Add the simulate class for the new device

[LuisAlfredoNu]

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---

Context:
Migrate the lightning.kokkos device to the new device API.

Description of the Change:
The 'simulate' method is necessary to achieve full functionality with the new device API.
We are going to follow the same recipe used with LightningQubit.

Benefits:
Add one of the essential methods for the new device API into LightningKokkos.

Possible Drawbacks:

Related GitHub Issues:

Partial / Freezzed PR ⚠️ ❄️

To make a smooth integration of LightningKokkos with the new device API, we set the branch kokkosNewAPI_backend as the base branch target for this development.

The branch kokkosNewAPI_backend has the mock of all classes and methods necessary for the new API. Also, several tests were disabled with

if device_name == "lightning.kokkos":
    pytest.skip("Kokkos new API in WIP.  Skipping.",allow_module_level=True)

Additionally, the CI testing from PennyLane for LKokkos is temporally disabled through commenting the following lines in .github/workflows files

: # pl-device-test --device ${DEVICENAME} --skip-ops --shots=20000 $COVERAGE_FLAGS --cov-append
: # pl-device-test --device ${DEVICENAME} --shots=None --skip-ops $COVERAGE_FLAGS --cov-append

However, these tests will unblocked as the implementation progresses.

After all the developments for integrating LightningKokkos with the new API have been completed then the PR will be open to merge to master

[sc-68801] [sc-68816] [sc-68819]

[github-actions]

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Please edit .github/CHANGELOG.md with:

• A one-to-two sentence description of the change. You may include a small working example for new features.
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• Your name (or GitHub username) in the contributors section.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

Attention: Patch coverage is 87.19512% with 42 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.

Project coverage is 90.01%. Comparing base (bcd323e) to head (c4860a9).

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
...nylane_lightning/lightning_kokkos/_state_vector.py	88.23%	18 Missing ⚠️
...nylane_lightning/lightning_kokkos/_measurements.py	89.93%	16 Missing ⚠️
...ane_lightning/lightning_kokkos/lightning_kokkos.py	50.00%	8 Missing ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@                    Coverage Diff                    @@
##           kokkosNewAPI_backend     #817       +/-   ##
=========================================================
+ Coverage                 64.27%   90.01%   +25.74%     
=========================================================
  Files                        18       19        +1     
  Lines                      1702     2034      +332     
=========================================================
+ Hits                       1094     1831      +737     
+ Misses                      608      203      -405     

☔ View full report in Codecov by Sentry.
📢 Have feedback on the report? Share it here.

[AmintorDusko]

I'm observing several coverage complaints coming from Codecov. Some of them might be a "codecov fluke", some of them might not. @LuisAlfredoNu, could you please double-check and let us know when the coverage is OK (even if codecov is complaining). You might want to rerun all CIs. You can use:

git commit -m "trigger CIs" --allow-empty
git push -u origin kokkosNewAPI_simulate

or any variant of that.

[AmintorDusko]

I'm observing several coverage complaints coming from Codecov. Some of them might be a "codecov fluke", some of them might not. @LuisAlfredoNu, could you please double-check and let us know when the coverage is OK (even if codecov is complaining). You might want to rerun all CIs. You can use:

git commit -m "trigger CIs" --allow-empty
git push -u origin kokkosNewAPI_simulate

or any variant of that.

I just noticed that there is also a formatting complaint.
You can fix that with make format.

[LuisAlfredoNu]

I'm observing several coverage complaints coming from Codecov. Some of them might be a "codecov fluke", some of them might not. @LuisAlfredoNu, could you please double-check and let us know when the coverage is OK (even if codecov is complaining). You might want to rerun all CIs. You can use:

git commit -m "trigger CIs" --allow-empty
git push -u origin kokkosNewAPI_simulate

or any variant of that.

Checking why codecov does not show the increase in the coverage of the changes I conclude the following:

The failing test from the repo of PennyLane blocks the next steps in the GitHub actions to upload the coverage file generated by the Lightning test.

To solve this issue I comment the lines that run the test from Pennyline repo in the github/workflows files

[vincentmr]

Nice work @LuisAlfredoNu.

[vincentmr]

Thanks @LuisAlfredoNu . A few more suggestions/comments, but this is almost ready to merge IMO.

[multiphaseCFD]

Nice work @LuisAlfredoNu! Just a few Q.

[maliasadi]

Nice work! 💯

[AmintorDusko]

Nice work, @LuisAlfredoNu!
Thank you, @PennyLaneAI/performance, for your very thorough review.
This is the type of high-quality work (review and dev) the whole team consistently delivers!
I resolved some apparent complete conversations, please feel free to re-open if sensible.
Regarding overall problems with coverage, or updates that would apply to LQubit too, let's keep attention to it and come back later if having time.
@LuisAlfredoNu, keep notes of suggestions the very nice suggestions here. They will be very useful after we have our MVP in place.

[vincentmr]

Nice work @LuisAlfredoNu . I'll approve while leaving a suggestion. Feel free to resolve as you wish. Cheers!

[multiphaseCFD]

Great job! @LuisAlfredoNu Happy to approve!