XACC: A System-Level Software Infrastructure for Heterogeneous Quantum-Classical Computing

TL;DR

XACC is a hardware-agnostic, system-level software infrastructure designed to facilitate quantum-classical computing by providing a service-oriented architecture for programming, compilation, and execution tasks, enabling tighter integration of quantum and classical workflows.

Contribution

It introduces XACC, a novel, hardware-agnostic framework that supports core quantum programming and execution tasks within a service-oriented architecture for heterogeneous quantum-classical systems.

Findings

Demonstrates XACC's utility with concrete examples

Provides a foundation for developing quantum-classical compilers and runtimes

Supports both near-term and future quantum architectures

Abstract

Quantum programming techniques and software have advanced significantly over the past five years, with a majority focusing on high-level language frameworks targeting remote REST library APIs. As quantum computing architectures advance and become more widely available, lower-level, system software infrastructures will be needed to enable tighter, co-processor programming and access models. Here we present XACC, a system-level software infrastructure for quantum-classical computing that promotes a service-oriented architecture to expose interfaces for core quantum programming, compilation, and execution tasks. We detail XACC's interfaces, their interactions, and its implementation as a hardware-agnostic framework for both near-term and future quantum-classical architectures. We provide concrete examples demonstrating the utility of this framework with paradigmatic tasks. Our approach lays the foundation for the development of compilers, associated runtimes, and low-level system tools tightly integrating quantum and classical workflows.