Noise-aware emulation and cross-device validation of neutral atom analog quantum processing units

Authors:Constantin Dalyac, Sergi Julià-Farré, Lucas Leclerc, Vittorio Vitale, Boris Albrecht, Lucas Béguin, Kemal Bidzhiev, Petru Borta, Clémence Briosne-Frejaville, Daniel J. Campbell, Dorian Claveau, Makrem Chatti, Antoine Cornillot, Julius de Hond, Anita Devi, Thomas Eritzpokhoff, Gaétan Hercé, Fergus Hayes, Soufiane Kaghad, Arun Kumar Abhimanyu, Lucas Lassablière, Mauro Mendizabal, Anton Quelle, Julien Ripoll, Henrique Silvério, Joseph Vovrosh, Guillaume Villaret, Adrien Signoles, Alexandre Dauphin

Abstract:Analog quantum processors based on Rydberg atom arrays are a powerful platform for many-body quantum simulation, combinatorial optimization, and graph machine learning. As these devices become increasingly accessible, establishing confidence in their outputs requires predictive models that quantitatively connect microscopic hardware imperfections to empirical results. Here, we present a noise-aware emulation framework that propagates the dominant noise mechanisms throughout the full computation cycle to predict device behavior. We validate the framework by benchmarking two representative protocols, quantum annealing and post-quench dynamics, on three Pasqal quantum processors where classical simulations still provide ground truth. Across all three devices, the measured observables fall within the uncertainty envelopes predicted by the emulator. Beyond reproducing the data, the framework isolates which physical mechanism dominates in each operating regime, provides quantitative guidance for algorithm design and hardware improvements, and establishes a foundation for verifying analog processors in regimes beyond classical reach.

12 pages, 6 figures. Comments are welcome

Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas)

arXiv:2607.28364 [quant-ph]

(or arXiv:2607.28364v1 [quant-ph] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2607.28364 arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)