SAQR-QC: A Logic for Scalable but Approximate Quantitative Reasoning about Quantum Circuits

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Yu, Nengkun, Palsberg, Jens, Reps, Thomas
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Yu, Nengkun
Palsberg, Jens
Reps, Thomas
author_facet Yu, Nengkun
Palsberg, Jens
Reps, Thomas
contents Reasoning about quantum programs remains a fundamental challenge, regardless of the programming model or computational paradigm. Despite extensive research, existing verification techniques are insufficient -- even for quantum circuits, a deliberately restricted model that lacks classical control, but still underpins many current quantum algorithms. Many existing formal methods require exponential time and space to represent and manipulate (representations of) assertions and judgments, making them impractical for quantum circuits with many qubits. This paper presents a logic for reasoning in such settings, called SAQR-QC. The logic supports {S}calable but {A}pproximate {Q}uantitative {R}easoning about {Q}uantum {C}ircuits, whence the name. SAQR-QC has three characteristics: (i) some (deliberate) loss of precision is built into it; (ii) it has a mechanism to help the accumulated loss of precision during a sequence of reasoning steps remain small; and (iii) most importantly, to make reasoning scalable, every reasoning step is local -- i.e., it involves just a small number of qubits. We demonstrate the effectiveness of SAQR-QC via two case studies: the verification of GHZ circuits involving non-Clifford gates, and the analysis of quantum phase estimation -- a core subroutine in Shor's factoring algorithm.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_13635
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publishDate 2025
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spellingShingle SAQR-QC: A Logic for Scalable but Approximate Quantitative Reasoning about Quantum Circuits
Yu, Nengkun
Palsberg, Jens
Reps, Thomas
Quantum Physics
Logic in Computer Science
Programming Languages
Reasoning about quantum programs remains a fundamental challenge, regardless of the programming model or computational paradigm. Despite extensive research, existing verification techniques are insufficient -- even for quantum circuits, a deliberately restricted model that lacks classical control, but still underpins many current quantum algorithms. Many existing formal methods require exponential time and space to represent and manipulate (representations of) assertions and judgments, making them impractical for quantum circuits with many qubits. This paper presents a logic for reasoning in such settings, called SAQR-QC. The logic supports {S}calable but {A}pproximate {Q}uantitative {R}easoning about {Q}uantum {C}ircuits, whence the name. SAQR-QC has three characteristics: (i) some (deliberate) loss of precision is built into it; (ii) it has a mechanism to help the accumulated loss of precision during a sequence of reasoning steps remain small; and (iii) most importantly, to make reasoning scalable, every reasoning step is local -- i.e., it involves just a small number of qubits. We demonstrate the effectiveness of SAQR-QC via two case studies: the verification of GHZ circuits involving non-Clifford gates, and the analysis of quantum phase estimation -- a core subroutine in Shor's factoring algorithm.
title SAQR-QC: A Logic for Scalable but Approximate Quantitative Reasoning about Quantum Circuits
topic Quantum Physics
Logic in Computer Science
Programming Languages
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.13635