An Automated Deductive Verification Framework for Circuit-Building Quantum Programs

Abstract

While recent progress in quantum hardware open the door for significant speedup in certain key areas, quantum algorithms are still hard to implement right, and the validation of such quantum programs is a challenge. In this paper we propose Qbricks, a formal verification environment for circuit-building quantum programs, featuring both parametric specifications and a high degree of proof automation. We propose a logical framework based on first-order logic, and develop the main tool we rely upon for achieving the automation of proofs of quantum specification: PPS, a parametric extension of the recently developed path sum semantics. To back-up our claims, we implement and verify parametric versions of several famous and non-trivial quantum algorithms, including the quantum parts of Shor’s integer factoring, quantum phase estimation (QPE) and Grover’s search.