Efficient Pauli Channel Estimation with Logarithmic Quantum Memory

In this work, we consider one of the prototypical tasks for characterizing the structure of noise in quantum devices: estimating eigenvalues of an n-qubit Pauli noise channel. Prior work [Chen et al., Phys. Rev. A 105, 032435 (2022)] has proved no-go theorems for this task in the practical regime in...

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Main Authors: Sitan Chen, Weiyuan Gong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2025-05-01
Series:PRX Quantum
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PRXQuantum.6.020323
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author Sitan Chen
Weiyuan Gong
author_facet Sitan Chen
Weiyuan Gong
author_sort Sitan Chen
collection DOAJ
description In this work, we consider one of the prototypical tasks for characterizing the structure of noise in quantum devices: estimating eigenvalues of an n-qubit Pauli noise channel. Prior work [Chen et al., Phys. Rev. A 105, 032435 (2022)] has proved no-go theorems for this task in the practical regime in which one has a limited amount of quantum memory; i.e., any protocol with ≤0.99n ancilla qubits of quantum memory must make exponentially many measurements, provided that it is non-concatenating. Such protocols can only interact with the channel by repeatedly preparing a state, passing it through the channel, and measuring immediately afterward. Surprisingly, in this work we show that concatenating protocols with an extremely small amount of quantum memory achieve an exponential advantage for this task. We give a protocol that can estimate any prescribed set of eigenvalues A of a Pauli channel to error ε using only O(log⁡log⁡(|A|)/ε^{2}) ancilla qubits, O[over ~](n^{2}/ε^{2}) measurements, and O(n^{2}|A|/ε^{2}) queries to the Pauli channel. In contrast, we show that any protocol with zero ancilla—even a concatenating one—must make Ω(2^{n}/ε^{2}) measurements. We also prove that the number of queries cannot be improved significantly: with k ancilla qubits, Ω(2^{(n−k)/3}) queries to the channel are necessary to learn all eigenvalues, even for concatenating protocols.
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spelling doaj-art-6ed9bae9ad3444e7bd5882f62ff1b38f2025-07-01T17:27:41ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPRX Quantum2691-33992025-05-016202032310.1103/PRXQuantum.6.020323Efficient Pauli Channel Estimation with Logarithmic Quantum MemorySitan ChenWeiyuan GongIn this work, we consider one of the prototypical tasks for characterizing the structure of noise in quantum devices: estimating eigenvalues of an n-qubit Pauli noise channel. Prior work [Chen et al., Phys. Rev. A 105, 032435 (2022)] has proved no-go theorems for this task in the practical regime in which one has a limited amount of quantum memory; i.e., any protocol with ≤0.99n ancilla qubits of quantum memory must make exponentially many measurements, provided that it is non-concatenating. Such protocols can only interact with the channel by repeatedly preparing a state, passing it through the channel, and measuring immediately afterward. Surprisingly, in this work we show that concatenating protocols with an extremely small amount of quantum memory achieve an exponential advantage for this task. We give a protocol that can estimate any prescribed set of eigenvalues A of a Pauli channel to error ε using only O(log⁡log⁡(|A|)/ε^{2}) ancilla qubits, O[over ~](n^{2}/ε^{2}) measurements, and O(n^{2}|A|/ε^{2}) queries to the Pauli channel. In contrast, we show that any protocol with zero ancilla—even a concatenating one—must make Ω(2^{n}/ε^{2}) measurements. We also prove that the number of queries cannot be improved significantly: with k ancilla qubits, Ω(2^{(n−k)/3}) queries to the channel are necessary to learn all eigenvalues, even for concatenating protocols.http://doi.org/10.1103/PRXQuantum.6.020323
spellingShingle Sitan Chen
Weiyuan Gong
Efficient Pauli Channel Estimation with Logarithmic Quantum Memory
PRX Quantum
title Efficient Pauli Channel Estimation with Logarithmic Quantum Memory
title_full Efficient Pauli Channel Estimation with Logarithmic Quantum Memory
title_fullStr Efficient Pauli Channel Estimation with Logarithmic Quantum Memory
title_full_unstemmed Efficient Pauli Channel Estimation with Logarithmic Quantum Memory
title_short Efficient Pauli Channel Estimation with Logarithmic Quantum Memory
title_sort efficient pauli channel estimation with logarithmic quantum memory
url http://doi.org/10.1103/PRXQuantum.6.020323
work_keys_str_mv AT sitanchen efficientpaulichannelestimationwithlogarithmicquantummemory
AT weiyuangong efficientpaulichannelestimationwithlogarithmicquantummemory