Simulating quantum circuits on a computer using hierarchical storage

A computer-implemented method, comprising,

• partitioning, by a system operatively coupled to a processor, via a memory, an input quantum circuit comprising a representation of a quantum circuit into sub-circuits that minimize a quantity of read/write cycles to a secondary storage, wherein the sub-circuits have respective sets of qubits to be used for tensor slicing;
• simulating, by the system, the input quantum circuit in stages based on the sub-circuits into a simulated quantum state tensor comprising quantum state tensor slices;
• and
• storing, by the system, at least some of the quantum state tensor slices of the simulated quantum state tensor to the secondary storage.

A computer program product for simulating quantum circuits including an input quantum circuit comprising a machine-readable specification of a quantum circuit, the computer program product comprising one or more computer readable storage media having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

• partition, via a memory, the input quantum circuit into sub-circuits that minimize a quantity of read/write cycles to a secondary storage, wherein the sub-circuits have respective sets of qubits to be used for tensor slicing;
• simulate the input quantum circuit in stages based on the sub-circuits into a simulated quantum state tensor comprising quantum state tensor slices;
• and
• store at least some of the quantum state tensor slices of the simulated quantum state tensor to the secondary storage.