Quantum computing of atomic nuclei*

Quantum computers promise to solve “exponentially hard” problems, such as computing the structure of molecules, atoms, or atomic nuclei. This talk presents the first quantum computation of the deuteron, the lightest atomic nucleus, using publicly available software and accessing quantum processors via the cloud. The calculation employed as simple-yet-realistic model for the deuteron and tailored the calculation to the constraints imposed by cloud computing on noisy quantum chips. The quantum computation yielded the deuteron’s binding energy to within a few percent of precision.