Phantom Types for Quantum Programs

Abstract

We explore the design space of using dependent types to type check and verify quantum circuits. We weigh the trade-offs between the expressivity of dependent types against the costs imposed by large proof terms. We propose lightweight dependent types, or phantom types, as a middle ground, which provide useful type information for programming while specifying the properties to be externally verified.

Talk at The Fourth International Workshop on Coq for Programming Languages (CoqPL ‘18)