Efficient simulation of Clifford circuits with small Markovian errors

Abstract: Classical simulation of noisy quantum circuits is essential for understanding quantum computing experiments. It enables scalable error characterization, analysis of how noise impacts quantum algorithms, and optimized implementations of quantum error correction. However, most existing efficient simulation techniques can only simulate the effects of stochastic (incoherent) noise. The lack of efficient ways to simulate coherent errors, which are common and significant in contemporary quantum computing systems, has frustrated research. We remedy this gap by introducing an efficient algorithm for approximate simulation of Clifford circuits with arbitrary small errors (including coherent errors) that can be described by sparse $n$-qubit Lindbladians. We use this algorithm to study the impact of coherent errors on syndrome extract circuits for distance-3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 rotated surface codes, and on deep random 225-qubit circuits containing over a million gates.