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arXiv:2205.03031 · Advanced Quantum Technologies

A Gradient‐Cost Multiobjective Alternate Framework for Variational Quantum Eigensolver with Variable Ansatz

Ze‐Tong Li, Fan‐Xu Meng, Han Zeng, Zhai‐Rui Gong, Zai‐Chen Zhang, Xutao Yu

Published Apr 7, 2023• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract Variational quantum eigensolver (VQE), aiming at determining the ground state energy of a quantum system described by a Hamiltonian on noisy intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) devices. However, the accuracy and trainability of the current VQE algorithm are significantly influenced due to the barren plateau (BP), the non‐negligible gate error and limited coherence time in NISQ devices. To tackle these issues, a gradient‐cost multiobjective alternate framework with variable ansatz is proposed. A theoretical framework is first proposed for VQE with variable ansatz (VA‐VQE) via alternately solving a multiobjective optimization problem defined by cost function values and gradient magnitudes and the original VQE problem. Then, a novel implementation method based on the double ε‐greedy strategy with the candidate tree and modified multiobjective genetic algorithm is proposed. As a result, the local optima are avoided both in ansatz and parameter perspectives, the BP phenomenon is alleviated, and the stability of output ansatz is enhanced. The experimental results indicate that this framework shows considerably average improvement of the error and stability by 59.6% and 78.8% compared with the state‐of‐the‐art cost‐criterion‐based VA‐VQE implementation, and 54.1% and 73.5% compared with the gradient‐criterion‐based counterpart, respectively, with lower quantum costs.

DOI
10.1002/qute.202200130

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Abstract Variational quantum eigensolver (VQE), aiming at determining the ground state energy of a quantum system described by a Hamiltonian on noisy intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) devices. However, the accuracy and trainability of the current VQE algorithm are significantly influenced due to the barren plateau (BP), the non‐negligible gate error and limited coherence time in NISQ devices. To tackle these issues, a gradient‐cost multiobjective alternate framework with variable ansatz is proposed. A theoretical framework is first proposed for VQE with variable ansatz (VA‐VQE) via alternately solving a multiobjective optimization problem defined by cost function values and gradient magnitudes and the original VQE problem. Then, a novel implementation method based on the double ε‐greedy strategy with the candidate tree and modified multiobjective genetic algorithm is proposed. As a result, the local optima are avoided both in ansatz and parameter perspectives, the BP phenomenon is alleviated, and the stability of output ansatz is enhanced. The experimental results indicate that this framework shows considerably average improvement of the error and stability by 59.6% and 78.8% compared with the state‐of‐the‐art cost‐criterion‐based VA‐VQE implementation, and 54.1% and 73.5% compared with the gradient‐criterion‐based counterpart, respectively, with lower quantum costs.
Variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) emerged as a first practical algorithm for near-term quantum computers. Its success largely relies on the chosen variational ansatz, corresponding to a quantum circuit that prepares an approximate ground state of a Hamiltonian. Typically, it either aims to achieve high representation accuracy (at the expense of circuit depth), or uses a shallow circuit sacrificing the convergence to the exact ground state energy. Here, we propose the approach which can combine both low depth and improved precision, capitalizing on a genetically-improved ansatz for hardware-efficient VQE. Our solution, the multiobjective genetic variational quantum eigensolver (MoG-VQE), relies on multiobjective Pareto optimization, where topology of the variational ansatz is optimized using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). For each circuit topology, we optimize angles of single-qubit rotations using covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES) -- a derivative-free approach known to perform well for noisy black-box optimization. Our protocol allows preparing circuits that simultaneously offer high performance in terms of obtained energy precision and the number of two-qubit gates, thus trying to reach Pareto-optimal solutions. Tested for various molecules (H2_22​, H4_44​, H6_66​, BeH2_22​, LiH), we observe nearly ten-fold reduction in the two-qubit gate counts as compared to the standard hardware-efficient ansatz. For 12-qubit LiH Hamiltonian this allows reaching chemical precision already at 12 CNOTs. Consequently, the algorithm shall lead to significant growth of the ground state fidelity for near-term devices.
Using variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm to realize ground state energy calculation on noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices is widely applied in quantum physics, quantum chemistry, and other fields. It can simulate chemical molecules to solve the energy solution required by chemical reactions. This paper proposes an optimized cost function for the original meta-VQE and combines it with the quantum architecture search algorithm to break the limitation of the fixed structure. To expand the penalty degree of error and obtain more accurate results, two indicators are added to the original cost function including the slope error of discrete predicted value and accurate value as well as the error of the first value. The results show that the optimized algorithm can learn more characteristics of the ground state energy changing trend in the noise channel, and obtain a more accurate estimate of equilibrium bond length.
Abstract The variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) is one of the most promising and widely used algorithms for exploiting the capabilities of current Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices. However, VQE algorithms suffer from a plethora of issues, such as barren plateaus, local minima, quantum hardware noise, and limited qubit connectivity, thus posing challenges for their successful deployment on hardware and simulators. In this work, we propose a VQE optimization strategy that builds upon recent advances in the literature, and exhibits very shallow circuit depths when applied to the specific system of interest, namely a model Hamiltonian representing a cuprate superconductor. These features make our approach a favorable candidate for generating good ground state approximations on current NISQ devices. Our findings illustrate the potential of VQE algorithmic development for leveraging the full capabilities of NISQ devices.
ABSTRACT Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) have emerged as a promising approach for achieving quantum advantage on current noisy intermediate‐scale quantum devices. However, their large‐scale applications are significantly hindered by optimization challenges, such as the barren plateau (BP) phenomenon, local minima, and numerous iteration demands. In this work, we leverage denoising diffusion models (DM) to address these difficulties. The DM is trained on a few data points in the Heisenberg model parameter space and then can be guided to generate high‐performance parameters for parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) in variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) tasks for general Hamiltonians. Numerical experiments demonstrate that DM‐parameterized VQE can explore the ground‐state energies of Heisenberg models with parameters not included in the training dataset. Even when applied to previously unseen Hamiltonians, such as the Ising and Hubbard models, it can generate the appropriate initial state to achieve rapid convergence and mitigate the BP and local minima problems. More interestingly, we discover the possibility of parameter transferability and extrapolation among different quantum many‐body Hamiltonians.
Hybrid quantum-classical adaptive Variational Quantum Eigensolvers (VQE) hold the potential to outperform classical computing for simulating many-body quantum systems. However, practical implementations on current quantum processing units (QPUs) are challenging due to the noisy evaluation of a polynomially scaling number of observables, undertaken for operator selection and high-dimensional cost function optimization. We introduce an adaptive algorithm using analytic, gradient-free optimization, called Greedy Gradient-free Adaptive VQE (GGA-VQE). In addition to demonstrating the algorithm's improved resilience to statistical sampling noise in the computation of simple molecular ground states, we execute GGA-VQE on a 25-qubit error-mitigated QPU by computing the ground state of a 25-body Ising model. Although hardware noise on the QPU produces inaccurate energies, our implementation outputs a parameterized quantum circuit yielding a favorable ground-state approximation. We demonstrate this by retrieving the parameterized operators calculated on the QPU and evaluating the resulting ansatz wave-function via noiseless emulation (i.e., hybrid observable measurement).
Abstract We propose an optimization method for the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) that combines adaptive and physics-inspired ansatz design. Instead of optimizing multiple layers simultaneously, the ansatz is built incrementally from its operator subsets, enabling subspace optimization that provides better initialization for subsequent steps. This quasi-dynamical approach preserves expressivity and hardware efficiency while avoiding the overhead of operator selection associated with adaptive methods. Benchmarks on one- and two-dimensional Heisenberg and Hubbard models with up to 20 qubits show improved fidelities, reduced function evaluations, or both, compared to fixed-layer VQE. The method is simple, cost-effective, and particularly well-suited for current noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices.