Speaker
Description
Parton distribution functions (PDFs), generalized parton distributions (GPDs), and hadronic tensors provide complementary information about the internal structure of hadrons. Quantum computing offers a Hamiltonian real-time simulation framework for these observables and may help overcome the sign problem that limits conventional Monte Carlo approaches.
In this talk, I will introduce recent progress along this direction. I will first discuss the direct quantum simulation of PDFs in the 1+1 dimensional Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model, where hadronic states are prepared by a quantum-number-resolving variational algorithm and light-front correlation functions are measured on quantum circuits. I will then extend the discussion to gauge theories, focusing on PDFs and GPDs in the Schwinger model, where gauge invariance and Wilson lines must be incorporated into the quantum algorithm.
Finally, I will discuss the non-Abelian case. Since the gauge links in PDF operators become significantly more complicated in QCD-like theories, an alternative strategy is to probe hadron structure through the hadronic tensor, computed from real-time current-current correlation functions. This provides a practical route to extract form factors and, in the future, to access deep-inelastic structure functions. Together, these studies outline a possible route toward quantum simulations of hadron structure, from PDFs and GPDs in the Schwinger model to hadronic tensors in 1+1 dimensional SU(2) gauge theory.
