netQuil: A quantum playground for distributed quantum computing simulations

NetQuil is an open-source Python framework for quantum networking simulations built on the quantum computing framework pyQuil, by Rigetti Computing. NetQuil is built for testing ideas in quantum network topology and distributed quantum protocol. This platform allows users to create multi-agent networks, connect parties through classical and quantum channels, and introduce realistic noise and device models. NetQuil also makes running multiple trials for non-deterministic experiments, reviewing traffic in real-time, and syncronizing agents based on local and master clocks simple and easy. We provide an overview of the state of distributed quantum protocol, as well as a basic introduction to netQuil's framework. We present several demonstrations of canonical quantum information protocol built using netQuil's distributed quantum gates and pyQuil. We hope netQuil allows users to explore the quantum playground and the possibilities of distributed quantum computing.