Lightcone bounds for quantum circuit mapping via uncomplexity

Abstract Efficiently mapping quantum circuits onto hardware is integral for the quantum compilation process, wherein a circuit is modified in accordance with a quantum processor’s connectivity. Many techniques currently exist for solving this problem, wherein SWAP-gate overhead is usually prioritize...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Matthew Steinberg, Medina Bandić, Sacha Szkudlarek, Carmen G. Almudever, Aritra Sarkar, Sebastian Feld
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-11-01
Series:npj Quantum Information
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-024-00909-7
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Summary:Abstract Efficiently mapping quantum circuits onto hardware is integral for the quantum compilation process, wherein a circuit is modified in accordance with a quantum processor’s connectivity. Many techniques currently exist for solving this problem, wherein SWAP-gate overhead is usually prioritized as a cost metric. We reconstitute quantum circuit mapping using tools from quantum information theory, showing that a lower bound, which we dub the lightcone bound, emerges for a circuit executed on hardware. We also develop an initial placement algorithm based on graph similarity search, aiding us in optimally placing circuit qubits onto a device. 600 realistic benchmarks using the IBM Qiskit compiler and a brute-force method are then tested against the lightcone bound, with results unambiguously verifying the veracity of the bound, while permitting trustworthy estimations of minimal overhead in near-term realizations of quantum algorithms. This work constitutes the first use of quantum circuit uncomplexity to practically-relevant quantum computing.
ISSN:2056-6387