Simulating physical phenomena by quantum networks

Physical systems, characterized by an ensemble of interacting constituents, can be represented and studied by different algebras of operators (observables). For example, a fully polarized electronic system can be studied by means of the algebra generated by the usual fermionic creation and annihilation operators or by the algebra of Pauli (spin-1/2) operators. The Jordan-Wigner isomorphism gives the correspondence between the two algebras. As we previously noted, similar isomorphisms enable one to represent any physical system in a quantum computer. In this paper we evolve and exploit this fundamental observation to simulate generic physical phenomena by quantum networks. We give quantum circuits useful for the efficient evaluation of the physical properties (e.g., the spectrum of observables or relevant correlation functions) of an arbitrary system with Hamiltonian H