Quantum Circuit for Non-Unitary Linear Transformation of Basis Sets

This paper introduces a novel approach to implementing non-unitary linear transformations of basis on quantum computational platforms, a significant leap beyond the conventional unitary methods. By integrating Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) into the process, the method achieves an operational depth of $O(n)$ with about $n$ ancilla qubits, enhancing the computational capabilities for analyzing fermionic systems. The non-unitarity of the transformation allows us to transform a wave function from one basis to another, which can span different spaces. By this trick, we can calculate the overlap of two wavefunctions that live in different (but non-distinct Hilbert subspaces) with different basis representations. This provides the opportunity to use state specific ansatzes to calculate different energy eigenstates under orbital-optimized settings and may improve the accuracy when computing the energies of multiple eigenstates simultaneously in VQE or other framework. It allows for a deeper exploration of complex quantum states and phenomena, expanding the practical applications of quantum computing in physics and chemistry.

Recommended citation: Zhu, G., Bierman, J., Lu, J., & Li, Y. (2025). Quantum Circuit for Non-Unitary Linear Transformation of Basis Sets. arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.08962.
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