| name | distributed-quantum-compiler-scheduling |
| description | Compiler techniques for scheduling and optimizing distributed quantum computers (DQCs). Covers teleportation-aware scheduling, utility-driven lookahead scheduling, EPR-capacity-aware early scheduling, frequency allocation and transpilation co-design, and code surgery synthesis for stabilizer codes. Use when: designing DQC compilers, optimizing quantum circuit scheduling across multi-chip systems, minimizing teleportation overhead, implementing lookahead-aware quantum compilation, scheduling cross-chip CNOT operations, synthesizing code surgery for stabilizer codes, reducing latency in distributed quantum execution, or working with quantum error correction code surgery (arXiv: 2605.21795 ATHENA, 2605.21746 GeneCS). |
Distributed Quantum Compiler Scheduling
Methodology for compiling and scheduling quantum circuits on distributed quantum computers (DQCs) with multi-chip architectures connected via photonic interconnects.
Problem Statement
Non-local CNOTs between chips are 4.3-7.7x slower and 4x more error-prone than local CNOTs within a chip. Block-level scheduling (existing approach) lacks lookahead across blocks and introduces latency.
ATHENA: Utility-Driven Lookahead + EPR-Capacity-Aware Scheduling
From arXiv:2605.21795 (Yun et al., UT Austin + Cisco Quantum Lab).
Key Insight 1: UMS (Utility-driven Lookahead with Multi-Candidate Block Scheduling)
- Schedule current block considering only useful future blocks in lookahead window
- A future block has utility if it shares overlapping qubits with the current block
- Maintain multiple candidate schedules during compilation
- Defer commitment to globally sub-optimal schedules early in compilation
Key Insight 2: EES (EPR-Capacity-Aware Early Scheduling)
- Schedule future operations and their relocations early when EPR resources are available
- Avoid waiting for preceding blocks to finish before scheduling teleportations
- Reduces latency by overlapping teleportation preparation with computation
Results
- Reduces teleportations by 34% on average (up to 65%)
- Reduces latency by 2x on average (up to 2.9x)
GeneCS: Code Surgery for Arbitrary Stabilizer Codes
From arXiv:2605.21746 (Zhou et al., UT Austin).
Resource-efficient compiler for synthesizing code surgery protocols for arbitrary quantum stabilizer codes:
- Structure-aware optimizations eliminate redundancy in graph construction
- Dynamically balance expansion and congestion
- Incorporate code degree constraints
- Reduces ancillary qubits and checks by 10x for single-code and cross-code operations
- Scales to codes with 1000+ qubits at ~1 second per instance
Workflow
Step 1: Identify DQC Architecture
- Map chip topology and interconnect bandwidth
- Determine EPR pair generation rate and fidelity
- Characterize local vs non-local gate costs
Step 2: Decompose Circuit into Blocks
- Group CNOTs with overlapping qubits into blocks
- Identify cross-chip dependencies
- Build qubit-chip assignment graph
Step 3: Apply UMS Scheduling
For each block B_i in topological order:
1. Identify useful future blocks (shared qubits)
2. Generate multiple candidate schedules
3. Score each candidate by: teleportation cost + future impact
4. Defer globally sub-optimal candidates
5. Commit best schedule for B_i
Step 4: Apply EES Early Scheduling
While EPR capacity available:
1. Identify future teleportation needs
2. Schedule teleportations ahead of computation
3. Overlap EPR generation with ongoing computation
Step 5: Code Surgery Synthesis (for FTQC)
For fault-tolerant operations on stabilizer codes:
- Build measurement graph for logical operations
- Apply structure-aware graph optimization
- Balance expansion vs congestion
- Enforce code degree constraints
- Generate executable surgery protocol
Pitfalls
- Naive lookahead expansion: Simply expanding the lookahead window to include all subsequent blocks does NOT solve the lookahead problem — must filter by utility (shared qubits)
- EPR resource waste: Schedule teleportations only when EPR pairs are actually available; otherwise wait and overlap with computation
- Block ordering: Topological order matters — schedule blocks with fewer cross-chip dependencies first
- Code surgery overhead: Theoretical constructions incur substantial ancilla overhead; use structure-aware optimization to eliminate redundancy
Activation Keywords
ATHENA, DQC compiler, distributed quantum computer scheduling, teleportation optimization, utility-driven lookahead, EPR capacity, code surgery, stabilizer codes, GeneCS, cross-chip CNOT, quantum transpilation