{
  "abstract": "Compact ground-state preparation circuits are essential for early fault-tolerant quantum chemistry. We introduce Variational Imaginary-time Majorana Evolution (VIME), a classical pre-training algorithm that extends operator-projected variational quantum imaginary-time evolution (OVQITE) to molecular electronic structure using a single compiled Majorana-propagation (MP) surrogate graph. We pair VIME with a compressed tiled Unitary Product State (c-tUPS) ansatz that we develop to reduce both classical simulation and quantum state-preparation costs. In the strongly correlated ruthenium complex TLD-1411, active-space calculations requiring up to 52 qubits achieve chemical precision against DMRG reference energies, with energy errors approximately $400\\times$ smaller than those from ADAPT-VQE-based variational Majorana-propagation (ADAPT-VMPE). Across the strongly multireference acene series up to heptacene (60 qubits), VIME matches or improves on the MP-reported energy accuracy of the ADAPT-VMPE comparison points with up to $26\\times$ fewer CNOTs and $167\\times$ lower two-qubit depth. These results establish imaginary-time classical pre-training of compressed variational ansätze as a promising route to resource-efficient molecular ground-state preparation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.01954",
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Federico Santona"
    },
    {
      "name": "Manuel G. Algaba"
    },
    {
      "name": "Aeishah Ameera Anuar"
    },
    {
      "name": "Anna M. Wernbacher"
    },
    {
      "name": "Prachi Sharma"
    },
    {
      "name": "Fedor Šimkovic IV"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/19jzea1jh2p64.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.01954",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "19jzea1jh2p64",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.01954",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.chem-ph"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "quant-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1702|Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7216266717",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.01954",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/19jzea1jh2p64.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:26:03Z",
      "native_id": "2610.01954",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.01954"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.chem-ph",
      "subfield": "physical"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:quant-ph",
      "subfield": "quantum"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Hardware-Efficient Ground-State Preparation using Variational Imaginary-Time Majorana Evolution",
  "title_text": "Hardware-Efficient Ground-State Preparation using Variational Imaginary-Time Majorana Evolution",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:26:03Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/19jzea1jh2p64",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}