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arXiv:2003.12087 · npj Quantum Information

Parallel quantum simulation of large systems on small NISQ computers

F. Barratt, James Dborin, Matthias Bal, Vid Stojevic, Frank Pollmann, Andrew G. Green

Published May 25, 2021• 110 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract Tensor networks permit computational and entanglement resources to be concentrated in interesting regions of Hilbert space. Implemented on NISQ machines they allow simulation of quantum systems that are much larger than the computational machine itself. This is achieved by parallelising the quantum simulation. Here, we demonstrate this in the simplest case; an infinite, translationally invariant quantum spin chain. We provide Cirq and Qiskit code that translates infinite, translationally invariant matrix product state (iMPS) algorithms to finite-depth quantum circuit machines, allowing the representation, optimisation and evolution of arbitrary one-dimensional systems. The illustrative simulated output of these codes for achievable circuit sizes is given.

DOI
10.1038/s41534-021-00420-3

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Abstract Tensor networks permit computational and entanglement resources to be concentrated in interesting regions of Hilbert space. Implemented on NISQ machines they allow simulation of quantum systems that are much larger than the computational machine itself. This is achieved by parallelising the quantum simulation. Here, we demonstrate this in the simplest case; an infinite, translationally invariant quantum spin chain. We provide Cirq and Qiskit code that translates infinite, translationally invariant matrix product state (iMPS) algorithms to finite-depth quantum circuit machines, allowing the representation, optimisation and evolution of arbitrary one-dimensional systems. The illustrative simulated output of these codes for achievable circuit sizes is given.
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The accurate simulation of quantum circuits remains a significant challenge due to the exponential scaling of computational resources with circuit size. This work explores the application of tensor network methods, specifically Matrix Product States (MPS), to provide a scalable approach for simulating quantum circuits. We demonstrate how tensor networks can efficiently represent and manipulate the states of quantum circuits, reducing the computational burden associated with traditional methods. The core claim of this research is that tensor networks offer a viable path to accurately simulating larger and more complex quantum systems. This research introduces a novel framework for symbolic simulation, leveraging the power of tensor network representations to overcome the limitations of conventional simulation techniques. The effectiveness of this approach is illustrated through theoretical analysis and conceptual examples.
Large-scale tensor network simulations are crucial for developing robust complexity-theoretic bounds on classical quantum simulation, enabling circuit cutting approaches, and optimizing circuit compilation, all of which aid efficient quantum computation on limited quantum resources. Modern exascale high-performance computing platforms offer significant potential for advancing tensor network quantum circuit simulation capabilities. We implement TN-Sim, a tensor network simulator backend within the NWQ-Sim software package that utilizes the Tensor Algebra for Many-body Methods (TAMM) framework to support both distributed HPC-scale computations and local simulations with ITensor. To optimize the scale up in computation across multiple nodes we implement a task based parallelization scheme to demonstrate parallelized gate contraction for wide quantum circuits with many gates per layer. Through the integration of the TAMM framework with Matrix Product State (MPS) tensor network approaches, we deliver a simulation environment that can scale from local systems to HPC clusters. We demonstrate an MPS tensor network simulator running on the state-of-the-art Perlmutter (NVIDIA) supercomputer and discuss the potential portability of this software to HPC clusters such as Frontier (AMD) and Aurora (Intel). We also discuss future improvements including support for different tensor network topologies and enhanced computational efficiency.
Quantum computer simulators are an indispensable tool for prototyping quantum algorithms and verifying the functioning of existing quantum computer hardware. The current largest quantum computers feature more than one thousand qubits, challenging their classical simulators. Statevector quantum simulators are challenged by the exponential increase of representable quantum states with respect to the number of qubits, making more than fifty qubits practically unfeasible. A more appealing approach for simulating quantum computers is adopting the tensor network approach, whose memory requirements fundamentally depend on the level of entanglement in the quantum circuit, and allows simulating the current largest quantum computers. This work investigates and evaluates the CUDA-Q tensor network simulators on an Nvidia Grace Hopper system, particularly the Matrix Product State (MPS) formulation. We compare the performance of the CUDA-Q state vector implementation and validate the correctness of MPS simulations. Our results highlight that tensor network-based methods provide a significant opportunity to simulate large-qubit circuits, albeit approximately. We also show that current GPUaccelerated computation cannot fully utilize GPU efficiently in the case of MPS simulations.
Abstract Quantum computing holds significant promise for solving complex problems, but simulating quantum circuits on classical computers remains essential due to the current limitations of quantum hardware. Efficient simulation is crucial for the development and validation of quantum algorithms and quantum computers. This paper explores and compares various strategies to leverage different levels of parallelism to accelerate the contraction of tensor networks representing large quantum circuits. We propose a new parallel multistage algorithm based on communities. The original tensor network is partitioned into several communities, which are then contracted in parallel. The pairs of tensors of the resulting network can be contracted in parallel using a GPU. We use the Girvan–Newman algorithm to obtain the communities and the contraction plans. We compare the new algorithm with two other parallelisation strategies: one based on contracting all the pairs of tensors in the GPU and another one that uses slicing to cut some indexes of the tensor network and then MPI processes to contract the resulting slices in parallel. The new parallel algorithm gets the best results with different well-known quantum circuits with a high degree of entanglement, including random quantum circuits. In conclusion, the results show that the main factor that limits the simulation is the space cost. However, the parallel multistage algorithm manages to reduce the cost of sequential simulation for circuits with a high number of qubits and allows simulating larger circuits.