@inproceedings{li-etal-2026-explainable,
title = "Explainable Quantum Program Repair with Verifiable Proof Traces",
author = "Li, Tingting and
Zhao, Ziming and
Li, Zhaoxuan and
Yu, Jiongchi and
Yue, Xiaofei and
Yin, Jianwei",
editor = "Liakata, Maria and
Moreira, Viviane P. and
Zhang, Jiajun and
Jurgens, David",
booktitle = "Findings of the {A}ssociation for {C}omputational {L}inguistics: {ACL} 2026",
month = jul,
year = "2026",
address = "San Diego, California, United States",
publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.1549/",
pages = "30985--30995",
ISBN = "979-8-89176-395-1",
abstract = "Large language models have recently advanced automated program repair, yet most existing approaches provide only post-hoc natural-language explanations that are neither executable nor verifiable. This limitation is especially critical for quantum programs, where correctness hinges on subtle semantic properties such as circuit equivalence and fidelity preservation. We propose Explainable Quantum Program Repair, a framework that couples repair generation with machine-checkable executable explanations. Given a buggy quantum circuit, a language model proposes candidate repairs together with structured transformation rationales, which are compiled into proof traces and validated using formal verification backends, including circuit equivalence checking, ZX-calculus reasoning, stabilizer analysis, and quantum simulation. Only repairs whose explanations are fully verified are accepted. Experiments on QASMBench with mutation-generated quantum program bugs demonstrate that our approach achieves competitive repair success while substantially improving semantic precision and explanation faithfulness over baselines that rely on unconstrained or purely natural-language explanations."
}<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<modsCollection xmlns="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
<mods ID="li-etal-2026-explainable">
<titleInfo>
<title>Explainable Quantum Program Repair with Verifiable Proof Traces</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Tingting</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Li</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Ziming</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Zhao</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Zhaoxuan</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Li</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Jiongchi</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Yu</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Xiaofei</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Yue</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Jianwei</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Yin</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<dateIssued>2026-07</dateIssued>
</originInfo>
<typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource>
<relatedItem type="host">
<titleInfo>
<title>Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Maria</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Liakata</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Viviane</namePart>
<namePart type="given">P</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Moreira</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Jiajun</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Zhang</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">David</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Jurgens</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<publisher>Association for Computational Linguistics</publisher>
<place>
<placeTerm type="text">San Diego, California, United States</placeTerm>
</place>
</originInfo>
<genre authority="marcgt">conference publication</genre>
<identifier type="isbn">979-8-89176-395-1</identifier>
</relatedItem>
<abstract>Large language models have recently advanced automated program repair, yet most existing approaches provide only post-hoc natural-language explanations that are neither executable nor verifiable. This limitation is especially critical for quantum programs, where correctness hinges on subtle semantic properties such as circuit equivalence and fidelity preservation. We propose Explainable Quantum Program Repair, a framework that couples repair generation with machine-checkable executable explanations. Given a buggy quantum circuit, a language model proposes candidate repairs together with structured transformation rationales, which are compiled into proof traces and validated using formal verification backends, including circuit equivalence checking, ZX-calculus reasoning, stabilizer analysis, and quantum simulation. Only repairs whose explanations are fully verified are accepted. Experiments on QASMBench with mutation-generated quantum program bugs demonstrate that our approach achieves competitive repair success while substantially improving semantic precision and explanation faithfulness over baselines that rely on unconstrained or purely natural-language explanations.</abstract>
<identifier type="citekey">li-etal-2026-explainable</identifier>
<location>
<url>https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.1549/</url>
</location>
<part>
<date>2026-07</date>
<extent unit="page">
<start>30985</start>
<end>30995</end>
</extent>
</part>
</mods>
</modsCollection>
%0 Conference Proceedings
%T Explainable Quantum Program Repair with Verifiable Proof Traces
%A Li, Tingting
%A Zhao, Ziming
%A Li, Zhaoxuan
%A Yu, Jiongchi
%A Yue, Xiaofei
%A Yin, Jianwei
%Y Liakata, Maria
%Y Moreira, Viviane P.
%Y Zhang, Jiajun
%Y Jurgens, David
%S Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026
%D 2026
%8 July
%I Association for Computational Linguistics
%C San Diego, California, United States
%@ 979-8-89176-395-1
%F li-etal-2026-explainable
%X Large language models have recently advanced automated program repair, yet most existing approaches provide only post-hoc natural-language explanations that are neither executable nor verifiable. This limitation is especially critical for quantum programs, where correctness hinges on subtle semantic properties such as circuit equivalence and fidelity preservation. We propose Explainable Quantum Program Repair, a framework that couples repair generation with machine-checkable executable explanations. Given a buggy quantum circuit, a language model proposes candidate repairs together with structured transformation rationales, which are compiled into proof traces and validated using formal verification backends, including circuit equivalence checking, ZX-calculus reasoning, stabilizer analysis, and quantum simulation. Only repairs whose explanations are fully verified are accepted. Experiments on QASMBench with mutation-generated quantum program bugs demonstrate that our approach achieves competitive repair success while substantially improving semantic precision and explanation faithfulness over baselines that rely on unconstrained or purely natural-language explanations.
%U https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.1549/
%P 30985-30995
Markdown (Informal)
[Explainable Quantum Program Repair with Verifiable Proof Traces](https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.1549/) (Li et al., Findings 2026)
ACL
- Tingting Li, Ziming Zhao, Zhaoxuan Li, Jiongchi Yu, Xiaofei Yue, and Jianwei Yin. 2026. Explainable Quantum Program Repair with Verifiable Proof Traces. In Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026, pages 30985–30995, San Diego, California, United States. Association for Computational Linguistics.