Parametrized quantum optical circuits are a class of quantum circuits in which the carriers of quantum information are photons and the gates are optical transformations. Classically optimizing these circuits is challenging due to the infinite dimensionality of the photon number vector space that is associated to each optical mode. Truncating the space dimension is unavoidable, and it can lead to incorrect results if the gates populate photon number states beyond the cutoff. To tackle this issue, we present an algorithm that is orders of magnitude faster than the current state of the art, to recursively compute the exact matrix elements of Gaussian operators and their gradient with respect to a parametrization. These operators, when augmented with a non-Gaussian transformation such as the Kerr gate, achieve universal quantum computation. Our approach brings two advantages: first, by computing the matrix elements of Gaussian operators directly, we don't need to construct them by combining several other operators; second, we can use any variant of the gradient descent algorithm by plugging our gradients into an automatic differentiation framework such as TensorFlow or PyTorch. Our results will find applications in quantum optical hardware research, quantum machine learning, optical data processing, device discovery and device design.
Parametrized quantum circuits initialized with random initial parameter values are characterized by barren plateaus where the gradient becomes exponentially small in the number of qubits. In this technical note we theoretically motivate and empirically validate an initialization strategy which can resolve the barren plateau problem for practical applications. The technique involves randomly selecting some of the initial parameter values, then choosing the remaining values so that the circuit is a sequence of shallow blocks that each evaluates to the identity. This initialization limits the eff…
Despite all the progress in quantum technologies over the last decade, there is still a dearth of practical applications for quantum computers with a small number of noisy qubits. The effort to show quantum supremacy has been largely focused on demonstrating computations that cannot be accomplished on a classical computer at all, a difficult and controversial target. Quantum advantage (a speedup over classical computers) is a more practical milestone for today's modest quantum processors. In this work, we proposed a scheme for quantum-computer compatible proof of work (cryptographic mechanism …
When compared to fault-tolerant quantum computational strategies, variational quantum algorithms stand as one of the candidates with the potential of achieving quantum advantage for real-world applications in the near term. However, the optimization of the circuit parameters remains arduous and is impeded by many obstacles such as the presence of barren plateaus, many local minima in the optimization landscape, and limited quantum resources. A non-random initialization of the parameters seems to be key to the success of the parametrized quantum circuits (PQC) training. Drawing and extending id…
Isfahan University of Technology（伊斯法罕理工大学）；Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman（克尔曼沙希德·巴霍纳尔大学）；University of Basque Country UPV/EHU（巴斯克大学（UPV/EHU））
In this paper, we develop a compositional vector-based semantics of positive transitive sentences in quantum natural language processing for a non-English language, i.e. Persian, to compare the parametrized quantum circuits of two synonymous sentences in two languages, English and Persian. By considering grammar+meaning of a transitive sentence, we translate DisCoCat diagram via ZX-calculus into quantum circuit form. Also, we use a bigraph method to rewrite DisCoCat diagram and turn into quantum circuit in the semantic side.
Parametrized-circuit-free quantum regression with variance regularization
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology（斯科尔科沃科学技术学院）；Donostia International Physics Center（圣塞巴斯蒂安国际物理中心）；Faculty of Physics, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University（莫斯科国立大学物理系）
Although the performance of hybrid quantum-classical algorithms is highly dependent on the selection of the classical optimizer and the circuit ansatz, a robust and thorough assessment on-hardware of such features has been missing to date. From the optimizer perspective, the primary challenge lies in the solver's stochastic nature, and their significant variance over the random initialization. Therefore, a robust comparison requires that one perform several training curves for each solver before one can reach conclusions about their typical performance. Since each of the training curves requir…
Estimates of loss function concentration in noisy parametrized quantum circuits
University of Trieste（的里雅斯特大学）；Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Trieste Section（意大利国家核物理研究所，的里雅斯特分部）；European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)（欧洲核子研究组织（CERN））
Motivated by the recent success of realizing the topologically ordered ground state of the exactly solvable toric code model by a quantum circuit on the real quantum device [K. J. Satzinger {\it et al}., Science \textbf{374}, 1237 (2021)], here we propose a parametrized quantum circuit (PQC) with the same real-device-performable optimal structure to represent quantum loop gas states with adjustably weighted loop configurations. Combining such a PQC with the variational quantum eigensolver, we obtain the accurate quantum circuit representation for the toric code model in an external magnetic fi…
Imperial College London（伦敦帝国理工学院）；National University of Singapore（新加坡国立大学）；Centre for Quantum Technologies（量子科技中心）
To harness the potential of noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices, it is paramount to find the best type of circuits to run hybrid quantum-classical algorithms. Key candidates are parametrized quantum circuits that can be effectively implemented on current devices. Here, we evaluate the capacity and trainability of these circuits using the geometric structure of the parameter space via the effective quantum dimension, which reveals the expressive power of circuits in general as well as of particular initialization strategies. We assess the expressive power of various popular circuit types a…
Probabilistic Design of Parametrized Quantum Circuits through Local Gate Modifications
The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical \& Computer Engineering, University of Toronto 10 King's College Rd Toronto ON M5S 3G8 Canada；Department of Chemical；Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga 3359 Mississauga Road Mississauga ON L5L 1C6 Canada；Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto Toronto ON M5S 2E4 Canada；Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence 108 College St W1140 Toronto ON M5G 0C6 Canada；The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical \& Computer Engineering, University of Toronto 10 King's College Rd Toronto ON M5G 0C6 Canada；Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary 2500 University Drive NW Calgary AB T2N 1N4 Canada；Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto 40 St. George Street Toronto ON M5S 2E4 Canada；The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical \& Computer Engineering, University of Toronto；Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga；Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto；Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence；Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary
Los Alamos National Laboratory（洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室）；Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory（洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室理论部）；Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory（洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室非线性研究中心）
Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) optimize the parameters $\vecθ$ of a parametrized quantum circuit $V(\vecθ)$ to minimize a cost function $C$. While VQAs may enable practical applications of noisy quantum computers, they are nevertheless heuristic methods with unproven scaling. Here, we rigorously prove two results, assuming $V(\vecθ)$ is an alternating layered ansatz composed of blocks forming local 2-designs. Our first result states that defining $C$ in terms of global observables leads to exponentially vanishing gradients (i.e., barren plateaus) even when $V(\vecθ)$ is shallow. Hence, …
We explicitly construct a quantum circuit which exactly generates random three-qubit states. The optimal circuit consists of three CNOT gates and fifteen single qubit elementary rotations, parametrized by fourteen independent angles. The explicit distribution of these angles is derived, showing that the joint distribution is a product of independent distributions of individual angles apart from four angles.
Recent advancements in quantum computing have shown promising computational advantages in many problem areas. As one of those areas with increasing attention, hybrid quantum-classical machine learning systems have demonstrated the capability to solve various data-driven learning tasks. Recent works show that parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) can be used to solve challenging reinforcement learning (RL) tasks with provable learning advantages. While existing works yield potentials of PQC-based methods, the design choices of PQC architectures and their influences on the learning tasks are gen…
Parametrized Quantum Circuit Learning for Quantum Chemical Applications
The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, 10 King's College Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G4（电气与计算机工程系，多伦多大学）；Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L 1C6（化学与物理科学系，多伦多大学滑铁卢分校）
In the current noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era, quantum machine learning is emerging as a dominant paradigm to program gate-based quantum computers. In quantum machine learning, the gates of a quantum circuit are parametrized, and the parameters are tuned via classical optimization based on data and on measurements of the outputs of the circuit. Parametrized quantum circuits (PQCs) can efficiently address combinatorial optimization problems, implement probabilistic generative models, and carry out inference (classification and regression). This monograph provides a self-contained i…
Molecular quantum simulations with the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) rely on ansatz states that approximate the molecular ground states. These ansatz states are generally defined by parametrized fermionic excitation operators and an initial reference state. Efficient ways to perform fermionic excitations are vital for the realization of the VQE on noisy intermediate-scale quantum computers. Here, we address this issue by first demonstrating circuits that perform qubit excitations, excitations that do not account for fermionic anticommutation relations. We then extend the functionality …
Variational quantum algorithms, which utilize Parametrized Quantum Circuits (PQCs), are promising tools to achieve quantum advantage for optimization problems on near-term quantum devices. Their PQCs have been conventionally constructed from parametrized rotational angles of single-qubit gates around predetermined set of axes, and two-qubit entangling gates, such as CNOT gates. We propose a method to construct a PQC by continuous parametrization of both the angles and the axes of its single-qubit rotation gates. The method is based on the observation that when rotational angles are fixed, opti…
Machine learning is seen as a promising application of quantum computation. For near-term noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices, parametrized quantum circuits (PQCs) have been proposed as machine learning models due to their robustness and ease of implementation. However, the cost function is normally calculated classically from repeated measurement outcomes, such that it is no longer encoded in a quantum state. This prevents the value from being directly manipulated by a quantum computer. To solve this problem, we give a routine to embed the cost function for machine learning into a…
Optical quantum circuits can be optimized using gradient descent methods, as the gates in a circuit can be parametrized by continuous parameters. However, the parameter space as seen by the cost function is not Euclidean, which means that the Euclidean gradient does not generally point in the direction of steepest ascent. In order to retrieve the steepest ascent direction, in this work we implement Natural Gradient descent in the optical quantum circuit setting, which takes the local metric tensor into account. In particular, we adapt the Natural Gradient approach to a complex-valued parameter…
We propose a novel algorithm for fast training of variational classifiers by processing multiple samples parallelly. The algorithm can be adapted for any ansatz used in the variational circuit. The presented algorithm utilizes qRAM and other quantum circuits in the forward pass. Further, instead of the usual practice of computing the loss classically, we calculate the loss using a Swap-test circuit. The algorithm thus brings down the training cost of a variational classifier to O(logN)from the usual O(N)when training on a dataset of N samples. Although we discuss only binary classification in …
According to the Gottesman-Knill theorem, a class of quantum circuits, namely the so-called stabilizer circuits, can be simulated efficiently on a classical computer. We introduce a new algorithm for this task, which is based on the graph-state formalism. It shows significant improvement in comparison to an existing algorithm, given by Gottesman and Aaronson, in terms of speed and of the number of qubits the simulator can handle. We also present an implementation.
Volkswagen Data:Lab（大众数据实验室）；Ludwig Maximilian University（路德维希·马克西米利安大学）；Leiden University（莱顿大学）；Google Research（谷歌研究院）；Volkswagen Group Machine Learning Research Lab（大众集团机器学习研究实验室）；Eötvös Loránd University（厄特沃什·罗兰大学）
With the increased focus on quantum circuit learning for near-term applications on quantum devices, in conjunction with unique challenges presented by cost function landscapes of parametrized quantum circuits, strategies for effective training are becoming increasingly important. In order to ameliorate some of these challenges, we investigate a layerwise learning strategy for parametrized quantum circuits. The circuit depth is incrementally grown during optimization, and only subsets of parameters are updated in each training step. We show that when considering sampling noise, this strategy ca…
Predicting the optimum SWAP depth of a quantum circuit is useful because it informs the compiler about the amount of necessary optimization. Fast prediction methods will prove essential to the compilation of practical quantum circuits. In this paper, we propose that quantum circuits can be modeled as queuing networks, enabling efficient extraction of the parallelism and duration of SWAP circuits. To provide preliminary substantiation of this approach, we compile a quantum multiplier circuit and use a queuing network model to accurately determine the quantum circuit parallelism and duration. Ou…
This paper presents ``Stim", a fast simulator for quantum stabilizer circuits. The paper explains how Stim works and compares it to existing tools. With no foreknowledge, Stim can analyze a distance 100 surface code circuit (20 thousand qubits, 8 million gates, 1 million measurements) in 15 seconds and then begin sampling full circuit shots at a rate of 1 kHz. Stim uses a stabilizer tableau representation, similar to Aaronson and Gottesman's CHP simulator, but with three main improvements. First, Stim improves the asymptotic complexity of deterministic measurement from quadratic to linear by t…
We present the meta-VQE, an algorithm capable to learn the ground state energy profile of a parametrized Hamiltonian. By training the meta-VQE with a few data points, it delivers an initial circuit parametrization that can be used to compute the ground state energy of any parametrization of the Hamiltonian within a certain trust region. We test this algorithm with a XXZ spin chain, an electronic H$_{4}$ Hamiltonian and a single-transmon quantum simulation. In all cases, the meta-VQE is able to learn the shape of the energy functional and, in some cases, resulted in improved accuracy in compari…
We propose an implementation of the algorithm for the fast Fourier transform (FFT) as a quantum circuit consisting of a combination of some quantum gates. In our implementation, a data sequence is expressed by a tensor product of vector spaces. Namely, our FFT is defined as a transformation of the tensor product of quantum states. It is essentially different from the so-called quantum Fourier transform (QFT) defined to be a linear transformation of the amplitudes for the superposition of quantum states. The quantum circuit for the FFT consists of several circuits for elementary arithmetic oper…
A scheme for coupling superconducting charge qubits via a one-dimensional superconducting transmission line resonator is proposed. The qubits are working at their optimal points, where they are immune to the charge noise and possess long decoherence time. Analysis on the dynamical time evolution of the interaction is presented, which is shown to be insensitive to the initial state of the resonator field. This scheme enables fast gate operation and is readily scalable to multiqubit scenario.
Variational algorithms for strongly correlated chemical and materials systems are one of the most promising applications of near-term quantum computers. We present an extension to the variational quantum eigensolver that approximates the ground state of a system by solving a generalized eigenvalue problem in a subspace spanned by a collection of parametrized quantum states. This allows for the systematic improvement of a logical wavefunction ansatz without a significant increase in circuit complexity. To minimize the circuit complexity of this approach, we propose a strategy for efficiently me…
The Poisson equation has applications across many areas of physics and engineering, such as the dynamic process simulation of ocean current. Here we present a quantum Fast Poisson Solver, including the algorithm and the complete and modular circuit design. The algorithm takes the HHL algorithm as the template. The controlled rotation is performed based on the arc cotangent function which is evaluated by the Plouffe's binary expansion method. And the same method is used to compute the cosine function for the eigenvalue approximation in phase estimation. Quantum algorithms for solving square roo…
We introduce a new open-source software library Jet, which uses task-based parallelism to obtain speed-ups in classical tensor-network simulations of quantum circuits. These speed-ups result from i) the increased parallelism introduced by mapping the tensor-network simulation to a task-based framework, ii) a novel method of reusing shared work between tensor-network contraction tasks, and iii) the concurrent contraction of tensor networks on all available hardware. We demonstrate the advantages of our method by benchmarking our code on several Sycamore-53 and Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) supr…
Current structure optimization algorithms optimize the structure of quantum circuit from scratch for each new task of variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) without using any prior experience, which is inefficient and time-consuming. Besides, the number of quantum gates is a hyper-parameter of these algorithms, which is difficult and time-consuming to determine. In this paper, we propose a rapid structure optimization algorithm for VQAs which automatically determines the number of quantum gates and directly generates the optimal structures for new tasks with the meta-trained graph variational a…
