Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Miranskyy, Andriy, Sorrenti, Adam, Thind, Jasmine, Gravel, Claude
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.24475
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866913065451126784
author Miranskyy, Andriy
Sorrenti, Adam
Thind, Jasmine
Gravel, Claude
author_facet Miranskyy, Andriy
Sorrenti, Adam
Thind, Jasmine
Gravel, Claude
contents Zero-noise extrapolation (ZNE) mitigates errors in near-term quantum devices by extrapolating measurements obtained at amplified noise levels to estimate noise-free expectation values. In practice, commonly used extrapolation models are fitted without enforcing physical constraints, which can yield predictions outside the valid range of quantum observables. In this work, we introduce physically bounded variants of polynomial, exponential, and polynomial--exponential extrapolation models by explicitly parameterizing the zero-noise estimate and constraining it during optimization. We evaluate the approach using a large synthetic benchmark comprising 180,000 circuits and approximately 3.6 million ZNE experiments generated under realistic device noise models derived from IBM quantum backends. We also perform preliminary validation on real quantum hardware using GHZ and W-state circuits. Across the synthetic benchmark, bounded extrapolation substantially reduces unphysical predictions and improves the stability of exponential- and polynomial--exponential-family models, whereas polynomial models show little difference between bounded and unbounded variants. Hardware experiments show similar qualitative behaviour: bounded models generally avoid pathological extrapolations and often provide a more reliable balance between accuracy and usable coverage. At the same time, the results highlight practical limitations of current devices, including stronger-than-expected noise effects and variability not fully captured by simulation models. These results suggest that enforcing physical constraints during extrapolation improves the reliability of ZNE and that this approach can be incorporated into existing workflows with minimal modification.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_24475
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Improving Zero-Noise Extrapolation via Physically Bounded Models
Miranskyy, Andriy
Sorrenti, Adam
Thind, Jasmine
Gravel, Claude
Quantum Physics
Emerging Technologies
Zero-noise extrapolation (ZNE) mitigates errors in near-term quantum devices by extrapolating measurements obtained at amplified noise levels to estimate noise-free expectation values. In practice, commonly used extrapolation models are fitted without enforcing physical constraints, which can yield predictions outside the valid range of quantum observables. In this work, we introduce physically bounded variants of polynomial, exponential, and polynomial--exponential extrapolation models by explicitly parameterizing the zero-noise estimate and constraining it during optimization. We evaluate the approach using a large synthetic benchmark comprising 180,000 circuits and approximately 3.6 million ZNE experiments generated under realistic device noise models derived from IBM quantum backends. We also perform preliminary validation on real quantum hardware using GHZ and W-state circuits. Across the synthetic benchmark, bounded extrapolation substantially reduces unphysical predictions and improves the stability of exponential- and polynomial--exponential-family models, whereas polynomial models show little difference between bounded and unbounded variants. Hardware experiments show similar qualitative behaviour: bounded models generally avoid pathological extrapolations and often provide a more reliable balance between accuracy and usable coverage. At the same time, the results highlight practical limitations of current devices, including stronger-than-expected noise effects and variability not fully captured by simulation models. These results suggest that enforcing physical constraints during extrapolation improves the reliability of ZNE and that this approach can be incorporated into existing workflows with minimal modification.
title Improving Zero-Noise Extrapolation via Physically Bounded Models
topic Quantum Physics
Emerging Technologies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.24475