Theory of the Matchgate Commutant
Summarize this article with:
Quantum Physics arXiv:2603.12392 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 12 Mar 2026] Title:Theory of the Matchgate Commutant Authors:Piotr Sierant, Xhek Turkeshi, Poetri Sonya Tarabunga View a PDF of the paper titled Theory of the Matchgate Commutant, by Piotr Sierant and 2 other authors View PDF Abstract:In quantum information theory and statistical physics, symmetries of multiple copies, or replicas, of a system play a pivotal role. For unitary ensembles, these symmetries are encoded in the replicated commutant: the algebra of operators commuting with the ensemble across $k$ replicas. Determining the commutant is straightforward for the full unitary group, but remains a major obstacle for structured, computationally relevant circuit families. We solve this problem for matchgate circuits, which prepare fermionic Gaussian states on $n$ qubits. Using a Majorana fermion representation, we show that operators coupling different system copies generate the orthogonal Lie algebra $\mathfrak{so}(k)$, endowing the space of invariants with rich and tractable structure. This underlying symmetry decomposes the matchgate commutant into irreducible sectors, which we completely resolve via a Gelfand--Tsetlin construction. We provide an explicit orthonormal basis of the matchgate commutant for all $k$ and $n$, together with a formula for its dimension that grows polynomially in $n$. Furthermore, we characterize the commutant of the Clifford--matchgate subgroup, showing that restricting to signed permutations of Majorana modes yields a commutant that qualitatively diverges from the matchgate case for $k \geq 4$ replicas. Ultimately, our orthonormal basis turns algebraic classification into a working toolbox. Using it, we derive closed-form expressions for matchgate twirling channels and a fermionic analogue of Weingarten calculus, the projector encoding all moments of the Gaussian state orbit, state and unitary frame potentials, the average nonstabilizerness of fermionic Gaussian states, a systematic hierarchy of non-Gaussianity measures, and a fermionic de Finetti theorem. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech); Mathematical Physics (math-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2603.12392 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2603.12392v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.12392 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Poetri Sonya Tarabunga [view email] [v1] Thu, 12 Mar 2026 19:12:19 UTC (84 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Theory of the Matchgate Commutant, by Piotr Sierant and 2 other authorsView PDFTeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-03 Change to browse by: cond-mat cond-mat.stat-mech math math-ph math.MP References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)