Quantum Simulation of Strongly Correlated Electron Systems for Next-Generation Superconducting Technology

Abstract

We report a systematic quantum simulation study of strongly correlated electron systems described by the 2D Fermi-Hubbard model, executed across superconducting quantum processors ranging from 16 to 127 qubits. Employing variational quantum eigensolver protocols combined with probabilistic error cancellation and zero-noise extrapolation mitigation techniques, we characterized ground-state energies, spin-spin correlation functions, and d-wave superconducting pairing correlations over the parameter regime, U/t ∈ [2, 12] and doping levels δ ∈ [0.05, 0.25]. Errors in the ground-state energy for simulations were found to be within 3.2 mHa per site relative to the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) benchmark for circuit depths up to 400 two-qubit gate layers and a 127-qubit scale. The extracted d-wave pairing susceptibility had a distinct peak at U/t ≈ 8.0 and δ ≈ 0.15, which is comparable to the theoretically predicted values of cuprate-class high-temperature superconductors. Quantum advantage onset is identified at system sizes beyond 48 qubits under realistic noise conditions when tensor network classical simulation costs become prohibitive. The findings provide a clear-cut computational roadmap from the ability of quantum hardware to predictive modelling of superconducting pairing mechanisms, directly informing materials design for next-generation superconducting technologies.