Query-optimal quantum simulation of Lindblad evolution
Abstract
For the problem of simulating Lindblad evolution for time t to precision ε, Hamiltonian simulation provides an additive query lower bound, informally, Ω(t + polylog(1/ε)). However, the best previously known algorithms for general Lindblad simulation achieve a multiplicative upper bound, informally, 𝒪(t polylog(1/ε)), in query complexity. It has remained open whether this multiplicative dependence is necessary. In this paper, we close the gap in query complexity by giving an algorithm with optimal additive dependence on evolution time and precision in the block-encoding model. Our approach uses the transducer framework to reduce the query cost of composing first-order approximations to the evolution channel, together with linear combinations of reuse circuits of different lengths to suppress catalyst-removal error. We further achieve nearly optimal gate complexity in evolution time and precision through history compression and an efficient implementation of the query-free part of the transducer using operation reordering and linear combinations of unitaries, while preserving the optimal query complexity.
Related
- Causal Query Compression for Lindblad Dynamics: Optimal Queries and Nearly Linear Local Simulation
- Optimal query complexity for fractional quantum evolution
- Gate-Efficient Implementation of the Query-Optimal Time-Dependent Hamiltonian Simulation
- Query-Optimal and Gate-Efficient Lindbladian Simulation
- Universal Dilation of Linear Itô SDEs: Quantum Trajectories and Lindblad Simulation of Second Moments
BibTeX
@misc{wang2026queryoptimal,
title = {{Query-optimal quantum simulation of Lindblad evolution}},
author = {Chunhao Wang and Christopher Ye},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.17490},
eprint = {2609.17490},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.17490},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Query-optimal quantum simulation of Lindblad evolution
AU - Chunhao Wang
AU - Christopher Ye
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/25
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.17490
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.17490
AB - For the problem of simulating Lindblad evolution for time t to precision ε, Hamiltonian simulation provides an additive query lower bound, informally, Ω(t + polylog(1/ε)). However, the best previously known algorithms for general Lindblad simulation achieve a multiplicative upper bound, informally, 𝒪(t polylog(1/ε)), in query complexity. It has remained open whether this multiplicative dependence is necessary. In this paper, we close the gap in query complexity by giving an algorithm with optimal additive dependence on evolution time and precision in the block-encoding model. Our approach uses the transducer framework to reduce the query cost of composing first-order approximations to the evolution channel, together with linear combinations of reuse circuits of different lengths to suppress catalyst-removal error. We further achieve nearly optimal gate complexity in evolution time and precision through history compression and an efficient implementation of the query-free part of the transducer using operation reordering and linear combinations of unitaries, while preserving the optimal query complexity.
ER -