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  • Open Access

Time-Dependent Wave-Packet Approach to Reactions for Quantum Computation

Evan Rule and Ionel Stetcu*

  • *Contact author: stetcu@lanl.gov
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 162501 – Published 14 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/kwgf-jdbn

Abstract

We describe a method for obtaining the scattering matrix for nuclear or chemical reactions on a finite lattice. Aside from the preparation of the initial and final states as wave packets, the only other operation required is unitary time evolution, making this approach ideal for simulations on quantum hardware. The central quantity is a time-dependent overlap between incoming and outgoing wave packets whose Fourier transform corresponds to the scattering matrix at fixed energy, from which one can calculate elastic and inelastic cross sections for reactions involving two interacting clusters. Working in Cartesian coordinates enables an efficient encoding of the problem on quantum hardware via the first quantization mapping, with favorable qubit scaling for describing asymptotic scattering states. Within this framework, we describe a quantum algorithm for probing the scattering amplitude through different angles, including the forward direction, which provides access to the total cross section via the optical theorem. We demonstrate our methods through a series of numerical examples, for both elastic and inelastic processes, comparing against exact calculations. The techniques we describe can more readily be extended to a large number of constituent particles than other existing approaches, once fault-tolerant quantum hardware becomes available.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 162501– Published 14 October, 2026
  • Received 30 March 2026
  • Accepted 22 September 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.

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