1. Step–by–Step Derivation
- Ideal (error-free) circuit action
• Start in the computational vacuum \(\lvert0000\rangle_{0\,1\,2\,3}\).
• \(H_2 \;CNOT_{21}\) creates a Bell pair on qubits 2 & 1
\[
\frac{1}{\sqrt2}\bigl(\lvert0000\rangle+\lvert0110\rangle\bigr).
\]
• \(H_0 \;CNOT_{03}\) then creates a Bell pair on qubits 0 & 3, giving the final ideal state
\[
=\frac{1}{2}\Bigl(
\lvert0000\rangle+\lvert0110\rangle
+\lvert1001\rangle+\lvert1111\rangle
\Bigr)
\]
where $\lvert\Phi^+\rangle=(\lvert00\rangle+\lvert11\rangle)/\sqrt2$.
Hence the four-qubit target is a product of two identical Bell states on the disjoint pairs (0,3) and (2,1).
- Noise model after every CNOT
After each two-qubit gate a depolarising channel acts on the same two qubits:
\[
\mathcal{E}_p(\rho)= (1-p)\rho+\frac{p}{15}\sum_{P\neq I}P\rho P,
\]
where the sum runs over the 15 non-identity two-qubit Pauli operators \(P\in\{X,Y,Z\}^{\otimes2}\).
- Fidelity loss for one Bell pair
The stabiliser of \(\lvert\Phi^+\rangle\) is \(\{II,XX,ZZ,-YY\}\).
For any Pauli \(P\),
\[
=\begin{cases}1,&P\in\{XX,ZZ,YY\}\\
\]
Therefore, when the depolarising channel acts on a single Bell pair,
\[
F_{\text{Bell}}(p)=\langle\Phi^+|\mathcal{E}_p(|\Phi^+\rangle\langle\Phi^+|)|\Phi^+\rangle
=(1-p)+\frac{p}{15}(3)=1-\tfrac{4}{5}p.
\]
- Two independent error locations
• The first noisy CNOT acts on qubits (2,1), affecting only the Bell pair \(\lvert\Phi^+\rangle_{21}\).
• The second noisy CNOT acts on qubits (0,3), affecting only the Bell pair \(\lvert\Phi^+\rangle_{03}\).
Because the pairs are disjoint and the final ideal state factorises, the total four-qubit state after the whole circuit is
\[
\;\otimes\;
\]
- Overall physical fidelity
The fidelity with the error-free four-qubit target factorises:
\[
F_{\text{phys}}(p)=
\langle\Psi_{\text{ideal}}|\rho(p)|\Psi_{\text{ideal}}\rangle
=F_{\text{Bell}}(p)\times F_{\text{Bell}}(p)
=\bigl(1-\tfrac{4}{5}p\bigr)^2.
\]
Expanding to second order,
\[
F_{\text{phys}}(p)=1-1.6\,p+0.64\,p^{2}.
\]
2. Final Answer
Final Answer:
The physical four-qubit state fidelity after the circuit, as a function of the two-qubit gate error rate \(p\), is
\[
F_{\text{phys}}(p)=\bigl(1-\tfrac{4}{5}p\bigr)^{2}
=1-1.6\,p+0.64\,p^{2}.
\]