential. Quantinuum’s System Model H1 trapped-ion hardware, Powered by Honeywell, benefits from high fidelity qubits, and will be a valuable resource for quantum chemists wishing to follow this work. 

This hybrid quantum-classical method promises a path to quantum advantage for important chemistry problems, as machines become more powerful.

As Dr. Krompiec summarizes, “we haven’t just created a toy model that works for near-term devices. This is a fundamental method that will still be relevant as quantum computers continue to mature.”

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Kaniah Konkoly-Thege

Kaniah is Chief Legal Counsel and SVP of Government Relations for Quantinuum. In her previous role, she served as General Counsel, Honeywell Quantum Solutions. Prior to Honeywell, she was General Counsel, Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, LLC, and Senior Attorney, U.S. Department of Energy. She was Lead Counsel before the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Kaniah holds a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law and B.A., International Relations and Spanish from the College of William and Mary.

Jeff Miller

Jeff Miller is Chief Information Officer for Quantinuum. In his previous role, he served as CIO for Honeywell Quantum Solutions and led a cross-functional team responsible for Information Technology, Cybersecurity, and Physical Security. For Honeywell, Jeff has held numerous management and executive roles in Information Technology, Security, Integrated Supply Chain and Program Management. Jeff holds a B.S., Computer Science, University of Arizona. He is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, attaining the rank of Commander.

Matthew Bohne

Matthew Bohne is the Vice President & Chief Product Security Officer for Honeywell Corporation. He is a passionate cybersecurity leader and executive with a proven track record of building and leading cybersecurity organizations securing energy, industrial, buildings, nuclear, pharmaceutical, and consumer sectors. He is a sought-after expert with deep experience in DevSecOps, critical infrastructure, software engineering, secure SDLC, supply chain security, privacy, and risk management.

Todd Moore

Todd Moore is the Global Vice President of Data Encryption Products at Thales. He is responsible for setting the business line and go to market strategies for an industry leading cybersecurity business. He routinely helps enterprises build solutions for a wide range of complex data security problems and use cases. Todd holds several management and technical degrees from the University of Virginia, Rochester Institute of Technology, Cornell University and Ithaca College. He is active in his community, loves to travel and spends much of his free time supporting his family in pursuing their various passions.

John Davis

Retired U.S. Army Major General John Davis is the Vice President, Public Sector for Palo Alto Networks, where he is responsible for expanding cybersecurity initiatives and global policy for the international public sector and assisting governments around the world to prevent successful cyber breaches. Prior to joining Palo Alto Networks, John served as the Senior Military Advisor for Cyber to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy.  Prior to this assignment, he served in multiple leadership positions in special operations, cyber, and information operations.