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arXiv:2604.17784

Current-State Opacity in Safe Partially Observed Quantum Petri Nets: True-Concurrency Semantics and Exact Symbolic Verification

Sichen Ding, Zhiwu Li

cs.LOquant-phSubmitted Apr 20, 2026• Announced Apr 21, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Classical opacity theory for discrete-event systems relies strictly on observable event sequences, fundamentally failing to capture security breaches in hybrid architectures where an attacker exploits both classical traces and localized quantum correlations. To address this gap, we formalize current-state opacity within the framework of safe partially observed quantum Petri nets by introducing a true-concurrency semantics that represents classical observations as partially ordered multisets via unfolding configurations. Building upon this, we define quantitative posterior-state leakage as the trace distance between the attacker's localized quantum states, evaluated conditionally on whether the underlying system has reached a secret or non-secret marking. This formulation strictly preserves classical opacity definitions. To achieve computational tractability, we apply the stabilizer formalism and develop an exact symbolic verification algorithm. By combining targeted unfolding exploration, state aggregation exclusively at maximal unobservable reach, and stabilizer-tableau propagation, this procedure circumvents both concurrent interleaving explosions and exponential density-matrix overhead. Finally, an entanglement-swapping case study validates the exact leakage evaluation, demonstrates substantial computational gains, and establishes a rigorous interface for counterexample-guided leakage enforcement.

Comments
22 pages, 5 figures

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Classical opacity theory for discrete-event systems relies strictly on observable event sequences, fundamentally failing to capture security breaches in hybrid architectures where an attacker exploits both classical traces and localized quantum correlations. To address this gap, we formalize current-state opacity within the framework of safe partially observed quantum Petri nets by introducing a true-concurrency semantics that represents classical observations as partially ordered multisets via unfolding configurations. Building upon this, we define quantitative posterior-state leakage as the trace distance between the attacker's localized quantum states, evaluated conditionally on whether the underlying system has reached a secret or non-secret marking. This formulation strictly preserves classical opacity definitions. To achieve computational tractability, we apply the stabilizer formalism and develop an exact symbolic verification algorithm. By combining targeted unfolding exploration, state aggregation exclusively at maximal unobservable reach, and stabilizer-tableau propagation, this procedure circumvents both concurrent interleaving explosions and exponential density-matrix overhead. Finally, an entanglement-swapping case study validates the exact leakage evaluation, demonstrates substantial computational gains, and establishes a rigorous interface for counterexample-guided leakage enforcement.
Classical Petri nets provide a canonical model of concurrency, with unfolding semantics linking nets, occurrence nets, and event structures. No comparable framework exists for quantum concurrency: existing ''quantum Petri nets'' lack rigorous concurrent and sound quantum semantics, analysis tools, and unfolding theory. We introduce Quantum Petri Nets (QPNs), Petri nets equipped with a quantum valuation compatible with the quantum event structure semantics of Clairambault, De Visme, and Winskel (2019). Our contributions are: (i) a local definition of Quantum Occurrence Nets (LQONs) compatible with quantum event structures, (ii) a construction of QPNs with a well-defined unfolding semantics, (iii) a compositional framework for QPNs. This establishes a semantically well grounded model of quantum concurrency, bridging Petri net theory and quantum programming.
Classical Petri nets provide a canonical model of concurrency, with unfolding semantics linking nets, occurrence nets, and event structures. No comparable framework exists for quantum concurrency: existing ''quantum Petri nets'' lack rigorous concurrent and sound quantum semantics, analysis tools, and unfolding theory. We introduce Quantum Petri Nets (QPNs), Petri nets equipped with a quantum valuation compatible with the quantum event structure semantics of Clairambault, De Visme, and Winskel (2019). Our contributions are: (i) a local definition of Quantum Occurrence Nets (LQONs) compatible with quantum event structures, (ii) a construction of QPNs with a well-defined unfolding semantics, (iii) a compositional framework for QPNs. This establishes a semantically well grounded model of quantum concurrency, bridging Petri net theory and quantum programming.
In this paper, we propose a novel quantum solution to address the problem of reachability in bounded quantum Petri nets (QPNs), an advanced modeling framework that combines the classical Petri net model with quantum mechanical principles. The proposed approach exploits quantum parallelism to construct a superposition over all reachable markings from the initial marking. Grover's amplitude amplification algorithm is then applied to efficiently identify a desired target marking, while ancillary q-tokens used solely for transition control are excluded from the search space, significantly reducing its size. Theoretical analysis shows that our approach achieves a quadratic speed up over classical exhaustive algorithms. Experimental results also confirm the correctness and feasibility of the proposed quantum algorithm for solving the bounded reachability problem in Quantum Petri Nets.
The development of Quantum Communication Protocols sparked the interest in quantum extensions of process calculi. However, existing semantic models, typically based on probability distributions and probabilistic transition systems, often fail to adequately capture the nuances of Quantum Mechanics. They can spuriously distinguish between systems that quantum theory deems identical, and allow for physically unfeasible non-deterministic capabilities. Furthermore, their reliance on concrete quantum states makes automated verification computationally intractable due to the infinite, continuous nature of the state space. To overcome these challenges, this thesis proposes to model quantum protocols in a novel manner, by leveraging both the mathematical language of Quantum Theory and the verification techniques of Computer Science. The main objective is to develop a verification framework that is both physically sound and amenable to symbolic, tractable analysis. This is achieved through the development of two novel models of quantum concurrent systems. The first major contribution is a new semantic model that respects quantum indistinguishability by construction. Quantum theory teaches us that probabilistic mixtures of quantum states should not be modelled as probability distributions. We thus introduce Density Distributions, where processes are weighted by density operators rather than scalar probabilities. We define an operational semantics based on these distributions and introduce Quantum Labelled Bisimilarity, the first behavioural equivalence to be a congruence under physically admissible scheduling policies. We show that our equivalence coincides with a purely observational, context-based, saturated bisimilarity, thus proving its adequacy in terms of discriminating power. The second core contribution is an elementary framework for the symbolic verification of quantum protocols. To abstract away from concrete quantum inputs, we develop a mathematical theory of Conditional Quantum Effects, a novel generalization of quantum effects capable of representing conditional probabilities arising from quantum measurements. Building on this foundation, we define Effect-weighted Labelled Transition Systems (eLTSs), an input-independent model for concurrent quantum systems. We propose a "Heisenberg-style" symbolic semantics that maps any quantum protocol to a single eLTS. We prove that symbolic bisimilarity on these eLTSs is fully abstract with respect to ground probabilistic bisimilarity: two symbolic systems are equivalent if and only if they yield equivalent pLTSs under all possible quantum inputs.
Formal verification of power side-channel leakage and its countermeasures in cryptographic algorithms is challenging, as SAT-based methods fail to scale on XOR-heavy, time-unrolled cryptographic circuits with realistic leakage models. We construct compact Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF) cases modeling one-bit leakage under two-trace conditions, linking key dependence and state evolution. Classical solvers quickly reach complexity limits, so we propose Q-LEAK, a quantum-based verification approach using Grover's algorithm, compiling each CNF into an oracle and applying amplitude amplification to search in O(sqrt(N)) oracle calls, with oracles that encode the two-trace leakage predicate and the CNF constraints. Benchmarking against classical SAT shows both potential gains and practical resource limits. In noiseless tests on 5-7 variable benchmarks, Q-LEAK consistently recovered a satisfying assignment within 1-4 tries, with marked bitstrings amplified clearly above the background distribution, exceeding 20 percent probability. The evaluation of Q-LEAK on real quantum hardware revealed at least one classically verified SAT assignment, despite the presence of noise. These results point to a potential path toward quantum-assisted verification of side-channel protections.