Efficient characterization of quantum devices is a significant challenge critical for the development of large scale quantum computers. We consider an experimentally motivated situation, in which we have a decent estimate of the Hamiltonian, and its parameters need to be characterized and fine-tuned frequently to combat drifting experimental variables. We use a machine learning technique known as meta-learning to learn a more efficient optimizer for this task. We consider training with the nearest-neighbor Ising model and study the trained model's generalizability to other Hamiltonian models and larger system sizes. We observe that the meta-optimizer outperforms other optimization methods in average loss over test samples. This advantage follows from the meta-optimizer being less likely to get stuck in local minima, which highly skews the distribution of the final loss of the other optimizers. In general, meta-learning decreases the number of calls to the experiment and reduces the needed classical computational resources.
Efficient characterization of quantum devices is a significant challenge critical for the development of large scale quantum computers. We consider an experimentally motivated situation, in which we have a decent estimate of the Hamiltonian, and its parameters need to be characterized and fine-tuned frequently to combat drifting experimental variables. We use a machine learning technique known as meta-learning to learn a more efficient optimizer for this task. We consider training with the nearest-neighbor Ising model and study the trained model's generalizability to other Hamiltonian models and larger system sizes. We observe that the meta-optimizer outperforms other optimization methods in average loss over test samples. This advantage follows from the meta-optimizer being less likely to get stuck in local minima, which highly skews the distribution of the final loss of the other optimizers. In general, meta-learning decreases the number of calls to the experiment and reduces the needed classical computational resources.
Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) use classical computers as the quantum outer loop optimizer and update the circuit parameters to obtain an approximate ground state. In this article, we present a meta-learning variational quantum algorithm (meta-VQA) by recurrent unit, which uses a technique called "meta-learner." Motivated by the hybrid quantum-classical algorithms, we train classical recurrent units to assist quantum computing, learning to find approximate optima in the parameter landscape. Here, aiming to reduce the sampling number more efficiently, we use the quantum stochastic gradient descent method and introduce the adaptive learning rate. Finally, we deploy on the TensorFlow Quantum processor within approximate quantum optimization for the Ising model and variational quantum eigensolver for molecular hydrogen (H2), lithium hydride (LiH), and helium hydride cation (HeH+). Our algorithm can be expanded to larger system sizes and problem instances, which have higher performance on near-term processors.
Abstract Variational quantum algorithms, a class of quantum heuristics, are promising candidates for the demonstration of useful quantum computation. Finding the best way to amplify the performance of these methods on hardware is an important task. Here, we evaluate the optimization of quantum heuristics with an existing class of techniques called “meta-learners.” We compare the performance of a meta-learner to evolutionary strategies, L-BFGS-B and Nelder-Mead approaches, for two quantum heuristics (quantum alternating operator ansatz and variational quantum eigensolver), on three problems, in three simulation environments. We show that the meta-learner comes near to the global optima more frequently than all other optimizers we tested in a noisy parameter setting environment. We also find that the meta-learner is generally more resistant to noise, for example, seeing a smaller reduction in performance inNoisyandSamplingenvironments, and performs better on average by a “gain” metric than its closest comparable competitor L-BFGS-B. Finally, we present evidence that indicates the meta-learner trained on small problems will generalize to larger problems. These results are an important indication that meta-learning and associated machine learning methods will be integral to the useful application of noisy near-term quantum computers.
The preparation of quantum Gibbs states is a fundamental challenge in quantum computing, essential for applications ranging from modeling open quantum systems to quantum machine learning. Building on the Meta-Variational Quantum Eigensolver framework proposed by Cervera-Lierta et al. and a problem-driven ansatz design, we introduce two meta-learning algorithms: Meta-Variational Quantum Thermalizer (Meta-VQT) and Neural Network Meta-VQT (NN-Meta VQT) for efficient thermal state preparation of parametrized Hamiltonians on Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices. Meta-VQT utilizes a fully quantum ansatz, while NN Meta-VQT integrates a quantum--classical hybrid architecture. Both use collective optimization over a finite set of training parameter values to prepare approximate Gibbs states at held-out parameter values within the sampled parameter domain. We validate our methods on Transverse Field Ising Models (TFIM) with up to eight qubits and on a two-qubit Heisenberg model with all field terms. Within these finite-size benchmarks, the trained models accurately prepare thermal states at test points inside the training interval. For the six and eight qubit cases of TFIM, meta-learned parameters when combined with appropriately designed ansatz serve as warm-start initializations, significantly outperforming random initializations in the optimization tasks. Furthermore, a 3 qubit Kitaev ring example showcases our algorithm's effectiveness across finite-temperature crossover regimes. Finally, we apply our algorithms to train a Quantum Boltzmann Machine (QBM) on a 2-qubit Heisenberg model with all field terms, achieving enhanced training efficiency, improved Gibbs state accuracy, and a 30-fold runtime speedup over existing techniques such as variational quantum imaginary time (VarQITE)-based QBM highlighting the practicality of meta-algorithm-based QBMs.
In the Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) era, using variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) to solve optimization problems has become a key application. However, these algorithms face significant challenges, such as choosing an effective initial set of parameters and the limited quantum processing time that restricts the number of optimization iterations. In this study, we introduce a new framework for optimizing parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) that employs a classical optimizer, inspired by Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning (MAML) technique. This approach aim to achieve better parameter initialization that ensures fast convergence. Our framework features a classical neural network, called Learner, which interacts with a PQC using the output of Learner as an initial parameter. During the pre-training phase, Learner is trained with the meta objective function. In the adaptation phase, the framework requires only a few PQC updates to converge to a more accurate value, while the learner remains unchanged. This method is highly adaptable and is effectively extended to various Hamiltonian optimization problems. We validate our approach through experiments, including distribution function mapping and optimization of the Heisenberg XYZ Hamiltonian. The result implies that the Learner successfully estimates initial parameters that generalize across the problem space, enabling fast adaptation.
Quantum Neural Networks (QNNs) are a promising variational learning paradigm with applications to near-term quantum processors, however they still face some significant challenges. One such challenge is finding good parameter initialization heuristics that ensure rapid and consistent convergence to local minima of the parameterized quantum circuit landscape. In this work, we train classical neural networks to assist in the quantum learning process, also know as meta-learning, to rapidly find approximate optima in the parameter landscape for several classes of quantum variational algorithms. Specifically, we train classical recurrent neural networks to find approximately optimal parameters within a small number of queries of the cost function for the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) for MaxCut, QAOA for Sherrington-Kirkpatrick Ising model, and for a Variational Quantum Eigensolver for the Hubbard model. By initializing other optimizers at parameter values suggested by the classical neural network, we demonstrate a significant improvement in the total number of optimization iterations required to reach a given accuracy. We further demonstrate that the optimization strategies learned by the neural network generalize well across a range of problem instance sizes. This opens up the possibility of training on small, classically simulatable problem instances, in order to initialize larger, classically intractably simulatable problem instances on quantum devices, thereby significantly reducing the number of required quantum-classical optimization iterations.
Quantum Machine Learning is an emerging sub-field in machine learning where one of the goals is to perform pattern recognition tasks by encoding data into quantum states. This extension from classical to quantum domain has been made possible due to the development of hybrid quantum-classical algorithms that allow a parameterized quantum circuit to be optimized using gradient based algorithms that run on a classical computer. The similarities in training of these hybrid algorithms and classical neural networks has further led to the development of Quantum Neural Networks (QNNs). However, in the current training regime for QNNs, the gradients w.r. t objective function have to be computed on the quantum device. This computation is highly non-scalable and is affected by hardware and sampling noise present in the current generation of quantum hardware. In this paper, we propose a training algorithm that does not rely on gradient information. Specifically, we introduce a novel meta-optimization algorithm that trains a meta-optimizer network to output parameters for the quantum circuit such that the objective function is minimized. We empirically and theoretically show that we achieve a better quality minima in fewer circuit evaluations than existing gradient based algorithms on different datasets.