Methods, systems and apparatus for simulating quantum systems. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of obtaining a first Hamiltonian describing the quantum system, wherein the Hamiltonian is written in a plane wave basis comprising N plane wave basis vectors; applying a discrete Fourier transform to the first Hamiltonian to generate a second Hamiltonian written in a plane wave dual basis, wherein the second Hamiltonian comprises a number of terms that scales at most quadratically with N; and simulating the quantum system using the second Hamiltonian.