Quantum Algorithms for Turbulent Mixing Simulation

Probability density function (PDF) methods have been useful in describing many physical aspects of turbulent mixing. In applications of these methods, modeled PDF transport equations are commonly simulated via classical Monte Carlo techniques, which provide estimates of moments of the PDF at arbitrary accuracy. In this talk, I will describe recently developed techniques in quantum computing and quantum enhanced measurements (quantum metrology) and use them to construct a quantum algorithm that accelerates the computation of such estimates. I will show that the quantum algorithm provides a quadratic speedup over classical Monte Carlo methods in terms of the number of repetitions needed to achieve the desired precision. I will provide a simple illustration of the power of the algorithm by considering a binary scalar mixing process modeled by means of the coalescence/dispersion (C/D) closure.

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Rolando Somma is a scientist working at the forefront of quantum information at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In 2005, Rolando received the LANL Director’s postdoctoral fellowship to conduct work on quantum metrology methods using ion traps, which earned him the 2006 LANL’s Postdoctoral Distinguished Performance award due to his high-profile results and publications. In 2007, Rolando received a postdoctoral fellowship from the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Canada. During his time at PI, Rolando collaborated with world-class researchers in the area of quantum information and produced important results on the power of quantum computing models. Rolando has coauthored over 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals that are highly cited, and has given over 50 invited seminars in top institutions and conferences. In 2009 Rolando returned to LANL, and was converted to staff in the Theoretical Division in late 2010. Since then, Rolando has been working extensively in the development of fast quantum methods for diverse problems and in security proofs of quantum cryptography with realistic devices. His pioneering work on quantum information has been reported in the media several times. Rolando is a member of the QCFD (Quantum Computing/Computational Fluid Dynamics) team led by the University of Pittsburgh, is affiliated with the New Mexico Consortium, the University of New Mexico, and the Institute of Quantum Computing (Waterloo), and is an active graduate student and postdoctoral mentor.