arXiv subjects

Norman M. Tubman

Publications and source records attributed to Norman M. Tubman.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Decoder Model Compatibility Provides Information beyond the Logical Gap under Drifting and Correlated Quantum Noise

Quantum error-correcting decoders provide both corrections and confidence estimates for the logical-error risk of individual measurement records. Such confidence can guide postselection, but it depends on the accuracy of the decoder noise model. When the physical device drifts away from that model, confidence measures such as the logical gap can become miscalibrated. We show that this mismatch can itself provide useful information. On IBM quantum hardware, syndrome statistics drift across consecutive acquisition windows, and the resulting detector histories differ substantially from those predicted by the stationary detector error model used for decoding. We observe a similar hardware-model mismatch in independent Google surface-code memory data. We exploit this effect by assigning additional rejection weight to detector histories that are unlikely under the assumed model. For minimum-weight perfect matching (MWPM), the minimum weight $W$ provides an inexpensive proxy for syndrome surprisal. On held-out IBM repetition-code memories, likelihood-aware postselection reduces the retained logical-error probability (LEP) by $10.6\%$ at $d=7$ and $28.8\%$ at $d=9$, both at $15\%$ rejection. On Google ten-round $d=5$ XZZX surface-code memory data, it reduces retained LEP by $75.4\%$ at $90\%$ rejection. Applied to Google's magic-state cultivation experiment with the Tesseract decoder, it reduces tomography infidelity by $34.7\%$ with $30\%$ additional grafting-stage rejection, or increases accepted yield by $30.4\%$ at a target fidelity of $97.0\%$. Burst-noise simulations show that the advantage persists as code distance and syndrome-extraction volume increase. The method reuses quantities already produced during logical-gap decoding and requires only an additional fitting step.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Computing Free Energies with Fluctuation Relations on Quantum Computers

Fluctuation relations allow for the computation of equilibrium properties, like free energy, from an ensemble of non-equilibrium dynamics simulations. Computing them for quantum systems, however, can be difficult, as performing dynamic simulations of such systems is exponentially hard on classical computers. Quantum computers can alleviate this hurdle, as they can efficiently simulate quantum systems. Here, we present an algorithm utilizing a fluctuation relation known as the Jarzynski equality to approximate free energy differences of quantum systems on a quantum computer. We discuss under which conditions our approximation becomes exact, and under which conditions it serves as a strict upper bound. Furthermore, we successfully demonstrate a proof-of-concept of our algorithm using the transverse field Ising model on a real quantum processor. The free energy is a central thermodynamic property that allows one to compute virtually any equilibrium property of a physical system. Thus, as quantum hardware continues to improve, our algorithm may serve as a valuable tool in a wide range of applications including the construction of phase diagrams, prediction of transport properties and reaction constants, and computer-aided drug design in the future.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

The Ground State Electronic Energy of Benzene

We report on the findings of a blind challenge devoted to determining the frozen-core, full configuration interaction (FCI) ground state energy of the benzene molecule in a standard correlation-consistent basis set of double-$ζ$ quality. As a broad international endeavour, our suite of wave function-based correlation methods collectively represents a diverse view of the high-accuracy repertoire offered by modern electronic structure theory. In our assessment, the evaluated high-level methods are all found to qualitatively agree on a final correlation energy, with most methods yielding an estimate of the FCI value around $-863$ m$E_{\text{H}}$. However, we find the root-mean-square deviation of the energies from the studied methods to be considerable (1.3 m$E_{\text{H}}$), which in light of the acclaimed performance of each of the methods for smaller molecular systems clearly displays the challenges faced in extending reliable, near-exact correlation methods to larger systems. While the discrepancies exposed by our study thus emphasize the fact that the current state-of-the-art approaches leave room for improvement, we still expect the present assessment to provide a valuable community resource for benchmark and calibration purposes going forward.

physics.chem-ph↗