An introduction to reliable quantum computation

TL;DR

This paper introduces quantum fault tolerance techniques that enable reliable quantum computations on noisy hardware by monitoring and correcting errors, drawing parallels with classical methods and discussing key noise models.

Contribution

It provides an overview of software-based quantum fault tolerance methods, highlighting their principles, noise models, and foundational results, serving as an introductory guide.

Findings

Quantum fault tolerance strategies enable error correction during computation.

Noise models are crucial for designing and analyzing quantum circuits.

The paper sketches core theoretical results in quantum fault tolerance.

Abstract

This is an introduction to software methods of quantum fault tolerance. Broadly speaking, these methods describe strategies for using the noisy hardware components of a quantum computer to perform computations while continually monitoring and actively correcting the hardware faults. We discuss parallels and differences with similar methods for ordinary digital computation, we discuss some of the noise models used in designing and analyzing noisy quantum circuits, and we sketch the logic of some of the central results in this area of research.