{"id":5815,"library":"qiskit-aer","title":"Qiskit Aer Simulator","description":"Qiskit Aer is a high-performance simulator backend for Qiskit, designed for fast and accurate simulation of quantum circuits on classical computers. It supports various simulation methods, including statevector, density matrix, extended stabilizer, and matrix product state, along with advanced noise modeling capabilities. The current version is 0.17.2, and it typically releases new versions in sync with major Qiskit releases to maintain compatibility.","status":"active","version":"0.17.2","language":"en","source_language":"en","source_url":"https://github.com/Qiskit/qiskit-aer","tags":["quantum computing","simulator","qiskit","physics","aer"],"install":[{"cmd":"pip install qiskit-aer","lang":"bash","label":"Install latest version"}],"dependencies":[{"reason":"Qiskit Aer is a backend for Qiskit; recent versions (0.17.x+) require Qiskit 2.0+ for full compatibility and API alignment.","package":"qiskit","optional":false},{"reason":"Added as a requirement in qiskit-aer 0.17.1.","package":"python-dateutil","optional":false}],"imports":[{"symbol":"AerSimulator","correct":"from qiskit_aer import AerSimulator"},{"note":"The `Aer` object is still used for getting specific simulator backends, but `AerSimulator` is the recommended direct import for the default simulator in newer Qiskit versions. The path `qiskit.providers.aer` is for legacy Qiskit versions.","wrong":"from qiskit.providers.aer import Aer","symbol":"Aer","correct":"from qiskit_aer import Aer"}],"quickstart":{"code":"from qiskit import QuantumCircuit, transpile\nfrom qiskit_aer import AerSimulator\n\n# Construct quantum circuit\ncirc = QuantumCircuit(2, 2)\ncirc.h(0)\ncirc.cx(0, 1)\ncirc.measure([0,1], [0,1])\n\n# Select the AerSimulator\nsimulator = AerSimulator()\n\n# Run and get counts\ncompiled_circuit = transpile(circ, simulator)\njob = simulator.run(compiled_circuit, shots=1000)\nresult = job.result()\ncounts = result.get_counts(circ)\nprint(\"Shot counts:\", counts)","lang":"python","description":"This example demonstrates how to create a simple Bell state circuit, select the default AerSimulator backend, and execute the circuit to obtain measurement counts."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Upgrade `qiskit-aer` to 0.17.0 or newer (e.g., `pip install qiskit-aer>=0.17.0`). Ensure your `qiskit` package is also up-to-date (e.g., `pip install qiskit>=2.0`).","message":"Qiskit Aer versions prior to 0.17.0 are not fully compatible with Qiskit 2.0 and later. Significant API changes in Qiskit 2.0 require corresponding updates in Qiskit Aer.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":"<0.17.0 (when used with qiskit>=2.0)"},{"fix":"Prefer `from qiskit_aer import AerSimulator; simulator = AerSimulator()` over `from qiskit_aer import Aer; simulator = Aer.get_backend('aer_simulator')`.","message":"Directly accessing simulator backends via `Aer.get_backend('aer_simulator')` is less explicit than importing the `AerSimulator` class directly. While still functional, the direct class import is the recommended pattern.","severity":"deprecated","affected_versions":"All versions (more relevant with qiskit>=1.0)"},{"fix":"Always check the `Requires-Python` metadata on PyPI or the official documentation for `qiskit-aer` and `qiskit` to ensure your Python environment is compatible.","message":"Qiskit Aer has specific Python version requirements that can change between releases. For example, version 0.16.1 dropped support for Python 3.8 and added support for Python 3.13.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"0.16.1 onwards"},{"fix":"Consult the official Qiskit Aer documentation for detailed GPU installation instructions specific to your operating system and hardware. Ensure all necessary NVIDIA CUDA components are correctly installed and configured.","message":"Enabling GPU acceleration for `qiskit-aer` requires specific system configurations, including CUDA Toolkit and drivers. Setup can be complex and may require custom builds or specific installation flags.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"All versions attempting GPU acceleration"}],"env_vars":null,"last_verified":"2026-04-14T00:00:00.000Z","next_check":"2026-07-13T00:00:00.000Z"}