Assessing quantum circuits reliability with mutant-based simulated fault injection

This paper addresses the problem of evaluating the fault tolerance algorithms and methodologies (FTAMs) for quantum circuits, by making use of fault injection techniques. The proposed mutant-based fault injection techniques are inspired from their classical counterparts [T.A. DeLong et al., 1996] [E. Jenn et al., 1994], and were adapted to the specific features of quantum computation, including the available error models [J. P. Hayes et al., 2004] [E. Knill et al., 1997]. The HDLs were employed in order to perform fault injection, due to their capacity of behavioral and structural circuit description, as well as their hierarchical features. Besides providing a much realistic description, the experimental simulated fault injection campaigns provide quantitative means for quantum fault tolerance assessment.