Frozen-Tree Sampling Refutes Quantum Advantage of Random Circuit Sampling
摘要
Random circuit sampling of bitstrings from a Haar-random quantum state is widely believed to be classically intractable, and has therefore been implemented as a primary benchmark for demonstrating quantum advantage. Here, we challenge this premise by proposing an efficient classical frozen-tree sampling algorithm that exploits the conditional scale invariance of Haar-random quantum states [Oh, arXiv:2602.19448]. The frozen-tree sampler draws bitstrings of qubits in time per sample. Moreover, its output probability is statistically identical to the probability of a random quantum circuit, since both are independent instances of the same Dirichlet distribution. Consequently, no statistical test acting on samples alone can distinguish the classical frozen-tree sampler from a quantum random circuit. The claimed quantum advantage of random circuit sampling therefore does not withstand scrutiny: its hardness lies not in sampling from the Dirichlet distribution, which is classically efficient, but in identifying a specific circuit realization.
引用
@article{arxiv.2607.04054,
title = {Frozen-Tree Sampling Refutes Quantum Advantage of Random Circuit Sampling},
author = {Sangchul Oh},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.04054},
year = {2026}
}
备注
7 pages, 6 figures