Evidence for the utility of quantum computing before fault tolerance

Youngseok Kim (), Andrew Eddins (), Sajant Anand, Ken Xuan Wei, Ewout Berg, Sami Rosenblatt, Hasan Nayfeh, Yantao Wu, Michael Zaletel, Kristan Temme and Abhinav Kandala ()
Additional contact information
Youngseok Kim: IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
Andrew Eddins: IBM Research - Cambridge
Sajant Anand: University of California, Berkeley
Ken Xuan Wei: IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
Ewout Berg: IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
Sami Rosenblatt: IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
Hasan Nayfeh: IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
Yantao Wu: University of California, Berkeley
Michael Zaletel: University of California, Berkeley
Kristan Temme: IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
Abhinav Kandala: IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center

Nature, 2023, vol. 618, issue 7965, 500-505

Abstract: Abstract Quantum computing promises to offer substantial speed-ups over its classical counterpart for certain problems. However, the greatest impediment to realizing its full potential is noise that is inherent to these systems. The widely accepted solution to this challenge is the implementation of fault-tolerant quantum circuits, which is out of reach for current processors. Here we report experiments on a noisy 127-qubit processor and demonstrate the measurement of accurate expectation values for circuit volumes at a scale beyond brute-force classical computation. We argue that this represents evidence for the utility of quantum computing in a pre-fault-tolerant era. These experimental results are enabled by advances in the coherence and calibration of a superconducting processor at this scale and the ability to characterize1 and controllably manipulate noise across such a large device. We establish the accuracy of the measured expectation values by comparing them with the output of exactly verifiable circuits. In the regime of strong entanglement, the quantum computer provides correct results for which leading classical approximations such as pure-state-based 1D (matrix product states, MPS) and 2D (isometric tensor network states, isoTNS) tensor network methods2,3 break down. These experiments demonstrate a foundational tool for the realization of near-term quantum applications4,5.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06096-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:618:y:2023:i:7965:d:10.1038_s41586-023-06096-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06096-3

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().