{
  "abstract": "In this paper I revisit my 2006 conjecture on correlated errors in entangled physical qubits, originally proposed as a potential obstruction to quantum fault tolerance. The conjecture asserts that, in any physical implementation of a quantum computer, the effective noise channel acting on entangled physical qubits contains a joint fully depolarizing component, with a rate comparable to that of two-qubit gate errors. This hypothesized structural constraint goes beyond standard noise models and, if valid, would pose a significant challenge to scalable quantum fault tolerance. The conjecture remains open, but recent advances in experimental quantum computing bring it within reach of empirical testing on current devices. I also discuss two related directions in my critical study of quantum computation: the role of noise sensitivity and computational complexity in noisy intermediate-scale quantum systems, and the statistical analysis of experimental claims of quantum advantage. Finally, since this paper is written for a volume honoring Yuri Gurevich, I include some reflections on the ways in which my scientific and personal trajectory became intertwined with Yuri's.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.33508",
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Gil Kalai"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7p2fqgg73yx0s.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.33508",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "7p2fqgg73yx0s",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.33508",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cs.CC"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "quant-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1702|Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214765154",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.33508",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-27",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7p2fqgg73yx0s.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:12Z",
      "native_id": "2609.33508",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.33508"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:quant-ph",
      "subfield": "quantum"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The Fully Depolarizing Noise Conjecture for Entangled Physical States: A Twenty-Year Perspective",
  "title_text": "The Fully Depolarizing Noise Conjecture for Entangled Physical States: A Twenty-Year Perspective",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:12Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7p2fqgg73yx0s",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}