arXiv subjects

Lukasz Cincio

Publications and source records attributed to Lukasz Cincio.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Multivariate quantum state preparation with optimized tensor networks

Quantics tensor trains are attracting intense interest for quantum-inspired computing and quantum state preparation. These methods, which approximate continuum functions by representing their amplitude encoding as a matrix product state (MPS), are exceedingly powerful for univariate functions but rapidly become challenging when handling multivariate functions, since the linear chain topology leads to a large distance between highly-entangled qubits. We overcome this limitation by introducing SCENT (Spectral Clustering for Entanglement miNimizing Trees). SCENT is a protocol that utilizes efficiently-computable pairwise entanglement metrics to determine a suitable tree tensor network (TTN) structure, which can then be efficiently approximated using tensor cross-interpolation (TCI); we find that it substantially outperforms MPS methods and improves upon previous TTN methods. We then apply these optimized TTNs to state preparation, introducing an approximate circuit compilation method based on environment-tensor methods without significantly conceding overall accuracy. Importantly, the inherent gauge freedom of TTNs can be directly exploited in this method, resulting in higher fidelity at a given circuit depth. We demonstrate this quantum state-preparation pipeline on archetypal state-preparation problems in quantum chemistry and financial portfolio optimization. In our flagship demonstration, we encode a 20-variable probability distribution with long-ranged, non-nearest neighbor inter-variable correlations in a 200-qubit state-preparation circuit with infidelity $7.44\times 10^{-9}$ using only 43284 CNOTs; depth and fidelity can be traded, allowing the same distribution to be prepared to infidelity $10^{-3}$ with as few as 5584 CNOTs.

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arXiv2026

A framework of partial error correction for intermediate-scale quantum computers

As quantum computing hardware steadily increases in qubit count and quality, one important question is how to allocate these resources to mitigate the effects of hardware noise. In a transitional era between noisy small-scale and fully fault-tolerant systems, we envisage a scenario in which we are only able to error-correct a fraction of the qubits required to perform an interesting computation. In this work, we develop concrete constructions of logical operations on a joint system of a collection of noisy and a collection of error-corrected logical qubits. Within this setting and under Pauli noise assumptions, we provide analytic evidence that brick-layered circuits display on average slower concentration to the ``useless'' uniform distribution with increasing circuit depth compared to fully noisy circuits. We corroborate these findings by numerical demonstration of slower decoherence with an increasing fraction of error-corrected qubits under depolarizing noise acting at the circuit level. We find that this advantage only manifests when the number of error-corrected qubits passes a specified threshold which depends on the number of couplings between error-corrected and noisy registers.

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arXiv2026

Exponentially many initializations to avoid barren plateaus

Barren plateaus are stated as an average-case phenomenon: pick an ansatz, initialize it naively, and concentration follows. This has led to the common view that a potential cure for barren plateaus is simply to initialize the parameters more carefully. Here we show that the situation is subtler. We introduce a first-moment framework that gives a simple operator-level diagnostic for when an initialization may escape the fully concentrated barren-plateau fixed point, and for comparing the biases induced by different initialization strategies. Our framework recovers several known initialization schemes such as identity and Gaussian initialization, but also shows that barren-plateau avoidance is highly non-unique. Indeed, many shifted, biased, and non-symmetric parameter distributions can avoid concentration, and these choices need not be equivalent. In fact, our results show that one can generate exponentially many families of inequivalent initialization strategies. Then, our numerics indicate that different first-moment-distinct initializations can lead to different attained minima, suggesting that avoiding barren plateaus via smart initializations can trade the exponential concentration problem for the challenge of selecting the right trainable pocket amongst many options.

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arXiv2026

Robust design under uncertainty in quantum error mitigation

Error mitigation techniques are crucial to achieving near-term quantum advantage. Classical post-processing of quantum computation outcomes is a popular approach for error mitigation, which includes methods such as Zero Noise Extrapolation, Virtual Distillation, and learning-based error mitigation. However, these techniques have limitations due to the propagation of uncertainty resulting from the finite shot number of a quantum measurement. In this work, we introduce general and unbiased methods for quantifying the uncertainty and error of error-mitigated observables based on the strategic sampling of error mitigation outcomes. We then extend our approach to demonstrate the optimization of performance and robustness of error mitigation under uncertainty. To illustrate our methods, we apply them to Zero Noise Extrapolation and Clifford Date Regression in the ground state of the XY model simulated using depolarizing and IBM Toronto noise models, respectively. In particular, we optimize the choice of noise levels and the allocation of shots for Zero Noise Extrapolation and the distribution of the training circuits for Clifford Data Regression. While our methods are readily applicable to any post-processing-based error mitigation approach, in practice they must not be prohibitively expensive -- even though they perform optimizations of the error mitigation hyperparameters requiring sampling of a statistical distribution of error mitigation outcomes. By leveraging surrogate-based optimization, we show that our methods can efficiently perform optimal design for a Zero Noise Extrapolation implementation. We then further demonstrate the transferability of learned Zero Noise Extrapolation hyperparameters to other similar circuits.

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arXiv2026

Low $T$-count preparation of nuclear eigenstates with tensor networks

We present an efficient protocol leveraging classical computation to support Initial State Preparation for strongly correlated fermionic systems, a critical bottleneck for fault-tolerant quantum simulation. Focusing on nuclear shell model eigenstates, we first demonstrate that the Density Matrix Renormalization Group algorithm can efficiently approximate target states as Matrix Product States, capitalizing on the favourable entanglement structure of these fermionic systems. These high-fidelity approximations are then leveraged as a classical resource in a variational circuit optimization scheme to compile shallow quantum circuits. We establish concrete resource estimates by decomposing the resulting circuits into the industry-standard Clifford$+T$ gateset, exploring the benefits of specialized $U3$ synthesis techniques. For all nuclear systems tested, on up to 76 qubit Hamiltonians, we consistently find low $T$-count circuits preparing the nuclear eigenstates to high fidelity with $\sim 2\times 10^4$ total $T$ gates. This low number gives confidence these eigenstates can be prepared on early fault-tolerant quantum computers. Our work establishes a viable path toward practical ground state preparation for nuclear structure and other fermionic applications.

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arXiv2026

Quantum Convolutional Neural Networks are Effectively Classically Simulable

Quantum Convolutional Neural Networks (QCNNs) are widely regarded as a promising model for Quantum Machine Learning (QML). In this work we tie their heuristic success to two facts. First, that when randomly initialized, they can only operate on the information encoded in low-bodyness measurements of their input states. And second, that they are commonly benchmarked on "locally-easy'' datasets whose states are precisely classifiable by the information encoded in these low-bodyness observables subspace. We further show that the QCNN's action on this subspace can be efficiently classically simulated by a classical algorithm equipped with Pauli shadows on the dataset. Indeed, we present a shadow-based simulation of QCNNs on up-to $1024$ qubits for phases of matter classification. Our results can then be understood as highlighting a deeper symptom of QML: Models could only be showing heuristic success because they are benchmarked on simple problems, for which their action can be classically simulated. This insight points to the fact that non-trivial datasets are a truly necessary ingredient for moving forward with QML. To finish, we discuss how our results can be extrapolated to classically simulate other architectures.

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arXiv2026

Quantum Circuit Pre-Synthesis: Learning Local Edits to Reduce $T$-count

Compiling quantum circuits into Clifford+$T$ gates is a central task for fault-tolerant quantum computing using stabilizer codes. In the near term, $T$ gates will dominate the cost of fault tolerant implementations, and any reduction in the number of such expensive gates could mean the difference between being able to run a circuit or not. While exact synthesis is exponentially hard in the number of qubits, local synthesis approaches are commonly used to compile large circuits by decomposing them into substructures. However, composing local methods leads to suboptimal compilations in key metrics such as $T$-count or circuit depth, and their performance strongly depends on circuit representation. In this work, we address this challenge by proposing \textsc{Q-PreSyn}, a strategy that, given a set of local edits preserving circuit equivalence, uses a RL agent to identify effective sequences of such actions and thereby obtain circuit representations that yield a reduced $T$-count upon synthesis. Experimental results of our proposed strategy, applied on top of well-known synthesis algorithms, show up to a $20\%$ reduction in $T$-count on circuits with up to 25 qubits, without introducing any additional approximation error prior to synthesis.

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arXiv2026

Evaluating the Limits of QAOA Parameter Transfer at High-Rounds on Sparse Ising Models With Geometrically Local Cubic Terms

The emergent practical applicability of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) for approximate combinatorial optimization is a subject of considerable interest. One of the primary limitations of QAOA is the task of finding a set of good parameters. Parameter transfer is a phenomenon where QAOA angles trained on problem instances that are self-similar tend to perform well for other problem instances from that similar class. This suggests a potentially highly efficient and scalable non-variational learning method for QAOA angle finding. We systematically study QAOA parameter transferability from small problems (16, 27 qubits) onto large problem instances (up to 156 qubits) for heavy-hex graph Ising models with geometrically local higher order terms using the Julia based QAOA simulation tool JuliQAOA to perform classical angle finding for up to 49 QAOA layers. Parameter transfer of the fixed angles is validated using a combination of full statevector, Projected Entangled Pair States, Matrix Product State, and LOWESA numerical simulations. We find that the QAOA parameter transfer from single instances applied to unseen problem instances does not in general provide monotonically improving performance as a function of p - there are many cases where the performance temporarily decreases as a function of p - but despite this the transferred angles have a general trend of improved expectation value as the QAOA depth increases, in many cases converging close to the true ground-state energy of the 100+ qubit instances. We also sample the hardware-compatible Ising models using the ensemble of fixed QAOA angles on several superconducting qubit IBM Quantum processors with 127, 133, and 156 qubits. We find continuous solution quality improvement of the hardware-compatible QAOA circuits run on the IBM NISQ processors up to p=5 on ibm_fez, p=9 on ibm_torino, and p=10 on ibm_pittsburgh.

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arXiv2025

Exact spectral gaps of random one-dimensional quantum circuits

The spectral gap of local random quantum circuits is a fundamental property that determines how close the moments of the circuit's unitaries match those of a Haar random distribution. When studying spectral gaps, it is common to bound these quantities using tools from statistical mechanics or via quantum information-based inequalities. By focusing on the second moment of one-dimensional unitary circuits where nearest neighboring gates act on sets of qudits (with open and closed boundary conditions), we show that one can exactly compute the associated spectral gaps. Indeed, having access to their functional form allows us to prove several important results, such as the fact that the spectral gap for closed boundary condition is exactly the square of the gap for open boundaries, as well as improve on previously known bounds for approximate design convergence. Finally, we verify our theoretical results by numerically computing the spectral gap for systems of up to 70 qubits, as well as comparing them to gaps of random orthogonal and symplectic circuits.

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arXiv2025

Engineering multi-mode bosonic squeezed states using Monte-Carlo optimization

Bosonic systems, such as photons and ultracold atoms, have played a central role in demonstrating quantum-enhanced sensing. Quantum entanglement, through squeezed and GHZ states, enables sensing beyond classical limits. However, such a quantum advantage has so far been confined to two-mode bosonic systems, as analogous multi-mode squeezed states are non-trivial to prepare. Here, we develop a Monte-Carlo based optimization technique which can be used to efficiently engineer a Hamiltonian control-sequence for multi-mode bosonic systems to prepare multi-mode squeezed states. Specifically, we consider a Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice, relevant for applications in gravimetry and gradiometry, and demonstrate that metrologically useful squeezed states can be generated using the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian which includes on-site atomic interactions, tunable via Feshbach resonances. By analyzing the distribution (density) of the quantum Fisher information (QFI) over the Hilbert space, we identify a characteristic \textit{intermediate scaling} of the QFI: $\mathcal{O}(N^2 L+L^2 N)$, which lies between the standard quantum limit (SQL) and the Heisenberg limit (HL) for $N$ atoms in $L$ modes. We show that in general, within the Hilbert space there is a finite, $\mathcal{O}(1)$ measure subset of Hilbert space with an intermediate QFI scaling. Therefore, one can find a Hamiltonian control sequence using a Monte Carlo optimization over random control sequences, that produces a state with intermediate scaling of the QFI. We assume an experimentally accessible range of the control parameters in the Hamiltonian resources and show that the intermediate scaling can be readily achieved. Our results indicate that the HL can be approached in quantum gravimetry using realistic experimental parameters for systems with $L=\mathcal{O}(1)$ and $N\gg L$.

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arXiv2025

Transmon qutrit-based simulation of spin-1 AKLT systems

Qutrit-based quantum circuits could help reduce the overall circuit depths, and hence the effect of noise, when the system of interest has a local dimension of three. Accessing second excited states in superconducting transmons provides a straightforward hardware realization of qutrits useful for such ternary encoding. In this work, we successfully calibrate microwave pulse gates to a low error rate to operate transmon qutrits. We use these qutrits to simulate one-dimensional spin-1 AKLT states (Affleck, Kennedy, Lieb, and Tasaki), which exhibit a multitude of interesting phenomena, such as topologically protected ground states, string order, and the existence of a robust Berry phase. We demonstrate the efficacy of qutrit-based simulation by preparing high-fidelity ground states of the AKLT Hamiltonian with open boundaries for various chain lengths. We then use ground state preparations of the perturbed AKLT Hamiltonian with periodic boundaries to calculate the Berry phase and illustrate non-trivial ground state topology. To establish the advantage of qutrits over qubits in the presence of noise, we present scalable methods for preparing the AKLT state and computing its Berry phase using tensor network simulations. Our work provides a pathway toward more general spin-1 physics simulations using transmon qutrits, with applications in chemistry, magnetism, and topological phases of matter.

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arXiv2025

Quantum Simulation of Molecular Dynamics Processes -- A Benchmark Study Using Classical Simulator and Present-Day Quantum Hardware

We explore how the fundamental problems in quantum molecular dynamics can be modelled using classical simulators (emulators) of quantum computers and the actual quantum hardware available to us today. The list of problems we tackle includes propagation of a free wave packet, vibration of a harmonic oscillator, and tunneling through a barrier. Each of these problems starts with the initial wave packet setup. Although Qiskit provides a general method for initializing wavefunctions, in most cases it generates deep quantum circuits. While these circuits perform well on noiseless simulators, they suffer from excessive noise on quantum hardware. To overcome this issue, we designed a shallower quantum circuit for preparing a Gaussian-like initial wave packet, which improves the performance on real hardware. Next, quantum circuits are implemented to apply the kinetic and potential energy operators for the evolution of a wavefunction over time. The results of our modelling on classical emulators of quantum hardware agree perfectly with the results obtained using the traditional (classical) methods. This serves as a benchmark and demonstrates that the quantum algorithms and Qiskit codes we developed are accurate. However, the results obtained on the actual quantum hardware available today, such as IBM's superconducting qubits and IonQ's trapped ions, indicate large discrepancies due to hardware limitations. This work highlights both the potential and challenges of using quantum computers to solve fundamental quantum molecular dynamics problems.

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arXiv2025

Deep Circuit Compression for Quantum Dynamics via Tensor Networks

Dynamic quantum simulation is a leading application for achieving quantum advantage. However, high circuit depths remain a limiting factor on near-term quantum hardware. We present a compilation algorithm based on Matrix Product Operators for generating compressed circuits enabling real-time simulation on digital quantum computers, that for a given depth are more accurate than all Trotterizations of the same depth. By the efficient use of environment tensors, the algorithm is scalable in depth beyond prior work, and we present circuit compilations of up to 64 layers of $SU(4)$ gates. Surpassing only 1D circuits, our approach can flexibly target a particular quasi-2D gate topology. We demonstrate this by compiling a 52-qubit 2D Transverse-Field Ising propagator onto the IBM Heavy-Hex topology. For all circuit depths and widths tested, we produce circuits with smaller errors than all equivalent depth Trotter unitaries, corresponding to reductions in error by up to 4 orders of magnitude and circuit depth compressions with a factor of over 6.

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arXiv2025

Learning Circuits with Infinite Tensor Networks

Hamiltonian simulation on quantum computers is strongly constrained by gate counts, motivating techniques to reduce circuit depths. While tensor networks are natural competitors to quantum computers, we instead leverage them to support circuit design, with datasets of tensor networks enabling a unitary synthesis inspired by quantum machine learning. For a target simulation in the thermodynamic limit, translation invariance is exploited to significantly reduce the optimization complexity, avoiding a scaling with system size. Our approach finds circuits to efficiently prepare ground states, and perform time evolution on both infinite and finite systems with substantially lower gate depths than conventional Trotterized methods. In addition to reducing CNOT depths, we motivate similar utility for fault-tolerant quantum algorithms, with a demonstrated $5.2\times$ reduction in $T$-count to realize $e^{-iHt}$. The key output of our approach is the optimized unit-cell of a translation invariant circuit. This provides an advantage for Hamiltonian simulation of finite, yet arbitrarily large, systems on real quantum computers.

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arXiv2025

More buck-per-shot: Why learning trumps mitigation in noisy quantum sensing

Quantum sensing is one of the most promising applications for quantum technologies. However, reaching the ultimate sensitivities enabled by the laws of quantum mechanics can be a challenging task in realistic scenarios where noise is present. While several strategies have been proposed to deal with the detrimental effects of noise, these come at the cost of an extra shot budget. Given that shots are a precious resource for sensing -- as infinite measurements could lead to infinite precision -- care must be taken to truly guarantee that any shot not being used for sensing is actually leading to some metrological improvement. In this work, we study whether investing shots in error-mitigation, inference techniques, or combinations thereof, can improve the sensitivity of a noisy quantum sensor on a (shot) budget. We present a detailed bias-variance error analysis for various sensing protocols. Our results show that the costs of zero-noise extrapolation techniques outweigh their benefits. We also find that pre-characterizing a quantum sensor via inference techniques leads to the best performance, under the assumption that the sensor is sufficiently stable.

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arXiv2025

Barren Plateaus in Variational Quantum Computing

Variational quantum computing offers a flexible computational paradigm with applications in diverse areas. However, a key obstacle to realizing their potential is the Barren Plateau (BP) phenomenon. When a model exhibits a BP, its parameter optimization landscape becomes exponentially flat and featureless as the problem size increases. Importantly, all the moving pieces of an algorithm -- choices of ansatz, initial state, observable, loss function and hardware noise -- can lead to BPs when ill-suited. Due to the significant impact of BPs on trainability, researchers have dedicated considerable effort to develop theoretical and heuristic methods to understand and mitigate their effects. As a result, the study of BPs has become a thriving area of research, influencing and cross-fertilizing other fields such as quantum optimal control, tensor networks, and learning theory. This article provides a comprehensive review of the current understanding of the BP phenomenon.

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arXiv2025

Improving the efficiency of learning-based error mitigation

Error mitigation will play an important role in practical applications of near-term noisy quantum computers. Current error mitigation methods typically concentrate on correction quality at the expense of frugality (as measured by the number of additional calls to quantum hardware). To fill the need for highly accurate, yet inexpensive techniques, we introduce an error mitigation scheme that builds on Clifford data regression (CDR). The scheme improves the frugality by carefully choosing the training data and exploiting the symmetries of the problem. We test our approach by correcting long range correlators of the ground state of XY Hamiltonian on IBM Toronto quantum computer. We find that our method is an order of magnitude cheaper while maintaining the same accuracy as the original CDR approach. The efficiency gain enables us to obtain a factor of $10$ improvement on the unmitigated results with the total budget as small as $2\cdot10^5$ shots. Furthermore, we demonstrate orders of magnitude improvements in frugality for mitigation of energy of the LiH ground state simulated with IBM's Ourense-derived noise model.

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arXiv2025

Lie-algebraic classical simulations for quantum computing

The classical simulation of quantum dynamics plays an important role in our understanding of quantum complexity, and in the development of quantum technologies. Efficient techniques such as those based on the Gottesman-Knill theorem for Clifford circuits, tensor networks for low entanglement-generating circuits, or Wick's theorem for fermionic Gaussian states, have become central tools in quantum computing. In this work, we contribute to this body of knowledge by presenting a framework for classical simulations, dubbed "$\mathfrak{g}$-sim", which is based on the underlying Lie algebraic structure of the dynamical process. When the dimension of the algebra grows at most polynomially in the system size, there exists observables for which the simulation is efficient. Indeed, we show that $\mathfrak{g}$-sim enables new regimes for classical simulations, is able to deal with certain forms of noise in the evolution, as well as can be used to tackle several paradigmatic variational and non-variational quantum computing tasks. For the former, we perform Lie-algebraic simulations to train and optimize parametrized quantum circuits (thus effectively showing that some variational models can be dequantized), design enhanced parameter initialization strategies, solve tasks of quantum circuit synthesis, and train a quantum-phase classifier. For the latter, we report large-scale noiseless and noisy simulations on benchmark problems. By comparing the limitations of $\mathfrak{g}$-sim and certain Wick's theorem-based simulations, we find that the two methods become inefficient for different types of states or observables, hinting at the existence of distinct, non-equivalent, resources for classical simulation.

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