A hybrid framework for estimating nonlinear functions of quantum states

Abstract

Estimating nonlinear functions of quantum states, such as the moment $\tr(\rho^m)$, is of fundamental and practical interest in quantum science and technology. Here we show a quantum-classical hybrid framework to measure them, where the quantum part is constituted by the generalized swap test, and the classical part is realized by postprocessing the result from randomized measurements. This hybrid framework utilizes the partial coherent power of the intermediate-scale quantum processor and, at the same time, dramatically reduces the number of quantum measurements and the cost of classical postprocessing. We demonstrate the advantage of our framework in the tasks of state-moment estimation and quantum error mitigation.