VACSEN: A Visualization Approach for Noise Awareness in Quantum Computing

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Shaolun Ruan, Yong Wang, Weiwen Jiang, Ying Mao, Qiang Guan

 View presentation:2022-10-19T19:00:00ZGMT-0600Change your timezone on the schedule page
2022-10-19T19:00:00Z

Exemplar figure, described by caption below — The severe and inevitable noise issues are the key challenges to achieving the real quantum advantages in today’s quantum computers. We propose VACSEN, a visualization approach for noise awareness in quantum computing. VACSEN supports a real-time noise awareness of quantum computers and compiled circuits, leading to a better circuit execution with higher fidelity.

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The live footage of the talk, including the Q&A, can be viewed on the session page, Questioning Data and Data Bias.

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Abstract

Quantum computing has attracted considerable public attention due to its exponential speedup over classical computing. Despite its advantages, today’s quantum computers intrinsically suffer from noise and are error-prone. To guarantee the high fidelity of the execution result of a quantum algorithm, it is crucial to inform users of the noises of the used quantum computer and the compiled physical circuits. However, an intuitive and systematic way to make users aware of the quantum computing noise is still missing. In this paper, we fill the gap by proposing a novel visualization approach to achieve noise-aware quantum computing. It provides a holistic picture of the noise of quantum computing through multiple interactively coordinated views: a Computer Evolution View with a circuit-like design overviews the temporal evolution of the noises of different quantum computers, a Circuit Filtering View facilitates quick filtering of multiple compiled physical circuits for the same quantum algorithm, and a Circuit Comparison View with a coupled bar chart enables detailed comparison of the filtered compiled circuits. We extensively evaluate the performance of VACSEN through two case studies on quantum algorithms of different scales and in-depth interviews with 12 quantum computing users. The results demonstrate the effectiveness and usability of VACSEN in achieving noise-aware quantum computing.