A Day In the Life of a Quantum Error

Abstract

When a fault occurs in a computational system, it is of interest what effects it has. If it is known what can go wrong, it may also be known how to mitigate or correct for it. While complex, it is possible to obtain this information with rigorous fault injection in classical systems. This is also desirable for quantum systems, unfortunately it is much more difficult. The exponential information content of quantum systems makes this likely impossible for larger systems. However, analyses on smaller systems may provide valuable insight into the behavior of larger systems. This letter analyzes the effect of error on different parts of quantum programs.