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Research . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Research . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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Beyond Gottesman-Knill: Orbit Valence as a Finer Simulability Boundary

Authors: Buckley, Ian R. C.;

Beyond Gottesman-Knill: Orbit Valence as a Finer Simulability Boundary

Abstract

The Gottesman-Knill (GK) theorem establishes that Clifford circuits on stabiliser states are efficiently classically simulable. The simulability boundary is at zero magic: any state with positive Wigner negativity N(ρ) > 0 is beyond GK. This paper establishes that this boundary is not sharp enough. Two states can both lie beyond GK — both have N > 0 — yet differ in computational power in a precise, measurable way. The distinguishing invariant is the Fano orbit valence label {p_L}: the decomposition of the state's Wigner characteristic function over the seven orbit valences of the symplectic polar space W(5,2). The orbit valence provides a strictly finer simulability classification than total negativity N. The central new result is the magic valence mismatch theorem: injecting a magic state of the wrong orbit valence into a circuit that expects a different valence yields a winning probability of 0.472 in the Fano Line Verification Game — strictly below the 0.500 classical bound. Wrong-valence magic is not merely suboptimal; it is worse than no magic at all for the intended computation. Critically, this failure mode is invisible to syndrome-only decoders: CS₀₁, CS₀₂, and CS₁₂ states all produce identical stabiliser syndromes (+1)^7 but distinct orbit valence labels, detectable only by the ORBIT opcode. A valence-aware magic state factory using the ORBIT opcode accepts states by orbit valence, achieving distillation overhead O(1/p) per accepted state rather than the O(1/p²) of standard T-gate distillation — a ~1000× overhead reduction at physical error rate p = 10⁻³ for CS-family computations. The island graph picture of quantum circuit computation is introduced: entangled registers form islands connected by magic-carrying channels, and the computational power of the circuit is determined not by total magic N but by the magic current profile {I_L}. The ORBIT opcode serves as an ammeter for magic current: 7 Pauli measurements identify which orbit valences are flowing at each node. Keywords Gottesman-Knill Theorem, Classical Simulation, Magic State, Wigner Negativity, Fano Orbit, Magic Valence, Orbit Valence Label, W(5,2), Symplectic Polar Space, ORBIT Opcode, Magic State Distillation, CS Gate, Controlled-S Gate, Valence Mismatch, Island Graph, Magic Current, Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computation, Stabiliser Syndrome, Coherent Error Detection, Origami ISA, Magic-ISA, TriQ, SQU, Fano Plane, PG(2,2), Quantum Resource Theory, Simulability Boundary

Keywords

Gottesman-Knill Theorem, Island Graph, Magic Current, ORBIT Opcode, Fano Plane, W(5,2), Fano Orbit, Wigner Negativity, Valence Mismatch, Magic State, TriQ, Controlled-S Gate, Orbit Valence Label, Magic-ISA, Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computation, Magic State Distillation, Magic Valence, CS Gate, SQU, Classical Simulation, Simulability Boundary, Stabiliser Syndrome, PG(2,2), Symplectic Polar Space, Coherent Error Detection, Origami ISA, Quantum Resource Theory

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
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Average