Quantum Circuits for Dynamic Runtime Assertions in Quantum Computation

TL;DR

This paper introduces quantum circuits designed for runtime assertions, enabling debugging and error detection in quantum computing by using ancilla qubits to indirectly verify quantum states despite the non-cloning theorem.

Contribution

It presents novel quantum circuit designs for runtime assertions that address the challenges of quantum state measurement and non-cloning, facilitating debugging and error detection.

Findings

Quantum circuits for asserting classical states, entanglement, and superposition.

Use of ancilla qubits to indirectly verify quantum states.

Addresses key challenges in quantum runtime assertions.

Abstract

In this paper, we propose quantum circuits for runtime assertions, which can be used for both software debugging and error detection. Runtime assertion is challenging in quantum computing for two key reasons. First, a quantum bit (qubit) cannot be copied, which is known as the non-cloning theorem. Second, when a qubit is measured, its superposition state collapses into a classical state, losing the inherent parallel information. In this paper, we overcome these challenges with runtime computation through ancilla qubits, which are used to indirectly collect the information of the qubits of interest. We design quantum circuits to assert classical states, entanglement, and superposition states.