QC Executor

This library provides an abstraction for quantum circuits and operators that can be run on different backends using an Executor object.

Installation

Core Installation

QC Executor can be installed with only the backends you need. By default, only Qiskit (used as the common intermediate representation) is required:

pip install qc-executor

Backend-Specific Installation

Install QC Executor with specific backends:

# Install with PennyLane backend
pip install qc-executor[pennylane]

# Install with Qulacs backend
pip install qc-executor[qulacs]

# Install with full Qiskit support (Aer simulator and IBM Runtime)
pip install qc-executor[qiskit-full]

# Install with Pauli Propagation backend
pip install qc-executor[pauli_propagation]

# Install with all backends
pip install qc-executor[all]

# Install multiple specific backends
pip install qc-executor[pennylane,qulacs,pauli_propagation]

Usage

Factory API (Recommended)

The Executor factory class provides a plugin-based interface for creating executors:

from qc_executor import Executor

# Create an executor for a specific backend
executor = Executor.create("qiskit", shots=1024, seed=42)

# List available backends
backends = Executor.available_backends()
print(backends)  # ['qiskit', 'pennylane', 'qulacs', 'pauli_propagation']

# Create circuit and observable
from qc_executor import QuantumCircuit, QuantumOperator

circuit = QuantumCircuit(2)
circuit.h(0)
circuit.cx(0, 1)

observable = QuantumOperator.from_pauli_string("ZZ")

# Run computation
result = executor.expectation_value(circuit, observable)
print(result)

Backend Switching

You can easily switch between backends while preserving configuration:

# Create executor with specific configuration
qiskit_executor = Executor.create("qiskit", shots=1024, seed=42, caching=True)

# Switch to PennyLane backend with same configuration
pennylane_executor = qiskit_executor.switch_backend("pennylane")

# Switch with configuration overrides
qulacs_executor = qiskit_executor.switch_backend("qulacs", shots=2048)

Direct Import API (Alternative)

For backward compatibility, you can still import executors directly:

from qc_executor.qiskit import QiskitExecutor
from qc_executor.pennylane import PennyLaneExecutor
from qc_executor.qulacs import QulacsExecutor

# Create executor directly
executor = QiskitExecutor(shots=1024, seed=42)

Configuration Options

All executors support the following configuration parameters:

• shots (int, optional): Number of measurement shots

• seed (int, optional): Random seed for reproducibility

• log_file (str, optional): Path to log file

• log_level (str, optional): Logging level (“DEBUG”, “INFO”, “WARNING”, “ERROR”)

• caching (bool, optional): Enable result caching

• cache_dir (str, optional): Directory for caching (default: “cache”)

• max_cache_size (int, optional): Maximum number of cached results (default: unlimited)

Backend Object Convention

When an executor accepts a backend-specific object (for example a Qiskit backend instance or a PennyLane qml.devices.Device), the constructor parameter name is backend.

from qc_executor.pennylane import PennyLaneExecutor

executor = PennyLaneExecutor(backend="default.mixed", shots=1000, seed=42)

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

Please make sure to update tests as appropriate.

License

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Documentation

Getting Started

• Installation
  • Requirements
  • Install from PyPI
  • Install from GitHub
  • Build from source
  • Backends and optional dependencies
  • The plugin architecture

User Guide

• Usage Guide
  • Qiskit backend
  • PennyLane backend
  • Qulacs backend
  • Pauli Propagation backend
  • Core building blocks
  • The factory: Executor
  • Switching backends
  • Common operations

API Reference

• API Reference
  • The Executor factory
    • Executor
  • Shared executor interface
    • ExecutorBase
  • Core building blocks
    • QuantumCircuit
    • QuantumOperator
    • Parameters
  • Backend plugins
    • qiskit
    • pennylane
    • qulacs
    • pauli_propagation

Advanced Topics

• Pauli Propagation Symmetry Merging