PyMatching: A Python Package for Decoding Quantum Codes with Minimum-Weight Perfect Matching

Abstract

This article introduces PyMatching, a fast open-source Python package for decoding quantum error-correcting codes with the minimum-weight perfect matching (MWPM) algorithm. PyMatching includes the standard MWPM decoder as well as a variant, which we call local matching, that restricts each syndrome defect to be matched to another defect within a local neighborhood. The decoding performance of local matching is almost identical to that of the standard MWPM decoder in practice, while reducing the computational complexity. We benchmark the performance of PyMatching, showing that local matching is several orders of magnitude faster than implementations of the full MWPM algorithm using NetworkX or Blossom V for problem sizes typically considered in error correction simulations. PyMatching and its dependencies are open-source, and it can be used to decode any quantum code for which syndrome defects come in pairs using a simple Python interface. PyMatching supports the use of weighted edges, hook errors, boundaries and measurement errors, enabling fast decoding, and simulation of fault-tolerant quantum computing.