Hoare meets Heisenberg: A Lightweight Logic for Quantum Programs

TL;DR

This paper introduces a lightweight Hoare-like logic for quantum programs based on Gottesman's semantics, enabling efficient verification of properties like qubit disposal, separability, and gate transversality, extended to universal quantum computing.

Contribution

It develops a novel logical framework for quantum programs that combines Gottesman's Clifford semantics with Hoare logic, applicable to universal quantum computing.

Findings

Lower bound on T-gates for multiply-controlled Z gate

Logic efficiently characterizes qubit disposal and separability

Extends to universal gates like T and Toffoli

Abstract

We show that Gottesman's (1998) semantics for Clifford circuits based on the Heisenberg representation gives rise to a lightweight Hoare-like logic for efficiently characterizing a common subset of quantum programs. Our applications include (i) certifying whether auxiliary qubits can be safely disposed of, (ii) determining if a system is separable across a given bipartition, (iii) checking the transversality of a gate with respect to a given stabilizer code, and (iv) computing post-measurement states for computational basis measurements. Further, this logic is extended to accommodate universal quantum computing by deriving Hoare triples for the $T$-gate, multiply-controlled unitaries such as the Toffoli gate, and some gate injection circuits that use associated magic states. A number of interesting results emerge from this logic, including a lower bound on the number of $T$ gates necessary to perform a multiply-controlled $Z$ gate.