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Researchers at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Washington recently developed a new method to help quantum computers simulate high-energy particle collisions more efficiently. Their approach, published in *Nature Physics*, allows devices to prepare initial wavepackets—localized disturbances representing moving particles—with greater speed than previous techniques. This work was demonstrated on a quantum processor containing 104 qubits, the basic units of quantum information, developed by IBM.

The team aimed to observe how energy converts into mass during collisions, a process described by Einstein’s equation E = mc². Using a simplified model called one-dimensional Ising field theory, they simulated two light particles moving toward each other. At low energies, the particles simply bounced apart without creating new matter. However, at higher energies, the simulation showed that energy from the collision could transform one light particle into a heavy particle, generating additional energy density.

To detect this transformation, the researchers measured properties of the post-collision state on IBM’s noisy quantum hardware. They observed an increase in skewness in the energy density after high-energy collisions, providing evidence that a heavy particle had been created. Their new algorithm uses mid-circuit measurements and classical feedback to create long-range entanglement with fewer circuit layers than traditional methods. While currently limited to one dimension, the team plans to expand simulations to two and three dimensions to better model realistic interactions like those found in the Standard Model of particle physics.