A programming language combining quantum and classical control

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Dave, Kinnari, Lemonnier, Louis, Péchoux, Romain, Zamdzhiev, Vladimir
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Dave, Kinnari
Lemonnier, Louis
Péchoux, Romain
Zamdzhiev, Vladimir
author_facet Dave, Kinnari
Lemonnier, Louis
Péchoux, Romain
Zamdzhiev, Vladimir
contents The two main notions of control in quantum programming languages are often referred to as "quantum" control and "classical" control. With the latter, the control flow is based on classical information, potentially resulting from a quantum measurement, and this paradigm is well-suited to mixed state quantum computation. Whereas with quantum control, we are primarily focused on pure quantum computation and there the "control" is based on superposition. The two paradigms have not mixed well traditionally and they are almost always treated separately. In this work, we show that the paradigms may be combined within the same system. The key ingredients for achieving this are: (1) syntactically: a modality for incorporating pure quantum types into a mixed state quantum type system; (2) operationally: an adaptation of the notion of "quantum configuration" from quantum lambda-calculi, where the quantum data is replaced with pure quantum primitives; (3) denotationally: suitable (sub)categories of Hilbert spaces, for pure computation and von Neumann algebras, for mixed state computation in the Heisenberg picture of quantum mechanics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_22537
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A programming language combining quantum and classical control
Dave, Kinnari
Lemonnier, Louis
Péchoux, Romain
Zamdzhiev, Vladimir
Logic in Computer Science
Programming Languages
Quantum Physics
The two main notions of control in quantum programming languages are often referred to as "quantum" control and "classical" control. With the latter, the control flow is based on classical information, potentially resulting from a quantum measurement, and this paradigm is well-suited to mixed state quantum computation. Whereas with quantum control, we are primarily focused on pure quantum computation and there the "control" is based on superposition. The two paradigms have not mixed well traditionally and they are almost always treated separately. In this work, we show that the paradigms may be combined within the same system. The key ingredients for achieving this are: (1) syntactically: a modality for incorporating pure quantum types into a mixed state quantum type system; (2) operationally: an adaptation of the notion of "quantum configuration" from quantum lambda-calculi, where the quantum data is replaced with pure quantum primitives; (3) denotationally: suitable (sub)categories of Hilbert spaces, for pure computation and von Neumann algebras, for mixed state computation in the Heisenberg picture of quantum mechanics.
title A programming language combining quantum and classical control
topic Logic in Computer Science
Programming Languages
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.22537