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Quantum Science and Technology

Benchmarking digital–analog quantum computation for the inhomogeneous two-body Ising model

Vicente Pina-Canelles, Manuel G. Algaba, Hermanni Heimonen, Miha Papič, Mario Ponce-Martinez, Jami Rönkkö, Manish Thapa, Inés de Vega, Adrian Auer

Published May 14, 2025• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Digital–analog quantum computation (DAQC) has recently been proposed as an alternative to the standard paradigm of digital quantum computation (DQC). DAQC generates entanglement through a continuous or analog evolution of the whole device, rather than by applying two-qubit gates. This manuscript describes an in-depth analysis of errors in DAQC implementing Ising Hamiltonians used for arbitrary computations, which was missing from the previous literature, revealing that, overall, DAQC errors scale less favorably compared to those in DQC. As demonstrated, for an all-to-all connectivity, the leading error source for DAQC scales like Θ ( N 4 ) , while for the digital case, it scales like O ( N 2 ) for implementing an arbitrary Hamiltonian evolution. We further illustrate this result with our own simulations of the Quantum Fourier Transform, which in the previous literature were based on unrealistic parameter choices, biasing the result in favor of DAQC, and were limited to system sizes of up to only seven qubits. On the other hand, we develop a specific DAQC protocol for a star connectivity, which shows an advantage for the particular case of a GHZ state generation protocol.

DOI
10.1088/2058-9565/add8b6

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Abstract Digital–analog quantum computation (DAQC) has recently been proposed as an alternative to the standard paradigm of digital quantum computation (DQC). DAQC generates entanglement through a continuous or analog evolution of the whole device, rather than by applying two-qubit gates. This manuscript describes an in-depth analysis of errors in DAQC implementing Ising Hamiltonians used for arbitrary computations, which was missing from the previous literature, revealing that, overall, DAQC errors scale less favorably compared to those in DQC. As demonstrated, for an all-to-all connectivity, the leading error source for DAQC scales like Θ ( N 4 ) , while for the digital case, it scales like O ( N 2 ) for implementing an arbitrary Hamiltonian evolution. We further illustrate this result with our own simulations of the Quantum Fourier Transform, which in the previous literature were based on unrealistic parameter choices, biasing the result in favor of DAQC, and were limited to system sizes of up to only seven qubits. On the other hand, we develop a specific DAQC protocol for a star connectivity, which shows an advantage for the particular case of a GHZ state generation protocol.
Digital-Analog Quantum Computation (DAQC) has recently been proposed as an alternative to the standard paradigm of digital quantum computation. DAQC creates entanglement through a continuous or analog evolution of the whole device, rather than by applying two-qubit gates. This manuscript describes an in-depth analysis of DAQC by extending its implementation to arbitrary connectivities and by performing the first systematic study of its scaling properties. We specify the analysis for three examples of quantum algorithms, showing that except for a few specific cases, DAQC is in fact disadvantageous with respect to the digital case.
Digital-analog quantum computing (DAQC) is a universal computational paradigm that combines the evolution under an entangling Hamiltonian with the application of single-qubit gates. Since any unitary operation can be decomposed into a sequence of evolutions generated by two-body Hamiltonians, DAQC is inherently well-suited for realizing such operations. Suboptimal upper bounds for the total time required to perform these evolutions have been previously proposed. Here, we improve these limits by providing a tight bound for this crucial parameter, which shows a linear dependence with the number of couplings. This result enables a precise estimation of the time resources needed for quantum simulations and quantum algorithms implemented within the DAQC framework, facilitating a rigorous comparison with other approaches.
Digital quantum computing paradigm offers highly desirable features such as universality, scalability, and quantum error correction. However, physical resource requirements to implement useful error-corrected quantum algorithms are prohibitive in the current era of NISQ devices. As an alternative path to performing universal quantum computation, within the NISQ era limitations, we propose to merge digital single-qubit operations with analog multiqubit entangling blocks in an approach we call digital-analog quantum computing (DAQC). Along these lines, although the techniques may be extended to any resource, we propose to use unitaries generated by the ubiquitous Ising Hamiltonian for the analog entangling block and we prove its universal character. We construct explicit DAQC protocols for efficient simulations of arbitrary inhomogeneous Ising, two-body, and MMM-body spin Hamiltonian dynamics by means of single-qubit gates and a fixed homogeneous Ising Hamiltonian. Additionally, we compare a sequential approach where the interactions are switched on and off (stepwise DAQC) with an always-on multiqubit interaction interspersed by fast single-qubit pulses (banged DAQC). Finally, we perform numerical tests comparing purely digital schemes with DAQC protocols, showing a remarkably better performance of the latter. The proposed DAQC approach combines the robustness of analog quantum computing with the flexibility of digital methods.
Digital-analog is a quantum computational paradigm that employs the natural interaction Hamiltonian of a system as the entangling resource, combined with single qubit gates, to implement universal quantum operations. As in the case of its digital gate-based counterpart, designing digital-analog circuits that employ optimal quantum resources often requires an exceedingly large classical computational time. In this work we find a suboptimal solution to this exponentially large problem, showing that it can be solved within polynomial computational time. In particular, we provide an exact solution for the problem of expressing arbitrary two-body Hamiltonians as the sum of local unitary transformations of an arbitrary Ising Hamiltonian, with the total number of required terms being at most quadratic in system size. This allows us to design a digital-analog simulation protocol that avoids employing numerical optimization over a large parameter space at the preprocessing stage, minimizing computational resources and allowing for further scaling.
Abstract Quantum computing uses quantum resources provided by the underlying quantum nature of matter to enhance classical computation. However, the current Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) era in quantum computing is characterized by the use of quantum processors comprising from a few tens to, at most, a few hundreds of physical qubits without implementing quantum error correction techniques. This limits the scalability in the implementation of quantum algorithms. Digital-analog quantum computing (DAQC) has been proposed as a more resilient alternative quantum computing paradigm to outperform digital quantum computation within the NISQ era framework. It arises from adding the flexibility provided by fast single-qubit gates to the robustness of analog quantum simulations. Here, we perform a careful comparison between the digital and digital-analog paradigms under the presence of noise sources. The comparison is illustrated by comparing the performance of the quantum Fourier transform and quantum phase estimation algorithms under a wide range of single- and two-qubit noise sources. Indeed, we obtain that when the different noise channels usually present in superconducting quantum processors are considered, the fidelity of these algorithms for the digital-analog paradigm outperforms the one obtained for the digital approach. Additionally, this difference grows when the size of the processor scales up, making DAQC a sensible alternative paradigm in the NISQ era. Finally, we show how to adaptthe DAQC paradigm to quantum error mitigation techniques for canceling different noise sources, including the bang error.
Abstract Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices lack error correction, limiting scalability for quantum algorithms. In this context, digital-analog quantum computing (DAQC) offers a more resilient alternative quantum computing paradigm that outperforms digital quantum computation by combining the flexibility of single-qubit gates with the robustness of analog simulations. This work explores the impact of noise on both digital and DAQC paradigms and demonstrates DAQC’s effectiveness in error mitigation. We compare the quantum Fourier transform and quantum phase estimation algorithms under a wide range of single and two-qubit noise sources in superconducting processors. DAQC consistently surpasses digital approaches in fidelity, particularly as processor size increases. Moreover, zero-noise extrapolation further enhances DAQC by mitigating decoherence and intrinsic errors, achieving fidelities above 0.95 for 8 qubits, and reducing computation errors to the order of 10 −3 . These results establish DAQC as a viable alternative for quantum computing in the NISQ era.