We propose a modification to Nielsen's circuit complexity for Hamiltonian simulation using the Suzuki-Trotter (ST) method, which provides a network like structure for the quantum circuit. This leads to an optimized gate counting linear in the geodesic distance and spatial volume, unlike in the original proposal. The optimized ST iteration order is correlated with the error tolerance and plays the role of an anti-de Sitter radial coordinate. The density of gates is shown to be monotonic with the tolerance and a holographic interpretation using path-integral optimization is given.
We propose a modification to Nielsen's circuit complexity for Hamiltonian simulation using the Suzuki-Trotter (ST) method, which provides a network like structure for the quantum circuit. This leads to an optimized gate counting linear in the geodesic distance and spatial volume, unlike in the original proposal. The optimized ST iteration order is correlated with the error tolerance and plays the role of an anti-de Sitter radial coordinate. The density of gates is shown to be monotonic with the tolerance and a holographic interpretation using path-integral optimization is given.
Hamiltonian simulation represents an important module in a large class of quantum algorithms and simulations such as quantum machine learning, quantum linear algebra methods, and modeling for physics, material science, and chemistry. One of the most prominent methods for realizing the time-evolution unitary is via the Trotter-Suzuki decomposition. However, there is a large class of possible decompositions for the infinitesimal time-evolution operator as the order in which the Hamiltonian terms are implemented is arbitrary. We introduce a perspective for generating a low-depth Trotter-Suzuki decomposition assuming the standard Clifford+rz gate set by adapting ideas from quantum error correction. We map a given Trotter-Suzuki decomposition to a constrained path on a graph which we deem the Pauli frame graph (PFG). Each node of the PFG represents the set of possible Hamiltonian terms currently available to be applied, Clifford operations represent a move from one node to another, and so the graph distance represents the gate cost of implementing the decomposition. The problem of finding the optimal decomposition is then equivalent to solving a problem similar to the traveling salesman. Although this is an NP-hard problem, we demonstrate the simplest heuristic, greedy search, and compare the resulting two-qubit gate count and circuit depth to more standard methods for a large class of scientifically relevant Hamiltonians, both fermionic and bosonic, found in chemical, vibrational, and condensed-matter problems which naturally scale. We find, in nearly every case we study, the resulting depth and two-qubit gate counts are less than those provided by standard methods, by as much as an order of magnitude. We also find the method is efficient and amenable to parallelization, making it scalable for problems of real interest.
Hamiltonian formulations of lattice field theories provide access to real-time dynamics, but their simulation is difficult to implement efficiently. Trotter-Suzuki decompositions are at the center of time evolution computation, either on quantum hardware or classically, for instance with the use of tensor networks. While low-order Trotterizations remain the standard choice due to their simplicity, higher-order schemes offer the potential for improved efficiency. In this work we outline a short guide to Trotter-Suzuki schemes and their implementations in general. To help with this, we highlight new efficient schemes found by our optimization framework, and demonstrate their performance on the Heisenberg model.
We propose a variational alternative to the Trotter-Suzuki decomposition that provides greater control over errors while preserving the unitary structure of time evolution. The variational parameters in our ansatz are derived from a global action principle, where Euler-Lagrange equations govern their optimal dynamics. Unlike conventional wavefunction-based variational methods, our approach specifically targets the time evolution operation and this allows a single set of optimized parameters to be applied to any initial state for a fixed Hamiltonian avoiding costly optimization procedures. Our method outperforms the standard Trotter-Suzuki formulas, typically achieving higher accuracy than higher-order Suzuki schemes. This translates directly to quantum computing applications, where it enables the design of quantum circuits with fewer gates which reduces noise and improves precision. Although we focus on quantum dynamics, the method is broadly applicable to problems involving general time-evolution operators. Applied to various model Hamiltonians, our approach reduces errors by factors of 2 to 5 compared to Trotter-Suzuki decompositions, demonstrating its promise for accurate quantum simulation with improved efficiency. In certain cases, the variational ansatz achieves higher accuracy than more complex higher-order Suzuki formulas while reducing the gate count by nearly half within a single circuit layer. Furthermore, we derive approximate analytical expressions for the variational parameters up to cubic order in time, valid for generic Hamiltonians. These approximations enable long-time quantum simulations with improved accuracy over equivalent Suzuki decompositions, providing ready-to-use evolution formulas that match Suzuki's gate complexity while delivering better performance.
We propose a variational alternative to the Trotter-Suzuki decomposition that provides greater control over errors while preserving the unitary structure of time evolution. The variational parameters in our ansatz are derived from a global action principle, where Euler-Lagrange equations govern their optimal dynamics. Unlike conventional wavefunction-based variational methods, our approach specifically targets the time evolution operation, and this allows a single set of optimized parameters to be applied to any initial state for a fixed Hamiltonian avoiding costly optimization procedures. Our method outperforms the standard Trotter-Suzuki formulas, typically achieving higher accuracy than higher-order Suzuki schemes. This translates directly to quantum computing applications, where it enables the design of quantum circuits with fewer gates, which reduces noise and improves precision. Although we focus on quantum dynamics, the method is broadly applicable to problems involving general time-evolution operators. Applied to various model Hamiltonians, our approach reduces errors by factors of 2 to 5 compared to Trotter-Suzuki decompositions, demonstrating its promise for accurate quantum simulation with improved efficiency. In certain cases, the variational ansatz achieves higher accuracy than more complex higher-order Suzuki formulas while reducing the gate count by nearly half within a single circuit layer. Furthermore, we derive approximate analytical expressions for the variational parameters up to cubic order in time, valid for generic Hamiltonians. These approximations enable long-time quantum simulations with improved accuracy over equivalent Suzuki decompositions, providing ready-to-use evolution formulas that match Suzuki's gate complexity while delivering better performance.
Hamiltonian formulations of lattice field theories provide access to real-time dynamics, but their simulation is difficult to implement efficiently. Trotter-Suzuki decompositions are at the center of time evolution computation, either on quantum hardware or classically, for instance with the use of tensor networks. While low-order Trotterizations remain the standard choice due to their simplicity, higher-order schemes offer the potential for improved efficiency. In this work we outline a short guide to Trotter-Suzuki schemes and their implementations in general. To help with this, we highlight new efficient schemes found by our optimization framework, and demonstrate their performance on the Heisenberg model.
Owing to their simplicity and low overhead, Suzuki-Trotter formulas remain the de facto Hamiltonian simulation methods on current quantum computing platforms. Systematic Trotter errors, however, will quickly become limiting when scaling to larger problems and aiming for higher accuracy. We present a mechanism that removes the systematic error of any k-th order Suzuki-Trotter simulation, at the cost of a constant sampling overhead. The key insight is that the Trotter error is itself a coherent dynamics to be reversed, rather than a deviation to be bounded. By identifying the structure of this error in closed form, we carry out that reversal through quasi-probabilistic decompositions. The resulting algorithm, called Probabilistic Trotter Error Reversal (PTER), is unbiased and still improves the gate-count scaling of Suzuki-Trotter formulas while retaining their simplicity. Numerical simulations of a Heisenberg spin chain support the predicted resource advantage already at modest system sizes.