Strong Analog Classical Simulation of Coherent Quantum Dynamics

A strong analog classical simulation of general quantum evolution is proposed, which serves as a novel scheme in quantum computation and simulation. The scheme employs the approach of geometric quantum mechanics and quantum informational technique of quantum tomography, which applies broadly to cases of mixed states, nonunitary evolution, and infinite dimensional systems. The simulation provides an intriguing classical picture to probe quantum phenomena, namely, a coherent quantum dynamics can be viewed as a globally constrained classical Hamiltonian dynamics of a collection of coupled particles or strings. Efficiency analysis reveals a fundamental difference between the locality in real space and locality in Hilbert space, the latter enables efficient strong analog classical simulations. Examples are also studied to highlight the differences and gaps among various simulation methods.