Pauli Propagation: A Computational Framework for Simulating Quantum Systems

TL;DR

Pauli propagation is a promising classical algorithmic framework for simulating quantum systems, with a new Julia software package enabling rapid and accessible quantum circuit simulations.

Contribution

The paper provides a comprehensive overview of Pauli propagation, including its algorithmic structure and implementation, and introduces a new Julia package for simulation.

Findings

Efficient simulation of quantum circuits using Pauli propagation

Implementation of PauliPropagation.jl for rapid simulations

Framework applicable to quantum dynamics and verification

Abstract

Classical methods to simulate quantum systems are not only a key element of the physicist's toolkit for studying many-body models but are also increasingly important for verifying and challenging upcoming quantum computers. Pauli propagation has recently emerged as a promising new family of classical algorithms for simulating digital quantum systems. Here we provide a comprehensive account of Pauli propagation, tracing its algorithmic structure from its bit-level implementation and formulation as a tree-search problem, all the way to its high-level user applications for simulating quantum circuits and dynamics. Utilising these observations, we present PauliPropagation.jl, a Julia software package that can perform rapid Pauli propagation simulation straight out-of-the-box and can be used more generally as a building block for novel simulation algorithms.