Low overhead circuit cutting with operator backpropagation

Abstract: Current quantum computers suffer from noise due to lack of error correction. Several techniques to mitigate the effect of noise have been studied, in particular to extract the expectation value of observables. One such technique, circuit cutting, partitions large circuits into smaller, less noisy subcircuits, but the exponential increase in the number of circuit executions limits its scalability. Another method, operator backpropagation (OBP) reduces circuit depth by classically simulating parts of it, yet often escalates the number of circuit executions by some factor due to additional non-commuting terms in the updated observable. This paper introduces an optimized approach for minimizing noise in quantum circuits using operator backpropagation (OBP) combined with circuit cutting. We demonstrate that the strategic use of OBP with circuit cutting can mitigate the execution overhead. By employing simulated annealing, our proposed method identifies the optimal backpropagation parameter for specific circuits and observables, maximizing resource reduction in cutting. Results show a 3x and 10x decrease in resource requirements for Variational Quantum Eigensolver and Hamiltonian simulation circuits respectively, while maintaining or even enhancing accuracy. This approach also yields similar savings for other circuits from the Benchpress database and various observable weights, providing an efficient method to lower circuit cutting overhead without compromising performance.