Hanna Linn, Tillämpad kvantfysik

Diskussionsledare: Gemma Solomon

Sammanfattning: Protein folding processes are a complex and vital aspect of molecular biology that quantum devices may help model.
We analyze the resource requirements for simulating protein folding on a quantum computer, assessing this problem's feasibility in the current and near-future technological landscape. We calculate the minimum number of qubits, interactions, and two-qubit gates necessary to represent the energy of a specific folding.
We study course-grained folding models on the lattice and the fixed backbone side-chain conformation model and assess these models' compatibility with the constraints of existing quantum hardware given different bit-encodings.
Specifically, we focus on the resources needed to encode the Hamiltonian representing the energy function of each protein folding model concerning the chain's amino acid count. The energy Hamiltonian is a fundamental component of the chosen quantum algorithm and guides the evolution of the quantum state for efficient computations.
We conclude that the number of qubits required falls within current technological capabilities. Further, the limiting factor is the high number of terms in the Hamiltonian, resulting in a substantial requirement for numerous quantum gates not available today.