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Hadronic tensor in lattice gauge theories by quantum computing

Dairui Zou1,2,3, Tianyin Li4,*, Jian Liang1,3,†, Enke Wang1,3,‡, and Hongxi Xing1,3,5,§ (QuNu Collaboration)

  • 1State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Institute of Quantum Matter, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
  • 2Key Laboratory of Atomic and Subatomic Structure and Quantum Control (MOE), Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Quantum Matter, Guangzhou 510006, China
  • 3Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Structure and Fundamental Interactions of Matter, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nuclear Science, Guangzhou 510006, China
  • 4RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS), RIKEN, Wako 351-0198, Japan
  • 5Southern Center for Nuclear-Science Theory (SCNT), Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huizhou 516000, China

  • *Contact author: tianyin.li@riken.jp
  • †Contact author: jianliang@scnu.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: wangek@scnu.edu.cn
  • §Contact author: hxing@m.scnu.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 076001 – Published 1 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/sdvz-1ltn

Abstract

The hadronic tensor encodes crucial information regarding the internal structure of hadrons, reflecting the nonperturbative features of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In this work, we directly compute the hadronic tensor within (1+1)-dimensional U(1) and SU(2) gauge theories by evaluating real-time current-current correlation functions. Utilizing quantum algorithms executed on classical hardware, we demonstrate that the hadron form factors for both meson and baryon states can be reliably extracted from the hadronic tensor. Our methodology is validated by strong agreement with both direct calculation and exact diagonalization of the form factors.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 076001– Published 1 October, 2026
  • Received 20 June 2026
  • Accepted 24 August 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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