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arXiv:quant-ph/9804039

A Parallel Quantum Computer Simulator

Kevin Obenland, Alvin M. Despain

Published Apr 16, 1998• 52 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A Quantum Computer is a new type of computer which can efficiently solve complex problems such as prime factorization. A quantum computer threatens the security of public key encryption systems because these systems rely on the fact that prime factorization is computationally difficult. Errors limit the effectiveness of quantum computers. Because of the exponential nature of quantum com puters, simulating the effect of errors on them requires a vast amount of processing and memory resources. In this paper we describe a parallel simulator which accesses the feasibility of quantum computers. We also derive and validate an analytical model of execution time for the simulator, which shows that parallel quantum computer simulation is very scalable.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/9804039

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A Quantum Computer is a new type of computer which can efficiently solve complex problems such as prime factorization. A quantum computer threatens the security of public key encryption systems because these systems rely on the fact that prime factorization is computationally difficult. Errors limit the effectiveness of quantum computers. Because of the exponential nature of quantum com puters, simulating the effect of errors on them requires a vast amount of processing and memory resources. In this paper we describe a parallel simulator which accesses the feasibility of quantum computers. We also derive and validate an analytical model of execution time for the simulator, which shows that parallel quantum computer simulation is very scalable.
Quantum computation is a new technology with the potential for providing exponential parallelism. The feasibility of a quantum computer is limited by two different types of errors, decoherence and inaccuracies. This dissertation uses simulation to investigate the feasibility of implementing one of the proposed realizations of a quantum computer, the trapped ion quantum computer. Because of the exponential complexity of a quantum computer, simulating one requires vast processing and memory resources. For this reason I develop several techniques to reduce the complexity of simulating a quantum computer. A parallel simulator is also used. Using the parallel simulator I am able to simulate circuits with close to 100,000 basic operations. The simulation studies show that the effectiveness of a quantum computer, without a mechanism for controlling errors, is severely limited. However the power of a quantum computer can be increased by using several techniques to mitigate the effects of error. Therefore a realizable quantum computer has three fundamental requirements: First, both hardware and software mechanisms must be used to correct errors as they occur. Second, the architecture of a quantum computer is very important; it must be designed to mitigate errors and it must be able to execute multiple operations in parallel. Last, quantum circuits must be constructed in an efficient manner, to minimize the total number of operations.
Recently Quantum Computation has generated a lot of interest due to the discovery of a quantum algorithm which can factor large numbers in polynomial time. The usefulness of a quantum com puter is limited by the effect of errors. Simulation is a useful tool for determining the feasibility of quantum computers in the presence of errors. The size of a quantum computer that can be simulat ed is small because faithfully modeling a quantum computer requires an exponential amount of storage and number of operations. In this paper we define simulation models to study the feasibility of quantum computers. The most detailed of these models is based directly on a proposed imple mentation. We also define less detailed models which are exponentially less complex but still pro duce accurate results. Finally we show that the two different types of errors, decoherence and inaccuracies, are uncorrelated. This decreases the number of simulations which must be per formed.
Simulation of quantum computers using classical computers is a computationally hard problem, requiring a huge amount of operations and storage. Parallelization can alleviate this problem, allowing the simulation of more qubits at the same time or the same number of qubits to be simulated in less time. A promising approach is represented by executing these simulators in Grid systems that can provide access to high performance resources. In this paper we present a parallel implementation of the QC-lib quantum computer simulator deployed as a Grid service. Using a specific scheme for partitioning the terms describing quantum states and efficient parallelization of the general singe qubit operator and of the controlled operators, very good speed-ups were obtained for the simulation of the quantum search problem.
Quantum computing (QC) research has gained a lot of momentum recently due to several theoretical analyses that indicate that QC is significantly more efficient at solving certain classes of problems than classical computing. While experimental validation will ultimately be required, the primitive nature of current QC hardware leaves practical testing limited to trivial examples. Thus, a robust simulator is needed to study complex QC issues. Most QC simulators model ideal operations, and thus cannot predict the actual time required to execute an algorithm or quantify the effects of errors in the calculation. We have developed a novel QC simulator that models physical hardware implementations. This simulator not only allows the accurate simulation of quantum algorithms on various hardware implementations, but also takes an important step towards providing a framework to determine their true performance and vulnerability to errors.
Quantum Computing (QC) research has gained a lot of momentum recently due to several theoretical analyses that indicate that QC is significantly more efficient at solving certain classes of problems than classical computing. While experimental validation will ultimately be required, the primitive nature of current QC hardware leaves practical testing limited to trivial examples. Thus, a robust simulator is needed to study complex QC issues. Most QC simulators model ideal operations, and thus cannot predict the actual time required to execute an algorithm or quantify the effects of errors in the calculation. We have developed a novel QC simulator that models physical hardware implementations. This simulator not only allows the accurate simulation of quantum algorithms on various hardware implementations, but also takes an important step towards providing a framework to determine their true performance and vulnerability to errors.
The unique principles of quantum mechanics may one day enable computers to perform operations that would be impossible on a classical computer. Although no one knows whether it will be possible to build a large-scale, functional, and stable quantum computer, researchers can study quantum-mechanical systems and develop algorithms and circuits by simulating quantum systems in software. Performance and memory bottlenecks prevent most current quantum computer simulators from being able to simulate quantum systems that are large enough to be useful. In this thesis, we develop a matrix-free sequential quantum computer simulator to vastly improve both time and memory performance of sequential code on a single processor. Next, we distribute the matrix-free algorithm over multiple parallel processors using the Message Passing Interface in order to simulate quantum systems that are too large to reside wholly within the memory of a single processor. Finally, we simulate various quantum circuits using the Hamming high-performance computing cluster in order to conduct algorithmic analysis.