Episode 158 Title: Preparing Input States like in the Lab: Bypassing the Hardness of Ground-States in Simulating Chemical Dynamics on Quantum Computers with Philipp Schleich. Paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.09268 Slides: Abstract: Looking at the complexity of simulating chemistry on quantum computers, there is one thing we do not get around if we don't consider heuristics: Looking for ground-states is hard while simulation itself asymptotically efficient. In this talk, I will discuss a recent idea to make quantum simulation of chemistry efficient by mimicking lab-like experimental conditions. In particular, we propose a state-preparation scheme that avoids the preparation of ground-states or thermal states of systems beyond small atoms, where this is still a feasible step. A state prepared by such a scattering can then be used as an input to a simulation step. Finally, I will give an outlook how this can be applied to specific application instances. Bio: I am a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Toronto, supervised by Alán Aspuru-Guzik. My main research interest is the complexity of simulating physical problems on quantum computers. I mostly focus on simulation problems from chemistry and quantum algorithms for differential equations, where I have had and have the pleasure to work with Dominic Berry and Nathan Wiebe.