Classical Verification of Quantum Advantage via Clifford Obfuscation

Abstract

Demonstrating quantum advantage in a manner that can be independently verified by classical means remains one of the most pressing open problems in quantum computing. Here we propose a new heuristic approach for constructing quantum circuits that are hard to classically simulate yet whose output distributions can be efficiently verified classically. Our approach is based on Clifford circuit obfuscation. This obfuscation scheme hides the Clifford structure and injects a controlled and rapidly growing non-stabilizer resources that resist known classical attack strategies including reverse engineering and direct simulation. Our protocol is heuristic but is supported by both numerical and theoretical evidence. This work provides a new avenue toward classically verifiable quantum advantage that avoids the stringent implementation requirements of known approaches.