With the increasing number of simulations of systems on quantum devices, on noisy quantum simulators and on ideal simulators, we anticipate that readily discernible icons will be helpful in conveying the nature of present and future simulations. We have created three such icons, and are in the process of assessing their utility.
Ideal Quantum Simulation on Classical Hardware
To denote the use of classical resources for the exploration of hardware-agnostic, theoretical properties, e.g. Hilbert-space truncations, time-evolution operator structure or circuit construction.
Noisy Quantum Simulation on Classical Hardware
To denote the use of classical resources for the exploration of the impact of quantum noise in simulations. The noise fluctuations may be generic or specialized to model existing or future quantum hardware.
Quantum Simulation on Quantum Hardware
To denote a quantum computation performed on quantum hardware, and to denote the use of physical quantum degrees of freedom for the exploration of entanglement, interference or superposition within a quantum device as a computational resource.
