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arXiv:2501.06179

Measuring Non-Gaussian Magic in Fermions: Convolution, Entropy, and the Violation of Wick's Theorem and the Matchgate Identity

Luke Coffman, Graeme Smith, Xun Gao

Published Jan 10, 2025• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Classically hard to simulate quantum states, or "magic states", are prerequisites to quantum advantage, highlighting an apparent separation between classically and quantumly tractable problems. Classically simulable states such as Clifford circuits on stabilizer states, free bosonic states, free fermions, and matchgate circuits are all in some sense Gaussian. While free bosons and fermions arise from quadratic Hamiltonians, recent works have demonstrated that bosonic and qudit systems converge to Gaussians and stabilizers under convolution. In this work, we similarly identify convolution for fermions and find efficient measures of non-Gaussian magic in pure fermionic states. We demonstrate that three natural notions for the Gaussification of a state, (1) the Gaussian state with the same covariance matrix, (2) the fixed point of convolution, and (3) the closest Gaussian in relative entropy, coincide by proving a central limit theorem for fermionic systems. We then utilize the violation of Wick's theorem and the matchgate identity to quantify non-Gaussian magic in addition to a SWAP test.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2501.06179

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Classically hard to simulate quantum states, or "magic states", are prerequisites to quantum advantage, highlighting an apparent separation between classically and quantumly tractable problems. Classically simulable states such as Clifford circuits on stabilizer states, free bosonic states, free fermions, and matchgate circuits are all in some sense Gaussian. While free bosons and fermions arise from quadratic Hamiltonians, recent works have demonstrated that bosonic and qudit systems converge to Gaussians and stabilizers under convolution. In this work, we similarly identify convolution for fermions and find efficient measures of non-Gaussian magic in pure fermionic states. We demonstrate that three natural notions for the Gaussification of a state, (1) the Gaussian state with the same covariance matrix, (2) the fixed point of convolution, and (3) the closest Gaussian in relative entropy, coincide by proving a central limit theorem for fermionic systems. We then utilize the violation of Wick's theorem and the matchgate identity to quantify non-Gaussian magic in addition to a SWAP test.
Fermionic non-Gaussianity, or fermionic magic, is a key resource underlying the computational complexity of fermionic quantum systems, yet tractable and operationally meaningful ways to quantify it remain limited. We address this challenge by developing a convex resource theory of fermionic non-Gaussianity and introducing two families of computable quantities for pure fermionic states, both derived from the Williamson normal form of the covariance matrix. The first family, occupation number entropies, is defined as the Tsallis-ααα entropy of the occupation numbers. We prove that one member of this family is monotonic under Gaussian protocols, establishing it as a computable convex resource monotone. It consequently lower bounds the number of non-Gaussian gates needed for state preparation. The second family, natural-orbital participation entropies, is given by the Rényi-ααα entropy of the squared amplitudes of the state in the natural-orbital basis, defined by the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix. They quantify state compressibility in this basis and thus upper bound the classical simulation cost in an orthonormal Gaussian basis. We analyze both families for stabilizer and translation-invariant states, where they simplify and reveal additional structure. We further study representative examples, including random SWAP-doped matchgate circuits and the bond-modulated XXZ model, highlighting the role of non-Gaussianity in many-body phenomena. Our work establishes a resource-theoretic framework for computable fermionic non-Gaussianity that unifies notions arising across quantum information, condensed-matter physics, and quantum chemistry, opening new directions for studying the complexity of quantum many-body systems and providing practical tools to assess the classical simulability of fermionic states relevant for quantum advantage.
Classically hard-to-simulate quantum states, or "magic" states, are prerequisites to quantum advantage, highlighting an apparent separation between classically and quantumly tractable problems. Classically simulable states such as Clifford circuits on stabilizer states, free bosonic states, free fermions, and matchgate circuits are all in some sense Gaussian. While free bosons and fermions arise from quadratic Hamiltonians, recent works have demonstrated that bosonic and qudit systems converge to Gaussians and stabilizers under convolution. In this work, we similarly identify convolution for fermions and find efficient measures of non-Gaussian magic in pure fermionic states. We demonstrate that three natural notions for the Gaussification of a state—(1) the Gaussian state with the same covariance matrix, (2) the fixed point of convolution, and (3) the closest Gaussian in relative entropy—coincide by proving a central limit theorem for fermionic systems. We then utilize the violation of Wick's theorem and the matchgate identity to quantify non-Gaussian magic in addition to a SWAP test.
Fermionic Gaussian states form a central class of classically tractable quantum states, while fermionic non-Gaussianity provides the resource required to go beyond free-fermion dynamics. A key challenge is to quantify this resource through monotones that are both mathematically rigorous and experimentally accessible. Here, we show that the fermionic entropy, defined through the squared Frobenius norm of the correlation matrix, is a strong pure-state Gaussian monotone. Its simple closed-form expression also makes it directly measurable: we show that the associated fermionic purity can be unbiasedly estimated up to additive error ε\varepsilonε using O(ε−2)O(\varepsilon^{-2})O(ε−2) two-copy measurements, independently of the system size. Moreover, we prove that the fermionic entropy obeys asymptotic continuity and, as a direct consequence, establish its operational meaning as the upper bound to the asymptotic rate of non-Gaussianity distillation. We further derive a linear sample complexity bound for tolerant testing of fermionic Gaussian states, providing a quadratic improvement over the state of the art. As a further application of our results, we study unitary designs generated by Matchgate circuits supplemented with Majorana-local non-Gaussian gates. We prove that a linear number of such gates is necessary even to achieve an approximate state 222-design with error below 0.4%0.4\%0.4%. Combined with known nearly linear upper bounds for relative-error designs, this determines the optimal doping level, up to logarithmic factors, across all relevant design notions and reveals the extensive non-Gaussianity cost required to generate Haar-like quantum dynamics in this architecture.
Fermionic Gaussian states describe free fermions and underlie the mean-field picture of matter, from metals to superconductors; they are also efficiently simulable on classical computers. Departures from Gaussianity -- the correlations produced by interactions -- are therefore what make a fermionic system hard to simulate classically and useful for quantum computation, analogous to the role of magic in stabilizer-based quantum computation. Yet detecting and quantifying such non-Gaussianity at scale has remained challenging. Here we introduce practical tests and witnesses of fermionic non-Gaussianity built on fermionic antiflatness, a measure derived from the two-point covariance matrix. We estimate it with two protocols -- a two-copy Bell measurement and a single-copy scheme using commuting Majorana bilinears -- that determine whether a state is Gaussian or far from it at lower measurement cost than existing approaches, using only operations native to fault-tolerant hardware. For mixed states, a purity-corrected witness certifies non-Gaussianity and remains robust under strong noise; running it on the IQM quantum processor, we find that noise can both reduce and enhance non-Gaussianity. Finally, we show that preparing pseudorandom fermionic states requires extensive non-Gaussianity. Together, these tools enable the study and certification of non-Gaussian fermionic resources on present-day quantum devices.
Magic states were introduced in the context of Clifford circuits as a resource that elevates classically simulatable computations to quantum universal capability, while maintaining the same gate set. Here we study magic states in the context of matchgate (MG) circuits, where the notion becomes more subtle, as MGs are subject to locality constraints. Nevertheless a similar picture of gate-gadget constructions applies, and we show that every pure fermionic state which is non-Gaussian, i.e., which cannot be generated by MGs from a computational basis state, is a magic state for MG computations. This result has significance for prospective quantum computing implementation in view of the fact that MG circuit evolutions coincide with the quantum physical evolution of noninteracting fermions.
Fermionic non-Gaussianity, also known as fermionic magic, is a key resource underlying the computational complexity of fermionic quantum systems, yet quantifying it in a computationally tractable and operationally grounded manner remains a central challenge. In this work, we address this gap by establishing a convex resource theory of fermionic non-Gaussianity and introducing two families of computable measures for pure fermionic states, both built from the Williamson normal form of the covariance matrix. The first family, the occupation number entropies, is defined as the Tsallis-α\alphaα entropy of the occupation numbers, obtained as shifted and rescaled Williamson eigenvalues of the covariance matrix. We prove that one member of this family yields a monotone under Gaussian protocols, thereby validating it as a computable convex resource monotone for fermionic non‑Gaussianity. As a consequence, it provides a lower bound on the number of non-Gaussian gates required for state preparation. The second family, the natural-orbital participation entropy, is the R\'enyi-α\alphaα entropy of the squared magnitude of the state's amplitudes in the natural-orbital basis, defined by the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix. Operationally, they quantify the compressibility of the state in the natural-orbital basis, and hence upper bound the classical simulation cost in an orthonormal Gaussian basis. We analyze the two measures in two important settings, for stabilizer and translation-invariant states, where they admit simplified forms and additional structural insights. We investigate both families through several representative examples, including random SWAP-doped matchgate circuits and the bond-modulated XXZ model, showcasing the role of non-Gaussianity in many-body phenomena. Our work establishes a resource-theoretic framework for computable fermionic non-Gaussianity that unifies notions arising across quantum information, condensed-matter physics, and quantum chemistry, opening new directions for studying the complexity of quantum many-body systems and providing practical tools to assess the classical simulability of fermionic states relevant for quantum advantage.