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arXiv:2609.07537

Toward Fault-Tolerant Variational Optimization: QAOA under [[4,2,2]] Error Detection

Matteo Robert Child, Emanuele Dri, Giacomo Vitali, Chiara Vercellino, Alberto Leporati

quant-phcs.ETSubmitted Sep 7, 2026• Announced Sep 8, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Oct 5, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Sep 7, 2026v2 · Oct 5, 2026
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Abstract

We present a partially fault-tolerant implementation of QAOA based on the $[[4,2,2]]$ error-detection code, targeting the Max-Cut problem on a square graph. Our main contribution is a novel ancilla-mediated logical $R_{ZZ}$ gate enabling interactions between qubits in different $[[4,2,2]]$ blocks. We evaluate unencoded and encoded circuits under five noise models, with both all-to-all and grid-routed connectivity, using the Cirq and qsimcirq frameworks with parallel CPU execution. Post-selection on stabilizer measurements consistently improves the probability of sampling optimal bitstrings, with five measurements providing the strongest benefit. These results support error-detection as a practical near-term strategy for improving the quality of variational quantum algorithms.

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We present a partially fault-tolerant implementation of QAOA based on the [[4,2,2]][[4,2,2]][[4,2,2]] error-detection code, targeting the Max-Cut problem on a square graph. Our main contribution is a novel ancilla-mediated logical RZZR_{ZZ}RZZ​ gate enabling interactions between qubits in different [[4,2,2]][[4,2,2]][[4,2,2]] blocks. We evaluate unencoded and encoded circuits under five noise models, with both all-to-all and grid-routed connectivity, using the Cirq and qsimcirq frameworks with parallel CPU execution. Post-selection on stabilizer measurements consistently improves the probability of sampling optimal bitstrings, with five measurements providing the strongest benefit. These results support error-detection as a practical near-term strategy for improving the quality of variational quantum algorithms.
Scaling up quantum algorithms to tackle high-impact problems in science and industry requires quantum error correction and fault tolerance. While progress has been made in experimentally realizing error-corrected primitives, the end-to-end execution of logical quantum algorithms using only fault-tolerant (FT) components has remained out of reach. We demonstrate the FT and error-corrected execution of two quantum algorithms, the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) and the Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd (HHL) algorithm applied to the Poisson equation, on Quantinuum H2 and Helios trapped-ion quantum processors using the [[7,1,3]][[7,1,3]][[7,1,3]] Steane code. For QAOA circuits on 5 and 6 logical qubits, we show performance improvements from increasing the number of QAOA layers and the number of TTT gates used to approximate logical rotations, despite increased physical circuit complexity. We further show that QAOA circuits with up to 8 logical qubits and 9 logical TTT gates perform similarly to unencoded circuits. For the largest QAOA circuits we run, with 12 logical (97 physical) qubits and 2132 physical two-qubit gates, we still observe better-than-random performance. Finally, we show that adding active QEC cycles and increasing the repeat-until-success limit of state preparation subroutines can improve the performance of a quantum algorithm, thereby demonstrating critical capabilities of scalable FT quantum computation. Our results are enabled by an FT logical TTT gate implementation with an infidelity of ∼2.6(4)×10−3\sim 2.6(4)\times10^{-3}∼2.6(4)×10−3 and dynamic circuits with measurement-dependent feedback. Our work demonstrates near-break-even performance of complex, error-corrected algorithmic quantum circuits using only FT components.
The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) is a promising candidate for scaling up to tackle real-world applications. However, achieving better-than-classical performance with QAOA is believed to require fault tolerance. In this paper, we demonstrate a partially fault-tolerant implementation of QAOA using the [[k + 2, k, 2]] “Iceberg” error detection code. We observe that encoding the circuit with the Iceberg code improves the algorithmic performance as compared to the unencoded circuit for problems with up to 20 logical qubits on a trapped-ion quantum computer. Additionally, we propose and calibrate a model for predicting the code performance. We use this model to characterize the limits of the Iceberg code and extrapolate its performance to future hardware with improved error rates. To the best of our knowledge, our results demonstrate the largest universal quantum computing algorithm protected by partially fault-tolerant quantum error detection on practical applications to date. The authors present a partially fault-tolerant implementation of the quantum approximate optimization algorithm. By encoding circuits with the iceberg error detection code, the authors improve QAOA’s performance on problems with up to 20 logical qubits on a trapped-ion quantum computer, outlining conditions required to surpass classical algorithms.
Quantum error-detecting codes offer a near-term path for improving the performance of quantum simulations on noisy hardware. Using IBM's superconducting quantum computer ibm_boston, we show that partially fault-tolerant encoded quantum simulations of the Ising model in 1+1D and 2+1D outperform their unencoded counterparts in estimating local observables. To represent 42 logical qubits on the heavy-hex quantum processor, 21 blocks of the [[4, 2, 2]] Iceberg code and up to 136 physical qubits are used. By pairing fault-tolerant syndrome extraction with non-fault-tolerant logical operations, this scheme preserves many of the benefits of error detection while avoiding the overhead typically required for a fully fault-tolerant logical gate set. The encoding's square logical connectivity, together with the freedom to place logical qubits within each block, enables simulations of a 2D spatial lattice with lower circuit depth than the unencoded implementation requires. We introduce Observable-Ranked Postselection, a selective-filtering technique based on syndrome correlations that recovers reliable results without the prohibitive shot loss of full syndrome postselection. Under the cumulative effect of device errors, this encoding improves local-observable accuracy over the unencoded baseline by 2-6% at intermediate times in 1+1D simulations, growing with circuit depth to over 200% in 2+1D at the latest times studied.
Many current quantum error-correcting codes that achieve full fault tolerance suffer from having low ratios of logical to physical qubits and significant overhead. This makes them difficult to implement on current noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers and results in the inability to perform quantum algorithms at useful scales with near-term quantum processors. As a result, calculations are generally done without encoding. We propose a middle ground between these two approaches: constructions in the [[n,n−2,2]][[n,n-2,2]][[n,n−2,2]] quantum error-detecting code that can detect any error from a single faulty gate by measuring the stabilizer generators of the code and additional ancillas at the end of the computation. This achieves weak fault tolerance. As we show, this yields a significant improvement over no error correction for small computations with low enough physical error probabilities and requires much less overhead than codes that achieve full fault tolerance. We give constructions for a set of gates that achieve universal quantum computation in this error-detecting code, while satisfying weak fault tolerance up to analog imprecision on the physical rotation gate.
Quantum error detection (QED) offers a promising pathway to fault tolerance in near-term quantum devices by balancing error suppression with minimal resource overhead. However, its practical utility hinges on optimizing design parameters-such as syndrome measurement frequency-to avoid diminishing returns from detection overhead. In this work, we present a comprehensive framework for fault-tolerant compilation and simulation of quantum algorithms using [[n, n-2, 2]] codes, which enable low-qubit-overhead error detection and a simple nearly fault-tolerant universal set of operations. We demonstrate and analyze our pipeline with a purely statistical interpretation and through the implementation of Grover's search algorithm. Our results are used to answer the question is quantum error detection a worthwhile avenue for early-term fault tolerance, and if so how can we get the most out of it? Simulations under the circuit-level noise model reveal that finding optimal syndrome schedules improves algorithm success probabilities by an average of 6.7x but eventual statistical limits from post-selection in noisy/resource-limited regimes constrain scalability. Furthermore, we propose a simple data-driven approach to predict fault tolerant compilation parameters, such as optimal syndrome schedules, and expected fault tolerant performance gains based on circuit and noise features. These results provide actionable guidelines for implementing QED in early-term quantum experiments and underscore its role as a pragmatic, constant-overhead error mitigation layer for shallow algorithms. To aid in further research, we release all simulation data computed for this work and provide an experimental QED compiler at https://codeqraft.xyz/qed.
The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) is widely regarded as a promising near-term quantum algorithm for addressing hard combinatorial optimization problems on Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices; however, its real-world effectiveness is severely constrained by hardware noise, including gate infidelities, decoherence, and measurement errors. This work explores an error mitigation–driven approach to enhance the performance and robustness of QAOA without altering its algorithmic structure or requiring fault-tolerant quantum resources. Measurement error mitigation and zero-noise extrapolation are incorporated into the execution and post-processing stages of QAOA circuits and evaluated using the Minimum Vertex Cover problem as a representative benchmark. Performance is assessed through approximation ratios, solution stability, and noise sensitivity across multiple circuit depths. The results indicate that error mitigation not only improves approximation accuracy but also stabilizes output distributions and delays performance degradation at increased circuit depths. Additionally, the mitigated executions demonstrate better consistency across repeated runs, highlighting improved resilience to stochastic noise. These findings emphasize that lightweight and hardware-efficient error mitigation techniques can significantly extend the practical usability of QAOA on current NISQ hardware, providing a scalable and realistic pathway for executing quantum optimization algorithms more reliably in near-term quantum computing environments.