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Performance evaluation for petascale quantum simulation tools

Stanimire Z. Tomov, Wenchang Lu, J. Bernholc, Shirley Moore, Jack J. Dongarra

Published Jan 1, 2009• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper describes the performance evaluation and analysis of a set of open source petascale quantum simulation tools for nanotechnology applications. The tools of interest are based on the existing realspace multigrid (RMG) method. In this work we take a reference set of these tools and evaluate their performance with the help of performance evaluation libraries and tools such as TAU and PAPI. The goal is to develop an in-depth understanding of their performance on Teraflop leadership platforms, and moreover identify possible bottlenecks and give suggestions for their removal. The measurements are being done on ORNL’s Cray XT4 system (Jaguar) based on quad-core 2.1 GHz AMD Opteron processors. Profiling is being used to identify possible performance bottlenecks and tracing is being used to try to determine the exact locations and causes of those bottlenecks. The results so far indicate that the methodology followed can be used to easily produce and analyze performance data, and that this ability has the potential to aid our overall efforts on developing efficient quantum simulation tools for petascale systems. KEYWORDS: performance evaluation, petascale tools, quantum simulations, TAU, PAPI. 1

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A Performance Analysis of cryptographic Protocols in Quantum simulation Environments

Dr Rajendirakumar S

Abstract The rapid evolution of computational paradigms has necessitated a critical reevaluation of network security protocols, particularly as they migrate from classical cloud infrastructures to emerging quantum environments. Evaluating the overhead and efficiency of these protocols requires sophisticated Performance Analysis(PA) methodologies that can bridge traditional microservices and highly parallel quantum simulations. This paper proposes a comprehensive, Architecture-Agnostic Framework(AAF) designed to measure and compare the performance of cryptographic protocols across these divergent domains. By leveraging advanced profiling techniques, deterministic modeling, and distributed tracing, the proposed methodology aims to provide researchers with actionable insights into computational bottlenecks and resource utilization. Keywords: Performance Analysis(PA), Architecture-agnostic framework(AAF) 1.Introduction The transition from monolithic architectures to distributed cloud-native environments has fundamentally altered how network security protocols are deployed and maintained. In contemporary cloud computing, cryptographic protocols must operate seamlessly across containerized microservices without introducing prohibitive latency. Simultaneously, the advent of quantum computing introduces a paradigm shift, promising unprecedented computational power while threatening classical encryption methods. Consequently, understanding the performance profiles of network security protocols in both classical cloud and quantum-simulated environments has become an urgent academic and industrial priority. Rigorous performance analysis is required to ensure that next-generation cryptographic models do not cripple system throughput or escalate energy consumption. Despite the critical nature of this domain, formulating a unified methodology for comparing security protocols across cloud and quantum systems presents a complex, multi-dimensional problem. The core scope of this research involves defining how computational overhead, latency, and resource utilization can be accurately measured when the underlying hardware architectures are fundamentally different. Classical cloud systems rely on heterogeneous processing elements like CPUs and GPUs, whereas quantum environments—currently modeled through massively parallel simulations—operate on entirely different probabilistic principles. Bridging this measurement gap requires robust frameworks capable of abstracting architectural complexities while delivering precise, comparable performance metrics. Existing approaches to performance analysis are largely insufficient for addressing the nuances of cross-paradigm security protocol evaluation. First, while current distributed tracing visualizations are effective for individual request monitoring, they often fall short in providing a comprehensive understanding of aggregate performance across diverse distributed nodes (Leone & Traini, 2023). Second, existing statistical methods utilized for evaluating optimization algorithms can lead to logical paradoxes and biased rankings if they lack strict isomorphism criteria, rendering them inadequate for benchmarking complex, black-box quantum security protocols (Jing et al., 2024). These limitations highlight the urgent need for a specialized evaluation strategy that transcends the boundaries of standard software profiling. To address these critical gaps in the literature, this paper introduces a unified evaluation framework for network security protocols. The primary contributions of this paper are as follows: We propose a novel, architecture-agnostic performance analysis pipeline that integrates microservice tracing with parallel simulation profiling to evaluate security protocols. We outline a methodology for contrasting classical cloud encryption overhead with hypothetical quantum key distribution (QKD) simulations, providing a scalable evaluation plan. 2.Distributed Tracing and Process Mining in the Cloud The monitoring of cloud-based microservices heavily relies on distributed tracing and event log analysis. Practitioners frequently utilize distributed tracing tools to collect and visualize remote procedure calls (RPC) and associated events across independent services (Leone & Traini, 2023). The core idea of these approaches is to construct a holistic view of an end-to-end request, allowing developers to pinpoint latency spikes and functional errors within a distributed security protocol. However, a major weakness is that while these tools excel at isolating individual requests, they struggle to provide meaningful aggregate performance visualizations necessary for evaluating sustained protocol throughput (Leone & Traini, 2023). Process mining offers a complementary log-based approach to performance analysis by measuring business and system processes. Systematic literature reviews in this domain have led to the creation of frameworks for categorizing performance analysis based on context and data availability (Milani & Maggi, 2018). The strength of process mining lies in its ability to reconstruct the actual execution flow of security protocols from event logs, highlighting deviations from expected behavior. In comparison to this work, our proposed framework builds upon log-based process evaluation but extends it to capture the unique hardware-level metrics required for quantum-simulated protocol analysis. 2.1.Parallel System Modeling and Heterogeneous Profiling Analyzing massive scale environments requires moving beyond empirical logging toward sophisticated mathematical modeling and hardware-aware profiling. Previous techniques for analyzing massively parallel systems utilized stochastic simulations, but recent tools apply systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) to improve scalability and predict higher-moment performance measures (Stefanek et al., 2010). The primary advantage of ODE-based tools is their ability to handle massive state spaces efficiently, which is particularly relevant when simulating the probabilistic states of quantum security protocols. A notable limitation, however, is the presence of "switch points" that can introduce errors in differential equation approximations (Stefanek et al., 2010). Furthermore, the integration of diverse computational units—such as CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs—necessitates architecture-agnostic profiling tools. Efforts such as Adaptyst aim to enable heterogeneous performance analysis for scientific workloads utilizing advanced kernel mechanisms like eBPF (Graczyk et al., 2025). This heterogeneous profiling is crucial for optimizing task dispatching across different platforms. Our framework adopts the principles of heterogeneous hardware profiling to measure how classical security protocols utilize modern cloud accelerators compared to simulated quantum components. 2.2.Automated Diagnostics and Ontology-Guided Analysis The increasing complexity of parallel and service-oriented architectures has driven the development of automated, programmatic analysis tools. Python-based APIs have been proposed to facilitate high-level, flexible performance analysis, automating the detection of load imbalances and scalability bottlenecks in parallel applications (Cankur et al., 2024). The strength of programmatic APIs is their ability to reduce developer effort by providing configurable methods for correlating distinct performance metrics (Cankur et al., 2024). However, these tools are generally constrained by the lack of inherent semantic understanding of the underlying system architecture. To mitigate this semantic gap, researchers have proposed ontology-guided performance analysis frameworks. By adding semantics to multi-dimensional measurement data, it is possible to systematically detect and diagnose performance bottlenecks in complex software stacks, such as blockchain environments (Klenik & Pataricza, 2021). This approach standardizes the evaluation workflow across data acquisition, representation, and analysis phases. Compared to existing methods, our work directly integrates ontological principles to map classical cloud security metrics to their equivalent quantum-simulated counterparts, ensuring rigorous comparative evaluation. 3.Multi-layered Architecture To systematically compare network security protocols across cloud and quantum environments, we propose a multi-layered, architecture-agnostic performance analysis framework. This framework is specifically designed to reconcile the disparity between classical microservice execution and massively parallel quantum simulations. By synthesizing distributed tracing with ODE-based scalability modeling, the framework isolates cryptographic processing time from underlying network latency. The architecture assumes a hybrid deployment where classical nodes communicate with simulated quantum co-processors, necessitating synchronized profiling at both the software and hardware levels. The methodology follows a structured, numbered pipeline to ensure reproducibility and rigor during the evaluation phase: Semantic Workload Definition: Define the security protocol tasks using an ontology-guided approach, mapping specific cryptographic functions to execution targets (e.g., cloud container vs. quantum simulator) (Klenik & Pataricza, 2021). Data Acquisition and Tracing: Deploy low-overhead operating system tracing (such as eBPF or the Linux Trace Toolkit) to capture time domain samples and hardware performance counters (Dagenais et al., 2005). Aggregate Visualization & Modeling: Utilize programmatic APIs to aggregate individual remote procedure calls, computing higher-moment performance analysis via differential equation approximations to predict scalability (Stefanek et al., 2010)(Cankur et al., 2024). Isomorphic Comparison: Apply strict isomorphism criteria to ensure that the performance evaluation remains unaffected by the specific modeling approach used in either environment (Jin

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arXiv:2401.09076•SciPost Physics Core•Nov 26, 2024•25 citations
ABSTRACT: This paper describes the performance evaluation and analysis of a set of open source petascale quantum simulation tools for nanotechnology applications. The tools of interest are based on the existing realspace multigrid (RMG) method. In this work we take a reference set of these tools and evaluate their performance with the help of performance evaluation libraries and tools such as TAU and PAPI. The goal is to develop an in-depth understanding of their performance on Teraflop leadership platforms, and moreover identify possible bottlenecks and give suggestions for their removal. The measurements are being done on ORNL’s Cray XT4 system (Jaguar) based on quad-core 2.1 GHz AMD Opteron processors. Profiling is being used to identify possible performance bottlenecks and tracing is being used to try to determine the exact locations and causes of those bottlenecks. The results so far indicate that the methodology followed can be used to easily produce and analyze performance data, and that this ability has the potential to aid our overall efforts on developing efficient quantum simulation tools for petascale systems. KEYWORDS: performance evaluation, petascale tools, quantum simulations, TAU, PAPI. 1
Abstract The rapid evolution of computational paradigms has necessitated a critical reevaluation of network security protocols, particularly as they migrate from classical cloud infrastructures to emerging quantum environments. Evaluating the overhead and efficiency of these protocols requires sophisticated Performance Analysis(PA) methodologies that can bridge traditional microservices and highly parallel quantum simulations. This paper proposes a comprehensive, Architecture-Agnostic Framework(AAF) designed to measure and compare the performance of cryptographic protocols across these divergent domains. By leveraging advanced profiling techniques, deterministic modeling, and distributed tracing, the proposed methodology aims to provide researchers with actionable insights into computational bottlenecks and resource utilization. Keywords: Performance Analysis(PA), Architecture-agnostic framework(AAF) 1.Introduction The transition from monolithic architectures to distributed cloud-native environments has fundamentally altered how network security protocols are deployed and maintained. In contemporary cloud computing, cryptographic protocols must operate seamlessly across containerized microservices without introducing prohibitive latency. Simultaneously, the advent of quantum computing introduces a paradigm shift, promising unprecedented computational power while threatening classical encryption methods. Consequently, understanding the performance profiles of network security protocols in both classical cloud and quantum-simulated environments has become an urgent academic and industrial priority. Rigorous performance analysis is required to ensure that next-generation cryptographic models do not cripple system throughput or escalate energy consumption. Despite the critical nature of this domain, formulating a unified methodology for comparing security protocols across cloud and quantum systems presents a complex, multi-dimensional problem. The core scope of this research involves defining how computational overhead, latency, and resource utilization can be accurately measured when the underlying hardware architectures are fundamentally different. Classical cloud systems rely on heterogeneous processing elements like CPUs and GPUs, whereas quantum environments—currently modeled through massively parallel simulations—operate on entirely different probabilistic principles. Bridging this measurement gap requires robust frameworks capable of abstracting architectural complexities while delivering precise, comparable performance metrics. Existing approaches to performance analysis are largely insufficient for addressing the nuances of cross-paradigm security protocol evaluation. First, while current distributed tracing visualizations are effective for individual request monitoring, they often fall short in providing a comprehensive understanding of aggregate performance across diverse distributed nodes (Leone & Traini, 2023). Second, existing statistical methods utilized for evaluating optimization algorithms can lead to logical paradoxes and biased rankings if they lack strict isomorphism criteria, rendering them inadequate for benchmarking complex, black-box quantum security protocols (Jing et al., 2024). These limitations highlight the urgent need for a specialized evaluation strategy that transcends the boundaries of standard software profiling. To address these critical gaps in the literature, this paper introduces a unified evaluation framework for network security protocols. The primary contributions of this paper are as follows: We propose a novel, architecture-agnostic performance analysis pipeline that integrates microservice tracing with parallel simulation profiling to evaluate security protocols. We outline a methodology for contrasting classical cloud encryption overhead with hypothetical quantum key distribution (QKD) simulations, providing a scalable evaluation plan. 2.Distributed Tracing and Process Mining in the Cloud The monitoring of cloud-based microservices heavily relies on distributed tracing and event log analysis. Practitioners frequently utilize distributed tracing tools to collect and visualize remote procedure calls (RPC) and associated events across independent services (Leone & Traini, 2023). The core idea of these approaches is to construct a holistic view of an end-to-end request, allowing developers to pinpoint latency spikes and functional errors within a distributed security protocol. However, a major weakness is that while these tools excel at isolating individual requests, they struggle to provide meaningful aggregate performance visualizations necessary for evaluating sustained protocol throughput (Leone & Traini, 2023). Process mining offers a complementary log-based approach to performance analysis by measuring business and system processes. Systematic literature reviews in this domain have led to the creation of frameworks for categorizing performance analysis based on context and data availability (Milani & Maggi, 2018). The strength of process mining lies in its ability to reconstruct the actual execution flow of security protocols from event logs, highlighting deviations from expected behavior. In comparison to this work, our proposed framework builds upon log-based process evaluation but extends it to capture the unique hardware-level metrics required for quantum-simulated protocol analysis. 2.1.Parallel System Modeling and Heterogeneous Profiling Analyzing massive scale environments requires moving beyond empirical logging toward sophisticated mathematical modeling and hardware-aware profiling. Previous techniques for analyzing massively parallel systems utilized stochastic simulations, but recent tools apply systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) to improve scalability and predict higher-moment performance measures (Stefanek et al., 2010). The primary advantage of ODE-based tools is their ability to handle massive state spaces efficiently, which is particularly relevant when simulating the probabilistic states of quantum security protocols. A notable limitation, however, is the presence of "switch points" that can introduce errors in differential equation approximations (Stefanek et al., 2010). Furthermore, the integration of diverse computational units—such as CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs—necessitates architecture-agnostic profiling tools. Efforts such as Adaptyst aim to enable heterogeneous performance analysis for scientific workloads utilizing advanced kernel mechanisms like eBPF (Graczyk et al., 2025). This heterogeneous profiling is crucial for optimizing task dispatching across different platforms. Our framework adopts the principles of heterogeneous hardware profiling to measure how classical security protocols utilize modern cloud accelerators compared to simulated quantum components. 2.2.Automated Diagnostics and Ontology-Guided Analysis The increasing complexity of parallel and service-oriented architectures has driven the development of automated, programmatic analysis tools. Python-based APIs have been proposed to facilitate high-level, flexible performance analysis, automating the detection of load imbalances and scalability bottlenecks in parallel applications (Cankur et al., 2024). The strength of programmatic APIs is their ability to reduce developer effort by providing configurable methods for correlating distinct performance metrics (Cankur et al., 2024). However, these tools are generally constrained by the lack of inherent semantic understanding of the underlying system architecture. To mitigate this semantic gap, researchers have proposed ontology-guided performance analysis frameworks. By adding semantics to multi-dimensional measurement data, it is possible to systematically detect and diagnose performance bottlenecks in complex software stacks, such as blockchain environments (Klenik & Pataricza, 2021). This approach standardizes the evaluation workflow across data acquisition, representation, and analysis phases. Compared to existing methods, our work directly integrates ontological principles to map classical cloud security metrics to their equivalent quantum-simulated counterparts, ensuring rigorous comparative evaluation. 3.Multi-layered Architecture To systematically compare network security protocols across cloud and quantum environments, we propose a multi-layered, architecture-agnostic performance analysis framework. This framework is specifically designed to reconcile the disparity between classical microservice execution and massively parallel quantum simulations. By synthesizing distributed tracing with ODE-based scalability modeling, the framework isolates cryptographic processing time from underlying network latency. The architecture assumes a hybrid deployment where classical nodes communicate with simulated quantum co-processors, necessitating synchronized profiling at both the software and hardware levels. The methodology follows a structured, numbered pipeline to ensure reproducibility and rigor during the evaluation phase: Semantic Workload Definition: Define the security protocol tasks using an ontology-guided approach, mapping specific cryptographic functions to execution targets (e.g., cloud container vs. quantum simulator) (Klenik & Pataricza, 2021). Data Acquisition and Tracing: Deploy low-overhead operating system tracing (such as eBPF or the Linux Trace Toolkit) to capture time domain samples and hardware performance counters (Dagenais et al., 2005). Aggregate Visualization & Modeling: Utilize programmatic APIs to aggregate individual remote procedure calls, computing higher-moment performance analysis via differential equation approximations to predict scalability (Stefanek et al., 2010)(Cankur et al., 2024). Isomorphic Comparison: Apply strict isomorphism criteria to ensure that the performance evaluation remains unaffected by the specific modeling approach used in either environment (Jin
The fragmented landscape of quantum computer benchmarks, characterized by system-specific tools and inconsistent evaluation methodologies, hinders reliable cross-platform performance assessment. We introduce Metriq, an open-source collaborative platform for reproducible cross-platform quantum benchmarking that integrates benchmark definition and execution, data collection, and public presentation into a unified workflow. The Metriq benchmark suite spans both system-level metrics that characterize fundamental device properties such as entanglement quality, gate performance, and circuit speed, as well as application-inspired protocols that assess performance on quantum machine learning, optimization, and quantum simulation tasks. Benchmarks are chosen to scale with processor size, and the framework incorporates cost and resource estimation to support practical evaluation. Using Metriq, we collect and publicly release results from more than ten quantum computers across multiple hardware vendors, enabling systematic cross-platform comparison. The resulting curated dataset also reveals the practical strengths and limitations of individual benchmarks, creating a feedback loop that informs the ongoing refinement of the suite. To summarize performance across the benchmark suite, we introduce the Metriq Score, a composite index aggregating benchmark outcomes. We further present cross-benchmark analyses enabled by the shared dataset and their correlations with hardware calibration metrics. Through open development and data sharing, Metriq provides a practical foundation for reproducible benchmarking of quantum computers as hardware and benchmarking methods continue to evolve.
Quantum computing has the potential to tackle complex problems that are intractable for classical computers, thanks to its unique properties, such as superposition and entanglement. Nevertheless, developing efficient quantum programs remains challenging because of the diversity and rapid evolution of hardware, and limited access to quantum devices. To tackle these issues, we propose an open-source, profile-guided development flow that allows programmers to refine and optimize quantum code using quantum circuit simulators to evaluate program performance without the need for physical quantum hardware. In the proposed flow, the performance data collected in previous simulation runs helps guide compiler optimizations to generate efficient quantum circuits. An integrated visualization tool further aids programmers by associating performance data with the quantum program code, making it easier to pinpoint code regions for potential improvement. This development flow offers a practical path toward the development of novel and efficient quantum algorithms for various quantum computing platforms.
Quantum computing is one of the important directions for achieving leapfrog development in computing power in the future. Researchers have proposed multidimensional and multi-level performance evaluation indices for quantum computing processors, but currently there is a lack of standardized universal evaluation tools. Based on industry research analysis and evaluation practice of quantum computing processors, a performance evaluation method for quantum computing processors based on quantum assembly language is proposed. A corresponding evaluation tool kit is developed and an evaluation is put to practice. Finally, performance analysis and future development suggestions are provided based on the evaluation results.
Quantum computer simulators are crucial for the development of quantum computing. In this work, we investigate the suitability and performance impact of GPU and multi-GPU systems on a widely used simulation tool - the state vector simulator Qiskit Aer. In particular, we evaluate the performance of both Qiskit's default Nvidia Thrust backend and the recent Nvidia cuQuantum backend on Nvidia A100 GPUs. We provide a benchmark suite of representative quantum applications for characterization. For simulations with a large number of qubits, the two GPU backends can provide up to 14x speedup over the CPU backend, with Nvidia cuQuantum providing further 1.5-3x speedup over the default Thrust backend. Our evaluation on a single GPU identifies the most important functions in Nvidia Thrust and cuQuantum for different quantum applications and their compute and memory bottlenecks. We also evaluate the gate fusion and cache-blocking optimizations on different quantum applications. Finally, we evaluate large-number qubit quantum applications on multi-GPU and identify data movement between host and GPU as the limiting factor for the performance.
Rapid advances in quantum computing technology lead to an increasing need for software simulators that enable both algorithm design and the validation of results obtained from quantum hardware. This includes calculations that aim at probing regimes of quantum advantage, where a quantum computer outperforms a classical computer in the same task. High performance computing (HPC) platforms play a crucial role as today’s quantum devices already reach beyond the limits of what powerful workstations can model, but a systematic evaluation of the individual performance of the many offered simulation packages is lacking so far. In this Technical Review, we benchmark several software packages capable of simulating quantum dynamics with a special focus on HPC capabilities. We develop a containerized toolchain for benchmarking a large set of simulation packages on a local HPC cluster using different parallelisation capabilities, and compare the performance and system size-scaling for three paradigmatic quantum computing tasks. Our results can help finding the right package for a given simulation task and lay the foundation for a systematic community effort to benchmark and validate upcoming versions of existing and also newly developed simulation packages.