Pith. sign in

REVIEW 29 cited by

The Solovay-Kitaev algorithm

Not yet reviewed by Pith; the record is open.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet. Machine review is queued; the pith claim, tier, and objections will appear here once it completes.

SPECIMEN: schema-true, not a live event

T0 review · schema-true

One-sentence machine reading of the paper's core claim.

pith:XXXXXXXX · record.json · timestamp

arxiv quant-ph/0505030 v2 pith:S47RBZTM submitted 2005-05-06 quant-ph

The Solovay-Kitaev algorithm

classification quant-ph
keywords algorithmgatesepsilonefficientformgatequantumsequence
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
0 comments
Share X Bluesky LinkedIn Reddit HN
read the original abstract

This pedagogical review presents the proof of the Solovay-Kitaev theorem in the form of an efficient classical algorithm for compiling an arbitrary single-qubit gate into a sequence of gates from a fixed and finite set. The algorithm can be used, for example, to compile Shor's algorithm, which uses rotations of $\pi / 2^k$, into an efficient fault-tolerant form using only Hadamard, controlled-{\sc not}, and $\pi / 8$ gates. The algorithm runs in $O(\log^{2.71}(1/\epsilon))$ time, and produces as output a sequence of $O(\log^{3.97}(1/\epsilon))$ quantum gates which is guaranteed to approximate the desired quantum gate to an accuracy within $\epsilon > 0$. We also explain how the algorithm can be generalized to apply to multi-qubit gates and to gates from $SU(d)$.

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.

Forward citations

Cited by 29 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. PhD thesis: Modes, States, and Symmetries in quantum Optics for quantum Information and Metrology

    quant-ph 2026-07 accept novelty 7.0

    Modal structure, photon statistics, and bosonic/phase symmetries jointly determine the usable resources for photonic quantum information and metrology, with explicit gains and limits for time-frequency, HOM, and SSR settings.

  2. Suppressing errors in analog logical rotation gates via balanced fusion

    quant-ph 2026-07 conditional novelty 7.0

    Balanced fusion RUS implements small logical rotations with error O(pφ^1.5) instead of O(pφ), by fusing resource states in a balanced tree rather than directly preparing ever-larger angles.

  3. Removing Online Exponential Net Search from Solovay-Kitaev

    cs.CG 2026-07 conditional novelty 7.0

    Replacing the depth-zero net search with an 'integerized trotterization' over a good exponential basis makes online synthesis poly(d, log 1/ε), moving the exponential net cost into a one-time preprocessing step.

  4. Universality of Magic in Local Quantum Field Theory

    hep-th 2026-07 conditional novelty 7.0

    In any local QFT, vacuum-like states have non-flat entanglement spectra because local algebras are type III₁, so no stabilizer state can flow to them in the continuum: QFT states necessarily carry magic.

  5. Magic Gate Teleportation: Structure, Useful Resource States, and Simpler Feedforward

    quant-ph 2026-07 accept novelty 7.0

    MGT protocols encode the input into a measurement-heralded stabilizer code then apply a logical non-Clifford gate; useful resource states are Clifford-equivalent to diagonal states, and feedforward can often be Pauli.

  6. Efficient Simulation of High-Level Quantum Gates

    quant-ph 2025-07 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    A gadget-based simulator directly simulates high-level quantum gates via low-rank stabilizer decompositions of magic states, improving both theoretical complexity and practical runtime over standard compilation-based methods.

  7. Query and Depth Upper Bounds for Quantum Unitaries via Grover Search

    quant-ph 2021-11 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    Any n-qubit unitary can be implemented approximately with Õ(2^{n/2}) oracle queries or exactly with Õ(2^{n/2}) circuit depth via Grover search reductions, with matching lower bounds for certain implementations.

  8. Complementary 3D color codes for transversal quantum logic

    quant-ph 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.5

    Complementary tetrahedral and H-tetrahedral 3D color codes supply transversal magic and most entanglement; a pieceable round-robin CZ with 2D Steane extraction completes a universal FT gate set.

  9. Explicit Matrices over $\mathbb Z_2$ with CNOT and Row Complexity $4n-\mathrm{o}(n)$ and Local Logic Gates

    quant-ph 2026-07 accept novelty 6.0

    Explicit n imes n matrices over Z_2 require 4n−o(n) CNOT/row/2-local linear gates, and the same bound holds for the quantum complexity of the associated affine permutations.

  10. Geometric Algebra Quantum Gate Decomposition

    quant-ph 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Reformulates Pauli and Clifford groups in geometric algebra with a greedy rotor decomposition algorithm for Clifford operators and geometric view of Clifford+T universality.

  11. Graphical and algebraic methods for Boolean factoring

    quant-ph 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Biclique-covering and Horner-based algorithms for Boolean polynomial factoring achieve up to 5x AND-count reduction versus EXORCISM-4 on random functions up to 12 variables.

  12. Sub-Cubic Quantum Gate Synthesis via Stochastic Commutator Decomposition

    quant-ph 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Stochastic Commutator Synthesis integrates sub-cubic Solovay-Kitaev with Gibbs-sampled commutator selection and randomized compilation to cut T-counts by 10-25% and raise fidelity by up to 35% on Forrelation circuits.

  13. From Characterization To Construction: Generative Quantum Circuit Synthesis from Gate Set Tomography Data

    quant-ph 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    A generative QMLC framework tokenizes GST data, embeds it via curriculum-trained set-vision transformers into a context-aware latent space, and uses diffusion models to synthesize circuits conditioned on desired measu...

  14. Universality of Quantum Gates in Particle and Symmetry Constrained Subspaces

    quant-ph 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Hardware-efficient gates are universal for state preparation in particle-number and symmetry-constrained subspaces because commutators generate Pauli Z projectors that span the full so(w) and su(w) algebras.

  15. An Oracle-Free Quantum Algorithm for Nonadiabatic Quantum Molecular Dynamics

    quant-ph 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    An oracle-free Trotter-based quantum algorithm for nonadiabatic molecular dynamics achieves circuit depth advantages over QROM architectures and retains T-gate scalability compared to quantum signal processing.

  16. O3LS: Optimizing Lattice Surgery via Automatic Layout Searching and Loose Scheduling

    quant-ph 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    O3LS reduces space overhead by up to 46.7% and time overhead by up to 36% in lattice surgery while suppressing logical error rates by up to an order of magnitude compared with prior layout and scheduling approaches.

  17. No-Go Theorem on Fault Tolerant Gadgets for Multiple Logical Qubits

    quant-ph 2026-02 reject novelty 6.0

    No stabilizer code can implement the full logical Clifford group on multiple logical qubits using transversal gates, fold-transversal gates beyond two qubits, or code automorphisms.

  18. Nontrivial multi-product commutation relation toward reducing T-count in sequential Pauli-based computation

    quant-ph 2025-09 conditional novelty 6.0

    A group of four non-commuting pi/4 Pauli rotations can be reordered as blocks whenever their axes satisfy a simple algebraic condition, and this rule defeats current T-count optimizers on specially built circuits.

  19. Quantum Coherence and Anomalous Work Extraction in Qubit Gate Dynamics

    quant-ph 2025-09 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Coherence enables anomalous work extraction in qubit gate dynamics via negative Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobabilities, with a compositional relation connecting circuit-level work statistics to individual gates.

  20. Quantum Circuit Overhead

    quant-ph 2025-05 conditional novelty 6.0

    Introduces QCO and T-QCO measures and numerically shows that the T gate is non-optimal for completing the Clifford set among order-8 gates.

  21. Optimising Trotter-Suzuki Simulations of Markovian Open Quantum Systems via Classical Search

    quant-ph 2026-07 accept novelty 5.0

    Binary search on diamond-norm error functions yields far fewer Trotter steps than closed-form analytic bounds for deterministic and randomised TS product formulas on Markovian open systems, with second-order randomise...

  22. DeComp2: Description Complexity aware Decomposition

    quant-ph 2026-07 conditional novelty 5.0

    Adding a description-length term to the quantum-compiler objective changes the chosen circuit on ~0.3% of tested single-qubit targets, showing gate-count-only compilation discards genuinely structured alternatives.

  23. Geometric Algebra Quantum Gate Decomposition

    quant-ph 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Pauli and Clifford groups are formulated in complex Geometric Algebra, with Clifford operators generated by π/4-Pauli rotors and a greedy rotor algorithm yielding compact decompositions.

  24. Lie Algebra-Based Quantum Optimal Controls Interpolation

    quant-ph 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Lie algebra precomputation of pulses plus neural network interpolation generates optimal controls for arbitrary unitaries in 2-4 qubit systems and generalizes to neutrino Trotter propagators.

  25. Analog photonic simulator for large-scale transport

    quant-ph 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Continuous-variable photonic platform with 20,000-mode cluster state simulates advection transport equation, achieving relative errors of 0.8% and 0.92% on first- and second-order moments via homodyne readout.

  26. Lower overhead fault-tolerant building blocks for noisy quantum computers

    quant-ph 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    New combinatorial proofs and circuit designs for quantum error correction reduce physical qubit overhead by up to 10x and time overhead by 2-6x for codes including Steane, Golay, and surface codes.

  27. A Timelike Quantum Focusing Conjecture

    hep-th 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    A timelike quantum focusing conjecture implies a complexity-based quantum strong energy condition and a complexity bound analogous to the covariant entropy bound for suitable codimension-0 field theory complexity measures.

  28. Hybrid Quantum Neural Networks for Efficient Protein-Ligand Binding Affinity Prediction

    cs.ET 2025-09 conditional novelty 4.0

    A hybrid quantum-classical network matches or slightly beats classical baselines on protein-ligand binding affinity prediction while using fewer parameters.

  29. Benchmarking and Resource Analysis for Augmented-Lagrangian Quantum Hamiltonian Descent

    quant-ph 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 3.0

    AL-QHD benchmarks on nonconvex test functions and ACOPF power problems show useful accuracy at fixed qubit cost but require roughly 10^8 T gates for realistic instances.