Collaborative Research: PPoSS: Planning: Software Stack for Scalable Heterogeneous NISQ Cluster

发展大规模、实用的量子计算机是许多国家、行业和研究人员的首要任务。大规模展示量子计算机将永远改变目前已知的计算模型，使科学发现以前所未有的速度发展。这个项目的新颖之处在于将未来的量子系统设计成一个异构量子计算机集群。这种方法明显不同于所有现有的努力，因为它将具有成本效益、可伸缩、更可用和更可靠。该项目的影响包括概述此类系统中的挑战，提出解决方案，参与社区，并描述为此类异构量子计算集群构建完整软件堆栈的计划。该项目还将通过三次邀请研讨会吸引多学科量子计算社区，为所概述的挑战提供解决方案的潜在途径。通过一个骨干利益相关者委员会，该项目将确保可持续和持续的劳动力发展，并扩大对计算目标、结果和影响的大规模参与。此外，项目人员坚定地致力于增加代表性不足的群体（包括妇女、少数民族和残疾人）参与计划的活动。本项目探讨了为异构噪声中尺度量子（NISQ）机器集群设计完整软件堆栈的可行性。该项目将有助于：(a)实现异构NISQ机器集群作为量子计算平台，并在真实平台上进行大规模模拟和评估；(b)编程环境和用户界面，以提供了解量子噪音的直观界面；(c)考虑到国家科学信息系统机器的异质性和时间误差的汇编技术；(d)运行时，透过资源监察机制，在考虑排队时间和噪音情况的情况下，实时查询所有可用量子计算机的校正资料，从而实现容错、资源管理和调度；(e)与量子机器学习和量子化学应用共同设计堆栈；(f)利用现有多个量子机的系统校准数据，对每个噪声属性进行保真度退化检测，生成保真度退化矩阵，该矩阵用于定义多个新的评价指标，以比较量子机量子比特拓扑之间的保真度；(g)多学科量子计算界通过三次受邀研讨会的参与，为所概述的挑战提供解决方案的潜在途径。教育、劳动力发展（WFD）和扩大计算机参与（BPC）是这个项目的主要优先事项。这些将通过以下方式实现：(a)通过一个骨干利益相关者委员会，调查人员将确保可持续和持续的WFD和BPC目标、成果和大规模影响。项目计划利用了pi的专业知识的广度，组织了一个总体战略，以达到越来越大的利益相关者群体（从项目成员开始，更广泛的系统社区，最后到K-12和非附属专业人员）；(b)此外，项目人员坚决致力于增加代表性不足的群体（包括妇女、少数种族和残疾人）参与计划的活动；(c)调查人员将把研究成果纳入多种课程；(d)该项目将促进系统研究人员之间的协作和协同作用，并与工业界合作进行技术转让和商业化。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Development of large-scale and practical quantum computers is a priority for many countries, industries, and researchers. Demonstrating quantum computers at scale will change the computing model as it is currently known forever, enabling scientific discoveries at an unprecedented pace. This project’s novelties are in designing future quantum systems as a cluster of heterogeneous quantum computers. Such an approach is significantly different from all existing endeavors, as it will be cost effective, scalable, more usable, and more reliable. The project’s impacts include outlining the challenges in such systems, proposing solutions, engaging the community, and describing a plan to build a full software stack for such heterogeneous quantum-computing-based clusters. The project will also engage the multidisciplinary quantum computing community through three invited workshops to inform the potential path towards solutions for the challenges outlined. Through a backbone stakeholder committee, the project will ensure sustainable and sustained workforce development and broadening participation in computing objectives, outcomes, and impact at scale. In addition, the project personnel have a strong commitment to increasing participation of underrepresented groups (including women, racial minorities, and persons with disabilities) in planned activities.This project explores the feasibility of designing a full software stack for a cluster of heterogeneous Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) machines. The project will make contributions to the: (a) Realization of cluster of heterogeneous NISQ machines as a quantum-computing platform with large-scale simulation and evaluation on a real platform; (b) Programming environment and user interface to provide a visual interface to understand quantum noise; (c) Compilation techniques to account for heterogeneity of NISQ machines and temporal errors; (d) Runtime to enable fault-tolerance, resource management and scheduling considering the queuing time and noise condition in real time with the help of a resource monitoring mechanism to query the calibration information from all available quantum computers; (e) Co-design of the stack with quantum machine learning and quantum chemistry applications; (f) Utilization of the system calibration data from the multiple existing quantum machines, then apply fidelity degradation detection on each noise attributes to generate the fidelity degradation matrix which is used to define multiple new evaluation metrics to compare the fidelity between the qubit topology of the quantum machines; and (g) Engagement of the multidisciplinary quantum computing community through three invited workshops to inform the potential path towards solutions for the challenges outlined. Education, workforce development (WFD) and broadening participation in computing (BPC) are a major priority of this project. These will be realized as: (a) Through a backbone stakeholder committee, the investigators will ensure sustainable and sustained WFD and BPC objectives, outcomes, and impact at scale. The project plan capitalizes on the breadth of expertise of the PIs with an overall strategy organized to reach increasingly larger stakeholder groups (starting from project members, the broader systems community, and finally to K-12 and non-affiliated professionals); (b) In addition, the project personnel have a strong commitment to increasing participation of underrepresented groups (including women, racial minorities, and persons with disabilities) in planned activities; (c) The investigators will incorporate research outcomes in multiple courses; and (d) The project will facilitate collaboration and synergy among systems researchers, and engage and partner with industry for technology transfer and commercialization.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.