We explore a nonvariational quantum state preparation approach combined with the ADAPT operator selection strategy in the application of preparing the ground state of a desired target Hamiltonian. In this algorithm, energy gradient measurements determine both the operators and the gate parameters in the quantum circuit construction. We compare this nonvariational algorithm with ADAPT-VQE and with feedback-based quantum algorithms in terms of the rate of energy reduction, the circuit depth, and the measurement cost in molecular simulation. We find that, despite using deeper circuits, this new algorithm reaches chemical accuracy at a similar measurement cost to ADAPT-VQE. Since it does not rely on a classical optimization subroutine, it may provide robustness against circuit parameter errors due to imperfect control or gate synthesis.
We explore a nonvariational quantum state preparation approach combined with the ADAPT operator selection strategy in the application of preparing the ground state of a desired target Hamiltonian. In this algorithm, energy gradient measurements determine both the operators and the gate parameters in the quantum circuit construction. We compare this nonvariational algorithm with ADAPT-VQE and with feedback-based quantum algorithms in terms of the rate of energy reduction, the circuit depth, and the measurement cost in molecular simulation. We find that, despite using deeper circuits, this new algorithm reaches chemical accuracy at a similar measurement cost to ADAPT-VQE. Since it does not rely on a classical optimization subroutine, it may provide robustness against circuit parameter errors due to imperfect control or gate synthesis.
Among variational quantum algorithms designed for NISQ devices, ADAPT-VQE stands out for its robustness against barren plateaus, particularly in estimating molecular ground states. On the other hand, counterdiabatic algorithms have shown advantages in both performance and circuit depth when compared to standard adiabatic approaches. In this work, we propose a hybrid method that integrates the ADAPT-VQE framework with counterdiabatic driving within an adiabatic evolution scheme. Specifically, we map the molecular Hamiltonian to a qubit representation and construct an adiabatic Hamiltonian, from which an approximate adiabatic gauge potential is computed using nested commutators. The resulting operator terms define the operator pool, and the ADAPT-VQE algorithm is applied to iteratively select the most relevant elements for the ansatz. Our results demonstrate improvements in performance and reductions in circuit depth compared to using either counterdiabatic algorithms or ADAPT-VQE with fermionic excitation operators, thus supporting the effectiveness of combining both paradigms in molecular simulations.
Adaptive derivative-assembled problem-tailored ansatz variational quantum eigensolver (ADAPT-VQE) stands out as a robust algorithm for constructing compact ansätze for molecular simulation. It enables to significantly reduce the circuit depth with respect to other methods, such as unitary coupled cluster singles and doubles, while achieving higher accuracy and not suffering from so-called barren plateaus that hinder the variational optimization of many hardware-efficient ansätze. In its standard implementation, however, it introduces a considerable measurement overhead in the form of gradient evaluations through estimations of many commutator operators. In this work, we mitigate this measurement overhead by exploiting a recently introduced method for energy evaluation relying on adaptive informationally complete generalized measurements (AIMs). Besides offering an efficient way to measure the energy itself, informationally complete (IC) measurement data can be reused to estimate all the commutators of the operators in the operator pool of ADAPT-VQE, using only classically efficient postprocessing. The framework is generic for any IC positive operator-valued measures (POVMs) implementation, and in this work, we demonstrate it’s effectiveness with dilation POVMs. We present the AIM-ADAPT-VQE scheme in detail, and investigate its performance with H 4 , N 2 , and 1,3,5,7-octatetraene Hamiltonians and several operator pools. Our numerical simulations indicate that the measurement data obtained to evaluate the energy can be reused to implement ADAPT-VQE with no additional measurement overhead for the systems considered here. In addition, we show that, if the energy is measured within chemical precision, the count in the resulting circuits is close to the ideal one. With scarce measurement data, AIM-ADAPT-VQE still converges to the ground state with high probability, albeit with an increased circuit depth in some cases.
Adaptive ansatz construction has emerged as a powerful technique for reducing circuit depth and improving optimization efficiency in variational quantum eigensolvers. However, existing adaptive methods, including ADAPT-VQE, rely solely on first-order gradients and therefore ignore the underlying geometry of the quantum state space, limiting both convergence behavior and operator-selection efficiency. We introduce Geo-ADAPT-VQE, a geometry-aware adaptive VQE algorithm that selects operators from a pool using the natural gradient rule. The geometric operator-selection rule enables the ansatz to grow along directions aligned with the underlying quantum-state geometry, thereby improving convergence and reducing the algorithm's susceptibility to shallow local minima and saddle-point regions. We further provide an asymptotic convergence result. We present numerical simulations involving five molecules, which demonstrate that Geo-ADAPT-VQE achieves faster and more stable convergence compared to existing methods, while producing significantly shorter ansatz. In particular, Geo-ADAPT achieves up to 100-fold reduction in energy error compared to existing methods.
Variational quantum eigensolvers (VQEs) are among the most promising quantum algorithms for solving electronic structure problems in quantum chemistry, particularly during the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era. In this study, we investigate the capabilities and limitations of VQE algorithms implemented on current quantum hardware for determining molecular ground-state energies, focusing on the adaptive derivative-assembled pseudo-Trotter ansatz VQE (ADAPT-VQE). To address the significant computational challenges posed by molecular Hamiltonians, we explore various well known strategies to simplify the Hamiltonian, optimize the ansatz, and improve classical parameter optimization through modifications of the COBYLA optimizer. These enhancements are integrated into a tailored quantum computing implementation designed to minimize the circuit depth and computational cost. Using benzene as a benchmark system, we demonstrate the application of these optimizations on an IBM quantum computer. Despite these improvements, our results highlight the limitations imposed by current quantum hardware, particularly the impact of quantum noise on state preparation and energy measurement. The noise levels in today's devices prevent meaningful evaluations of molecular Hamiltonians with sufficient accuracy to produce reliable quantum chemical insights. Finally, we extrapolate the requirements for future quantum hardware to enable practical and scalable quantum chemistry calculations using VQE algorithms. This work provides an assessment of current quantum algorithms for molecular modeling on real quantum hardware, highlighting the impact of noise and hardware limitations on the achievable accuracy.
The adaptive derivative-assembled problem-tailored variational quantum eigensolver (ADAPT-VQE) provides a promising approach for simulating highly correlated quantum systems on quantum devices, as it strikes a balance between hardware efficiency, trainability, and accuracy. Although ADAPT-VQE avoids many of the shortcomings of other VQEs, it is sometimes hindered by a phenomenon known as gradient troughs. This refers to a non-monotonic convergence of the gradients, which may become very small even though the minimum energy has not been reached. This results in difficulties finding the right operators to add to the ansatz, due to the limited number of shots and statistical uncertainties, leading to stagnation in the circuit structure optimization. In this paper, we propose ways to detect and mitigate this phenomenon. Leveraging the non-commutative algebra of the ansatz, we develop heuristics for determining where to insert new operators into the circuit. We find that gradient troughs are more likely to arise when the same locations are used repeatedly for new operator insertions. Our novel protocols, which add new operators in different ansatz positions, allow us to escape gradient troughs and thereby lower the measurement cost of the algorithm. This approach achieves an effective balance between cost and efficiency, leading to faster convergence without compromising the low circuit depth and gate count of ADAPT-VQE.
We show that optimal control of the electron dynamics is able to prepare molecular ground states, within chemical accuracy, with evolution times approaching the bounds imposed by quantum mechanics. We propose a specific parameterization of the molecular evolution only in terms of interaction already present in the molecular Hamiltonian. Thus, the proposed method solely utilizes quantum simulation routines, retaining their favorable scalings. Due to the intimate relationships between variational quantum algorithms and optimal control, we compare, when possible, our results with state-of-the-art methods in the literature. We found that the number of parameters needed to reach chemical accuracy and algorithmic scaling is in line with compact adaptive strategies to build variational Ansätze. The algorithm, which is also suitable for quantum simulators, is implemented by emulating a digital quantum processor (up to 16 qubits) and tested on different molecules and geometries spanning different degrees of electron correlation.