Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

[jordandsullivan]

1. What is quantum error mitigation?
Quantum error mitigation (QEM) refers to a series of techniques aimed at reducing (mitigating) the errors that occur in quantum computing algorithms. Unlike software bugs affecting code in classical (regular) computers, the errors which we attempt to reduce with mitigation are due to imperfections in the hardware. Quantum error mitigation techniques try to reduce the impact of noise in quantum computations. For more info on QEM, check out this docs article.

2. What are the basic elements of Mitiq?
A great place to get an overview of the main elements of Mitiq is on the Core Concepts page of our developer guide.

3. What do ZNE/PEC/DDD/etc. mean?
Zero Noise Extrapolation, Probabilistic Error Cancellation, and Digital Dynamical Decoupling. These are acronyms for quantum error mitigation techniques, which you can find along with other frequently used acronyms in our wiki.

4. What QEM techniques are available in Mitiq?
You can check out our currently supported techniques by calling

mitiq.qem_methods()

which will output something like this (updated May 9, 2024):

Out[2]: 
{'mitiq.cdr': 'Clifford Data Regression',
 'mitiq.ddd': 'Digital Dynamical Decoupling',
 'mitiq.pec': 'Probabilistic Error Cancellation',
 'mitiq.pt': 'Pauli Twirling',
 'mitiq.qse': 'Quantum Subspace Expansion',
 'mitiq.rem': 'Readout Error Mitigation (confusion inversion)',
 'mitiq.zne': 'Zero Noise Extrapolation'}

5. How should I choose a QEM technique for my use case?
We recommend trying out our calibration module, which can help you choose between different QEM methods and spend less time optimizing parameters. Otherwise, we encourage you to browse our examples to see if your use case is already there.

6. Are you planning to add support for [feature/toolkit/library]?
You can check out our roadmap to see what we currently have planned. If you don't see your specific request there, have a look through our open issues and see if you find one that matches what you're looking for; you can then add a comment sharing your interest or get started working on it yourself (hint: be sure to take a look at our Contribution Guide to get started).

[jordandsullivan]

Answers above. If you have additional questions you think should be added, please comment below :)