Efficient Simulation of Open Quantum Systems on NISQ Trapped-Ion Hardware

Abstract

Simulating open quantum systems, which interact with external environments, presents significant challenges on noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices due to limited qubit resources and noise. In this study, an efficient framework is proposed for simulating open quantum systems on NISQ hardware by leveraging a time-perturbative Kraus operator representation of the system's dynamics. This approach avoids the computationally expensive Trotterization method and exploits the Lindblad master equation to represent time evolution in a compact form, particularly for systems satisfying specific commutation relations. The efficiency of this method is demonstrated by simulating quantum channels, such as the continuous-time Pauli channel and damped harmonic oscillators, on NISQ trapped-ion hardware, including IonQ Harmony and Quantinuum H1-1. Additionally, hardware-agnostic error mitigation techniques are introduced, including Pauli channel fitting and quantum depolarizing channel inversion, to enhance the fidelity of quantum simulations. These results show strong agreement between the simulations on real quantum hardware and exact solutions, highlighting the potential of Kraus-based methods for scalable and accurate simulation of open quantum systems on NISQ devices. This framework opens pathways for simulating more complex systems under realistic conditions in the near term.