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arXiv:2208.06198

Evaluating the performance of sigmoid quantum perceptrons in quantum neural networks

Samuel A. Wilkinson, Michael J. Hartmann

Published Aug 12, 2022• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Quantum neural networks (QNN) have been proposed as a promising architecture for quantum machine learning. There exist a number of different quantum circuit designs being branded as QNNs, however no clear candidate has presented itself as more suitable than the others. Rather, the search for a ``quantum perceptron" -- the fundamental building block of a QNN -- is still underway. One candidate is quantum perceptrons designed to emulate the nonlinear activation functions of classical perceptrons. Such sigmoid quantum perceptrons (SQPs) inherit the universal approximation property that guarantees that classical neural networks can approximate any function. However, this does not guarantee that QNNs built from SQPs will have any quantum advantage over their classical counterparts. Here we critically investigate both the capabilities and performance of SQP networks by computing their effective dimension and effective capacity, as well as examining their performance on real learning problems. The results are compared to those obtained for other candidate networks which lack activation functions. It is found that simpler, and apparently easier-to-implement parametric quantum circuits actually perform better than SQPs. This indicates that the universal approximation theorem, which a cornerstone of the theory of classical neural networks, is not a relevant criterion for QNNs.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2208.06198

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Quantum machine learning models based on parametrized quantum circuits, also called quantum neural networks (QNNs), are considered to be among the most promising candidates for applications on near-term quantum devices. Here we explore the expressivity and inductive bias of QNNs by exploiting an exact mapping from QNNs with inputs xxx to classical perceptrons acting on x⊗xx \otimes xx⊗x (generalised to complex inputs). The simplicity of the perceptron architecture allows us to provide clear examples of the shortcomings of current QNN models, and the many barriers they face to becoming useful general-purpose learning algorithms. For example, a QNN with amplitude encoding cannot express the Boolean parity function for n≥3n\geq 3n≥3, which is but one of an exponential number of data structures that such a QNN is unable to express. Mapping a QNN to a classical perceptron simplifies training, allowing us to systematically study the inductive biases of other, more expressive embeddings on Boolean data. Several popular embeddings primarily produce an inductive bias towards functions with low class balance, reducing their generalisation performance compared to deep neural network architectures which exhibit much richer inductive biases. We explore two alternate strategies that move beyond standard QNNs. In the first, we use a QNN to help generate a classical DNN-inspired kernel. In the second we draw an analogy to the hierarchical structure of deep neural networks and construct a layered non-linear QNN that is provably fully expressive on Boolean data, while also exhibiting a richer inductive bias than simple QNNs. Finally, we discuss characteristics of the QNN literature that may obscure how hard it is to achieve quantum advantage over deep learning algorithms on classical data.
Abstract The field of artificial neural networks is expected to strongly benefit from recent developments of quantum computers. In particular, quantum machine learning, a class of quantum algorithms which exploit qubits for creating trainable neural networks, will provide more power to solve problems such as pattern recognition, clustering and machine learning in general. The building block of feed-forward neural networks consists of one layer of neurons connected to an output neuron that is activated according to an arbitrary activation function. The corresponding learning algorithm goes under the name of Rosenblatt perceptron. Quantum perceptrons with specific activation functions are known, but a general method to realize arbitrary activation functions on a quantum computer is still lacking. Here, we fill this gap with a quantum algorithm which is capable to approximate any analytic activation functions to any given order of its power series. Unlike previous proposals providing irreversible measurement–based and simplified activation functions, here we show how to approximate any analytic function to any required accuracy without the need to measure the states encoding the information. Thanks to the generality of this construction, any feed-forward neural network may acquire the universal approximation properties according to Hornik’s theorem. Our results recast the science of artificial neural networks in the architecture of gate-model quantum computers.
We demonstrate that it is possible to implement a quantum perceptron with a sigmoid activation function as an efficient, reversible many-body unitary operation. When inserted in a neural network, the perceptron's response is parameterized by the potential exerted by other neurons. We prove that such a quantum neural network is a universal approximator of continuous functions, with at least the same power as classical neural networks. While engineering general perceptrons is a challenging control problem —also defined in this work— the ubiquitous sigmoid-response neuron can be implemented as a quasi-adiabatic passage with an Ising model. In this construct, the scaling of resources is favorable with respect to the total network size and is dominated by the number of layers. We expect that our sigmoid perceptron will have applications also in quantum sensing or variational estimation of many-body Hamiltonians.
We demonstrate that it is possible to implement a quantum perceptron with a sigmoid activation function as an efficient, reversible many-body unitary operation. When inserted in a neural network, the perceptron's response is parameterized by the potential exerted by other neurons. We prove that such a quantum neural network is a universal approximator of continuous functions, with the same power as classical neural networks. While engineering general perceptrons is a challenging control problem --also defined in this work--, the ubiquitous sigmoid-response neuron can be implemented as a quasi-adiabatic passage with an Ising model. In this construct, the scaling of resources is favorable with respect to the total network size and is dominated by the number of layers. We expect that our sigmoid perceptron will have applications also in quantum sensing or variational estimation of many-body Hamiltonians.
The development of quantum neural networks (QNNs) has attracted considerable attention due to their potential to surpass classical models in certain machine learning tasks. Nonetheless, it remains unclear under which conditions QNNs provide concrete benefits over classical neural networks (CNNs). This study addresses this question by performing both qualitative and quantitative analyses of classical and quantum models applied to regression problems, using two target functions with contrasting properties. Additionally, the work explores the methodological difficulties inherent in making fair comparisons between QNNs and CNNs. The findings reveal a distinct advantage of QNNs in a specific quantum machine learning context. In particular, QNNs excelled at approximating the sinusoidal function, achieving errors up to seven orders of magnitude lower than their classical counterparts. However, their performance was limited in other cases, emphasizing that QNNs are highly effective for certain tasks but not universally sPuperior. These results reinforce the principles of the ``No Free Lunch'' theorem, highlighting that no single model outperforms all others across every problem domain.
The development of quantum neural networks (QNNs) has attracted considerable attention due to their potential to surpass classical models in certain machine learning tasks. Nonetheless, it remains unclear under which conditions QNNs provide concrete benefits over classical neural networks (CNNs). This study addresses this question by performing both qualitative and quantitative analyses of classical and quantum models applied to regression problems, using two target functions with contrasting properties. Additionally, the work explores the methodological difficulties inherent in making fair comparisons between QNNs and CNNs. The findings reveal a distinct advantage of QNNs in a specific quantum machine learning context. In particular, QNNs excelled at approximating the sinusoidal function, achieving errors up to seven orders of magnitude lower than their classical counterparts. However, their performance was limited in other cases, emphasizing that QNNs are highly effective for certain tasks but not universally superior. These results reinforce the principles of the “No Free Lunch” theorem, highlighting that no single model outperforms all others across every problem domain.