Skip to main content

On Rounding Errors in the Simulation of Quantum Circuits

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Service-Oriented Computing – ICSOC 2023 Workshops (ICSOC 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14518))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 102 Accesses

Abstract

The realm of quantum computing is inherently tied to real numbers. However, quantum simulators nearly always rely on floating-point arithmetic and thus may introduce rounding errors in their calculations. In this work, we show how we can nevertheless trust the computations of simulators under certain conditions where we can rule out that floating-point errors disturb the obtained measurement results. We derive theoretical bounds for the errors of floating-point computations in quantum simulations and use these bounds to extend the implementation of an existing verification tool to show the soundness of the tool’s analysis for a number of well-established quantum algorithms.

This work is part of the SEQUOIA End-to-End project funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 74.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Beckert, B., Kirsten, M., Klamroth, J., Ulbrich, M.: Modular verification of JML contracts using bounded model checking. In: Margaria, T., Steffen, B. (eds.) ISoLA 2020. LNCS, vol. 12476, pp. 60–80. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61362-4_4

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  2. Boldo, S., Melquiond, G.: Flocq: a unified library for proving floating-point algorithms in Coq. In: 2011 IEEE 20th Symposium on Computer Arithmetic, pp. 243–252. IEEE (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Deutsch, D., Jozsa, R.: Rapid solution of problems by quantum computation. Proc. Math. Phys. Sci. 439(1907), 553–558 (1992)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. Fatima, A., Markov, I.L.: Faster schrödinger-style simulation of quantum circuits. In: 2021 IEEE International Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA), pp. 194–207. IEEE (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Fumex, C., Marché, C., Moy, Y.: Automating the verification of floating-point programs. In: Paskevich, A., Wies, T. (eds.) VSTTE 2017. LNCS, vol. 10712, pp. 102–119. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72308-2_7

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  6. Goldberg, D.: What every computer scientist should know about floating-point arithmetic. ACM Comput. Surv. 23(1), 5–48 (1991)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. Grover, L.K.: A fast quantum mechanical algorithm for database search. In: Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing - STOC 1996, pp. 212–219. ACM Press (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Jacobsen, C., Solovyev, A., Gopalakrishnan, G.: A parameterized floating-point formalizaton in HOL light. Electron. Notes Theor. Comput. Sci. 317, 101–107 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Klamroth, J., Beckert, B., Scheerer, M., Denninger, O.: QIn: enabling formal methods to deal with quantum circuits. In: 2023 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Software (QSW), pp. 175–185. IEEE (2023)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Muller, J.M., et al.: Handbook of Floating-Point Arithmetic. Springer, Heidelberg (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76526-6

    Book  Google Scholar 

  11. Shor, P.W.: Polynomial-time algorithms for prime factorization and discrete logarithms on a quantum computer. SIAM Rev. 41(2), 303–332 (1999)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  12. Yu, L.: A formal model of IEEE floating point arithmetic. Arch. Formal Proofs 91–104 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jonas Klamroth .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Klamroth, J., Beckert, B. (2024). On Rounding Errors in the Simulation of Quantum Circuits. In: Monti, F., et al. Service-Oriented Computing – ICSOC 2023 Workshops. ICSOC 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14518. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-0989-2_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-0989-2_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-97-0988-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-97-0989-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics