Benchmarking Distributed Quantum Computing Emulators

TL;DR

This paper introduces a benchmarking framework for evaluating distributed quantum computing emulators using a partitioned inverse Quantum Fourier Transform, analyzing their performance, capabilities, and limitations.

Contribution

It presents a novel benchmarking framework for DQC emulators, including a test case with the inverse QFT, and reviews and compares four representative emulators.

Findings

Different emulators vary in support for teleportation and noise modeling.

Performance trade-offs exist between fidelity and scalability.

The framework guides future emulator development and validation.

Abstract

Scalable quantum computing requires architectural solutions beyond monolithic processors. Distributed quantum computing (DQC) addresses this challenge by interconnecting smaller quantum nodes through quantum communication protocols, enabling collaborative computation. While several experimental and theoretical proposals for DQC exist, emulator platforms are essential tools for exploring their feasibility under realistic conditions. In this work, we introduce a benchmarking framework to evaluate DQC emulators using a distributed implementation of the inverse Quantum Fourier Transform ($\mathrm{QFT}^{\dagger}$) as a representative test case, which enables efficient phase recovery from pre-encoded Fourier states. The QFT is partitioned across nodes using teleportation-based protocols, and performance is analyzed in terms of execution time, memory usage, and fidelity with respect to a monolithic baseline. As part of this work, we review a broad range of emulators, identifying their capabilities and limitations for programming distributed quantum algorithms. Many platforms either lacked support for teleportation protocols or required complex workarounds. Consequently, we select and benchmark four representative emulators: Qiskit Aer, SquidASM, Interlin-q, and SQUANCH. They differ significantly in their support for discrete-event simulation, quantum networking, noise modeling, and parallel execution. Our results highlight the trade-offs between architectural fidelity and simulation scalability, providing a foundation for future emulator development and the validation of distributed quantum protocols. This framework can be extended to support additional algorithms and emulators.