Reproducibility in Quantum Computing

Reproducibility is important for validating the performance of applications in quantum computing as a measure of consistency in computation. Current noisy, intermediate-scale devices quantum (NISQ) devices are strongly affected by intrinsic noise that leads to a variety of computational error mechanisms. Here we assess reproducibility of NISQ computing by focusing on a specific simple error mechanism that arises during noisy readout. Using an asymmetric channel for binary readout, we develop an analytic bound on the Hellinger distance between computational outputs for different readout parameters. We validate this model using characterization and testing of the IBM toronto device, which displays a range of readout parameters. We find that to ensure reproducibility, one must avoid using register elements characterized by fidelity asymmetry exceeding a threshold.