arXiv subjects

Thomas Ayral

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Ayral.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Optimizing resource allocation for accuracy in noisy variational quantum algorithms

For quantum algorithms to achieve their full potential, we need methodologies to optimize them, such as reaching a given output accuracy with minimal resource costs. Here, we develop such a methodology for a class of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) algorithms. We leverage simulations of a Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) to propose a phenomenological model of such algorithms that captures the complex relationship between algorithmic accuracy, algorithmic resource costs, and the noise that exists in realistic quantum hardware. For this, we take the algorithmic resource cost to be the total number of quantum gate-operations in the algorithm; minimizing this cost typically makes the algorithm faster and more energy-efficient. We consider the subtle trade-off between quantum circuit size (small circuits are too imprecise, but large ones are too noisy), and the number of iterations of that quantum circuit for the full algorithm to sufficiently converge. Using a noise-metric-resource methodology, we identify the sweet spot (of circuit size versus iterations) that minimizes the algorithmic resource costs for a desired algorithm accuracy. It also gives the circuit size that maximizes algorithm accuracy for a fixed resource cost. Our methodology provides a practical guideline for near-term deployment of variational algorithms on realistic noisy hardware, including hardware that uses error mitigation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

A quadratic Grassmann manifold optimization problem arising from quantum embedding methods

This article presents a mathematical analysis and numerical strategies for solving the optimization problem of minimizing the quadratic function $J(P) = \text{Tr}(BP)- \frac{1}{2} \text{Tr}(A P A P)$, where $A,B \in \mathbb R^{M \times M}_{\rm sym}$, with $A \succeq 0$, over the Grassmann manifold ${\rm Gr}(m,\mathbb R^M)$. While this problem is non-convex and typically admits non-global local minima - posing challenges for Riemannian optimization and self-consistent field (SCF) algorithms - we identify cases where the global minimizer can be obtained by solving an auxiliary convex problem. When this approach is not directly applicable, the solution to the auxiliary problem still serves as an effective initialization for Riemannian optimization methods and SCF algorithms, significantly improving their performance. This work is motivated by applications in quantum embedding methods, particularly in the construction of bath orbitals, where such optimization problems naturally arise.

math.OC↗

arXiv2026

Computing logical error thresholds with the Pauli Frame Sparse Representation

We introduce a sparse classical representation, a truncation strategy and a shot-efficient sampling method to push the classical prediction of quantum error correction thresholds beyond Clifford operations and Pauli errors. As two illustrations of the potential of our method, we first show that coherent noise error thresholds, when computed at the circuit level (i.e taking into account full syndrome circuits) for distances up to d=9, are systematically overestimated (by a factor of about 4) by a Pauli-twirling approximation of the noise. We then apply our method to the recently introduced magic-state cultivation protocol. We show, through shot-efficient importance sampling, that, at distance d=5, the multiplicative factor between the T-gate and the S-gate injection error rate is not the one conjectured from low-d computations: it can be as large as 7.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Pre-optimization of quantum circuits, barren plateaus and classical simulability: tensor networks to unlock the variational quantum eigensolver

Variational quantum algorithms are practical approaches to prepare ground states, but their potential for quantum advantage remains unclear. Here, we use differentiable 2D tensor networks (TN) to optimize parameterized quantum circuits that prepare the ground state of the transverse field Ising model (TFIM). Our method enables the preparation of states with high energy accuracy, even for large systems beyond 1D. We show that TN pre-optimization can mitigate the barren plateau issue by giving access to enhanced gradient zones that do not shrink exponentially with system size. We evaluate the classical simulation cost evaluating energies at these warm-starts, and identify regimes where quantum hardware offers better scaling than TN simulations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Charge and spin orders in the t-U-V-J model: a slave-spin-1 approach

Strongly-correlated fermion systems on a lattice have been a subject of intense focus in the field of condensed-matter physics. These systems are notoriously difficult to solve, even with state-of-the-art numerical methods, especially in regimes of parameters where degrees of freedom compete or cooperate at similar energy and length scales. Here, we introduce a spin-1 slave-particle technique to approximately treat the t-U-V-J fermionic model at arbitrary electron dopings in an economical manner. This formalism respectively maps the original charge and spin degrees of freedom into effective pseudo-spin and pseudo-fermion sectors, which are treated using a self-consistent cluster mean-field method. We study the phase diagram of the model under various conditions and report the appearance of charge and spin stripes within this formalism. These stripes are a consequence of the cluster mean-field treatment of the pseudo-particle sectors and have not been detected in previous slave-particle studies. The results obtained agree qualitatively well with what more reliable numerical methods capture.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Many-body Quantum Score: a scalable benchmark for digital and analog quantum processors and first test on a commercial neutral atom device

We propose the Many-body Quantum Score (MBQS), a practical and scalable application-level benchmark protocol designed to evaluate the capabilities of quantum processing units (QPUs)--both gate-based and analog--for simulating many-body quantum dynamics. MBQS quantifies performance by identifying the maximum number of qubits with which a QPU can reliably reproduce correlation functions of the transverse-field Ising model following a specific quantum quench. This paper presents the MBQS protocol and highlights its design principles, supported by analytical insights, classical simulations, and experimental data. It also displays results obtained with Ruby, an analog QPU based on Rydberg atoms developed by the Pasqal company. These findings demonstrate MBQS's potential as a robust and informative tool for benchmarking near-term quantum devices for many-body physics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Hybrid quantum-classical analog simulation of two-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard models with neutral atoms

We experimentally study the two-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard model using a Rydberg-based quantum processing unit in the analog mode. Our approach avoids encoding directly the original fermions into qubits and instead relies on reformulating the original model onto a system of fermions coupled to spins and then decoupling them in a self-consistent manner. We then introduce the auxiliary spin solver: this hybrid quantum-classical algorithm handles a free-fermion problem, which can be solved efficiently with a few classical resources, and an interacting spin problem, which can be naturally encoded in the analog quantum computer. This algorithm can be used to study both the equilibrium Mott transition as well as non-equilibrium properties of the original Fermi-Hubbard model, highlighting the potential of quantum-classical hybrid approaches to study strongly correlated matter.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Dynamical mean field theory with quantum computing

Near-term quantum processors are limited in terms of the number of qubits and gates they can afford. They nevertheless give unprecedented access to programmable quantum systems that can efficiently, although imperfectly, simulate quantum time evolutions. Dynamical mean field theory, on the other hand, maps strongly-correlated lattice models like the Hubbard model onto simpler, yet still many-body models called impurity models. Its computational bottleneck boils down to investigating the dynamics of the impurity upon addition or removal of one particle. This task is notoriously difficult for classical algorithms, which has warranted the development of specific classical algorithms called "impurity solvers" that work well in some regimes, but still struggle to reach some parameter regimes. In these lecture notes, we introduce the tools and methods of quantum computing that could be used to overcome the limitations of these classical impurity solvers, either in the long term -- with fully quantum algorithms, or in the short term -- with hybrid quantum-classical algorithms.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Approximate combinatorial optimization with Rydberg atoms: the barrier of interpretability

Analog quantum computing with Rydberg atoms is seen as an avenue to solve hard graph optimization problems, because they naturally encode the Maximum Independent Set (MIS) problem on Unit-Disk (UD) graphs, a problem that admits rather efficient approximation schemes on classical computers. Going beyond UD-MIS to address generic graphs requires embedding schemes, typically with chains of ancilla atoms, and an interpretation algorithm to map results back to the original problem. However, interpreting approximate solutions obtained with realistic quantum computers proves to be a difficult problem. As a case study, we evaluate the ability of two interpretation strategies to correct errors in the recently introduced Crossing Lattice embedding. We find that one strategy, based on finding the closest embedding solution, leads to very high qualities, albeit at an exponential cost. The second strategy, based on ignoring defective regions of the embedding graph, is polynomial in the graph size, but it leads to a degradation of the solution quality which is prohibitive under realistic assumptions on the defect generation. Moreover, more favorable defect scalings lead to a contradiction with well-known approximability conjectures. Therefore, it is unlikely that a scalable and generic improvement in solution quality can be achieved with Rydberg platforms -- thus moving the focus to heuristic algorithms.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Simulated non-Markovian Noise Resilience of Silicon-Based Spin Qubits with Surface Code Error Correction

We investigate the resilience of silicon-based spin qubits against non-Markovian noise within the framework of quantum error correction. We consider a realistic non-Markovian noise model that affects both the Larmor frequency and exchange energy of qubits, allowing accurate simulations of noisy quantum circuits. We employ numerical emulation to assess the performance of the distance-3 rotated surface code and its XZZX variant, using a logical qubit coherence time metric based on Ramsey-like experiments. Our numerical results suggest that quantum error correction converts non-Markovian physical noise into Markovian logical noise, resulting in a quartic dependence of coherence time between physical and logical qubits. Additionally, we analyze the effects of spatial noise correlations and sparse architectures, substantiating the robustness of quantum error correction in silicon-based spin qubit systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

New perspectives on Density-Matrix Embedding Theory

Quantum embedding methods enable the study of large, strongly correlated quantum systems by (usually self-consistent) decomposition into computationally manageable subproblems, in the spirit of divide-and-conquer methods. Among these, Density Matrix Embedding Theory (DMET) is an efficient approach that enforces self-consistency at the level of one-particle reduced density matrices (1-RDMs), facilitating applications across diverse quantum systems. However, conventional DMET is constrained by the requirement that the global 1-RDM (low-level descriptor) be an orthogonal projector, limiting flexibility in bath construction and potentially impeding accuracy in strongly correlated regimes. In this work, we introduce a generalized DMET framework in which the low-level descriptor can be an arbitrary 1-RDM and the bath construction is based on optimizing a quantitative criterion related to the maximal disentanglement between different fragments. This yields an alternative yet controllable bath space construction for generic 1-RDMs, lifting a key limitation of conventional DMET. We demonstrate its consistency with conventional DMET in appropriate limits and exploring its implications for bath construction, downfolding (impurity Hamiltonian construction), low-level solvers, and adaptive fragmentation. We expect that this more flexible framework, which leads to several new variants of DMET, can improve the robustness and accuracy of DMET.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Turning qubit noise into an advantage: Automatic state preparation and long-time dynamics for impurity models on quantum computers

Noise is often regarded as a limitation of quantum computers. In this work, we show that in the dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) approach to strongly-correlated systems, it can actually be harnessed to our advantage. Indeed, DMFT maps a lattice model onto an impurity model, namely a finite system coupled to a dissipative bath. While standard approaches require a large number of high-quality qubits in a unitary context, we propose a circuit that harvests amplitude damping to reproduce the dynamics of this model with a blend of noisy and noiseless qubits. We find compelling advantages with this approach: a substantial reduction in the number of qubits, the ability to reach longer time dynamics, and no need for ground state search and preparation. This method would naturally fit in a partial quantum error correction framework.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Optimizing Unitary Coupled Cluster Wave Functions on Quantum Hardware: Error Bound and Resource-Efficient Optimizer

In this work, we study the projective quantum eigensolver (PQE) approach to optimizing unitary coupled cluster wave functions on quantum hardware, as introduced in arXiv:2102.00345. The projective quantum eigensolver is a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm which, by optimizing a unitary coupled cluster wave function, aims at computing the ground state of many-body systems. Instead of trying to minimize the energy of the system like the variational quantum eigensolver, PQE uses projections of the Schrodinger equation to efficiently bring the trial state closer to an eigenstate of the Hamiltonian. In this work, we provide a mathematical study of the algorithm. We derive a bound relating off-diagonal coefficients (residues) of the Hamiltonian to the energy error of the algorithm and the overlap achieved by the obtained wavefunction. These bounds not only give formal guarantees to PQE, but they also allow us to formulate a well-informed convergence criterion for residue-based optimizers. We then study the classical optimization itself and derive convergence guarantees under certain conditions. We propose a new residue-based optimizer, with numerical evidence of the superiority of this new approach for H$_4$, H$_6$, BeH$_2$ and LiH dissociation curves over both the optimization introduced in arXiv:2102.00345 and VQE optimized using the Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (BFGS) method.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Compact fermionic quantum state preparation with a natural-orbitalizing variational quantum eigensolving scheme

Assemblies of strongly interacting fermions, whether in a condensed-matter or a quantum chemistry context, range amongst the most promising candidate systems for which quantum computing platforms could provide an advantage. Near-term quantum state preparation is typically realized by means of the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm. One of the main challenges to a successful implementation of VQE lies in the sensitivity to noise exhibited by deep variational circuits. On the other hand, sufficient depth must be allowed to be able to reach a good approximation to the target state. In this work, we present a refined VQE scheme that consists in topping VQE with state-informed updates of the elementary fermionic modes (spin-orbitals). These updates consist in moving to the natural-orbital basis of the current, converged variational state, a basis we argue eases the task of state preparation. We test the method on the Hubbard model in the presence of experimentally relevant noise levels. For a fixed circuit structure, the method is shown to enhance the capabilities of the circuit to reach a state close to the target state without incurring too much overhead from shot noise. Moreover, coupled with an adaptive VQE scheme that constructs the circuit on the fly, we evidence reduced requirements on the depth of the circuit as the orbitals get updated.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Enabling large-depth simulation of noisy quantum circuits with positive tensor networks

Matrix product density operators (MPDOs) are tensor network representations of locally purified density matrices where each physical degree of freedom is associated to an environment degree of freedom. MPDOs have interesting properties for mixed state representations: guaranteed positivity by construction, efficient conservation of the trace and computation of local observables. However, they have been challenging to use for noisy quantum circuit simulation, as the application of noise increases the dimension of the environment Hilbert space, leading to an exponential growth of bond dimensions. MPDOs also lack a unique canonical form, due to the freedom in the choice of basis for the environment Hilbert space, which leads to a vast variation of bond dimensions. In this work, we present a systematic way to reduce the bond dimensions of MPDOs by disentangling the purified state. We optimize the basis for the environment Hilbert space by performing density matrix renormalization group (DMRG)-like sweeps of local 2-qubit basis optimization. Interestingly, we find that targeting only the disentanglement of the purified state leads to a reduction of the environment dimension. In other words, a compact MPDO representation requires a low-entanglement purified state. We apply our compression method to the emulation of noisy random quantum circuits. Our technique allows us to keep bounded bond dimensions, and thus bounded memory, contrary to previous works on MPDOs, while keeping reasonable truncation fidelities.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Hubbard physics with Rydberg atoms: using a quantum spin simulator to simulate strong fermionic correlations

We propose a hybrid quantum-classical method to investigate the equilibrium physics and the dynamics of strongly correlated fermionic models with spin-based quantum processors. Our proposal avoids the usual pitfalls of fermion-to-spin mappings thanks to a slave-spin method which allows to approximate the original Hamiltonian into a sum of self-correlated free-fermions and spin Hamiltonians. Taking as an example a Rydberg-based analog quantum processor to solve the interacting spin model, we avoid the challenges of variational algorithms or Trotterization methods. We explore the robustness of the method to experimental imperfections by applying it to the half-filled, single-orbital Hubbard model on the square lattice in and out of equilibrium. We show, through realistic numerical simulations of current Rydberg processors, that the method yields quantitatively viable results even in the presence of imperfections: it allows to gain insights into equilibrium Mott physics as well as the dynamics under interaction quenches. This method thus paves the way to the investigation of physical regimes -- whether out-of-equilibrium, doped, or multiorbital -- that are difficult to explore with classical processors.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Quantum computing with and for many-body physics

Quantum computing technologies are making steady progress. This has opened new opportunities for tackling problems whose complexity prevents their description on classical computers. A prototypical example of these complex problems are interacting quantum many-body systems: on the one hand, these systems are known to become rapidly prohibitive to describe using classical computers when their size increases. On the other hand, these systems are precisely those which are used in the laboratory to build quantum computing platforms. This arguably makes them one of the most promising early use cases of quantum computing. In this review, we explain how quantum many-body systems are used to build quantum processors, and how, in turn, current and future quantum processors can be used to describe large many-body systems of fermions such as electrons and nucleons. The review includes an introduction to analog and digital quantum devices, the mapping of Fermi systems and their Hamiltonians onto qubit registers, as well as an overview of methods to access their static and dynamical properties. We also highlight some aspects related to entanglement, and touch on the description, influence and processing of decoherence in quantum devices.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Feasibility of performing quantum chemistry calculations on quantum computers

Quantum chemistry is envisioned as an early and disruptive application for quantum computers. Yet, closer scrutiny of the proposed algorithms shows that there are considerable difficulties along the way. Here, we propose two criteria for evaluating two leading quantum approaches for finding the ground state of molecules. The first criterion applies to the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm. It sets an upper bound to the level of imprecision/decoherence that can be tolerated in quantum hardware as a function of the targeted precision, the number of gates and the typical energy contribution from states populated by decoherence processes. We find that decoherence is highly detrimental to the accuracy of VQE and performing relevant chemistry calculations would require performances that are expected for fault-tolerant quantum computers, not mere noisy hardware, even with advanced error mitigation techniques. Physically, the sensitivity of VQE to decoherence originates from the fact that, in VQE, the spectrum of the studied molecule has no correlation with the spectrum of the quantum hardware used to perform the computation. The second criterion applies to the quantum phase estimation (QPE) algorithm, which is often presented as the go-to replacement of VQE upon availability of (noiseless) fault-tolerant quantum computers. QPE requires an input state with a large enough overlap with the sought-after ground state. We provide a criterion to estimate quantitatively this overlap based on the energy and the energy variance of said input state. Using input states from a variety of state-of-the-art classical methods, we show that the scaling of this overlap with system size does display the standard orthogonality catastrophe, namely an exponential suppression with system size. This in turns leads to an exponentially reduced QPE success probability.

quant-ph↗