Resource-efficient algorithm for estimating the trace of quantum state powers
Myeongjin Shin, Junseo Lee, Seungwoo Lee, Kabgyun Jeong · Quantum · 2025
Estimating the trace of quantum state powers, Tr ( ρ k ) , for k identical quantum states is a fundamental task with numerous applications in quantum information processing, including nonlinear function estimation of quantum states and entanglement detection. On near-term quantum devices, reducing the required quantum circuit depth, the number of multi-qubit quantum operations, and the copies of the quantum state needed for such computations is crucial. In this work, inspired by the Newton-Girard method, we significantly improve upon existing results by introducing an algorithm that requires only O ( r ~ ) qubits and O ( r ~ ) multi-qubit gates, where r ~ = min { rank ( ρ ) , ⌈ ln ( 2 k / ϵ ) ⌉ } . This approach is efficient, as it employs the r ~ -entangled copy measurement instead of the conventional k -entangled copy measurement, while asymptotically preserving the known sample complexity upper bound. Furthermore, we prove that estimating { Tr ( ρ i ) } i = 1 r ~ is sufficient to approximate Tr ( ρ k ) even for large integers k > r ~ . This leads to a rank-dependent complexity for solving the problem, providing an efficient algorithm for low-rank quantum states while also improving existing methods when the rank is unknown or when the state is not low-rank. Building upon these advantages, we extend our algorithm to the estimation of Tr ( M ρ k ) for arbitrary observables and Tr ( ρ k σ l ) for multiple quantum states.