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arXiv:2107.08710

Quantum Deep Learning: Sampling Neural Nets with a Quantum Annealer

Catherine F. Higham, Adrian Bedford

Published Jul 19, 2021• 0 citations
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Abstract

We demonstrate the feasibility of framing a classically learned deep neural network as an energy based model that can be processed on a one-step quantum annealer in order to exploit fast sampling times. We propose approaches to overcome two hurdles for high resolution image classification on a quantum processing unit (QPU): the required number and binary nature of the model states. With this novel method we successfully transfer a convolutional neural network to the QPU and show the potential for classification speedup of at least one order of magnitude.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2107.08710

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We demonstrate the feasibility of framing a classically learned deep neural network as an energy based model that can be processed on a one-step quantum annealer in order to exploit fast sampling times. We propose approaches to overcome two hurdles for high resolution image classification on a quantum processing unit (QPU): the required number and binary nature of the model states. With this novel method we successfully transfer a convolutional neural network to the QPU and show the potential for classification speedup of at least one order of magnitude.
We demonstrate the feasibility of framing a classically learned deep neural network as an energy based model that can be processed on a one-step quantum annealer in order to exploit fast sampling times. We propose approaches to overcome two hurdles for high resolution image classification on a quantum processing unit (QPU): the required number and the binary nature of the model states. With this novel method we successfully transfer a pretrained convolutional neural network to the QPU. By taking advantage of the strengths of quantum annealing, we show the potential for classification speedup of at least one order of magnitude.
Quantum computing is a new computational paradigm that promises applications in several fields, including machine learning. In the last decade, deep learning, and in particular Convolutional neural networks (CNN), have become essential for applications in signal processing and image recognition. Quantum deep learning, however remains a challenging problem, as it is difficult to implement non linearities with quantum unitaries. In this paper we propose a quantum algorithm for applying and training deep convolutional neural networks with a potential speedup. The quantum CNN (QCNN) is a shallow circuit, reproducing completely the classical CNN, by allowing non linearities and pooling operations. The QCNN is particularly interesting for deep networks and could allow new frontiers in image recognition, by using more or larger convolution kernels, larger or deeper inputs. We introduce a new quantum tomography algorithm with ℓ∞\ell_{\infty}ℓ∞​ norm guarantees, and new applications of probabilistic sampling in the context of information processing. We also present numerical simulations for the classification of the MNIST dataset to provide practical evidence for the efficiency of the QCNN.
Artificial neural networks are at the heart of modern deep learning algorithms. We describe how to embed and train a general neural network in a quantum annealer without introducing any classical element in training. To implement the network on a state-of-the-art quantum annealer, we develop three crucial ingredients: binary encoding the free parameters of the network; polynomial approximation of the activation function; and reduction of binary higher-order polynomials into quadratic ones. Together, these ideas allow encoding the loss function as an Ising model Hamiltonian. The quantum annealer then trains the network by finding the ground state. We implement this for an elementary network and illustrate the advantages of quantum training: its consistency in finding the global minimum of the loss function and the fact that the network training converges in a single annealing step, which leads to short training times while maintaining a high classification performance. After training the network using a quantum annealer, one can then use the quantum network weights in a classical network algorithm of identical design for inference. Our approach opens an avenue for the quantum training of general machine learning models.
Artificial neural networks have achieved great success in many fields ranging from image recognition to video understanding. However, its high requirements for computing and memory resources have limited further development on processing big data with high dimensions. In recent years, advances in quantum computing show that building neural networks on quantum processors is a potential solution to this problem. In this paper, we propose a novel neural network model named Quantum Convolutional Neural Network (QCNN), aiming at utilizing the computing power of quantum systems to accelerate classical machine learning tasks. The designed QCNN is based on implementable quantum circuits and has a similar structure as classical convolutional neural networks. Numerical simulation results on the MNIST dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of our model.
Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are extensively utilized for image classification due to their ability to exploit data correlations effectively. However, traditional CNNs encounter several challenges, including limitations in accuracy improvement, computational efficiency, explain ability, and generalization. As data dimensionality or model complexity increases, CNNs often become more difficult to train efficiently, leading to slower processing times. To overcome these challenges, Quantum Convolutional Neural Networks (QCNNs) offer a promising quantum-based approach to enhance existing models, particularly by improving training efficiency and reducing processing times. This paper provides a comparative analysis of classical CNNs and a novel quantum circuit architecture tailored for image-based tasks. The analysis emphasizes the adaptability and potential of quantum circuits to enhance feature extraction, recognition accuracy, and processing efficiency.We applied various QCNN architectures to the Chinese-MNIST dataset and compared their performance with traditional CNN models. Although QCNNs achieved slightly lower accuracy, they demonstrated significantly greater stability. These findings high- light QCNNs’ potential to overcome the computational limitations of conventional deep learning, offering a promising pathway for quantum-enhanced solutions in computer vision. Future work will focus on refining quantum circuit designs, developing hybrid quantum-classical models, and extending QCNN applications to larger and more diverse datasets.
Quantum machine learning has the potential to enable advances in artificial intelligence, such as solving problems intractable on classical computers. Some fundamental ideas behind quantum machine learning are similar to kernel methods in classical machine learning. Both process information by mapping it into high-dimensional vector spaces without explicitly calculating their numerical values. We explore a setup for performing classification on labeled classical datasets, consisting of a classical neural network connected to a quantum annealer. The neural network programs the quantum annealer's controls and thereby maps the annealer's initial states into new states in the Hilbert space. The neural network's parameters are optimized to maximize the distance of states corresponding to inputs from different classes and minimize the distance between quantum states corresponding to the same class. Recent literature showed that at least some of the "learning" is due to the quantum annealer, connecting a small linear network to a quantum annealer and using it to learn small and linearly inseparable datasets. In this study, we consider a similar but not quite the same case, where a classical fully-fledged neural network is connected with a small quantum annealer. In such a setting, the fully-fledged classical neural-network already has built-in nonlinearity and learning power, and can already handle the classification problem alone, we want to see whether an additional quantum layer could boost its performance. We simulate this system to learn several common datasets, including those for image and sound recognition. We conclude that adding a small quantum annealer does not provide a significant benefit over just using a regular (nonlinear) classical neural network.