Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

Geometric complexity of quantum channels via unitary dilations

Alberto Acevedo, Antonio Falcó

Published May 8, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Nielsen’s geometric approach to quantum circuit complexity provides a Riemannian framework for quantifying the cost of implementing unitary closed-system dynamics. For open evolutions, the reduced dynamics is described by time-dependent families of quantum channels { Λ t } t ⩾ 0 admitting many inequivalent Stinespring realizations, so any meaningful complexity notion must specify which microscopic resources are counted and which transformations are treated as gauge. We develop a dilation-based geometric complexity framework that distinguishes implementation-dependent complexity, attached to a specific realization, from intrinsic channel complexity obtained by minimizing over a physically admissible class of dilations. The proposed functional is subtractive: it removes purely environmental contributions from the geometric cost of the joint unitary realization. The subtraction is derived from concise structural postulates—closed-system consistency, environment-only neutrality, and invariance under dilation gauge transformations—and admits a natural variational and geometric interpretation. We also define noise complexity as a companion quantity measuring the geometric deviation of a noisy implementation from a prescribed ideal closed-system evolution. In the Hilbert–Schmidt setting, we establish coherence-based lower bounds for unitary and noise complexity, prove linear time scaling under time-homogeneous dilation models, and obtain dissipator-controlled bounds in the Markovian GKSL regime. We illustrate the framework on canonical single-qubit benchmark channels: dephasing, amplitude damping, and Pauli/depolarizing noise.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8121/ae6add

Related papers

Geometric Complexity of Quantum Channels via Unitary Dilations

Alberto Acevedo, Antonio Falcó

Nielsen's geometric approach to quantum circuit complexity provides a Riemannian framework for quantifying the cost of implementing unitary closed-system dynamics. For open evolutions, the reduced dynamics is described by time-dependent families of quantum channels $\{Λ_t\}_{t\ge 0}$ admitting many inequivalent Stinespring realizations, so any meaningful complexity notion must specify which microscopic resources are counted and which transformations are treated as gauge. We develop a dilation-based geometric complexity framework that distinguishes implementation-dependent complexity, attached to a specific realization, from intrinsic channel complexity obtained by minimizing over a physically admissible class of dilations. The proposed functional is subtractive: it removes purely environmental contributions from the geometric cost of the joint unitary realization. The subtraction is derived from concise structural postulates --- closed-system consistency, environment-only neutrality, and invariance under dilation gauge transformations --- and admits a natural variational and geometric interpretation. We also define noise complexity as a companion quantity measuring the geometric deviation of a noisy implementation from a prescribed ideal closed-system evolution. In the Hilbert-Schmidt setting, we establish coherence-based lower bounds for unitary and noise complexity, prove linear time scaling under time-homogeneous dilation models, and obtain dissipator-controlled bounds in the Markovian GKSL regime. We illustrate the framework on canonical single-qubit benchmark channels: dephasing, amplitude damping, and Pauli/depolarizing noise.

quant-pharXiv:2601.00735•Jan 5, 2026•0 citations

The Geometry of Quantum Complexity in Open Systems

Ezra Acalapati, Kausik Ghosh, Giuseppe Policastro

We extend Nielsen's geometric approach for quantum complexity from closed to open quantum systems, whose dynamics is governed by Lindbladian evolution. In this framework, complexity is defined through an optimal-control problem on the space of mixed states, with a cost assigned to both unitary and non-unitary generators. We show that the resulting geometric structure differs fundamentally from the Riemannian geometry that emerges in the case of unitary evolution. In the open-system setting, the natural geometry is typically sub-Finslerian. Dissipation makes the geodesics non-reversible, while the admissible tangent directions are restricted by the physically allowed controls. We analyze several physically motivated examples, including a single qubit subject to depolarizing and amplitude-damping channels, as well as the damped harmonic oscillator. We show that, similarly to the unitary case, varying the penalty factors in the cost functional modifies the geometric properties through changes in the flag curvature, the Finslerian analog of sectional curvature. Our results provide a geometric framework for quantifying the abstract notion of complexity in dissipative quantum systems, with potential connections to experimentally realizable setups.

quant-pharXiv:2607.08411•Jul 10, 2026•0 citations

Geometric Measures of Complexity for Open and Closed Quantum Systems

Alberto Acevedo, Antonio Falcó

The unitary dynamics of quantum systems can be modeled as a trajectory on a Riemannian manifold. This theoretical framework naturally yields a purely geometric interpretation of computational complexity for quantum algorithms, a notion originally developed by Michael Nielsen (Circa, 2007). However, for nonunitary dynamics, it is unclear how one can recover a completely geometric characterization of Nielsen-like geometric complexity. The main obstacle to overcome is that nonunitary dynamics cannot be characterized by Lie groups (which are Riemannian manifolds), as is the case for unitary dynamics. Building on Nielsen's work, we present a definition of geometric complexity for a fairly generic family of quantum channels. These channels are useful for modeling noise in quantum circuits, among other things, and analyze the geometric complexity of these quantum channels.

arXiv:2507.18440•Jul 24, 2025•0 citations

Complexity measures in QFT and constrained geometric actions

Pablo Bueno, Javier M. Magán, C. S. Shahbazi

Abstract We study the conditions under which, given a generic quantum system, complexity metrics provide actual lower bounds to the circuit complexity associated to a set of quantum gates. Inhomogeneous cost functions — many examples of which have been recently proposed in the literature — are ruled out by our analysis. Such measures are shown to be unrelated to circuit complexity in general and to produce severe violations of Lloyd’s bound in simple situations. Among the metrics which do provide lower bounds, the idea is to select those which produce the tightest possible ones. This establishes a hierarchy of cost functions and considerably reduces the list of candidate complexity measures. In particular, the criterion suggests a canonical way of dealing with penalties, consisting in assigning infinite costs to directions not belonging to the gate set. We discuss how this can be implemented through the use of Lagrange multipliers. We argue that one of the surviving cost functions defines a particularly canonical notion in the sense that: i) it straightforwardly follows from the standard Hermitian metric in Hilbert space; ii) its associated complexity functional is closely related to Kirillov’s coadjoint orbit action, providing an explicit realization of the “complexity equals action” idea; iii) it arises from a Hamilton-Jacobi analysis of the “quantum action” describing quantum dynamics in the phase space canonically associated to every Hilbert space. Finally, we explain how these structures provide a natural framework for characterizing chaos in classical and quantum systems on an equal footing, find the minimal geodesic connecting two nearby trajectories, and describe how complexity measures are sensitive to Lyapunov exponents.

Journal of High Energy Physics•Sep 29, 2021•32 citations

Riemannian Geometry of Qubit Noise Channels: Curvature Singularities and Dissipative Dynamics

Molchanova, Olena, Co-developed reasoning framework between human cognition and an AI-based cognitive partner., DeepSeek with an activated thinking initiator

We analyze the Riemannian geometry of several physically relevant families of qubit quantum channels, using the Hilbert–Schmidt metric induced on their Choi representations. For amplitude-damping channels with additional dephasing, we derive closed-form expressions for the metric tensor and scalar curvature and show that the curvature diverges as the damping probability approaches unity. This geometric singularity corresponds to complete population decay and represents an irreversible limit of open-system dynamics. In contrast, pure dephasing channels and noisy unitary channels form flat manifolds with identically zero curvature, revealing that the Hilbert–Schmidt geometry is highly sensitive to dissipative (energy-relaxing) processes but insensitive to coherence loss without energy exchange. We further study the gradient flow of scalar curvature, which for amplitude damping drives channel parameters toward weaker dissipation, with the identity channel acting as an attractor. These results establish a clear geometric separation between different types of quantum noise and suggest potential applications in noise spectroscopy, device benchmarking, and geometric optimization of quantum control. The logical development of this article can be seen here: https://zenodo.org/records/17952025

•Dec 12, 2025•0 citations

Complexity measures in QFT and constrained geometric actions

Pablo Bueno, Javier M. Magán, C. S. Shahbazi

We study the conditions under which, given a generic quantum system, complexity metrics provide actual lower bounds to the circuit complexity associated to a set of quantum gates. Inhomogeneous cost functions ---many examples of which have been recently proposed in the literature--- are ruled out by our analysis. Such measures are shown to be unrelated to circuit complexity in general and to produce severe violations of Lloyd's bound in simple situations. Among the metrics which do provide lower bounds, the idea is to select those which produce the tightest possible ones. This establishes a hierarchy of cost functions and considerably reduces the list of candidate complexity measures. In particular, the criterion suggests a canonical way of dealing with penalties, consisting in assigning infinite costs to directions not belonging to the gate set. We discuss how this can be implemented through the use of Lagrange multipliers. We argue that one of the surviving cost functions defines a particularly canonical notion in the sense that: i) it straightforwardly follows from the standard Hermitian metric in Hilbert space; ii) its associated complexity functional is closely related to Kirillov's coadjoint orbit action, providing an explicit realization of the ``complexity equals action'' idea; iii) it arises from a Hamilton-Jacobi analysis of the ``quantum action'' describing quantum dynamics in the phase space canonically associated to every Hilbert space. Finally, we explain how these structures provide a natural framework for characterizing chaos in classical and quantum systems on an equal footing, find the minimal geodesic connecting two nearby trajectories, and describe how complexity measures are sensitive to Lyapunov exponents.

arXiv:1908.03577•Aug 9, 2019•9 citations
Abstract Nielsen’s geometric approach to quantum circuit complexity provides a Riemannian framework for quantifying the cost of implementing unitary closed-system dynamics. For open evolutions, the reduced dynamics is described by time-dependent families of quantum channels { Λ t } t ⩾ 0 admitting many inequivalent Stinespring realizations, so any meaningful complexity notion must specify which microscopic resources are counted and which transformations are treated as gauge. We develop a dilation-based geometric complexity framework that distinguishes implementation-dependent complexity, attached to a specific realization, from intrinsic channel complexity obtained by minimizing over a physically admissible class of dilations. The proposed functional is subtractive: it removes purely environmental contributions from the geometric cost of the joint unitary realization. The subtraction is derived from concise structural postulates—closed-system consistency, environment-only neutrality, and invariance under dilation gauge transformations—and admits a natural variational and geometric interpretation. We also define noise complexity as a companion quantity measuring the geometric deviation of a noisy implementation from a prescribed ideal closed-system evolution. In the Hilbert–Schmidt setting, we establish coherence-based lower bounds for unitary and noise complexity, prove linear time scaling under time-homogeneous dilation models, and obtain dissipator-controlled bounds in the Markovian GKSL regime. We illustrate the framework on canonical single-qubit benchmark channels: dephasing, amplitude damping, and Pauli/depolarizing noise.
Nielsen's geometric approach to quantum circuit complexity provides a Riemannian framework for quantifying the cost of implementing unitary closed-system dynamics. For open evolutions, the reduced dynamics is described by time-dependent families of quantum channels {Λt}t≥0\{Λ_t\}_{t\ge 0}{Λt​}t≥0​ admitting many inequivalent Stinespring realizations, so any meaningful complexity notion must specify which microscopic resources are counted and which transformations are treated as gauge. We develop a dilation-based geometric complexity framework that distinguishes implementation-dependent complexity, attached to a specific realization, from intrinsic channel complexity obtained by minimizing over a physically admissible class of dilations. The proposed functional is subtractive: it removes purely environmental contributions from the geometric cost of the joint unitary realization. The subtraction is derived from concise structural postulates --- closed-system consistency, environment-only neutrality, and invariance under dilation gauge transformations --- and admits a natural variational and geometric interpretation. We also define noise complexity as a companion quantity measuring the geometric deviation of a noisy implementation from a prescribed ideal closed-system evolution. In the Hilbert-Schmidt setting, we establish coherence-based lower bounds for unitary and noise complexity, prove linear time scaling under time-homogeneous dilation models, and obtain dissipator-controlled bounds in the Markovian GKSL regime. We illustrate the framework on canonical single-qubit benchmark channels: dephasing, amplitude damping, and Pauli/depolarizing noise.
We extend Nielsen's geometric approach for quantum complexity from closed to open quantum systems, whose dynamics is governed by Lindbladian evolution. In this framework, complexity is defined through an optimal-control problem on the space of mixed states, with a cost assigned to both unitary and non-unitary generators. We show that the resulting geometric structure differs fundamentally from the Riemannian geometry that emerges in the case of unitary evolution. In the open-system setting, the natural geometry is typically sub-Finslerian. Dissipation makes the geodesics non-reversible, while the admissible tangent directions are restricted by the physically allowed controls. We analyze several physically motivated examples, including a single qubit subject to depolarizing and amplitude-damping channels, as well as the damped harmonic oscillator. We show that, similarly to the unitary case, varying the penalty factors in the cost functional modifies the geometric properties through changes in the flag curvature, the Finslerian analog of sectional curvature. Our results provide a geometric framework for quantifying the abstract notion of complexity in dissipative quantum systems, with potential connections to experimentally realizable setups.
The unitary dynamics of quantum systems can be modeled as a trajectory on a Riemannian manifold. This theoretical framework naturally yields a purely geometric interpretation of computational complexity for quantum algorithms, a notion originally developed by Michael Nielsen (Circa, 2007). However, for nonunitary dynamics, it is unclear how one can recover a completely geometric characterization of Nielsen-like geometric complexity. The main obstacle to overcome is that nonunitary dynamics cannot be characterized by Lie groups (which are Riemannian manifolds), as is the case for unitary dynamics. Building on Nielsen's work, we present a definition of geometric complexity for a fairly generic family of quantum channels. These channels are useful for modeling noise in quantum circuits, among other things, and analyze the geometric complexity of these quantum channels.
Abstract We study the conditions under which, given a generic quantum system, complexity metrics provide actual lower bounds to the circuit complexity associated to a set of quantum gates. Inhomogeneous cost functions — many examples of which have been recently proposed in the literature — are ruled out by our analysis. Such measures are shown to be unrelated to circuit complexity in general and to produce severe violations of Lloyd’s bound in simple situations. Among the metrics which do provide lower bounds, the idea is to select those which produce the tightest possible ones. This establishes a hierarchy of cost functions and considerably reduces the list of candidate complexity measures. In particular, the criterion suggests a canonical way of dealing with penalties, consisting in assigning infinite costs to directions not belonging to the gate set. We discuss how this can be implemented through the use of Lagrange multipliers. We argue that one of the surviving cost functions defines a particularly canonical notion in the sense that: i) it straightforwardly follows from the standard Hermitian metric in Hilbert space; ii) its associated complexity functional is closely related to Kirillov’s coadjoint orbit action, providing an explicit realization of the “complexity equals action” idea; iii) it arises from a Hamilton-Jacobi analysis of the “quantum action” describing quantum dynamics in the phase space canonically associated to every Hilbert space. Finally, we explain how these structures provide a natural framework for characterizing chaos in classical and quantum systems on an equal footing, find the minimal geodesic connecting two nearby trajectories, and describe how complexity measures are sensitive to Lyapunov exponents.
We analyze the Riemannian geometry of several physically relevant families of qubit quantum channels, using the Hilbert–Schmidt metric induced on their Choi representations. For amplitude-damping channels with additional dephasing, we derive closed-form expressions for the metric tensor and scalar curvature and show that the curvature diverges as the damping probability approaches unity. This geometric singularity corresponds to complete population decay and represents an irreversible limit of open-system dynamics. In contrast, pure dephasing channels and noisy unitary channels form flat manifolds with identically zero curvature, revealing that the Hilbert–Schmidt geometry is highly sensitive to dissipative (energy-relaxing) processes but insensitive to coherence loss without energy exchange. We further study the gradient flow of scalar curvature, which for amplitude damping drives channel parameters toward weaker dissipation, with the identity channel acting as an attractor. These results establish a clear geometric separation between different types of quantum noise and suggest potential applications in noise spectroscopy, device benchmarking, and geometric optimization of quantum control. The logical development of this article can be seen here: https://zenodo.org/records/17952025
We study the conditions under which, given a generic quantum system, complexity metrics provide actual lower bounds to the circuit complexity associated to a set of quantum gates. Inhomogeneous cost functions ---many examples of which have been recently proposed in the literature--- are ruled out by our analysis. Such measures are shown to be unrelated to circuit complexity in general and to produce severe violations of Lloyd's bound in simple situations. Among the metrics which do provide lower bounds, the idea is to select those which produce the tightest possible ones. This establishes a hierarchy of cost functions and considerably reduces the list of candidate complexity measures. In particular, the criterion suggests a canonical way of dealing with penalties, consisting in assigning infinite costs to directions not belonging to the gate set. We discuss how this can be implemented through the use of Lagrange multipliers. We argue that one of the surviving cost functions defines a particularly canonical notion in the sense that: i) it straightforwardly follows from the standard Hermitian metric in Hilbert space; ii) its associated complexity functional is closely related to Kirillov's coadjoint orbit action, providing an explicit realization of the ``complexity equals action'' idea; iii) it arises from a Hamilton-Jacobi analysis of the ``quantum action'' describing quantum dynamics in the phase space canonically associated to every Hilbert space. Finally, we explain how these structures provide a natural framework for characterizing chaos in classical and quantum systems on an equal footing, find the minimal geodesic connecting two nearby trajectories, and describe how complexity measures are sensitive to Lyapunov exponents.