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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITP.2021.21

Proving Quantum Programs Correct

Authors: Kesha Hietala, Robert Rand, Shih-Han Hung, Liyi Li, and Michael Hicks

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 193, 12th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP 2021)

Abstract

As quantum computing progresses steadily from theory into practice, programmers will face a common problem: How can they be sure that their code does what they intend it to do? This paper presents encouraging results in the application of mechanized proof to the domain of quantum programming in the context of the SQIR development. It verifies the correctness of a range of a quantum algorithms including Grover’s algorithm and quantum phase estimation, a key component of Shor’s algorithm. In doing so, it aims to highlight both the successes and challenges of formal verification in the quantum context and motivate the theorem proving community to target quantum computing as an application domain.

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Kesha Hietala, Robert Rand, Shih-Han Hung, Liyi Li, and Michael Hicks. Proving Quantum Programs Correct. In 12th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 193, pp. 21:1-21:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{hietala_et_al:LIPIcs.ITP.2021.21,
  author =	{Hietala, Kesha and Rand, Robert and Hung, Shih-Han and Li, Liyi and Hicks, Michael},
  title =	{{Proving Quantum Programs Correct}},
  booktitle =	{12th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP 2021)},
  pages =	{21:1--21:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-188-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{193},
  editor =	{Cohen, Liron and Kaliszyk, Cezary},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITP.2021.21},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-139160},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITP.2021.21},
  annote =	{Keywords: Formal Verification, Quantum Computing, Proof Engineering}
}

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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SNAPL.2019.12

Formal Verification vs. Quantum Uncertainty

Authors: Robert Rand, Kesha Hietala, and Michael Hicks

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 136, 3rd Summit on Advances in Programming Languages (SNAPL 2019)

Abstract

Quantum programming is hard: Quantum programs are necessarily probabilistic and impossible to examine without disrupting the execution of a program. In response to this challenge, we and a number of other researchers have written tools to verify quantum programs against their intended semantics. This is not enough. Verifying an idealized semantics against a real world quantum program doesn't allow you to confidently predict the program’s output. In order to have verification that works, you need both an error semantics related to the hardware at hand (this is necessarily low level) and certified compilation to the that same hardware. Once we have these two things, we can talk about an approach to quantum programming where we start by writing and verifying programs at a high level, attempt to verify properties of the compiled code, and repeat as necessary.

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Robert Rand, Kesha Hietala, and Michael Hicks. Formal Verification vs. Quantum Uncertainty. In 3rd Summit on Advances in Programming Languages (SNAPL 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 136, pp. 12:1-12:11, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)

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@InProceedings{rand_et_al:LIPIcs.SNAPL.2019.12,
  author =	{Rand, Robert and Hietala, Kesha and Hicks, Michael},
  title =	{{Formal Verification vs. Quantum Uncertainty}},
  booktitle =	{3rd Summit on Advances in Programming Languages (SNAPL 2019)},
  pages =	{12:1--12:11},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-113-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{136},
  editor =	{Lerner, Benjamin S. and Bod{\'\i}k, Rastislav and Krishnamurthi, Shriram},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SNAPL.2019.12},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-105558},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SNAPL.2019.12},
  annote =	{Keywords: Formal Verification, Quantum Computing, Programming Languages, Quantum Error Correction, Certified Compilation, NISQ}
}

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Proving Quantum Programs Correct

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Formal Verification vs. Quantum Uncertainty

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