Abstract
Simulations of gauge theories on quantum computers require the digitization of continuous field variables. Digitization schemes that uses the minimum amount of qubits are desirable. We present a practical scheme for digitizing SU(3) gauge theories via its discrete subgroup S(1080). The S(1080) standard Wilson action cannot be used since a phase transition occurs as the coupling is decreased, well before the scaling regime. We proposed a modified action that allows simulations in the scaling window and carry out classical Monte Carlo calculations down to lattice spacings of order a≈ 0.08 fm. We compute a set of observables with sub-percent precision at multiple lattice spacings and show that the continuum extrapolated value agrees with the full SU(3) results. This suggests that this digitization scheme provides sufficient precision for NISQ-era QCD simulations.