General Methods for Digital Quantum Simulation of Gauge Theories

Abstract: A general scheme is presented for simulating gauge theories, with matter fields, on a digital quantum computer. A Trotterized time-evolution operator that respects gauge symmetry is constructed, and a procedure for obtaining time-separated, gauge-invariant operators is detailed. We demonstrate the procedure on small lattices, including the simulation of a 2+1D non-Abelian gauge theory.