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arXiv:2604.24475

Improving Zero-Noise Extrapolation via Physically Bounded Models

Andriy Miranskyy, Adam Sorrenti, Jasmine Thind, Claude Gravel

quant-phcs.ETSubmitted Apr 27, 2026• Announced Apr 28, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Zero-noise extrapolation (ZNE) mitigates errors in near-term quantum devices by extrapolating measurements obtained at amplified noise levels to estimate noise-free expectation values. In practice, commonly used extrapolation models are fitted without enforcing physical constraints, which can yield predictions outside the valid range of quantum observables. In this work, we introduce physically bounded variants of polynomial, exponential, and polynomial--exponential extrapolation models by explicitly parameterizing the zero-noise estimate and constraining it during optimization. We evaluate the approach using a large synthetic benchmark comprising 180,000 circuits and approximately 3.6 million ZNE experiments generated under realistic device noise models derived from IBM quantum backends. We also perform preliminary validation on real quantum hardware using GHZ and W-state circuits. Across the synthetic benchmark, bounded extrapolation substantially reduces unphysical predictions and improves the stability of exponential- and polynomial--exponential-family models, whereas polynomial models show little difference between bounded and unbounded variants. Hardware experiments show similar qualitative behaviour: bounded models generally avoid pathological extrapolations and often provide a more reliable balance between accuracy and usable coverage. At the same time, the results highlight practical limitations of current devices, including stronger-than-expected noise effects and variability not fully captured by simulation models. These results suggest that enforcing physical constraints during extrapolation improves the reliability of ZNE and that this approach can be incorporated into existing workflows with minimal modification.

Related papers

Folding-Free Zero-Noise Extrapolation by Layout-induced Noise Diversity

Debarthi Pal, Yogesh Simmhan

Near term quantum processors operate in a noise dominated regime, motivating error mitigation techniques that recover accurate expectation values without full fault tolerance. Zero Noise Extrapolation (ZNE) is a widely used but biased error mitigation method that lacks rigorous error bounds. Its effective application requires nontrivial technical choices, most notably the selection of noise scaling factors and extrapolation models, making ZNE sensitive to user expertise and often necessitating costly trial and error procedures. Here, we introduce Folding Free Zero Noise Extrapolation (FF-ZNE), a method that removes the need for noise factor selection by achieving effective noise amplification without circuit folding. FF-ZNE exploits isomorphic hardware layouts with distinct native noise profiles, such that executing a fixed circuit across these layouts induces controllable variations in the effective noise strength. Under a depolarizing noise model, we analytically show that the resulting extrapolation admits a fixed linear form, eliminating extrapolator choice and enabling a seamless, user independent mitigation procedure. We further propose two algorithms that identify sets of isomorphic hardware layouts on which a given circuit yields sufficiently distinct expectation values to enable reliable zero noise extrapolation. Experiments on a 133 qubit IBM Quantum device demonstrate that FF-ZNE yields mitigated expectation values with average deviations of ~6% and 4.5% for up to 50 qubit EfficientSU2 (sparse) and Hamiltonian simulation (dense) circuits, respectively. The method is thus scalable and applicable to a broad range of circuits. By eliminating noise factor and extrapolator selection, FF-ZNE transforms zero noise extrapolation from a technique requiring expert tuning into a practical, scalable, and broadly accessible error mitigation method for current quantum hardware.

quant-pharXiv:2603.13949•Mar 17, 2026•0 citations

Direct Analysis of Zero-Noise Extrapolation: Polynomial Methods, Error Bounds, and Simultaneous Physical-Algorithmic Error Mitigation

Pegah Mohammadipour, Xiantao Li

Zero-noise extrapolation (ZNE) is a widely used quantum error mitigation technique that artificially amplifies circuit noise and then extrapolates the results to the noise-free circuit. A common ZNE approach is Richardson extrapolation, which relies on polynomial interpolation. Despite its simplicity, efficient implementations of Richardson extrapolation face several challenges, including approximation errors from the non-polynomial behavior of noise channels, overfitting due to polynomial interpolation, and exponentially amplified measurement noise. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of these challenges, presenting bias and variance bounds that quantify approximation errors. Additionally, for any precision ε , our results offer an estimate of the necessary sample complexity. We further extend the analysis to polynomial least squares-based extrapolation, which mitigates measurement noise and avoids overfitting. Finally, we propose a strategy for simultaneously mitigating circuit and algorithmic errors in the Trotter-Suzuki algorithm by jointly scaling the time step size and the noise level. This strategy provides a practical tool to enhance the reliability of near-term quantum computations. We support our theoretical findings with numerical experiments.

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Benchmarking Error Mitigation: Artefactual Improvements in Zero-Noise Extrapolation

Dominik Köster, Wolfgang Mauerer

Reliable benchmarking of Quantum Error Mitigation (QEM) requires distinguishing genuine improvements from artefacts of the post-processing arithmetic. In this paper, we expose a failure mode in Richardson Zero-Noise Extrapolation (ZNE), a widely used technique routinely (and often implicitly) relied upon in benchmarks and experiments. When noise amplification operates beyond usable signals - a regime that is quickly reached on current hardware for non-trivial circuits - we show that the extrapolation no longer reflects the underlying physics, but collapses into a fixed rescaling of a single noisy measurement, producing a bogus apparent improvement that is independent of noise amplification. This poses a rarely considered threat to the validity of many empirical evaluations in quantum computing. Measurements on real hardware (IQM Euro-Q-Exa) confirm this collapse with ordinary folding alone: as circuit depth erodes the signal, the reported estimate decouples from the truth and overshoots the ideal by up to 21%. We further introduce a matched-cost "garbage-folding" negative control that carries no usable signal yet reports a larger apparent improvement than genuine folding - showing that the magnitude of an improvement is not evidence of its correctness - alongside a zero-cost check flagging the artefact from data a benchmark already holds. We distil both into a short reporting checklist for ZNE benchmarks.

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Abstract The practical application of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) hardware is fundamentally limited by gate-level noise, which corrupts computational results. This research addresses this challenge through the development and validation of a modular software framework for Quantum Error Mitigation (QEM). We implement and compare two leading QEM strategies: Zero-Noise Extrapolation (ZNE) and Probabilistic Error Cancellation (PEC). The framework is built using the Qiskit library and is validated using a realistic, hardware-calibrated noisy simulator that mimics the error characteristics of a real IBM Quantum device. Our methodology focuses on a robust implementation of ZNE via unitary folding and a proof-of-concept demonstration of the PEC algorithm. The framework's effectiveness is demonstrated on a simulated noisy backend where, for a 3-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state, the baseline state fidelity was increased from 93.5% to 97.3% via ZNE, corresponding to a 59% reduction in the state's infidelity. This work provides a practical demonstration of how software-based error mitigation can enhance the reliability of quantum computations on current noisy hardware.

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Noise-Mitigated Quantum-Classical Hybrid Classification via Zero-Noise Extrapolation

Alexandru-Florin Boboc

Performance Optimization of Noise-Mitigated Quantum-Classical Hybrid Classifiers via Zero-Noise Extrapolation in NISQ Environments Overview Near-Term Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) hardware remains heavily constrained by physical noise, gate infidelities, and decoherence, which severely degrade the performance of Variational Quantum Classifiers (VQCs). This research presents an end-to-end, noise-mitigated hybrid quantum-classical machine learning pipeline that integrates PyTorch classical layers with PennyLane parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) and applies Zero-Noise Extrapolation (ZNE) via Mitiq to counteract hardware noise. Key Highlights & Contributions Modular Hybrid Architecture: Combines classical feature mapping and post-processing in PyTorch with parameterized quantum variational circuits built in PennyLane. Digital Error Mitigation: Evaluates global gate folding ($G \to G G^\dagger G$) across varying scale factors ($\lambda \in \{1, 3, 5\}$) to extrapolate expectation values back to the zero-noise limit. Accuracy Recovery: Demonstrates that ZNE recovers classification accuracy near ideal noiseless performance ($98.5\%$) under low-to-moderate depolarizing noise levels (p < 0.01), outperforming unmitigated noisy executions by up to 11.3%. Model Benchmarking: Directly compares linear and second-order polynomial extrapolation models, analyzing variance trade-offs under finite shot noise constraints. Repository & Code Contents This deposit includes the full PDF manuscript alongside the accompanying code archive: Noise_Mitigated_Quantum_Classical_Hybrid_Classifier_with_Zero_Noise_Extrapolation.pdf — Full IEEE-formatted research paper. Noise-MitigatedQuantum-ClassicalHybridClassifierwithZero-NoiseExtrapolation.ipynb — Executable Jupyter Notebook containing the full PyTorch–PennyLane–Mitiq benchmarking pipeline. requirements.txt & README — Environment setup and reproduction instructions. How to Cite If you find this work or codebase helpful for your research in Quantum Machine Learning (QML) or Quantum Error Mitigation (QEM), please cite this preprint using the Zenodo DOI provided above.

•Aug 10, 2026•0 citations

Zero-Noise Extrapolation via Cyclic Permutations of Quantum Circuit Layouts

Zahar Sayapin, Daniil Rabinovich, Nikita Korolev +1 more

Increasing the utility of currently available Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices requires developing efficient methods to mitigate hardware errors. In this work we propose a novel Cyclic Layout Permutations-based Zero-Noise Extrapolation (CLP-ZNE) protocol for such a task. The method leverages the inherent non-uniformity of gate errors in NISQ hardware to extrapolate the expectation value, averaged over cyclic circuit layout permutations, to the level of zero noise. In contrast to the previous layout permutation based approaches, for an $n$-qubit circuit CLP-ZNE requires execution of only $O(n)$ and at most $O(n^2)$ different circuit layouts for circuits of one-dimensional and arbitrary connectivity, respectively. When benchmarked against noise channels modeling the IBM Torino quantum computer, the method reduces a typical error in expectation values of $n=12$ qubit circuits by an order of magnitude, outperforming standard unitary folding ZNE. By demonstrating the ability to mitigate noise of real hardware specifications, including both depolarizing and $T_1/T_2$ relaxation processes, these results give evidence for the applicability of CLP-ZNE to present-day NISQ processors.

quant-pharXiv:2511.02901•Physical Review A•Nov 6, 2025•0 citations
Zero-noise extrapolation (ZNE) mitigates errors in near-term quantum devices by extrapolating measurements obtained at amplified noise levels to estimate noise-free expectation values. In practice, commonly used extrapolation models are fitted without enforcing physical constraints, which can yield predictions outside the valid range of quantum observables.
In this work, we introduce physically bounded variants of polynomial, exponential, and polynomial--exponential extrapolation models by explicitly parameterizing the zero-noise estimate and constraining it during optimization. We evaluate the approach using a large synthetic benchmark comprising 180,000 circuits and approximately 3.6 million ZNE experiments generated under realistic device noise models derived from IBM quantum backends. We also perform preliminary validation on real quantum hardware using GHZ and W-state circuits.
Across the synthetic benchmark, bounded extrapolation substantially reduces unphysical predictions and improves the stability of exponential- and polynomial--exponential-family models, whereas polynomial models show little difference between bounded and unbounded variants. Hardware experiments show similar qualitative behaviour: bounded models generally avoid pathological extrapolations and often provide a more reliable balance between accuracy and usable coverage. At the same time, the results highlight practical limitations of current devices, including stronger-than-expected noise effects and variability not fully captured by simulation models. These results suggest that enforcing physical constraints during extrapolation improves the reliability of ZNE and that this approach can be incorporated into existing workflows with minimal modification.
Near term quantum processors operate in a noise dominated regime, motivating error mitigation techniques that recover accurate expectation values without full fault tolerance. Zero Noise Extrapolation (ZNE) is a widely used but biased error mitigation method that lacks rigorous error bounds. Its effective application requires nontrivial technical choices, most notably the selection of noise scaling factors and extrapolation models, making ZNE sensitive to user expertise and often necessitating costly trial and error procedures. Here, we introduce Folding Free Zero Noise Extrapolation (FF-ZNE), a method that removes the need for noise factor selection by achieving effective noise amplification without circuit folding. FF-ZNE exploits isomorphic hardware layouts with distinct native noise profiles, such that executing a fixed circuit across these layouts induces controllable variations in the effective noise strength. Under a depolarizing noise model, we analytically show that the resulting extrapolation admits a fixed linear form, eliminating extrapolator choice and enabling a seamless, user independent mitigation procedure. We further propose two algorithms that identify sets of isomorphic hardware layouts on which a given circuit yields sufficiently distinct expectation values to enable reliable zero noise extrapolation. Experiments on a 133 qubit IBM Quantum device demonstrate that FF-ZNE yields mitigated expectation values with average deviations of ~6% and 4.5% for up to 50 qubit EfficientSU2 (sparse) and Hamiltonian simulation (dense) circuits, respectively. The method is thus scalable and applicable to a broad range of circuits. By eliminating noise factor and extrapolator selection, FF-ZNE transforms zero noise extrapolation from a technique requiring expert tuning into a practical, scalable, and broadly accessible error mitigation method for current quantum hardware.
Zero-noise extrapolation (ZNE) is a widely used quantum error mitigation technique that artificially amplifies circuit noise and then extrapolates the results to the noise-free circuit. A common ZNE approach is Richardson extrapolation, which relies on polynomial interpolation. Despite its simplicity, efficient implementations of Richardson extrapolation face several challenges, including approximation errors from the non-polynomial behavior of noise channels, overfitting due to polynomial interpolation, and exponentially amplified measurement noise. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of these challenges, presenting bias and variance bounds that quantify approximation errors. Additionally, for any precision ε , our results offer an estimate of the necessary sample complexity. We further extend the analysis to polynomial least squares-based extrapolation, which mitigates measurement noise and avoids overfitting. Finally, we propose a strategy for simultaneously mitigating circuit and algorithmic errors in the Trotter-Suzuki algorithm by jointly scaling the time step size and the noise level. This strategy provides a practical tool to enhance the reliability of near-term quantum computations. We support our theoretical findings with numerical experiments.
Reliable benchmarking of Quantum Error Mitigation (QEM) requires distinguishing genuine improvements from artefacts of the post-processing arithmetic. In this paper, we expose a failure mode in Richardson Zero-Noise Extrapolation (ZNE), a widely used technique routinely (and often implicitly) relied upon in benchmarks and experiments. When noise amplification operates beyond usable signals - a regime that is quickly reached on current hardware for non-trivial circuits - we show that the extrapolation no longer reflects the underlying physics, but collapses into a fixed rescaling of a single noisy measurement, producing a bogus apparent improvement that is independent of noise amplification. This poses a rarely considered threat to the validity of many empirical evaluations in quantum computing. Measurements on real hardware (IQM Euro-Q-Exa) confirm this collapse with ordinary folding alone: as circuit depth erodes the signal, the reported estimate decouples from the truth and overshoots the ideal by up to 21%. We further introduce a matched-cost "garbage-folding" negative control that carries no usable signal yet reports a larger apparent improvement than genuine folding - showing that the magnitude of an improvement is not evidence of its correctness - alongside a zero-cost check flagging the artefact from data a benchmark already holds. We distil both into a short reporting checklist for ZNE benchmarks.
Abstract The practical application of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) hardware is fundamentally limited by gate-level noise, which corrupts computational results. This research addresses this challenge through the development and validation of a modular software framework for Quantum Error Mitigation (QEM). We implement and compare two leading QEM strategies: Zero-Noise Extrapolation (ZNE) and Probabilistic Error Cancellation (PEC). The framework is built using the Qiskit library and is validated using a realistic, hardware-calibrated noisy simulator that mimics the error characteristics of a real IBM Quantum device. Our methodology focuses on a robust implementation of ZNE via unitary folding and a proof-of-concept demonstration of the PEC algorithm. The framework's effectiveness is demonstrated on a simulated noisy backend where, for a 3-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state, the baseline state fidelity was increased from 93.5% to 97.3% via ZNE, corresponding to a 59% reduction in the state's infidelity. This work provides a practical demonstration of how software-based error mitigation can enhance the reliability of quantum computations on current noisy hardware.
Performance Optimization of Noise-Mitigated Quantum-Classical Hybrid Classifiers via Zero-Noise Extrapolation in NISQ Environments Overview Near-Term Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) hardware remains heavily constrained by physical noise, gate infidelities, and decoherence, which severely degrade the performance of Variational Quantum Classifiers (VQCs). This research presents an end-to-end, noise-mitigated hybrid quantum-classical machine learning pipeline that integrates PyTorch classical layers with PennyLane parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) and applies Zero-Noise Extrapolation (ZNE) via Mitiq to counteract hardware noise. Key Highlights & Contributions Modular Hybrid Architecture: Combines classical feature mapping and post-processing in PyTorch with parameterized quantum variational circuits built in PennyLane. Digital Error Mitigation: Evaluates global gate folding (G→GG†GG \to G G^\dagger GG→GG†G) across varying scale factors (λ∈{1,3,5}\lambda \in \{1, 3, 5\}λ∈{1,3,5}) to extrapolate expectation values back to the zero-noise limit. Accuracy Recovery: Demonstrates that ZNE recovers classification accuracy near ideal noiseless performance (98.5%98.5\%98.5%) under low-to-moderate depolarizing noise levels (p < 0.01), outperforming unmitigated noisy executions by up to 11.3%. Model Benchmarking: Directly compares linear and second-order polynomial extrapolation models, analyzing variance trade-offs under finite shot noise constraints. Repository & Code Contents This deposit includes the full PDF manuscript alongside the accompanying code archive: Noise_Mitigated_Quantum_Classical_Hybrid_Classifier_with_Zero_Noise_Extrapolation.pdf — Full IEEE-formatted research paper. Noise-MitigatedQuantum-ClassicalHybridClassifierwithZero-NoiseExtrapolation.ipynb — Executable Jupyter Notebook containing the full PyTorch–PennyLane–Mitiq benchmarking pipeline. requirements.txt & README — Environment setup and reproduction instructions. How to Cite If you find this work or codebase helpful for your research in Quantum Machine Learning (QML) or Quantum Error Mitigation (QEM), please cite this preprint using the Zenodo DOI provided above.
Increasing the utility of currently available Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices requires developing efficient methods to mitigate hardware errors. In this work we propose a novel Cyclic Layout Permutations-based Zero-Noise Extrapolation (CLP-ZNE) protocol for such a task. The method leverages the inherent non-uniformity of gate errors in NISQ hardware to extrapolate the expectation value, averaged over cyclic circuit layout permutations, to the level of zero noise. In contrast to the previous layout permutation based approaches, for an nnn-qubit circuit CLP-ZNE requires execution of only O(n)O(n)O(n) and at most O(n2)O(n^2)O(n2) different circuit layouts for circuits of one-dimensional and arbitrary connectivity, respectively. When benchmarked against noise channels modeling the IBM Torino quantum computer, the method reduces a typical error in expectation values of n=12n=12n=12 qubit circuits by an order of magnitude, outperforming standard unitary folding ZNE. By demonstrating the ability to mitigate noise of real hardware specifications, including both depolarizing and T1/T2T_1/T_2T1​/T2​ relaxation processes, these results give evidence for the applicability of CLP-ZNE to present-day NISQ processors.