Hamiltonian learning protocols are essential tools to benchmark quantum computers and simulators. Yet rigorous methods for time-dependent Hamiltonians and Lindbladians remain scarce despite their wide use. We close this gap by learning the time-dependent evolution of a locally interacting n-qubit system on a graph of effective dimension D using only preparation of product Pauli eigenstates, evolution under the time-dependent generator for given times, and measurements in product Pauli bases. We assume the time-dependent parameters are well approximated by functions in a known space of dimension m admitting stable interpolation, e.g. by polynomials. Our protocol outputs functions approximating these coefficients to accuracy ? on an interval with success probability 1−δ, requiring only O(?−2poly(m)log(nδ−1)) samples and poly(n,m) pre/postprocessing. Importantly, the scaling in m is polynomial, whereas naive extensions of previous methods scale exponentially. The method estimates time derivatives of observable expectations via interpolation, yielding well-conditioned linear systems for the generator's coefficients. The main difficulty in the time-dependent setting is to evaluate these coefficients at finite times while preserving a controlled link between derivatives and dynamical parameters. Our innovation is to combine Lieb-Robinson bounds, process shadows, and semidefinite programs to recover the coefficients efficiently at constant times. Along the way, we extend state-of-the-art Lieb-Robinson bounds on general graphs to time-dependent, dissipative dynamics, a contribution of independent interest. These results provide a scalable tool to verify state-preparation procedures (e.g. adiabatic protocols) and characterize time-dependent noise in quantum devices.
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