arXiv subjects

Dan E. Browne

Publications and source records attributed to Dan E. Browne.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

High-performance syndrome extraction circuits for quantum codes

We present a fast and effective framework for analysing and designing syndrome extraction circuits (SECs). Our approach is based on left--right circuits, a general SEC design that maintains low depth and avoids gate interleaving constraints by staggering $X$ and $Z$ stabiliser checks. Initially proposed for specific classes of codes, we generalise this construction to arbitrary CSS codes and optimise the circuit structure to achieve low qubit idling time, large effective distance, and reduced minimum-weight failure mechanisms. A key component of our framework is the formal notion of residual errors and their associated distance metrics, which form lightweight proxies for capturing error propagation and quantifying the potential harm of circuit-level errors. Applying our automated framework to diverse classes of codes, we observe consistent improvements in logical performance of up to an order of magnitude compared to existing single-ancilla SEC designs. Moreover, by directly applying these proxies, we prove that no non-interleaving SEC can achieve circuit distance $12$ for the gross code, and we identify an explicit circuit that we conjecture achieves distance $11$, exceeding previously known constructions.

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arXiv2026

Qubit Loss Inference with Stabilizer Codes without Leakage Detection Units

Qubit loss occurs when the physical carrier of a qubit leaves the computational system without directly revealing the event's location. Such errors are a major obstacle to fault-tolerant quantum computation on platforms including photonic, neutral-atom, and trapped-ion systems. Loss locations are commonly identified using additional hardware operations such as leakage-detection units (LDUs), which introduce space-time overhead and may themselves become a source of error. We investigate whether qubit loss on stabilizer codes can instead be inferred from syndrome data obtained through standard repeated stabilizer measurements. Under a non-entangling model for gates involving a lost qubit, we derive a sufficient condition for loss detectability in general stabilizer codes. The condition is based on the emergence of anticommutation between stabilizer checks after their support on the lost qubits is removed. By using that condition, we formulate the exact loss-inference problem using the observed set of non-deterministic checks together with its maximum-likelihood formulation. We then relax the problem to the minimum set cover problem with a greedy heuristic algorithm. We evaluate the resulting inference and loss-correction protocols on the rotated surface code via circuit-level noise simulations for trapped-ion and neutral-atom platforms. On both platforms, inference-based and adaptive protocols reduce the logical error rate relative to a noisy-LDU baseline in the low-to-moderate loss-rate regime relevant to near-term hardware, while requiring fewer space-time overheads.

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arXiv2026

Sequences of Bivariate Bicycle Codes from Covering Graphs

We show that given an instance of a bivariate bicycle (BB) code, it is possible to generate an infinite sequence of new BB codes using increasingly large covering graphs of the original code's Tanner graph. When a BB code has a Tanner graph that is a $h$-fold covering of the base BB code's Tanner graph, we refer to it as a $h$-\textit{cover code}. We show that for a BB code to be a $h$-cover code, its lattice parameters and defining polynomials must satisfy simple algebraic conditions relative to those of the base code. By extending the graph covering map to a chain map, we show there are induced projection and lifting maps on (co)homology that enable the projection and lifting of logical operators and, in certain cases, automorphisms between the base and the cover code. The search space of cover codes is considerably reduced compared to the full space of possible polynomials and we find that many interesting examples of BB codes, such as the $[[144,12,12]]$ gross code, can be viewed as cover codes. We also apply our method to search for BB codes with weight 8 checks and find many new codes, including a $[[64,14,8]]$ and $[[144,14,14]]$ code. For an $h$-cover code of an $[[n,k,d]]$ BB code with parameters $[[n_h = hn, k_h, d_h]]$, we prove that $k_h \geq k$ for any $h$, and $d_h \leq hd$ when $h$ is odd. Furthermore if $h$ is odd and $k_h = k$, we prove the distance lower bound $d \leq d_h$. We conjecture it is always true that an $h$-cover BB code of a base $[[n,k,d]]$ BB code obeys the distance bounds $d \leq d_h \leq hd$. While the focus of this work is on bivariate bicycle codes, we expect these methods to generalise readily to many group algebra codes and to certain code constructions involving hypergraph, lifted, and balanced products.

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arXiv2026

Anticipating Decoder Side-channel Attacks in Fault-tolerant Quantum Computers

As quantum computing emerges as an applied technology, there is a growing need to protect quantum computers against information security attacks. This work identifies a new class of side-channel attacks against fault-tolerant quantum computers, in which the syndrome data that is sent to the decoder system is used to infer which computation (logical circuit) is taking place on the quantum computer. Our work introduces the concept of gate fingerprints, which describes those patterns present in syndrome data that indicate which logical operation took place on the quantum computer. We show different effects by which logical operations produce gate fingerprints by focusing on Clifford+T computation in the surface code. We then explore how gate fingerprint information can be used to make inferences about the circuits or algorithms run on a quantum computer. Our findings indicate that decoder systems can be a vector for side-channel attacks and thus to prevent this, decoder systems should either be secured or built by a trusted party.

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arXiv2026

Efficiently simulable quantum circuits with large entanglement, magic, and non-Gaussianity via code-compiled tensor networks

We introduce a family of quantum circuits that possess standard indicators of classical simulation hardness including high entanglement entropy, magic, and non-Gaussianity, yet admit efficient classical simulation via matrix product states (MPS). Our construction uses logical circuits of high-rate Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) codes with enhanced symmetries. Using code automorphisms and transversal diagonal gates from higher levels of the Clifford hierarchy, we realize nonlocal logical Clifford and non-Clifford gates, showing how error-correcting codes can compile complex logical circuits into simple physical operations. Simulation efficiency rests on two properties: (i) diagonal transversal gates do not increase bond dimension, and (ii) permutations are tracked classically via on-the-fly relabeling, avoiding costly SWAP networks. Unlike Clifford or matchgate simulation, our method accepts a broad class of initial states, including dense entangled, magic, and non-Gaussian inputs, provided the encoded state retains an efficient MPS representation. We also release an exact phase-polynomial backend for monomial subfamilies, whose cost is set by higher-degree phase terms rather than entanglement growth. We demonstrate the method on an infinite polar CSS code family, showing bond dimension stays bounded by the encoding cost regardless of circuit depth. These results show that for some circuit families, standard resource measures are individually insufficient to indicate simulation hardness. As a near-term application, we use the compiled MPS as a classical reference for direct fidelity estimation of a quantum device running nontrivial logical circuits. Pauli sampling on the encoded reference, with a Clifford pushback through the known encoder, provides the ideal expectation values, so the logical output fidelity can be estimated from local Pauli readout alone, without costly state tomography.

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arXiv2026

Efficient Preparation of Graph States using the Quotient-Augmented Strong Split Tree

Graph states are a key resource for measurement-based quantum computation and quantum networking, but state-preparation costs limit their practical use. Graph states related by local complement (LC) operations are equivalent up to single-qubit Clifford gates; one may reduce entangling resources by preparing a favorable LC-equivalent representative. However, exhaustive optimization over the LC orbit is not scalable. We address this problem using the split decomposition and its quotient-augmented strong split tree (QASST). For several families of distance-hereditary (DH) graphs, we use the QASST to characterize LC orbits and identify representatives with reduced controlled-Z count or preparation circuit depth. We also introduce a split-fuse construction for arbitrary DH graph states, achieving linear scaling with respect to entangling gates, time steps, and auxiliary qubits. Beyond the DH setting, we discuss a generalized divide-and-conquer split-fuse strategy and a simple greedy heuristic for generic graphs based on triangle enumeration. Together, these methods outperform direct implementations on sufficiently large graphs, providing a scalable alternative to brute-force optimization.

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arXiv2026

Infinite Distance Extrapolation: How error mitigation can enhance quantum error correction

Quantum error mitigation (QEM) and quantum error correction (QEC) are two research areas that are often considered as distinct entities, and the problem of combining the two approaches in a non-trivial way has only recently started to be explored. In this paper, we explore a paradigm at the intersection of the two, based on the error mitigation technique of Zero-Noise Extrapolation (ZNE), that uses the distance of an error correcting code as a noise parameter. This is distinct from some alternative approaches, as QEC is here used as a subroutine inside the QEM framework, while other proposals use QEM as a subroutine inside QEC experiments. Intuitively, we exploit the fact that a reduction in the physical noise level is analogous to an increase in the code distance, as both of them result in a decrease in the logical error rate. As such, the extrapolation to zero noise in the case of ZNE becomes comparable to the extrapolation to infinite distance in the case of this method. We describe how to calculate expectation values from a fault-tolerant computation, and we gain some analytical intuition for our ansatz choice. We explore the performance of the considered method to reduce the errors in a range of expectation values for a realistic circuit-level noise model and realistic device imperfections on the rotated surface code, and we particularly show that the performance of the method holds even in the case of non-stabiliser input states.

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arXiv2026

Single-Shot Decoding and Fault-tolerant Gates with Trivariate Tricycle Codes

While quantum low-density parity check (qLDPC) codes are a low-overhead means of quantum information storage, it is valuable for quantum codes to possess fault-tolerant features beyond this resource efficiency. In this work, we introduce trivariate tricycle (TT) codes, qLDPC codes that combine several desirable features: high thresholds under a circuit-level noise model, partial single-shot decodability for low-time-overhead decoding, a large set of transversal Clifford gates and automorphisms within and between code blocks, and (for several sub-constructions) constant-depth implementations of a (non-Clifford) $CCZ$ gate. TT codes are CSS codes based on a length-3 chain complex, and are defined from three trivariate polynomials, with the 3D toric code (3DTC) belonging to this construction. We numerically search for TT codes and find several candidates with improved parameters relative to the 3DTC, using up to 48$\times$ fewer data qubits as equivalent 3DTC encodings. We construct syndrome-extraction circuits for these codes and numerically demonstrate single-shot decoding in the X error channel in both phenomenological and circuit-level noise models. Under circuit-level noise, TT codes have a threshold of $0.3\%$ in the Z error channel and $1\%$ in the X error channel (with single-shot decoding). All TT codes possess several transversal $CZ$ gates that can partially address logical qubits between two code blocks. Additionally, the codes possess a large set of automorphisms that can perform Clifford gates within a code block. Finally, we establish several TT code polynomial constructions that allows for a constant-depth implementation of logical $CCZ$ gates. We find examples of error-correcting and error-detecting codes using these constructions whose parameters out-perform those of the 3DTC, using up to $4\times$ fewer data qubits for equivalent-distance 3DTC encodings.

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arXiv2025

Unlocking early fault-tolerant quantum computing with mitigated magic dilution

As quantum computing progresses towards the early fault-tolerant regime, quantum error correction will play a crucial role in protecting qubits and enabling logical Clifford operations. However, the number of logical qubits will initially remain limited, posing challenges for resource-intensive tasks like magic state distillation. It is therefore essential to develop efficient methods for implementing non-Clifford operations, such as small-angle rotations, to maximise the computational capabilities of devices within these constraints. In this work, we introduce mitigated magic dilution (MMD) as an approach to synthesise small-angle rotations by employing quantum error mitigation techniques to sample logical Clifford circuits given noisy encoded magic states. We explore the utility of our approach for the simulation of the 2D Fermi-Hubbard model. We identify evolution time regimes where MMD outperforms state-of-the-art synthesis techniques in the number of noisy encoded magic states required for square lattices up to size $8 \times 8$. Moreover, we demonstrate that our method can provide a practical advantage that is quantified by a better-than-quadratic improvement in the resource requirements for small-angle rotations over classical simulators. This work paves the way for early fault-tolerant demonstrations on devices supporting millions of quantum operations, the so-called MegaQuOp regime.

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arXiv2025

Online Gaussian elimination for quantum LDPC decoding

Decoders for quantum LDPC codes generally rely on solving a parity-check equation with Gaussian elimination, with the generalised union-find decoder performing this repeatedly on growing clusters. We present an online variant of the Gaussian elimination algorithm which maintains an LUP decomposition in order to process only new rows and columns as they are added to a system of equations. This is equivalent to performing Gaussian elimination once on the final system of equations, in contrast to the multiple rounds of Gaussian elimination employed by the generalised union-find decoder. It thus significantly reduces the number of operations performed by the decoder. We consider the generalised union-find decoder as an example use case and present a complexity analysis demonstrating that both variants take time cubic in the number of qubits in the general case, but that the number of operations performed by the online variant is lower by an amount which itself scales cubically. This analysis is also extended to the regime of 'well-behaved' codes in which the number of growth iterations required is bounded logarithmically in error weight. Finally, we show empirically that our online variant outperforms the original offline decoder in average-case time complexity on codes with sparser parity-check matrices or greater covering radius.

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arXiv2025

Continuous-time quantum optimisation without the adiabatic principle

Continuous-time quantum algorithms for combinatorial optimisation problems, such as quantum annealing, have previously been motivated by the adiabatic principle. A number of continuous-time approaches exploit dynamics, however, and therefore are no longer physically motivated by the adiabatic principle. In this work, we take Planck's principle as the underlying physical motivation for continuous-time quantum algorithms. Planck's principle states that the energy of an isolated system cannot decrease as the result of a cyclic process. We use this principle to justify monotonic schedules in quantum annealing, which are not adiabatic. This approach also highlights the limitations of reverse quantum annealing in an isolated system.

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arXiv2024

Extending Matchgate Simulation Methods to Universal Quantum Circuits

Matchgates are a family of parity-preserving two-qubit gates, nearest-neighbour circuits of which are known to be classically simulable in polynomial time. In this work, we present a simulation method to classically simulate an $\boldsymbol{n}$-qubit circuit containing $\boldsymbol{N}$ gates, $\boldsymbol{m}$ of which are universality-enabling gates and $\boldsymbol{N-m}$ of which are matchgates, in the setting of single-qubit Pauli measurements and product state inputs. The universality-enabling gates we consider include the SWAP, CZ, and CPhase gates. For fixed $\boldsymbol{m}$ as $\boldsymbol{n} \rightarrow \boldsymbol{\infty}$, the resource cost, $\boldsymbol{T}$, scales as $\boldsymbol{\mathcal{O}\left(\left(\frac{en}{m+1}\right)^{2m+2}\right)}$. For $\boldsymbol{m}$ scaling as a linear function of $\boldsymbol{n}$, however, $\boldsymbol{T}$ scale as $\boldsymbol{\mathcal{O}\left(2^{2nH\left(\frac{m+1}{n}\right)}\right)}$, where $\boldsymbol{H}(λ)$ is the binary entropy function.

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arXiv2024

Rapid quantum approaches for combinatorial optimisation inspired by optimal state-transfer

We propose a new design heuristic to tackle combinatorial optimisation problems, inspired by Hamiltonians for optimal state-transfer. The result is a rapid approximate optimisation algorithm. We provide numerical evidence of the success of this new design heuristic. We find this approach results in a better approximation ratio than the Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithm at lowest depth for the majority of problem instances considered, while utilising comparable resources. This opens the door to investigating new approaches for tackling combinatorial optimisation problems, distinct from adiabatic-influenced approaches.

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arXiv2024

Continuous-time quantum walks for MAX-CUT are hot

By exploiting the link between time-independent Hamiltonians and thermalisation, heuristic predictions on the performance of continuous-time quantum walks for MAX-CUT are made. The resulting predictions depend on the number of triangles in the underlying MAX-CUT graph. We extend these results to the time-dependent setting with multi-stage quantum walks and Floquet systems. The approach followed here provides a novel way of understanding the role of unitary dynamics in tackling combinatorial optimisation problems with continuous-time quantum algorithms.

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arXiv2024

Union-find quantum decoding without union-find

The union-find decoder is a leading algorithmic approach to the correction of quantum errors on the surface code, achieving code thresholds comparable to minimum-weight perfect matching (MWPM) with amortised computational time scaling near-linearly in the number of physical qubits. This complexity is achieved via optimisations provided by the disjoint-set data structure. We demonstrate, however, that the behaviour of the decoder at scale underutilises this data structure for twofold analytic and algorithmic reasons, and that improvements and simplifications can be made to architectural designs to reduce resource overhead in practice. To reinforce this, we model the behaviour of erasure clusters formed by the decoder and show that there does not exist a percolation threshold within the data structure for any mode of operation. This yields a linear-time worst-case complexity for the decoder at scale, even with a naive implementation omitting popular optimisations.

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arXiv2023

Improved maximum-likelihood quantum amplitude estimation

Quantum amplitude estimation is a key subroutine in a number of powerful quantum algorithms, including quantum-enhanced Monte Carlo simulation and quantum machine learning. Maximum-likelihood quantum amplitude estimation (MLQAE) is one of a number of recent approaches that employ much simpler quantum circuits than the original algorithm based on quantum phase estimation. In this article, we deepen the analysis of MLQAE to put the algorithm in a more prescriptive form, including scenarios where quantum circuit depth is limited. In the process, we observe and explain particular ranges of `exceptional' values of the target amplitude for which the algorithm fails to achieve the desired precision. We then propose and numerically validate a heuristic modification to the algorithm to overcome this problem, bringing the algorithm even closer to being useful as a practical subroutine on near- and mid-term quantum hardware.

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arXiv2023

A fault-tolerant variational quantum algorithm with limited T-depth

We propose a variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm that uses a fault-tolerant gate-set, and is hence suitable for implementation on a future error-corrected quantum computer. VQE quantum circuits are typically designed for near-term, noisy quantum devices and have continuously parameterized rotation gates as the central building block. On the other hand, a fault-tolerant quantum computer can only implement a discrete set of logical gates, such as the so-called Clifford+T gates. We show that the energy minimization of VQE can be performed with such a fault-tolerant discrete gate-set, where we use the Ross-Selinger algorithm to transpile the continuous rotation gates to the error-correctable Clifford+T gate-set. We find that there is no loss of convergence when compared to the one of parameterized circuits if an adaptive accuracy of the transpilation is used in the VQE optimization. State preparation with VQE requires only a moderate number of T-gates, depending on the system size and transpilation accuracy. We demonstrate these properties on emulators for two prototypical spin models with up to 16 qubits. This is a promising result for the integration of VQE and more generally variational algorithms in the emerging fault-tolerant setting, where they can form building blocks of the general quantum algorithms that will become accessible in a fault-tolerant quantum computer.

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arXiv2023

Parallel window decoding enables scalable fault tolerant quantum computation

Large-scale quantum computers have the potential to hold computational capabilities beyond conventional computers for certain problems. However, the physical qubits within a quantum computer are prone to noise and decoherence, which must be corrected in order to perform reliable, fault-tolerant quantum computations. Quantum Error Correction (QEC) provides the path for realizing such computations. QEC continuously generates a continuous stream of data that decoders must process at the rate it is received, which can be as fast as 1 MHz in superconducting quantum computers. A little known fact of QEC is that if the decoder infrastructure cannot keep up, a data backlog problem is encountered and the quantum computer runs exponentially slower. Today's leading approaches to quantum error correction are not scalable as existing decoders typically run slower as the problem size is increased, inevitably hitting the backlog problem. That is: the current leading proposal for fault-tolerant quantum computation is not scalable. Here, we show how to parallelize decoding to achieve almost arbitrary speed, removing this roadblock to scalability. Our parallelization requires some classical feed forward decisions to be delayed, leading to a slow-down of the logical clock speed. However, the slow-down is now only polynomial in code size, averting the exponential slowdown. We numerically demonstrate our parallel decoder for the surface code, showing no noticeable reduction in logical fidelity compared to previous decoders and demonstrating the parallelization speedup.

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