Scheme Pearl: Quantum Continuations

TL;DR

This paper proposes using Scheme's features, especially first-class continuations, to efficiently simulate quantum circuits by managing complex, large-scale quantum state representations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach that leverages Scheme's continuations to model and simulate quantum circuits more effectively than traditional methods.

Findings

Scheme's continuations enable efficient quantum circuit simulation.

The approach handles large quantum states with potential exponential complexity.

It demonstrates the suitability of Scheme for quantum computing simulations.

Abstract

We advance the thesis that the simulation of quantum circuits is fundamentally about the efficient management of a large (potentially exponential) number of delimited continuations. The family of Scheme languages, with its efficient implementations of first-class continuations and with its imperative constructs, provides an elegant host for modeling and simulating quantum circuits.