Optimal Distributed Similarity Estimation for Unitary Channels

Abstract: We study distributed similarity estimation for unitary channels (DSEU), the task of estimating the similarity between unitary channels implemented on different quantum devices. We completely address DSEU by showing that, for $n$-qubit unitary channels, the query complexity of DSEU is $Θ(\sqrt{d})$, where $d=2^n$, for both incoherent and coherent accesses. First, we propose two estimation algorithms for DSEU with these accesses utilizing the randomized measurement toolbox. The query complexities of these algorithms are both $O(\sqrt{d})$. Although incoherent access is generally weaker than coherent access, our incoherent algorithm matches this complexity by leveraging additional shared randomness between devices, highlighting the power of shared randomness in distributed quantum learning. We further establish matching lower bounds, proving that $Θ(\sqrt{d})$ queries are both necessary and sufficient for DSEU. Finally, we compare our algorithms with independent classical shadow and show that ours have a square-root advantage. Our results provide practical and theoretically optimal tools for quantum devices benchmarking and for distributed quantum learning.