Distributed variational quantum computing with deterministic entanglement tuning

Abstract

Distributed quantum computing offers a scalable route to quantum information processing by entangling spatially separated processors. Although gate teleportation enables universal computation across distributed nodes, it requires repeated consumption of high-fidelity Bell pairs, ancillary qubits, and real-time feedforward, which imposes significant overhead and reduces fidelity. However, many variational quantum algorithms do not demand full universality; rather, they rely on sufficient expressibility to explore solution spaces effectively. Building on this, we propose a distributed variational quantum computing protocol based on deterministic entanglement tuning. In contrast to probabilistic filtering, our approach deterministically modulates pre-shared entanglement using only local operations and classical communication. We validate the protocol through a proof-of-principle experiment by estimating ground-state energies of the He-H$^+$ molecule and the Schwinger model, showing that diverse entanglement levels can be engineered to match problem-specific requirements. Our results suggest a practical alternative for near-term distributed quantum applications.