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Noise detrimentally affects quantum computations so that they not only become less accurate but also easier to simulate classically as systems scale up. We construct a classical simulation algorithm, LOWESA (low weight efficient simulation algorithm), for estimating expectation values of noisy parameterised quantum circuits. It combines previous results on spectral analysis of parameterised circuits with Pauli back-propagation and recent ideas for simulations of noisy random circuits. We show, under some conditions on the circuits and mild assumptions on the noise, that LOWESA gives an efficient, polynomial algorithm in the number of qubits (and depth), with approximation error that vanishes exponentially in the physical error rate and a controllable cut-off parameter. We also discuss the practical limitations of the method for circuit classes with correlated parameters and its scaling with decreasing error rates., Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures

We consider a heterogeneous network of quantum computing modules, sparsely connected via Bell states. Operations across these connections constitute a computational bottleneck and they are likely to add more noise to the computation than operations performed within a module. We introduce several techniques for transforming a given quantum circuit into one implementable on a network of the aforementioned type, minimising the number of Bell states required to do so. We extend previous works on circuit distribution over fully connected networks to the case of heterogeneous networks. On the one hand, we extend the hypergraph approach of [Andres-Martinez & Heunen. 2019] to arbitrary network topologies. We additionally make use of Steiner trees to find efficient realisations of the entanglement sharing within the network, reusing already established connections as often as possible. On the other hand, we extend the embedding techniques of [Wu, et al. 2022] to networks with more than two modules. Furthermore, we discuss how these two seemingly incompatible approaches can be made to cooperate. Our proposal is implemented and benchmarked; the results confirming that, when orchestrated, the two approaches complement each other's weaknesses., Comment: 30 pages, 18 figures, comments welcome; v2 - Add link to experiment data; v3 - 31 pages, small updates to discussion and references

We present Tierkreis, a higher-order dataflow graph program representation and runtime designed for compositional, quantum-classical hybrid algorithms. The design of the system is motivated by the remote nature of quantum computers, the need for hybrid algorithms to involve cloud and distributed computing, and the long-running nature of these algorithms. The graph-based representation reflects how designers reason about and visualise algorithms, and allows automatic parallelism and asynchronicity. A strong, static type system and higher-order semantics allow for high expressivity and compositionality in the program. The flexible runtime protocol enables third-party developers to add functionality using any language or environment. With Tierkreis, quantum software developers can easily build, visualise, verify, test, and debug complex hybrid workflows, and immediately deploy them to the cloud or a custom distributed environment., Comment: Submitted to SC22 Workshop: Quantum Computing Software

We introduce a categorical formalism for rewriting surface-embedded graphs. Such graphs can represent string diagrams in a non-symmetric setting where we guarantee that the wires do not intersect each other. The main technical novelty is a new formulation of double pushout rewriting on graphs which explicitly records the boundary of the rewrite. Using this boundary structure we can augment these graphs with a rotation system, allowing the surface topology to be incorporated., Comment: In Proceedings ACT 2022, arXiv:2307.15519

We employ spectral analysis and compressed sensing to identify settings where a variational algorithm's cost function can be recovered purely classically or with minimal quantum computer access. We present theoretical and numerical evidence supporting the viability of sparse recovery techniques. To demonstrate this approach, we use basis pursuit denoising to efficiently recover simulated Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) instances of large system size from very few samples. Our results indicate that sparse recovery can enable a more efficient use and distribution of quantum resources in the optimisation of variational algorithms., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures

We investigate the effects of noise on parameterised quantum circuits using spectral analysis and classical signal processing tools. For different noise models, we quantify the additional, higher frequency modes in the output signal caused by device errors. We show that filtering these noise-induced modes effectively mitigates device errors. When combined with existing methods, this yields an improved reconstruction of the noiseless variational landscape. Moreover, we describe the classical and quantum resource requirements for these techniques and test their effectiveness for application motivated circuits on quantum hardware., Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures

The detrimental effect of noise accumulates as quantum computers grow in size. In the case where devices are too small or noisy to perform error correction, error mitigation may be used. Error mitigation does not increase the fidelity of quantum states, but instead aims to reduce the approximation error in quantities of concern, such as expectation values of observables. However, it is as yet unclear which circuit types, and devices of which characteristics, benefit most from the use of error mitigation. Here we develop a methodology to assess the performance of quantum error mitigation techniques. Our benchmarks are volumetric in design, and are performed on different superconducting hardware devices. Extensive classical simulations are also used for comparison. We use these benchmarks to identify disconnects between the predicted and practical performance of error mitigation protocols, and to identify the situations in which their use is beneficial. To perform these experiments, and for the benefit of the wider community, we introduce Qermit - an open source python package for quantum error mitigation. Qermit supports a wide range of error mitigation methods, is easily extensible and has a modular graph-based software design that facilitates composition of error mitigation protocols and subroutines., Comment: 25 pages, Comments welcome; v2 - 26 pages, minor corrections, variance discussion in appendix, v3 - 28 pages, expanded discussion, experiments with varying noise in appendix

We simulate the effects of different types of noise in state preparation circuits of variational quantum algorithms. We first use a variational quantum eigensolver to find the ground state of a Hamiltonian in presence of noise, and adopt two quality measures in addition to the energy, namely fidelity and concurrence. We then extend the task to the one of constructing, with a layered quantum circuit ansatz, a set of general random target states. We determine the optimal circuit depth for different types and levels of noise, and observe that the variational algorithms mitigate the effects of noise by adapting the optimised parameters. We find that the inclusion of redundant parameterised gates makes the quantum circuits more resilient to noise. For such overparameterised circuits different sets of parameters can result in the same final state in the noiseless case, which we denote as parameter degeneracy. Numerically, we show that this degeneracy can be lifted in the presence of noise, with some states being significantly more resilient to noise than others. We also show that the average deviation from the target state is linear in the noise level, as long as this is small compared to a circuit-dependent threshold. In this region the deviation is well described by a stochastic model. Above the threshold, the optimisation can converge to states with largely different physical properties from the true target state, so that for practical applications it is critical to ensure that noise levels are below this threshold., Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures

We describe a compilation strategy for Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) algorithms which use the Unitary Coupled Cluster (UCC) ansatz, designed to reduce circuit depth and gate count. This is achieved by partitioning Pauli exponential terms into mutually commuting sets. These sets are then diagonalised using Clifford circuits and synthesised using the phase polynomial formalism. This strategy reduces cx depth by 75.4% on average, and by up to 89.9%, compared to naive synthesis for a variety of molecules, qubit encodings and basis sets., Comment: 26 pages. v2: Additional references added. v3 minor edits

Quantum computing systems need to be benchmarked in terms of practical tasks they would be expected to do. Here, we propose 3 "application-motivated" circuit classes for benchmarking: deep (relevant for state preparation in the variational quantum eigensolver algorithm), shallow (inspired by IQP-type circuits that might be useful for near-term quantum machine learning), and square (inspired by the quantum volume benchmark). We quantify the performance of a quantum computing system in running circuits from these classes using several figures of merit, all of which require exponential classical computing resources and a polynomial number of classical samples (bitstrings) from the system. We study how performance varies with the compilation strategy used and the device on which the circuit is run. Using systems made available by IBM Quantum, we examine their performance, showing that noise-aware compilation strategies may be beneficial, and that device connectivity and noise levels play a crucial role in the performance of the system according to our benchmarks., Comment: 33 pages, 17 figures; v2 - typos corrected; v3 - rearrangements and compression for clarity, reformatted for publication

We propose a new algorithm to synthesise quantum circuits for phase polynomials, which takes into account the qubit connectivity of the quantum computer. We focus on the architectures of currently available NISQ devices. Our algorithm generates circuits with a smaller CNOT depth than the algorithms currently used in Staq and tket, while improving the runtime with respect the former., Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2022, arXiv:2311.08375. This paper was originally accepted as Submission 38 in QPL2020, but was not included in the proceedings because of a clerical error

We present t$|$ket$\rangle$, a quantum software development platform produced by Cambridge Quantum Computing Ltd. The heart of t$|$ket$\rangle$ is a language-agnostic optimising compiler designed to generate code for a variety of NISQ devices, which has several features designed to minimise the influence of device error. The compiler has been extensively benchmarked and outperforms most competitors in terms of circuit optimisation and qubit routing., Comment: 43 pages. Submitted

We give an overview of the circuit optimisation methods used by tket, a compiler system for quantum software developed by Cambridge Quantum Computing Ltd. We focus on a novel technique based around phase gadgets, a family of multi-qubit quantum operations which occur naturally in a wide range of quantum circuits of practical interest. The phase gadgets have a simple presentation in the ZX-calculus, which makes it easy to reason about them. Taking advantage of this, we present an efficient method to translate the phase gadgets back to CNOT gates and single qubit operations suitable for execution on a quantum computer with significant reductions in gate count and circuit depth. We demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods on a quantum chemistry benchmarking set based on variational circuits for ground state estimation of small molecules., Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2019, arXiv:2004.14750

The zx-calculus and related theories are based on so-called interacting Frobenius algebras, where a pair of dagger-special commutative Frobenius algebras jointly form a pair of Hopf algebras. In this setting we introduce a generalisation of this structure, Hopf-Frobenius algebras, starting from a single Hopf algebra which is not necessarily commutative or cocommutative. We provide a few necessary and sufficient conditions for a Hopf algebra to be a Hopf-Frobenius algebra, and show that every Hopf algebra in the category of finite dimensional vector spaces is a Hopf-Frobenius algebra. In addition, we show that this construction is unique up to an invertible scalar. Due to this fact, Hopf-Frobenius algebras provide two canonical notions of duality, and give us a "dual" Hopf algebra that is isomorphic to the usual dual Hopf algebra in a compact closed category. We use this isomorphism to construct a Hopf algebra isomorphic to the Drinfeld double, but has a much simpler presentation., Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2019, arXiv:2004.14750

We present an abstract model of quantum computation, the "Pauli Fusion" model, whose primitive operations correspond closely to generators of the ZX calculus (a formal graphical language for quantum computing). The fundamental operations of Pauli Fusion are also straightforward abstractions of basic processes in some leading proposed quantum technologies. These operations have non-deterministic heralded effects, similarly to measurement-based quantum computation. We describe sufficient conditions for Pauli Fusion procedures to be deterministically realisable, so that it performs a given transformation independently of its non-deterministic outcomes. This provides an operational model to realise ZX terms beyond the circuit model., Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2019, arXiv:2004.14750

We introduce a new architecture-agnostic methodology for mapping abstract quantum circuits to realistic quantum computing devices with restricted qubit connectivity, as implemented by Cambridge Quantum Computing's tket compiler. We present empirical results showing the effectiveness of this method in terms of reducing two-qubit gate depth and two-qubit gate count, compared to other implementations., Comment: v2: wrong chart replaced with correct version; minor edits for clarity

We present a completely new approach to quantum circuit optimisation, based on the ZX-calculus. We first interpret quantum circuits as ZX-diagrams, which provide a flexible, lower-level language for describing quantum computations graphically. Then, using the rules of the ZX-calculus, we give a simplification strategy for ZX-diagrams based on the two graph transformations of local complementation and pivoting and show that the resulting reduced diagram can be transformed back into a quantum circuit. While little is known about extracting circuits from arbitrary ZX-diagrams, we show that the underlying graph of our simplified ZX-diagram always has a graph-theoretic property called generalised flow, which in turn yields a deterministic circuit extraction procedure. For Clifford circuits, this extraction procedure yields a new normal form that is both asymptotically optimal in size and gives a new, smaller upper bound on gate depth for nearest-neighbour architectures. For Clifford+T and more general circuits, our technique enables us to to `see around' gates that obstruct the Clifford structure and produce smaller circuits than naive 'cut-and-resynthesise' methods., Comment: 18 pages + appendices with examples, proofs, and pseudocode

We present a system of equations between Clifford circuits, all derivable in the ZX-calculus, and formalised as rewrite rules in the Quantomatic proof assistant. By combining these rules with some non-trivial simplification procedures defined in the Quantomatic tactic language, we demonstrate the use of Quantomatic as a circuit optimisation tool. We prove that the system always reduces Clifford circuits of one or two qubits to their minimal form, and give numerical results demonstrating its performance on larger Clifford circuits., Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2018, arXiv:1901.09476

In this paper we present a Quantomatic case study, verifying the basic properties of the Smallest Interesting Colour Code error detecting code., Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2017, arXiv:1802.09737. v2 removes the long appendix with the complete proofs. This is still available in v1 of this paper

This volume contains the proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Quantum Physics and Logic (QPL 2016), which was held June 6-10, 2016 at the University of Strathclyde. QPL is a conference that brings together researchers working on mathematical foundations of quantum physics, quantum computing, and related areas, with a focus on structural perspectives and the use of logical tools, ordered algebraic and category-theoretic structures, formal languages, semantical methods, and other computer science techniques applied to the study of physical behaviour in general.

Theories featuring the interaction between a Frobenius algebra and a Hopf algebra have recently appeared in several areas in computer science: concurrent programming, control theory, and quantum computing, among others. Bonchi, Sobocinski, and Zanasi (2014) have shown that, given a suitable distributive law, a pair of Hopf algebras forms two Frobenius algebras. Here we take the opposite approach, and show that interacting Frobenius algebras form Hopf algebras. We generalise (BSZ 2014) by including non-trivial dynamics of the underlying object---the so-called phase group---and investigate the effects of finite dimensionality of the underlying model. We recover the system of Bonchi et al as a subtheory in the prime power dimensional case, but the more general theory does not arise from a distributive law., Comment: 32 pages; submitted

This chapter provides an introduction to the use of diagrammatic language, or perhaps more accurately, diagrammatic calculus, in quantum information and quantum foundations. We illustrate the use of diagrammatic calculus in one particular case, namely the study of complementarity and non-locality, two fundamental concepts of quantum theory whose relationship we explore in later part of this chapter. The diagrammatic calculus that we are concerned with here is not merely an illustrative tool, but it has both (i) a conceptual physical backbone, which allows it to act as a foundation for diverse physical theories, and (ii) a genuine mathematical underpinning, permitting one to relate it to standard mathematical structures., Comment: To appear as a Springer book chapter chapter, edited by G. Chirabella, R. Spekkens

This volume contains the proceedings of the ninth workshop on Quantum Physics and Logic (QPL2012) which took place in Brussels from the 10th to the 12th of October 2012. QPL2012 brought together researchers working on mathematical foundations of quantum physics, quantum computing, and spatio-temporal causal structures. The particular focus was on the use of logical tools, ordered algebraic and category-theoretic structures, formal languages, semantical techniques, and other computer science methods for the study of physical behaviour in general.

We show that pivoting property of graph states cannot be derived from the axioms of the ZX-calculus, and that pivoting does not imply local complementation of graph states. Therefore the ZX-calculus augmented with pivoting is strictly weaker than the calculus augmented with the Euler decomposition of the Hadamard gate. We derive an angle-free version of the ZX-calculus and show that it is complete for real stabilizer quantum mechanics., Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2013, arXiv:1412.7917

In this paper we give a partially mechanized proof of the correctness of Steane's 7-qubit error correcting code, using the tool Quantomatic. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the largest and most complicated verification task yet carried out using Quantomatic., Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2013, arXiv:1412.7917

Quantum computations are easily represented in the graphical notation known as the ZX-calculus, a.k.a. the red-green calculus. We demonstrate its use in reasoning about measurement-based quantum computing, where the graphical syntax directly captures the structure of the entangled states used to represent computations, and show that the notion of information flow within the entangled states gives rise to rewriting strategies for proving the correctness of quantum programs., Comment: To appear in "Compositional methods in Physics and Linguistics" OUP 2012

Categorical quantum mechanics studies quantum theory in the framework of dagger-compact closed categories. Using this framework, we establish a tight relationship between two key quantum theoretical notions: non-locality and complementarity. In particular, we establish a direct connection between Mermin-type non-locality scenarios, which we generalise to an arbitrary number of parties, using systems of arbitrary dimension, and performing arbitrary measurements, and a new stronger notion of complementarity which we introduce here. Our derivation of the fact that strong complementarity is a necessary condition for a Mermin scenario provides a crisp operational interpretation for strong complementarity. We also provide a complete classification of strongly complementary observables for quantum theory, something which has not yet been achieved for ordinary complementarity. Since our main results are expressed in the (diagrammatic) language of dagger-compact categories, they can be applied outside of quantum theory, in any setting which supports the purely algebraic notion of strongly complementary observables. We have therefore introduced a method for discussing non-locality in a wide variety of models in addition to quantum theory. The diagrammatic calculus substantially simplifies (and sometimes even trivialises) many of the derivations, and provides new insights. In particular, the diagrammatic computation of correlations clearly shows how local measurements interact to yield a global overall effect. In other words, we depict non-locality., Comment: 15 pages (incl. 5 appendix). To appear: LiCS 2012

We present a form of algebraic reasoning for computational objects which are expressed as graphs. Edges describe the flow of data between primitive operations which are represented by vertices. These graphs have an interface made of half-edges (edges which are drawn with an unconnected end) and enjoy rich compositional principles by connecting graphs along these half-edges. In particular, this allows equations and rewrite rules to be specified between graphs. Particular computational models can then be encoded as an axiomatic set of such rules. Further rules can be derived graphically and rewriting can be used to simulate the dynamics of a computational system, e.g. evaluating a program on an input. Examples of models which can be formalised in this way include traditional electronic circuits as well as recent categorical accounts of quantum information., Comment: In Proceedings DCM 2010, arXiv:1006.1937

In the categorical approach to the foundations of quantum theory, one begins with a symmetric monoidal category, the objects of which represent physical systems, and the morphisms of which represent physical processes. Usually, this category is taken to be at least compact closed, and more often, dagger compact, enforcing a certain self-duality, whereby preparation processes (roughly, states) are inter-convertible with processes of registration (roughly, measurement outcomes). This is in contrast to the more concrete "operational" approach, in which the states and measurement outcomes associated with a physical system are represented in terms of what we here call a "convex operational model": a certain dual pair of ordered linear spaces -- generally, {\em not} isomorphic to one another. On the other hand, state spaces for which there is such an isomorphism, which we term {\em weakly self-dual}, play an important role in reconstructions of various quantum-information theoretic protocols, including teleportation and ensemble steering. In this paper, we characterize compact closure of symmetric monoidal categories of convex operational models in two ways: as a statement about the existence of teleportation protocols, and as the principle that every process allowed by that theory can be realized as an instance of a remote evaluation protocol --- hence, as a form of classical probabilistic conditioning. In a large class of cases, which includes both the classical and quantum cases, the relevant compact closed categories are degenerate, in the weak sense that every object is its own dual. We characterize the dagger-compactness of such a category (with respect to the natural adjoint) in terms of the existence, for each system, of a {\em symmetric} bipartite state, the associated conditioning map of which is an isomorphism.

Finding all the mutually unbiased bases in various dimensions is a problem of fundamental interest in quantum information theory and pure mathematics. The general problem formulated in finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces is open. In the categorical approach to quantum mechanics one can find examples of categories which behave ``like'' the category of finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces in various ways but are subtly different. One such category is the category of sets and relations, $\mathbf{Rel}$. One can formulate the concept of mutually unbiased bases here as well. In this note we classify all the mutually unbiased bases in this category by relating it to a standard question in combinatorics., Comment: 11 pages

This paper has two tightly intertwined aims: (i) To introduce an intuitive and universal graphical calculus for multi-qubit systems, the ZX-calculus, which greatly simplifies derivations in the area of quantum computation and information. (ii) To axiomatise complementarity of quantum observables within a general framework for physical theories in terms of dagger symmetric monoidal categories. We also axiomatize phase shifts within this framework. Using the well-studied canonical correspondence between graphical calculi and symmetric monoidal categories, our results provide a purely graphical formalisation of complementarity for quantum observables. Each individual observable, represented by a commutative special dagger Frobenius algebra, gives rise to an abelian group of phase shifts, which we call the phase group. We also identify a strong form of complementarity, satisfied by the Z and X spin observables, which yields a scaled variant of a bialgebra., Comment: 81 pages, many figures. Significant changes from previous version. The first sections contain a gentle introduction for physicists to the graphical language, and its use in quantum computation

Just as conventional functional programs may be understood as proofs in an intuitionistic logic, so quantum processes can also be viewed as proofs in a suitable logic. We describe such a logic, the logic of compact closed categories and biproducts, presented both as a sequent calculus and as a system of proof-nets. This logic captures much of the necessary structure needed to represent quantum processes under classical control, while remaining agnostic to the fine details. We demonstrate how to represent quantum processes as proof-nets, and show that the dynamic behaviour of a quantum process is captured by the cut-elimination procedure for the logic. We show that the cut elimination procedure is strongly normalising: that is, that every legal way of simplifying a proof-net leads to the same, unique, normal form. Finally, taking some initial set of operations as non-logical axioms, we show that that the resulting category of proof-nets is a representation of the free compact closed category with biproducts generated by those operations., Comment: 77 pages, many figures. To appear in CUP volume, "Semantics of Quantum Computation"

Compact closed categories provide a foundational formalism for a variety of important domains, including quantum computation. These categories have a natural visualisation as a form of graphs. We present a formalism for equational reasoning about such graphs and develop this into a generic proof system with a fixed logical kernel for equational reasoning about compact closed categories. Automating this reasoning process is motivated by the slow and error prone nature of manual graph manipulation. A salient feature of our system is that it provides a formal and declarative account of derived results that can include `ellipses'-style notation. We illustrate the framework by instantiating it for a graphical language of quantum computation and show how this can be used to perform symbolic computation., Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures. This is the journal version of the paper published at AISC

Coecke and Duncan recently introduced a categorical formalisation of the interaction of complementary quantum observables. In this paper we use their diagrammatic language to study graph states, a computationally interesting class of quantum states. We give a graphical proof of the fixpoint property of graph states. We then introduce a new equation, for the Euler decomposition of the Hadamard gate, and demonstrate that Van den Nest's theorem--locally equivalent graphs represent the same entanglement--is equivalent to this new axiom. Finally we prove that the Euler decomposition equation is not derivable from the existing axioms., Comment: 15pages, 38 figures

We define a strongly normalising proof-net calculus corresponding to the logic of strongly compact closed categories with biproducts. The calculus is a full and faithful representation of the free strongly compact closed category with biproducts on a given category with an involution. This syntax can be used to represent and reason about quantum processes., Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures; presented at QPL 2004