Scalable verification and debugging of quantum computers

Mingsheng Ying, Nengkun Yu, Yuan Feng +1 more

Aochu Dai, Mingsheng Ying

We present QisMC, the first quantum model checker dedicated to debugging Qiskit programs. On the theoretical side, we introduce the notion of quantum-classical transition system and a quantum computation tree logic (qCTL) grounded in Birkhoff-von Neumann logic for modeling the behaviors and specifying the properties of Qiskit programs, respectively. On the implementation side, QisMC provides an end-to-end framework encompassing transition system generation, logical formula representation, and model checking algorithms, and it efficiently performs image computation based on decision diagrams. These methods and design principles give QisMC advantages over previous Qiskit program debuggers, including a unified property specification language, a fully automated and exhaustive verification process, and the ability to generate counterexamples. Extensive illustrative examples and benchmark evaluations demonstrate the practicality, efficiency, and scalability of QisMC in verifying realistic quantum programs.

Robert Wille, Daniel J. Grosse, Stefan Frehse +2 more

Intensive research is performed to find post-CMOS technologies. A very promising direction based on reversible logic are quantum computers. While in the domain of reversible logic synthesis, testing, and verification have been investigated, debugging of reversible circuits has not yet been considered. The goal of debugging is to determine gates of an erroneous circuit that explain the observed incorrect behavior. In this paper we propose the first approach for automatic debugging of reversible Toffoli networks. Our method uses a formulation for the debugging problem based on Boolean satisfiability. We show the differences to classical (irreversible) debugging and present theoretical results. These are used to speed-up the debugging approach as well as to improve the resulting quality. Our method is able to find and to correct single errors automatically.

Mingsheng Ying

Robert Wille, Daniel J. Grosse, Stefan Frehse +2 more

Abstract—Intensive research is performed to find post-CMOS technologies. A very promising direction based on reversible logic are quantum computers. While in the domain of reversible logic synthesis, testing, and verification have been investigated, debugging of reversible circuits has not yet been considered. The goal of debugging is to determine gates of an erroneous circuit that explain the observed incorrect behavior. In this paper we propose the first approach for automatic debugging of reversible Toffoli networks. Our method uses a formulation for the debugging problem based on Boolean satisfiability. We show the differences to classical (irreversible) debugging and present theoretical results. These are used to speed-up the debugging approach as well as to improve the resulting quality. Our method is able to find and to correct single errors automatically. I.

Navnil Choudhury, Ameya Bhave, Kanad Basu