State-of-the-art quantum algorithms routinely tune dynamically parametrized cost functionals for combinatorics, machine learning, equation solving, and energy minimization. However, large search complexity often demands many (noisy) quantum measurements, leading to the increasing use of classical probability models to estimate which areas in the cost functional landscape are of highest interest. Introducing deep learning based modeling of the landscape, we demonstrate order-of-magnitude increases in accuracy and speed over state-of-the-art Bayesian methods with respect to control of a many-body spin chain. Moreover, once trained, the deep neural network enables the extraction of information at a much faster rate than conventional numerical simulation. This allows for on-the-fly experimental optimizations of circuits with large depth and moderate width and detailed classification of problem complexity and navigability throughout the phase diagram of the landscape.
State-of-the-art quantum algorithms routinely tune dynamically parametrized cost functionals for combinatorics, machine learning, equation solving, and energy minimization. However, large search complexity often demands many (noisy) quantum measurements, leading to the increasing use of classical probability models to estimate which areas in the cost functional landscape are of highest interest. Introducing deep learning based modeling of the landscape, we demonstrate order-of-magnitude increases in accuracy and speed over state-of-the-art Bayesian methods with respect to control of a many-body spin chain. Moreover, once trained, the deep neural network enables the extraction of information at a much faster rate than conventional numerical simulation. This allows for on-the-fly experimental optimizations of circuits with large depth and moderate width and detailed classification of problem complexity and navigability throughout the phase diagram of the landscape.
The convergence of machine learning (ML) and quantum computing is quickly becoming a game-changing new frontier in computational science. The most intriguing area of overlap may be quantum optimization, which seeks to reduce the exponentially increasing complexity and computational cost of ML algorithms. As they grow larger and more complicated, traditional optimization methods, particularly in high-dimensional and non-convex space, will inevitably hit performance limits. Quantum optimization is the whole new paradigm that leverages quantum mechanical effects like superposition, entanglement, and tunnelling to explore solution spaces more efficiently. The chapter outlines the theory, practice, and potential of hybrid quantum-classical optimization algorithms for machine learning. The most brilliant research direction in the current NISQ (noisy intermediate-scale quantum) era is mixed systems leveraging classical computing capability augmented by quantum capacity. In such designs, computationally intensive subroutines like optimization for global optima or escape from local minima are left to quantum processors and data preprocessing, iterative refinement, and model testing are performed by classical processors. We start by defining the fundamental principles of quantum computing and acquainting readers with the fundamentals like qubits, quantum gates, and quantum circuits. These are the building blocks for quantum algorithms, which hopefully can be utilized for optimization, for example, the QAOA (quantum approximate optimization algorithm), the VQE (variational quantum Eigensolver), and quantum annealing. They all build to optimize the problems in some way differently: QAOA through parameterized quantum circuits, VQE through approximations of ground states of the Hamiltonians, and quantum annealing through quantum evolution to low-energy solutions. We then form a loop between these quantum algorithms and regular machine learning tasks. Optimization impacts virtually all ML phases, from training neural networks, where one reduces loss functions; feature selection, where one aims to discover the most relevant subset of input variables; and hyperparameter optimization, which often involves expensive search procedures over extremely large combinatorial spaces. Quantum optimization techniques can therefore, in principle, accelerate such procedures through computational complexity reduction and enhancing solutions over challenging landscapes. Realistic simulations and case studies emphasize the degree to which hybrid quantum-classical algorithms have been employed in solving ML problems, that is, QSVMs, quantum-enhanced clustering, and quantum reinforcement learning. Despite their experimental nature, these applications already show encouraging results in terms of improved performance metrics as well as reduction in time-to-solution compared to classical-only solutions. Notwithstanding that, this new field is not bereft of real challenges. Quantum hardware suffers from hard limits on qubit fidelity, decoherence, and scalability in the current times. Furthermore, quantum circuit integration into broad ML pipelines requires novel architectures and software platforms. As a counter to those issues, this chapter surveys recent advances in quantum programming languages, simulators, and hybrid platforms like PennyLane, Qiskit, and TensorFlow Quantum. We conclude by looking to the future possibility that quantum optimization will revolutionize the machine learning landscape. As hardware improves and algorithmic complexity increases, the possibility of quantum-powered learning systems solving hard problems becomes increasingly accessible. From speeding up deep network training to enabling new types of unsupervised learning, quantum optimization holds the potential to recast computational tractability in machine learning. This chapter is an all-encompassing introduction and state-of-the-art work for students, researchers, and practitioners interested in using quantum optimization for practical ML applications. It sets the foundation for understanding how to pursue hybrid approaches (how they may be applied today in the real world and bracing oneself for disruption in the future).
Large-scale machine learning (ML) models, particularly deep neural networks, often present significant challenges for traditional optimization algorithms. These algorithms, rooted in classical mechanics, frequently encounter issues such as getting trapped in local optima, high computational cost, and difficulty in handling complex, non-convex landscapes. This paper investigates the application of quantum-inspired optimization techniques to address these challenges. We explore how concepts derived from quantum phenomena – such as quantum annealing and quantum walks – can be adapted to efficiently navigate and optimize large-scale ML models. The core idea is to leverage the probabilistic and superposition properties inherent in quantum mechanics to escape local optima and accelerate the convergence process. We present a framework for designing and implementing quantum-inspired optimization strategies, focusing on the theoretical foundations and potential benefits. The proposed approach aims to provide a novel and effective solution for optimizing complex ML models, ultimately improving model performance and reducing training time. This work contributes to the growing field of quantum machine learning and offers a promising avenue for tackling the optimization problems inherent in large-scale ML.
Deep quantum learning (DQL) is an emerging interdisciplinary field that bridges the realms of quantum computing and deep learning. By integrating the principles of quantum mechanics into deep neural networks, DQL seeks to harness the unique capabilities of quantum systems to revolutionize the landscape of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Quantum neural networks (QNNs) lie at the heart of DQL, utilizing quantum gates and entanglement to process classical data in quantum states. Quantum embeddings and quantum data preprocessing techniques are employed to encode classical information into quantum probability distributions, enabling quantum algorithms to manipulate classical data efficiently. Furthermore, hybrid quantum-classical optimization methods facilitate the training of QNNs by combining classical optimization techniques with quantum circuits. DQL shows great promise in solving computationally complex problems and may drive advancements in various fields, such as chemistry, optimization, and pattern recognition.
Neural networks have emerged as a powerful way to approach many practical problems in quantum physics. In this work, we illustrate the power of deep learning to predict the dynamics of a quantum many-body system, where the training is based purely on monitoring expectation values of observables under random driving . The trained recurrent network is able to produce accurate predictions for driving trajectories entirely different than those observed during training. As a proof of principle, here we train the network on numerical data generated from spin models, showing that it can learn the dynamics of observables of interest without needing information about the full quantum state. This allows our approach to be applied eventually to actual experimental data generated from a quantum many-body system that might be open, noisy, or disordered, without any need for a detailed understanding of the system. This scheme provides considerable speedup for rapid explorations and pulse optimization. Remarkably, we show the network is able to extrapolate the dynamics to times longer than those it has been trained on, as well as to the infinite-system-size limit.
Optimizing hyperparameters in deep learning models remains a significant bottleneck in the development and deployment of effective neural networks. Traditional methods, such as grid search and random search, often struggle with the exponentially growing search space, leading to substantial computational costs and limited exploration of potentially optimal configurations. This paper proposes a novel approach to deep learning hyperparameter optimization that leverages the principles of quantum-inspired optimization, specifically employing tensor network methods, notably Matrix Product States (MPS), to efficiently approximate the complex optimization landscape. Our method utilizes quantum-inspired sampling techniques to guide the exploration, effectively mimicking the probabilistic nature of quantum measurements. We demonstrate the feasibility and potential advantages of this approach through theoretical analysis and a conceptual framework. The core of our method lies in representing the hyperparameter space as a tensor network, allowing for efficient calculations of the objective function (e.g., validation loss) without exhaustively evaluating every possible combination. This significantly reduces the computational burden compared to conventional methods. The paper outlines a detailed algorithm and discusses key considerations for implementation, including tensor network construction, sampling strategies, and convergence criteria. We propose a framework for iteratively refining the tensor network representation based on observed validation performance, ultimately converging towards a high-performing hyperparameter configuration. The theoretical underpinning draws upon concepts from quantum mechanics, particularly the idea of measurement and probability distribution, to drive the optimization process. We believe this quantum-inspired approach offers a promising avenue for accelerating deep learning hyperparameter tuning and achieving state-of-the-art performance.
There is increasing interest in the area of quantum computing, but using and developing new quantum algorithms, often represented as quantum circuits, is arduous and requires designers with a wide area of experience. The exploration of techniques for the automatic design of quantum algorithms, i.e., quantum architecture search, is therefore of high importance. This work explores the use of neural networks for quantum architecture search, since neural networks have proven quite successful in various complex search domains, and current approaches in quantum architecture search make very restricted use of them. There are many different domains in which quantum architecture search can be applied. They can be used to compile unitaries into quantum circuits, develop ansätze for variational quantum circuits, or develop new quantum algorithms by applying it to input output pairs of one task one wishes to solve. The focus in this thesis is on the task of quantum state preparation, a very important task in the field of quantum computing, as it is a subroutine in a large number of quantum algorithms like quantum machine learning and Hamiltonian simulation. This thesis approaches the task of quantum architecture search first by establishing the importance of the structure of quantum circuits. This is done with a large-scale study of the influence different circuit structure parameters, such as qubits and depth, have on the performance on variational quantum machine learning. During this research, four guidelines for designing circuits for variational quantum machine learning were established. DeepQPrep, a neural network-augmented deductive search for the automatic design of quantum circuits for quantum state preparation, was proposed. It is able to create non-parameterized quantum circuits to solve 76.9% of a restrictive set of quantum states with quantum circuits that were much shallower than the ones found in the ground-truth data. The model was trained on a dataset created in this thesis as none were available at the time. During the exploration of extensions of DeepQPrep to enable it to solve more arbitrary quantum state preparation problems without the need for labeled data, different challenges became apparent. A study on the difficulty of training neural networks to create parameterized quantum circuits using reinforcement learning found that training is hampered by the barren plateau problem of quantum computing. It shows that the variance of the gradient of the quantum circuit output with respect to its parameters goes exponentially to zero. A study showed that this problem makes the application of neural networks to encode quantum circuits highly challenging when no intermediate quantum state information is used. This culminated in DeepQPrepGrad, which combines parameterized circuits, the inductive search of DeepQPrep, and the reinforcement learning-based approach with more compact representations. By combining these parts with the gradients of quantum circuits, an approach that is able to create parameterized quantum circuits for arbitrary quantum states was obtained. The approach was evaluated on 20000 arbitrary 3-qubit quantum states without the need for any labeled data, resulting in a mean minimal similarity of 0.97 alleviated the found challenges to a large degree. This thesis explored key challenges faced when training neural networks to encode quantum circuits. These challenges are of paramount importance as they potentially affect a wide range of tasks in the field of quantum computing to which neural networks could be applied. Lastly, DeepQPrepGrad provides a significant step forward for the creation of quantum circuits using neural networks. DeepQPrepGrad makes great progress in solving the challenges highlighted above and has the potential to be applicable in a wide range of quantum architecture search tasks, such as variational eigensolver and variational quantum machine learning.