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Predicting properties of quantum thermal states from a single trajectory

arXiv Quantum Physics
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⚡ Quantum Brief
Researchers Jiaqing Jiang, Jiaqi Leng, and Lin Lin propose a breakthrough method to drastically reduce the computational cost of estimating thermal expectation values in quantum systems by leveraging a single Gibbs-sampling trajectory instead of traditional independent sampling. The new approach eliminates the need for full mixing time between measurements by using a single burn-in period followed by interleaved coherent measurements, exploiting shorter autocorrelation times to boost efficiency. For energy estimation and Hamiltonian-commuting observables, the team employs Gaussian-filtered quantum phase estimation, achieving logarithmic overhead—a significant improvement over conventional methods. A novel weighted operator Fourier transform technique mitigates measurement-induced disturbances, enabling accurate predictions for general observables without compromising the thermal state’s integrity. This work bridges quantum algorithmic advances with practical applications in quantum chemistry and materials science, offering a scalable solution for thermal state property prediction.
Predicting properties of quantum thermal states from a single trajectory

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Quantum Physics arXiv:2602.12539 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 13 Feb 2026] Title:Predicting properties of quantum thermal states from a single trajectory Authors:Jiaqing Jiang, Jiaqi Leng, Lin Lin View a PDF of the paper titled Predicting properties of quantum thermal states from a single trajectory, by Jiaqing Jiang and 2 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Estimating thermal expectation values of observables is a fundamental task in quantum physics, quantum chemistry, and materials science. While recent quantum algorithms have enabled efficient quantum preparation of thermal states, observable estimation via sampling remains costly: a straightforward implementation separates successive measurements by a full mixing time in order to ensure samples are approximately independent. In this work, we show that the sampling cost can be substantially reduced by using a single Gibbs-sampling trajectory. After a single burn-in period, we interleave coherent measurements that satisfy detailed balance with respect to the target Gibbs state. The efficiency of this approach rests on the fact that, in many settings, the autocorrelation time can be significantly shorter than the mixing time. For energy estimation (and more generally for observables commuting with the Hamiltonian), we implement the required measurements using Gaussian-filtered quantum phase estimation with only logarithmic overhead. We also introduce a weighted operator Fourier transform technique to mitigate measurement-induced disturbance for general observables. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2602.12539 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2602.12539v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2602.12539 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Jiaqing Jiang [view email] [v1] Fri, 13 Feb 2026 02:40:23 UTC (844 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Predicting properties of quantum thermal states from a single trajectory, by Jiaqing Jiang and 2 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-02 References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)

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Source: arXiv Quantum Physics