Quantum Systems: Clusters, Hybrid Quantum/AI Workflows and Use Cases

The architecture described in this landscape report is built around a Cluster-Level Quantum OS: a Kubernetes-like software stack responsible for scheduling, partitioning, error-correcting and orchestrating quantum computation across multiple Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) in coordination with classical computing resources.

Previous reports in this series have covered quantum processors and quantum networking. This report will delve into:

• Quantum Operating Systems (QuOS or QOS) and clusters
• Hybrid quantum/AI workflows and their use cases:
  • Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE): Modeling new molecules is the "low-hanging fruit" of quantum workloads and is immediately accessible with the levels of quantum entanglement produced by today's technology.
  • RSA factorization (encryption breaking): While the number of virtual qubits required to actively crack RSA-2048 still falls short, the inevitability of "Q-Day" (the day when it becomes viable and all modern encryption is rendered moot) makes this a high priority to both accomplish and defend against.

The sections that follow describe each major component of this OS in turn, reference the end-to-end flow as context, and then ground the architecture in two concrete workloads: a near-term validation case (VQE) and a long-horizon stress test (RSA factorization). Together, these workloads span the full range of what the system must be designed to handle.