Qudit Shadow Estimation Based on the Clifford Group and the Power of a Single Magic Gate

Abstract

Shadow estimation is a sample-efficient protocol for learning the properties of a quantum system using randomized measurements, but the current understanding of qudit shadow estimation is quite limited compared with the qubit setting. Here, we clarify the sample complexity of qudit shadow estimation based on the Clifford group, where the local dimension d is an odd prime. Notably, we show that the overhead of qudit shadow estimation over the qubit counterpart is only O(d), which is independent of the qudit number n, although the set of stabilizer states may deviate exponentially from a 3-design with respect to the third moment operator. Furthermore, by adding one layer of magic gates, we propose a simple circuit that can significantly boost the efficiency. Actually, a single magic gate can already eliminate the O(d) overhead in qudit shadow estimation and bridge the gap from the qubit setting. Published by the American Physical Society 2025