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Quantum Simulating Continuum Field Theories with Large-Spin Lattice Models

Gabriele Calliari1,2,*, Marco Di Liberto3,4, Hannes Pichler1,2, and Torsten V. Zache1,2,†

  • *Contact author: Gabriele.Calliari@uibk.ac.at
  • †Contact author: Torsten.Zache@uibk.ac.at

PRX Quantum 6, 030304 – Published 9 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/nt76-ttmj

Abstract

Simulating the real-time dynamics of quantum field theories (QFTs) is one of the most promising applications of quantum simulators. Regularizing a bosonic QFT for quantum simulation purposes typically involves a truncation in Hilbert space in addition to a discretization of space. Here, we discuss how to perform such a regularization of scalar QFTs by explicitly constructing suitable many-body lattice Hamiltonians using multilevel or qudit systems and show that this enables quantitative predictions in the continuum limit by extrapolating results obtained for large-spin models. With extensive matrix-product-state simulations, we numerically demonstrate the sequence of extrapolations that leads to quantitative agreement of observables for the integrable sine-Gordon (sG) QFT. We further show how to prepare static and moving-soliton excitations and we analyze their scattering dynamics in the continuum limit, in agreement with a semiclassical model and with quantitative analytical predictions. Finally, we illustrate how a nonintegrable perturbation of the sG model gives rise to dynamics reminiscent of string breaking and plasma oscillations in gauge theories. Our methods are directly applicable in state-of-the-art analog quantum simulators, opening the door to quantitatively investigating a wide variety of scalar-field theories and tackling long-standing questions in nonequilibrium QFT such as the fate of the false vacuum.

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