Noisy Probabilistic Error Cancellation and Generalized Physical Implementability

Abstract

Decoherence severely limits the performance of quantum processors, posing challenges to reliable quantum computation. Probabilistic error cancellation, a quantum error mitigation method, counteracts noise by quasiprobabilistically simulating (non-physical) inverse noise operations. However, existing formulations of physical implementability, quantifying the minimal cost of simulating non-physical operations using physical channels, do not fully account for the experimental constraints, since noise also affects the cancellation process and not all physical channels are experimentally accessible. Here, we generalize the physical implementability to encompass arbitrary convex sets of experimentally available quantum states and operations. Within this generalized framework, we demonstrate noiseless error cancellation with noisy Pauli operations and analyze the bias of noisy cancellation. Furthermore, we establish connections between generalized physical implementability and quantum information measures, e.g., diamond norm, logarithmic negativity, and purity. These findings enhance the practical applicability of probabilistic error cancellation and open new avenues for robust quantum information processing and quantum computing.