Disentangling unitary dynamics with classically simulable quantum circuits

Abstract: We show that states obtained from deep random Clifford circuits doped with non-Clifford phase gates (including T-gates and $\sqrt{\mathrm{T}}$-gates) can be disentangled completely, provided the number of non-Clifford gates is smaller or approximately equal to the number of qubits. This implies that Pauli expectation values of such states can be efficiently simulated classically, despite them exhibiting both extensive entanglement and extensive nonstabilizerness. We prove this result analytically using a quantum error correction formulation, demonstrate its applicability numerically, and discuss consequences for the disentanglability of states generated through Hamiltonian dynamics. We show that this result implies a novel representation of approximate state designs that can also facilitate their efficient generation, and we propose a novel quantum circuit compression scheme for Clifford circuits doped with non-Clifford phase gates.