Papers for

quantum software engineers

Papers whose findings have a practical use for this group, as judged from the abstract. Open a paper to read what it means in practice.

Quantum compiler settings chosen from top down boost performance fast

Turning Quantum Compiler Configuration Selection Upside Down: A Top-Down Paradigm

Abstract: Selecting an effective quantum compiler configuration requires coordinated decisions over both hardware targets and compiler settings, with the ultimate goal of improving circuit execution fidelity. Existing SOTA approaches typically decompose this problem into two sequential stages: a device is chosen first, after which compiler options are tuned on that device through RL-based search. This bottom-up strategy can be fundamentally limited by its initial device decision, since a poorly matched backend may constrain the best fidelity achievable regardless of how effectively later compiler options are optimized. In contrast to classical compiler tuning, where the search space is often prohibitively large, the configuration space of quantum compilers remains manageable enough to support exhaustive search. Consequently, rather than repeatedly searching from candidate configurations, one can derive reusable configuration knowledge from offline oracle results and apply it directly to new circuits. In this paper, we introduce a top-down configuration-selection paradigm and build QuOPTBench, an exhaustively searched benchmark containing oracle configurations for 268 quantum circuits. We first study whether LLMs can directly infer suitable configurations and evaluate ten representative LLMs. The results reveal that vanilla LLMs remain far from the oracle. We then employ an LLM to extract transferable rules from sampled circuits governing configuration selection. Using these rules together with predictors trained on the enumerated configuration data of the sampled circuits, we design QuTOP, a rule-guided ML framework that performs fast configuration selection without iterative online search. Across our evaluation, the distilled rules consistently strengthen LLM-based selection, while QuTOP provides the strongest overall balance between solution quality and selection latency among the baselines.

Wed 21 OctSoftware Engineering
The gist
Choosing the best settings for quantum computer programs is tricky because you need to pick both the right hardware and the right compiler options to get accurate results. The authors point out that current methods pick hardware first, which can limit how well the program runs even if the compiler settings are perfect. They propose looking at all options together from the start using a complete set of tested configurations. They built a large benchmark and found that simply asking large language models (LLMs) to pick settings doesn’t work well. But by using LLMs to help create simple rules combined with machine learning, their system called QuTOP quickly picks good settings without much searching.
Open → 2610.29170v1

FTWeave models quantum and classical resources for faster quantum tasks

FTWeave: Composing Logical Execution, Real-Time Decoding, and Magic-State Supply in Tightly Integrated Quantum-Classical Systems

Abstract: Fault-tolerant quantum applications depend on both decoded measurement information and a continuing supply of magic states. While an operation waits for either, its logical data require protection that produces more syndrome data and decoding work. Architects must provision the quantum and classical parts of the machine together, before complete systems are available to measure. FTWeave is a system-level simulator for this architectural exploration. It accepts OpenQASM 2/3 circuits, CUDA-Q Logical compiler artifacts, Stim circuits, and provider-derived physical inputs through adapters that preserve operation and measurement dependencies. Users bind these inputs to quantum resources, classical processors, memory, communication, and factory configurations. One event timeline determines application progress, resource ownership, and continuing protection. This supplies the system model needed to connect circuit and decoder evidence to application performance. Controlled demand studies and complete multiplier and Ising circuits show why the coupling changes provisioning decisions. A fixed-work approximation predicts a 3.55x multiplier speedup from additional factories where the coupled model gives almost none. Explicit ownership also changes useful capacity: increasing decoder workers alone has no benefit in a storage-constrained case, while increasing workers and feedback entries together gives 4.93x speedup. Selected color and hypergraph-product code mappings take 53-90% longer under decoder service variability, despite an unchanged mean. These comparisons identify useful resource combinations and distinguish protection work from the elapsed lifetime of quantum data.

Sat 17 OctPerformance
The gist
Quantum computers need constant error correction and special magic states to work properly. The authors created FTWeave, a simulator that helps plan how quantum and classical parts work together to keep these processes running. Their tool shows how different setups affect the speed and reliability of quantum programs. For example, adding certain resources speeds up some tasks a lot, while others need careful balancing. This helps engineers decide where to invest in hardware for better quantum computing.
Open → 2610.24344v1

Quantum runtime policies improve HPC search by using problem parts

SemQBench: Benchmarking Decomposition-Aware Runtime Policies for Quantum-HPC Search

Abstract: Quantum processors are increasingly used as accelerators inside high-performance computing (HPC) workflows. A workflow runtime decides which quantum circuits to run, how to group them into provider jobs, and what to repeat after a failed attempt. Many search problems split into independent parts, but the runtime can use that structure only when the workflow exposes the parts and a validity check for each one. SemQBench measures what a runtime gains from this visibility. It compares seven execution policies for the same search problem, including two controls without amplitude amplification. The policies change one runtime choice at a time: whether to amplify, whether partial results may be combined across runs, whether the parts share one circuit, and what a retry keeps. We run them on the 20-qubit IQM Garnet processor using 106 distinct circuits in three jobs, and report circuit executions, active device time, and provider jobs separately before combining them in a cost model. Amplifying the problem as one whole circuit shows no statistically clear gain over random sampling and uses 6.7-104$\times$ more active device time. Exposing the parts and collecting valid partial results across a fixed batch of runs cuts the executions needed for 95% completion confidence by 2.20-4.00$\times$, and this policy is never worse than the other amplified policies in executions, device time, or jobs; it is selected in 99 of 108 overhead settings. Fewer executions do not always mean less device time: on one workload, executions fall from thirteen to four while active device time rises from 7.44 to 9.81 $μ$s. Exposing problem structure therefore gives the runtime a strong default policy and the measurements needed to decide when the simpler unamplified option is cheaper.

Fri 16 OctEmerging Technologies
The gist
Quantum processors can speed up high-performance computing tasks, but deciding how to run quantum circuits efficiently is tricky. The authors tested seven different ways to organize and repeat these circuit runs on a real quantum device. They found that breaking problems into parts and sharing results across runs can reduce how many circuit runs are needed by up to four times. However, fewer runs don’t always mean less time on the quantum processor. This work helps guide deciding when it’s best to use complex or simple strategies in quantum computing workflows.
Open → 2610.22886v1

Standard model particles linked to quantum error correcting codes

One generation of the Standard Model as a quantum error-correcting code

Abstract: Together with a right-handed neutrino, the fermions of one generation of the Standard Model are labelled by five bits, a combinatorial structure tied to anomaly cancellation. We make this precise. Anomaly cancellation is the vanishing of a cubic form, the defining property of triorthogonal codes, the quantum error-correcting codes behind magic state distillation. Removing the right-handed neutrino gives a $[[15,1,3]]_p$ code for every prime $p$, including the Bravyi-Kitaev code for $p = 2$. For qutrits it is the unique shortest distance-three triorthogonal code.

Thu 15 OctInformation Theory
The gist
Particles in one generation of the Standard Model, along with a right-handed neutrino, can be represented using five bits in a way that links to quantum error correction. The authors show this bit pattern corresponds exactly to a special kind of quantum code used to fix errors in quantum computing. Removing the right-handed neutrino gives a known quantum error-correcting code that protects quantum information across different systems. This connection ties deep physics properties to quantum computing methods.
Open → 2610.21879v1

Quantum federated learning forgets data using classical shadows

Federated Unlearning of Quantum Data via Classical Shadows

Abstract: Quantum federated learning trains a quantum neural network (QNN) across nodes that hold quantum data, such as the states of quantum sensors. To forget data, unlearning methods for quantum models replay them, and federated unlearning from stored updates removes whole nodes only. Quantum data cannot be replayed, since a state is consumed when measured and cannot be cloned. We propose Shadow-based Data Erasure (SHADE), in which each node records a classical shadow of every training state, a few randomized single-qubit measurements taken at training time. The gradient and curvature of a QNN on a state are expectations of observables, so SHADE estimates them for the forget data from the shadows at any later parameters and removes their effect by a federated Newton correction. Only classical estimates cross the network. We prove that the shadow size needed for a target unlearning error grows exponentially in the size of the backward light cone of the measured observable and not in the number of qubits. In simulation with 50 nodes and on edge boards, SHADE matches the forget accuracy of retraining within 0.5 points, without replay and in under 0.2 s.

Tue 13 OctDistributed, Parallel, and Cluster ComputingNetworking and Internet Architecture
The gist
Quantum data cannot be copied or replayed, making it hard to erase information from quantum machine learning models. The authors propose a method called SHADE, where classical snapshots of quantum states taken during training are saved. This lets the system estimate and remove the effect of specific data later without needing the original quantum data. In tests, SHADE erased data from a quantum neural network almost as accurately and quickly as retraining from scratch.
Open → 2610.19077v1

OpenMPI speeds up quantum circuit execution using openmp offloading

OpenMQPI: An MLIR-based Pipeline to Offload Quantum Circuits via OpenMP

Abstract: Quantum computing introduces specialized software stacks and programming interfaces that are often tightly coupled to specific ecosystems and hardware backends, limiting interoperability and software reuse. For HPCQC application developers, this complicates the integration of quantum accelerators into existing applications. Existing quantum frameworks also use ecosystem-specific circuit representations and compilation pipelines, hindering integration with established heterogeneous compiler infrastructures. We propose OpenMQPI, an MLIR-based OpenMP extension for quantum programming that leverages OpenMP's standardized target offloading infrastructure to integrate quantum resources into HPC applications. OpenMQPI introduces QPIR, a lightweight MLIR dialect for representing quantum circuits within OpenMP target regions, and a compiler pipeline that performs quantum-specific optimizations and lowers circuits to executables compatible with OpenMP offloading. At runtime, an MQSS plugin enables the generated executable to offload quantum circuits to quantum hardware through the OpenMP target offloading model. We evaluate OpenMQPI using the VQE, QFT, and Deutsch-Jozsa algorithms with 5, 10, 15, and 20 qubits, comparing execution times against Qiskit and CUDA Quantum. OpenMQPI achieves the lowest average VQE execution time across all tested qubit configurations. At 20 qubits, it requires 5.18 s, compared with 5.83 s for Qiskit and 7.39 s for CUDA Quantum. For QFT and Deutsch-Jozsa, OpenMQPI achieves execution times comparable to Qiskit and lower than those of CUDA Quantum.

Tue 13 OctProgramming Languages
The gist
Quantum computers need special software that often only works with certain machines, making it hard to mix quantum and traditional high-performance computing. The authors created OpenMQPI, which uses a common programming framework called OpenMP to more easily run quantum circuits alongside normal programs. They built a new way to describe quantum circuits and a compiler to turn these into runnable code that can offload tasks to quantum hardware. Their system runs some standard quantum algorithms faster than other popular tools, especially as the number of qubits grows.
Open → 2610.18056v1

Framework measures trustworthiness of quantum code tests from language models

QTestBench: A Test Framework for Evaluating LLM-Generated Quantum Code

Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) have shown strong results in classical code generation and are increasingly used to write the unit tests that safeguard that code. Whether they can do the same for quantum software is less clear, because quantum programs are probabilistic, depend on numerical tolerances, and are judged by domain-specific checkers, so a well-formed test can still disagree with the benchmark's verdict. Existing quantum benchmarks measure whether a model produces a correct solution, but not whether its tests can distinguish correct implementations from faulty ones. We introduce QTestBench, a framework that evaluates LLM-generated quantum test suites against independent benchmark checkers, never treating the tests themselves as ground truth. For each task, QTestBench prompts models to produce syntactic, semantic, and behavioral tests, injects candidate solutions at runtime, and compares each test verdict with the checker's label under three validation cohorts, each answering a distinct diagnostic question. We benchmark five LLMs on eight PennyLane QHack challenges and ten Qiskit HumanEval tasks. Generated suites almost always execute, but discrimination lags behind: the best generator reaches a test quality of 0.71 on QHack and 0.34 on Qiskit HumanEval, so executability alone overstates test quality. Oracle-verified synthetic mutants stabilize bug-detection estimates when natural faulty solutions are scarce, as on three of ten Qiskit tasks that yield none. QTestBench offers a reproducible, cross-framework benchmark for the trustworthiness of LLM-generated quantum tests.

Fri 9 OctMachine LearningComputation and Language
The gist
Testing quantum software is tricky because quantum programs are uncertain and judged by special tools, so usual test methods don’t work well. The researchers created QTestBench, a system that checks how good tests made by AI language models are at catching errors in quantum programs. They tested several language models on popular quantum coding challenges and found that although the tests usually run without problems, they often fail to reliably spot mistakes. This shows that making good tests for quantum code is harder than just making tests that run.
Open → 2610.13811v1

Quantum memory models tested for language prediction performance

Trainable Quantum-Native Language Models: Dissipative Memory, Capacity Limits, and Hardware Validation

Abstract: We study byte-level autoregressive language models whose hidden state is a small quantum register, whose transitions are learned token-conditioned quantum channels, and whose next-byte probabilities come directly from Born-rule measurements without a learned classical vocabulary projection or softmax. In the fixed-width recurrent setting, unitary dynamics cannot contract or reset stored distinctions; experimentally, unitary recurrence loses to its retrained one-token control in every tested variant. Introducing learned dissipation, then token-conditioned dissipative gating, yields useful memory beyond one token. The gated model improves test negative log-likelihood by 0.20 +/- 0.03 nats/byte over retrained parameter-matched one-token controls at context length 12, and by 0.29-0.33 at longer contexts, but never beats retrained two-token controls. A key-value recall benchmark shows a width-dependent threshold: one stored pair meets the pre-registered accuracy bar at 4-5 memory qubits, two pairs at 6-7, and three pairs remain unsolved. This is consistent with, but does not establish, a capacity explanation for the short effective memory horizon. As a secondary result, one-qubit models reach lower stationary memory entropy than a heuristically optimized classical predictive frontier at matched error in 9/9 seeds. On IBM Heron hardware, computational-basis memory-register distributions show signal against a uniform null in 12/12 circuits across prefixes of up to 12 tokens, next-bit probabilities pass pre-registered accuracy bars at four-token prefixes, and bytes are generated autoregressively by sampling physically measured bit probabilities. The tested models are classically simulable and substantially worse than classical n-gram baselines. We claim no computational quantum advantage.

Thu 8 OctMachine Learning
The gist
This paper explores small quantum systems used to predict the next byte in a sequence of text without classical methods like the usual vocabulary projections. The researchers found that adding controlled loss (dissipation) into the quantum memory helps it remember more than one byte at a time, but it still doesn’t outperform classical models using two-byte contexts. They tested these quantum models on real quantum hardware and showed they can generate text, though their accuracy and capacity remain limited compared to classical approaches. The work highlights early steps toward quantum-native language models but does not show a quantum advantage yet.
Open → 2610.12806v1

Efficient quantum circuits improve flow model simulation with neural networks

An Efficient Quantum Circuit for Flow Model Execution Using Quantum Neural Networks

Abstract: Flow models generate trajectories from an initial distribution to a target distribution by solving an ordinary differential equation defined by a velocity field. Flow matching learns this velocity field by modeling the transport dynamics between the two distributions. Wavefunction flow establishes a formal connection between flow models and quantum dynamics by introducing a continuity Hamiltonian, which drives the Schrödinger evolution of quantum states. In this paper, we investigate accurate and efficient quantum simulation of the wavefunction flow, thereby realizing the efficient implementation of flow models on quantum computers. We first leverage a quantum read-only memory (QROM)-based phase kickback framework for the wavefunction flow simulation, generating probability densities that closely match those produced by the corresponding conventional flow model. To address the high circuit-resource cost, we further incorporate a trained quantum neural network (QNN) into the phase kickback framework, replacing QROM for data encoding. Numerical experiments demonstrate that our proposed method implements flow models on quantum computers more efficiently, since it maintains the accuracy of wavefunction flow simulation compared with the QROM-based framework, and significantly reduces the circuit resources.

Thu 8 OctMachine Learning
The gist
Flow models help transform one set of data into another by following certain paths. This paper shows how to use quantum computers to run these models more efficiently by simulating quantum states that behave like the flow paths. To do this, the authors combine existing quantum memory techniques with a trained quantum neural network to reduce the complexity of the circuit needed. Their experiments show this new method keeps accuracy while using fewer computational resources.
Open → 2610.11537v1

Quantum neural nets stay trainable with capsule design

Q-Capsule: A Localized Capsule-Based Quantum Neural Architecture for Barren Plateau Mitigation

Abstract: Variational quantum algorithms are often limited by barren plateaus: gradients vanish as circuit size and depth increase, making quantum neural networks difficult to train. We propose Q-Capsule, a localized capsule-based quantum neural architecture that mitigates this problem through register partitioning, local readout, sparse inter-capsule coupling, trainable data re-uploading, and Quantum Fisher Information Matrix (QFIM)-guided adaptive depth growth. By restricting the dominant support of each observable to a small capsule and controlling inter-capsule entanglement, Q-Capsule preserves useful gradient signals while retaining communication between local quantum representations. As the register width increases, Q-Capsule consistently maintains stable gradient variance, whereas globally entangling baselines exhibit exponential suppression with a log-gradient-variance slope near -ln 2 per qubit. Q-Capsule also produces more structured optimization landscapes, higher parameter efficiency, improved robustness to depolarizing noise, and lower measurement requirements. Its adaptive policy achieves 98.1% accuracy on binary classification and 97.7% on four-class classification, while using approximately 73% fewer two-qubit gates than the fixed-deep model on the multiclass task.

Thu 8 OctMachine Learning
The gist
Training quantum neural networks is hard because their training signals often vanish as the circuits get bigger. The authors came up with Q-Capsule, a clever design that breaks down a big quantum system into smaller parts called capsules to keep training signals strong. Their method controls how these capsules communicate and grows the network depth carefully to avoid losing important gradient information. This makes Q-Capsule more efficient, less noisy, and easier to train than other designs, achieving high accuracy on classification tasks.
Open → 2610.11261v1

Quantum circuit conversions can remove key synthesis options

When Equivalent Quantum Circuits Lose Synthesis Choices

Abstract: Quantum compilers synthesize high-level operations, such as the quantum Fourier transform and multi-controlled X gates, into gate-level circuits. Across compilation stages, a circuit may be serialized, exchanged as OpenQASM, converted between compilers, or lowered to gates. These representation changes can preserve computation while removing the high-level operation itself, leaving the receiving compiler unable to apply a requested synthesis method. We call this loss synthesis availability. We study synthesis availability in Qiskit, TKET, and Cirq through controlled experiments, repository analysis, circuits captured from project tests, and a Munich Quantum Toolkit pipeline. Synthesis availability survives serialization when deserialization restores the high-level operation and survives compiler conversion only when the receiving compiler supports that operation. It does not survive the evaluated OpenQASM routes. After a direct OpenQASM 3 round trip, requested synthesis has no effect in all 360 delivered conditions even though compilation succeeds. In the MQT pipeline, OpenQASM 2 interchange increases the two-qubit gate count by 37.2 percent for an eight-qubit Grover circuit. We also introduce Verified, which records high-level operations before a representation change and reconstructs them only when a check confirms that the record still matches the delivered circuit. Verified restores requested synthesis in all 830 recovery runs, with median verification times from 2.0 to 638 ms per operation family. The check rejects every stale record but also some valid records. These results show that preserving functional equivalence alone is insufficient when later synthesis choices depend on retained high-level structure.

Mon 5 OctSoftware Engineering
The gist
Quantum computers use circuits made of many small operations. Sometimes, converting or sharing these circuits between different tools removes the high-level building blocks inside them, even though the overall computation stays the same. The authors show this problem happens in popular quantum compilers and causes some synthesis methods to stop working. They propose a tool called Verified that keeps track of these blocks and restores them after conversion, allowing synthesis methods to work again. This work highlights that just keeping the computation correct isn’t enough when special structure matters later.
Open → 2610.06142v1

Training variational quantum algorithms is hard even around local minima

Training Variational Quantum Algorithms Is NP-Hard, Even Locally

Abstract: Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) generally rely on classical optimization to train parameterized quantum circuits. This training seeks to minimize an objective function, and its efficiency is central to the practical success of these algorithms. However, globally minimizing such training objectives over the circuit parameters is known to be $\mathsf{NP}$-hard, limiting the prospect of general guarantees for efficient training. In this Letter, we prove that even the weaker task of finding a local minimum of such VQA training objectives is strongly $\mathsf{NP}$-hard, including when the objective admits efficient classical evaluation. Moreover, we show that this hardness persists even for the task of finding a parameter vector within $\ell_p$-distance strictly less than $π/2$ of some local minimizer, for every $p\geq 1$. Our central technical result is that approximating a local minimizer of a Hermitian trigonometric polynomial is strongly $\mathsf{NP}$-hard. By explicitly constructing quantum circuits whose training objectives reproduce these hard instances, we obtain a polynomial-time reduction to VQA training. Our results establish a fundamental computational barrier to variational quantum training: even reaching the vicinity of a local minimum remains hard in the worst case.

Sun 4 OctComputational Complexity
The gist
Training quantum algorithms that use adjustable circuits is known to be very hard if you want the absolute best settings. This paper shows that even just finding a setting that is close to a good local solution is still very hard. The authors prove this remains true even when the function you’re trying to minimize can be calculated quickly using a classical computer. They demonstrate this hardness by connecting the problem to difficult mathematical cases tied to quantum circuit structures.
Open → 2610.05128v1

Quantum algorithm design simplified by exploiting symmetry groups

Optimal transducers using symmetries

Abstract: Transducers (Belovs, Jeffery and Yolcu, 2024) are a quantum computing framework describing a quantum algorithm as a unitary converting an input state into a target state using a catalyst, an auxiliary vector that is left unchanged. They are a powerful tool in quantum algorithm design, especially in the context of quantum query complexity: feasible points of the (dual) adversary semidefinite program directly translate into transducers and the optimal transduction complexity is equal to the adversary bound, i.e. the Las Vegas complexity, which is known to characterize bounded-error quantum query complexity. Moreover, contrary to bounded-error algorithms, transducers compose exactly, which limits overheads due to controlling errors in algorithms constructed by composition. Constructing efficient, let alone optimal, transducers in terms of quantum query complexity nevertheless remains a hard task since it still requires solving the adversary SDP and constructing the unitary to obtain an explicit algorithm. In this paper, we show how using the symmetry group of state-conversion problems simplifies both steps. First, using a symmetrization argument, we prove an optimal catalyst can always be chosen covariant under a representation of the symmetry group. Second, we prove that the transducer intertwines two different representations of the group and can thus be chosen block diagonal in the isotypic decomposition of the Hilbert space. Using those methods, we then derive optimal transducers, with optimal constants, for different widely used quantum algorithmic primitives, such as unstructured search, amplitude amplification and amplitude estimation. Our approach extends previous work on the use of representation theory to compute adversary lower bounds (Høyer, Lee, and {\v S}palek, 2007; Ambainis, Magnin, Roetteler and Roland, 2011) to the systematic construction of optimal algorithms.

Thu 1 OctComputational Complexity
The gist
Quantum algorithms can be very complicated to design and optimize. The authors show that using mathematical symmetries helps make these algorithms easier to build and run optimally. Their approach breaks down complex problems into simpler parts, allowing them to find the best possible setups for well-known quantum tasks like search and amplitude estimation. This makes it easier to create powerful quantum algorithms with less trial and error.
Open → 2610.02133v1

Trapdoored Clifford operators enable faster quantum circuit tasks

Trapdoored Clifford Operators and Applications

Abstract: Random Clifford operators have numerous applications in quantum computing, including randomized benchmarking, classical shadows, and quantum authentication. However, sampling and implementing uniformly random $n$-qubit Clifford incur near-quadratic complexity due to the size of Clifford group. We introduce a cryptographic way to overcome these barriers: trapdoored Clifford operator distributions whose samples are computationally indistinguishable from uniformly random Cliffords, yet implementing them can be much faster given the trapdoor. We construct a distribution of trapdoored Clifford operators whose elements can be sampled and implemented in near-linear time under a variant of the learning parity with noise assumption. Our constructions allow fast tableau action on Pauli labels for classical simulation, and also can be optimized to admit polylogarithmic-depth implementation. Along the way, we construct trapdoored matrices over finite fields that support efficient multiplication by both a matrix and its inverse, resolving an open question left by Vaikuntanathan and Zamir [SODA'26]. We use these constructions to obtain faster protocols based on random Cliffords. We also explore their applications to the worst-case to average-case reductions for matrix and Clifford problems including the iterated matrix multiplication and Clifford circuit synthesis. In particular, we show the hardness of batching Clifford circuits: synthesizing circuits that apply the same Clifford to multiple registers is at least as hard as worst-case matrix multiplication, even when synthesis succeeds on a small constant fraction of random Cliffords. This extends to approximate implementations by general quantum circuits.

Thu 1 OctComputational ComplexityCryptography and Security
The gist
Performing certain quantum computations randomly can be very slow because of the complexity involved. The authors present a method to create special 'trapdoored' Clifford operators that look random but can be computed much faster with a secret key. This method speeds up simulations and practical protocols that use these operators, while relying on a widely studied computational assumption. They also show that efficiently creating certain quantum circuits is as hard as some toughest matrix problems, even when only a few cases need to be correct.
Open → 2610.01848v1

Quantum circuit obfuscation enables verifiable quantum advantage protocols

Verifiable Quantum Advantage and Computation via Quantum Circuit Obfuscation

Abstract: We construct protocols for classically verifiable quantum advantage and classical verification of $\mathsf{BQP}$ computations using \emph{quantum indistinguishability obfuscation} (qiO). Specifically, given qiO and assuming a slightly stronger version of $\mathsf{BQP}\neq\mathsf{BPP}$, we construct a two-message quantum-advantage protocol that is efficiently and publicly verifiable. Our result can be viewed as a rigorous cryptographic foundation for the heuristic quantum advantage proposals based on \emph{peaked random circuit sampling} of Aaronson and Zhang (arXiv:2404.14493). We also construct two simple protocols for classically verifying arbitrary $\mathsf{BQP}$ computations. The first protocol is privately verifiable and assumes only the existence of qiO. This gives a rare example of a nontrivial cryptographic application of (quantum) iO that does not make additional computational hardness assumptions. The second protocol additionally assumes post-quantum one-way functions and is \emph{publicly verifiable}. To our knowledge, this is the first publicly verifiable protocol for classical verification of $\mathsf{BQP}$ computations under computational assumptions in the standard model. We show that all our results hold when qiO is assumed only for ancilla-free unitary circuits. As evidence supporting this assumption, we prove a worst-to-average-case reduction for obfuscating such circuits. This reduction extends the local-mixing framework of Canetti, Chamon, Mucciolo and Ruckenstein (TCC 2024) under quantum analogues of their assumptions.

Wed 30 SeptCryptography and Security
The gist
Showing that quantum computers can do tasks beyond classical ones is a key goal, but verifying these tasks using only classical computers is hard. The authors build protocols that let classical computers verify quantum computations under assumptions about quantum circuit obfuscation and computational hardness. Their work provides cryptographic guarantees for quantum advantage experiments and offers ways to check any quantum computation classically with either private or public verification. They also support their assumptions by proving technical results about the difficulty of obfuscating certain quantum circuits.
Open → 2609.40289v1

Efficient quantum transform handles non uniform Chebyshev nodes without conditioning

Conditioning-Free Non-Uniform Quantum Fourier and Chebyshev Transforms

Abstract: We present an efficient quantum algorithm for the non-uniform Chebyshev transform. It is defined as the projection of a function onto Chebyshev polynomials sampled at given nodes that are uniform in $x\in[-1,1]$, and hence non-uniform in the angle $θ=\arccos x$, a setting that QFT-based quantum Chebyshev transforms cannot handle. Our construction is based on an improvement of an existing Non-uniform Quantum Fourier Transform (NUQFT) whereby we remove the conditioning from non-uniform node sampling. Hence, error bounds are independent of the geometry-dependent parameter $κ$ of prior work. We use the fact that Chebyshev transform matrix is the average of two Type-II non-uniform DFTs, which we implement with a single controlled NUQFT circuit. We provide explicit oracle constructions, including the row-access oracle previously left as an assumption. The resulting $\varepsilon$-accurate block encoding has $O(1)$ normalization and uses $O(L)$ qubits and $\widetilde O(L^2)$ gates, where $L=\log N+\log(1/\varepsilon)$. We give an end-to-end implementation with complexity analysis, including the success probability and output-state error.

Wed 30 SeptData Structures and Algorithms
The gist
Some mathematical operations used in quantum computing work well with evenly spaced points but struggle when points are unevenly spaced. The paper introduces a new quantum algorithm that projects functions onto Chebyshev polynomials sampled at points that are uniform in one variable but not in another, a case that previous methods couldn't manage efficiently. The authors improve a quantum Fourier transform for uneven points by removing a conditioning step that made errors depend on tricky geometric factors. Their method uses fewer resources and provides explicit instructions for implementing the transform on a quantum computer.
Open → 2609.40277v1

Quantum codes with explicit constructions achieve optimal properties

From Random Quantum Codes to Explicit qLDPC Codes via Local Properties

Abstract: Constructing explicit codes matching the parameters of random codes has been a central and largely elusive question in coding theory. The quantum setting is even more challenging since it is highly desirable that the quantum code be an LDPC code. Local coordinate-wise linear (LCL) [Levi, Mosheiff, and Shagrithaya, FOCS 2025] witnesses provide a unifying language for many coding-theoretic properties, from distance to list decoding and list recovery. In particular, it provides a framework to study properties of random linear codes, which achieve optimal parameters for many properties of linear codes. For CSS quantum codes, however, a local witness has two distinct ranks: its physical rank before quotienting by stabilizers and its logical rank after quotienting. We develop a quantum version of the LCL framework for nested spaces $S \subseteq C$, in which local constraints are imposed on physical representatives while independence is measured in the logical quotient $C/S$. The resulting theory gives a threshold theorem for random CSS codes, and as a consequence shows that the per-sector rate threshold is equal to the classical rate threshold. We also define a quantum analogue of subspace design [Guruswami and Xing, STOC 2013] and show that they can be described in a natural manner within the quantum-LCL framework. Finally, we give explicit constructions for arbitrary folded quantum-LCL properties, in a manner similar to the LCL derandomization of [Jeronimo and Shagrithaya, STOC 2026]. As a consequence, we obtain the first explicit constructions of quantum list-decodable codes and list-recoverable codes that have optimal list sizes, in addition to explicit quantum subspace design codes. We note that all our explicit constructions are qLDPC codes, an important property for quantum error-correcting codes.

Wed 30 SeptInformation Theory
The gist
Quantum error-correcting codes are important for protecting information in quantum computers but are hard to build with both strong performance and practical structure. This paper develops a new mathematical framework that helps understand and design quantum codes with local rules and good error correction qualities. Using this framework, the authors create the first explicit quantum codes that can correct many errors efficiently while having optimal parameters, and these codes have a special property called qLDPC that makes them easier to use in real systems. Their work bridges the gap between random, theoretical constructions and practical, explicitly designed quantum codes.
Open → 2609.40252v1

Quantum aware tool improves quantum software design with llm guided search

Toward Quantum Software Automation: A Quantum-Aware Harness for LLM-Guided Evolution

Abstract: Quantum software is critical for improving the efficiency and reliability of scarce quantum hardware. However, its design still relies heavily on ad-hoc, handcrafted heuristics that are often suboptimal and quickly become obsolete as quantum hardware evolves. LLM-guided evolutionary search offers a promising way to automatically explore complex software designs, but existing search frameworks lack the quantum-specific support needed for efficient evolution: verification is expensive, feedback is sparse, and heterogeneous quantum programs require different optimization objectives. In this paper, we present QSA, a quantum-aware harness for LLM-guided evolutionary search toward automating quantum software design. QSA equips the search with three forms of quantum-specific guidance: an evolution-hardness-guided coreset and approximate scoring to reduce verification cost, static and snapshot analyses to provide fine-grained execution context, and task-specific rewards for compiler passes and runtime policies. We evaluate QSA on the IBM Quantum platform across three benchmark suites. For multiprogramming, QSA improves QPU utilization by 4.2%-9.5% and Hellinger fidelity by 15.2%-19.5% over the state of the art. For error mitigation, QSA reduces mitigation time by at least 96.8% while achieving comparable or better fidelity. These gains require only $6.9 in LLM API cost over 11.3 hours.

Wed 30 SeptSoftware Engineering
The gist
Quantum computers are powerful but hard to program efficiently because their hardware is limited and complex. The paper introduces a system called QSA that uses advanced language models to automatically improve quantum software by guiding the search for better program designs. QSA understands quantum specifics, making the search faster and more effective by reducing costly checks and providing detailed feedback. The approach was tested on IBM Quantum computers and showed better performance and faster error correction while costing little to run.
Open → 2609.38883v1

Unified reinforcement learning improves quantum compilation and scheduling

MQSS-Selector: RL-Guided Pass Selection for an MLIR Compilation Pipeline

Abstract: High Performance Computing (HPC) and Quantum Computing (QC) systems are increasingly converging towards unified High Performance Computing-Quantum Computing (HPCQC) infrastructures, driven by a growing need to bridge classical and quantum workflows, which affects all levels of the system stack, from the hardware to compilers and runtimes, all the way to applications. However, today's QC devices are still in the Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) era, are error-prone and resource-limited, and therefore require specialized optimizations and topology mappings to achieve sufficient fidelity. This places special emphasis on proper compilation and optimization within the overall quantum software stack. Many existing stacks remain fragmented, with separate components responsible for device selection, compiler-pass optimization, and job queue scheduling. This paper proposes a unified, learning-based selector that integrates these disparate stages into a cohesive framework. Our proposed selector scheme leverages reinforcement learning and deep learning models that can be extended to simultaneously optimize multiple objectives -- such as fidelity, compilation time, and scheduling latency -- while dynamically adapting to circuit characteristics and device conditions.

Thu 24 SeptDistributed, Parallel, and Cluster ComputingMachine LearningProgramming Languages
The gist
Today's quantum computers are still imperfect and need special optimizations to run programs well. The authors present a new tool that uses reinforcement learning, a kind of AI, to help pick the best optimization steps and schedule jobs all together. This improves how quantum programs are compiled and run on noisy devices. The method adapts dynamically to different program and device conditions while balancing goals like accuracy and speed.
Open → 2609.30104v1

Order of optimization steps affects quality of quantum circuits

Evaluating the Effect of the Order of Optimization Passes in Quantum Circuit Optimization

Abstract: Quantum circuit optimization is critical for mitigating the noise inherent in current quantum hardware. Quantum compilers typically sequentially apply multiple optimizations (also called ``optimization passes'') to improve the circuit. The impact of the order in which these passes are executed has yet been largely unexplored. This paper investigates the significance of the order of optimization passes within quantum circuit compilation, specifically analyzing interactions between different optimization methods and quantifying their mutual influences. Using Qiskit's compiler, we systematically evaluate pairwise combinations of 16 selected optimization passes, measuring circuit depth and gate count across various benchmark circuits. Our findings indicate dependencies between certain optimization passes, demonstrating that the order of the passes affects the optimization quality. In some cases, the worse performing sequence can be corrected through repeated pass application. %such that they are as good as the best performing one by extending the sequence. Experiments on multi-pass sequences show that more than two optimization passes may have an impact on each other but that this always links to the previously found pairwise effects. We observe that it is important to initially choose the best order of optimization passes to get the best possible optimization for the given circuit. The experiments reveal some factors which are important to choose the best, or at least a good, order; among those, the resulting optimization sequence depends the most on the native gate set.

Thu 24 SeptEmerging TechnologiesPerformance
The gist
Quantum computers use circuits made of commands to do calculations, but these can be noisy and slow. The authors studied how the order of improving these circuits matters. They found that the sequence in which optimization routines are applied changes how well the circuits perform. Sometimes repeating certain steps fixes initial problems caused by a bad order. The best sequence often depends on the basic commands the quantum machine understands.
Open → 2609.29406v1

Fourier analysis reveals how quantum classifier design shapes outputs

Fourier Analysis of Parametrized Interactive Quantum Classifiers

Abstract: Interactive Quantum Classifiers (IQCs) constitute a family of quantum machine learning models inspired by open quantum systems, in which the interaction between a target qubit and an environment is described by a Hamiltonian. Previous works introduced alternative Hamiltonian parameterizations and showed empirically that they can improve classification performance, but the role of these parameters in the resulting classifier remains poorly understood. In this work, we derive a closed-form expression for the reduced quantum channel generated by a parametrized IQC with a single target qubit. The analytical solution explicitly reveals how the Hamiltonian parameters control the constant, sine, and cosine components of the classifier output, establishing a Fourier interpretation of the induced feature map. This analysis motivates a generalized family of Hamiltonian encodings, including matrix-parameterized environmental Hamiltonians whose Fourier components depend on linear combinations of input features, thereby enabling non-separable Fourier structures. Numerical experiments on synthetic and real-world datasets show that the proposed models can improve classification performance on several nonlinear benchmarks. The generalized matrix encoding achieves the strongest aggregate performance in the evaluated benchmark, while a simpler four-parameter extension often attains comparable performance with substantially fewer trainable parameters. We additionally characterize the generated state ensembles using the standard fidelity-based expressibility measure, finding that global expressibility does not directly predict classification performance. Our results provide an analytical characterization of parametrized Hamiltonians in Interactive Quantum Classifiers and establish Fourier analysis as a useful framework for understanding and designing open-system-inspired quantum learning models.

Wed 16 SeptMachine Learning
The gist
Quantum classifiers process information differently by interacting a key quantum bit with its surroundings, but how their design impacts results was unclear. The authors worked out exact formulas showing how the parameters controlling this interaction affect the classifier’s output like a combination of waves. This wave view helps create more flexible quantum classifiers capturing complex patterns in data. Tests on multiple datasets confirm that their new designs often improve how well these classifiers identify categories. The study also finds that overall similarity of quantum states does not always predict classification success.
Open → 2609.17991v1