Fragment, Entangle, and Consolidate: Strong Correlation through Bi-fold Quantum Circuits

Abstract

An accurate description of strong correlation is quintessential for the exploration of emerging chemical phenomena. While near-term variational quantum algorithms provide a theoretically scalable framework for quantum chemical problems, the accurate simulation of multireference effects remains elusive, hindering progress toward the rational design of novel chemical space. In this regard, we introduce a general and customizable scheme to handle strong electronic correlation, based on problem decomposition, entanglement buildup, and subsequent consolidation. Based on a problem-inspired molecular decomposition, the deployment of Hardware Efficient Ansatz to prepare entangled subsystems ensures efficient construction of a multireference state while concurrently adhering to the hardware topology. The dynamic correlation is subsequently introduced through a unitary coupled cluster framework, with static or dynamic ansatz parametrized by a set of inter-fragment generalized operators, and with the product state spanning various subsystems taken as the reference. The hybrid architecture ensures a judicious deployment of separate ansatze structures for capturing various degrees of correlation in a balanced manner, while concurrently retaining the scalability and flexibility provided by them individually. Over a number of numerical applications on a strongly correlated system, the proposed scheme is shown to be highly accurate, flexible, and robust in unlocking the potential to harness quantum advantage for quantum chemistry.