Noise-induced classical phases in optimally-unraveled random quantum circuits

Abstract

We study the classical simulability of open quantum dynamics using random Clifford circuits doped with non-Clifford phase rotations and subject to local noise. We unravel the dynamics into stochastic quantum trajectories simulated with Clifford-augmented matrix product states, and introduce a simulation cost that quantifies the classical resources required. Optimizing this cost over stochastic unravelings, we identify noise-induced classical phases: extended parameter regions in which the dynamics can be fully disentangled by Clifford operations at arbitrary circuit depth. Their existence depends on both the noise model \emph{and} the unraveling. Using a geometric representation of quantum channels, we analytically determine optimal unravelings for a broad class of noise models, with numerical simulations confirming the predicted phase boundaries. We further relate the optimal cost to the unraveling-independent nonstabilizerness of the channel and show that, together with trajectory-resolved entanglement and nonstabilizerness, it classifies distinct dynamical regimes. Finally, we show that these classical phases disappear in the averaged density-matrix description, where no unraveling freedom remains. Our results show that the emergence of classicality in noisy random circuits depends on the measurement scheme adopted to probe it, and paves the way to further studies on the classical simulability of driven-dissipative dynamics.