We study the performance and resource usage of the variational quantum factoring (VQF) algorithm for different instance sizes and optimization algorithms. Our simulations show better chance of finding the ground state when using VQE rather than QAOA for optimization. In gradient-based optimization we find that the time required for quantum circuit gradient estimation is a significant problem if VQF is to become competitive with classical factoring algorithms. Further, we compare entangled and non-entangled circuits in VQE optimization and fail to see significant evidence in favour of including entanglement in the VQE circuit.
We study the performance and resource usage of the variational quantum factoring (VQF) algorithm for different instance sizes and optimization algorithms. Our simulations show better chance of finding the ground state when using VQE rather than QAOA for optimization. In gradient-based optimization we find that the time required for quantum circuit gradient estimation is a significant problem if VQF is to become competitive with classical factoring algorithms. Further, we compare entangled and non-entangled circuits in VQE optimization and fail to see significant evidence in favour of including entanglement in the VQE circuit.
Variational algorithm using Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) can solve the prime factorization problem in near-term noisy quantum computers. Conventional Variational Quantum Factoring (VQF) requires a large number of 2-qubit gates (especially for factoring a large number) resulting in deep circuits. The output quality of the deep quantum circuit is degraded due to errors limiting the computational power of quantum computing. In this paper, we explore various transformations to optimize the QAOA circuit for integer factorization. We propose two criteria to select the optimal quantum circuit that can improve the noise resiliency of VQF.
We present a collection of optimizers tuned for usage on Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices. Optimizers have a range of applications in quantum computing, including the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) and Quantum Approximate Optimization (QAOA) algorithms. They are also used for calibration tasks, hyperparameter tuning, in machine learning, etc. We analyze the efficiency and effectiveness of different optimizers in a VQE case study. VQE is a hybrid algorithm, with a classical minimizer step driving the next evaluation on the quantum processor. While most results to date concentrated on tuning the quantum VQE circuit, we show that, in the presence of quantum noise, the classical minimizer step needs to be carefully chosen to obtain correct results. We explore state-of-the-art gradient-free optimizers capable of handling noisy, black-box, cost functions and stress-test them using a quantum circuit simulation environment with noise injection capabilities on individual gates. Our results indicate that specifically tuned optimizers are crucial to obtaining valid science results on NISQ hardware, and will likely remain necessary even for future fault tolerant circuits.
Abstract In the near-term, hybrid quantum-classical algorithms hold great potential for outperforming classical approaches. Understanding how these two computing paradigms work in tandem is critical for identifying areas where such hybrid algorithms could provide a quantum advantage. In this work, we study a QAOA-based quantum optimization approach by implementing the Variational Quantum Factoring (VQF) algorithm. We execute experimental demonstrations using a superconducting quantum processor, and investigate the trade off between quantum resources (number of qubits and circuit depth) and the probability that a given biprime is successfully factored. In our experiments, the integers 1099551473989, 3127, and 6557 are factored with 3, 4, and 5 qubits, respectively, using a QAOA ansatz with up to 8 layers and we are able to identify the optimal number of circuit layers for a given instance to maximize success probability. Furthermore, we demonstrate the impact of different noise sources on the performance of QAOA, and reveal the coherent error caused by the residual ZZ-coupling between qubits as a dominant source of error in a near-term superconducting quantum processor.
This paper presents a hybrid quantum-classical approach to prime factorization. The proposed algorithm is based on the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE), which employs a classical optimizer to find the ground state of a given Hamiltonian. A numerical study is presented, evaluating the performance of the proposed method across various instances on both IBM's real quantum computer and its classical simulator. The results demonstrate that the method is capable of successfully factorizing numbers up to 253 on a real quantum computer and up to 1 048 561 on a classical simulator. These findings show the potential of the approach for practical applications on near-term quantum computers.
Quantum computation holds the seminal key to overcoming inherent limitations of classical computing, potentially unlocking profound advancements across every scientific and industrial frontier. Currently and in the near future, variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) is one of the most promising algorithms in solving multi-body problems. Under the VQE framework, the classical optimizer plays a critical role in estimating expectation values. However, it is not well studied how different optimizers perform in a quantum circuit. The answer to this question helps make VQE applicable to larger systems. In this work, we scrutinize 12 optimizers on their convergence performances in VQE calculations by varying the number of qubits, depths of the quantum circuit, initial guesses, and number of measurements. It is found that gradient-based methods generally outperform the derivative-free methods. The optimizers involving stochastic processes usually fail to locate the minimum. The step length is far from trivial to reach the convergence. In addition, the Powell method is the most promising to alleviate the barren plateau problem.
Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) offer the most promising path to obtaining quantum advantages via noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) processors. Such systems leverage classical optimization to tune the parameters of a parameterized quantum circuit (PQC). The goal is minimizing a cost function that depends on measurement outputs obtained from the PQC. Optimization is typically implemented via stochastic gradient descent (SGD). On NISQ computers, gate noise due to imperfections and decoherence affects the stochastic gradient estimates by introducing a bias. Quantum error mitigation (QEM) techniques can reduce the estimation bias without requiring any increase in the number of qubits, but they in turn cause an increase in the variance of the gradient estimates. This work studies the impact of quantum gate noise on the convergence of SGD for the variational eigensolver (VQE), a fundamental instance of VQAs. The main goal is ascertaining conditions under which QEM can enhance the performance of SGD for VQEs. It is shown that quantum gate noise induces a nonzero error-floor on the convergence error of SGD (evaluated with respect to a reference noiseless PQC), which depends on the number of noisy gates, the strength of the noise, as well as the eigenspectrum of the observable being measured and minimized. In contrast, with QEM, any arbitrarily small error can be obtained. Furthermore, for error levels attainable with or without QEM, QEM can reduce the number of required iterations, but only as long as the quantum noise level is sufficiently large, and a sufficiently large number of measurements is allowed at each SGD iteration. Numerical examples for a max-cut problem corroborate the main theoretical findings.