Experimental demonstration of boson sampling as a hardware accelerator for monte carlo integration
Abstract
We present an experimental demonstration of boson sampling as a hardware accelerator for Monte Carlo integration. Our approach leverages importance sampling to factorize an integrand into a distribution that can be sampled using quantum hardware and a function that can be evaluated classically, enabling hybrid quantum-classical computation. We argue that for certain classes of integrals, this method offers a quantum advantage by efficiently sampling from probability distributions that are hard to simulate classically. We also identify structural criteria that must be satisfied to preserve computational hardness, notably the sensitivity of the classical post-processing function to high-order quantum correlations. To validate our protocol, we implement a proof-of-principle experiment on a programmable photonic platform to compute the first-order energy correction of a three-boson system in a harmonic trap under an Efimov-inspired three-body perturbation. The experimental results are consistent with theoretical predictions and numerical simulations, with deviations explained by photon distinguishability, discretization, and unitary imperfections. Additionally, we provide an error budget quantifying the impact of these same sources of noise. Our work establishes a concrete use case for near-term photonic quantum devices and highlights a viable path toward practical quantum advantage in scientific computing.