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Machine Learning by Two-Dimensional Hierarchical Tensor Networks: A Quantum Information Theoretic Perspective on Deep Architectures

Ding Liu, Shi-Ju Ran, Péter Wittek, Cheng Peng, Raúl Blázquez García, Gang Su, Maciej Lewenstein

Published Oct 13, 2017• 13 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

The resemblance between the methods used in studying quantum-many body physics and in machine learning has drawn considerable attention. In particular, tensor networks (TNs) and deep learning architectures bear striking similarities to the extent that TNs can be used for machine learning. Previous results used one-dimensional TNs in image recognition, showing limited scalability and a high bond dimension. In this work, we train two-dimensional hierarchical TNs to solve image recognition problems, using a training algorithm derived from the multipartite entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA). This approach overcomes scalability issues and implies novel mathematical connections among quantum many-body physics, quantum information theory, and machine learning. While keeping the TN unitary in the training phase, TN states can be defined, which optimally encodes each class of the images into a quantum many-body state. We study the quantum features of the TN states, including quantum entanglement and fidelity. We suggest these quantities could be novel properties that characterize the image classes, as well as the machine learning tasks. Our work could be further applied to identifying possible quantum properties of certain artificial intelligence methods.

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The resemblance between the methods used in studying quantum-many body physics and in machine learning has drawn considerable attention. In particular, tensor networks (TNs) and deep learning architectures bear striking similarities to the extent that TNs can be used for machine learning. Previous results used one-dimensional TNs in image recognition, showing limited scalability and a high bond dimension. In this work, we train two-dimensional hierarchical TNs to solve image recognition problems, using a training algorithm derived from the multipartite entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA). This approach overcomes scalability issues and implies novel mathematical connections among quantum many-body physics, quantum information theory, and machine learning. While keeping the TN unitary in the training phase, TN states can be defined, which optimally encodes each class of the images into a quantum many-body state. We study the quantum features of the TN states, including quantum entanglement and fidelity. We suggest these quantities could be novel properties that characterize the image classes, as well as the machine learning tasks. Our work could be further applied to identifying possible quantum properties of certain artificial intelligence methods.
Abstract The resemblance between the methods used in quantum-many body physics and in machine learning has drawn considerable attention. In particular, tensor networks (TNs) and deep learning architectures bear striking similarities to the extent that TNs can be used for machine learning. Previous results used one-dimensional TNs in image recognition, showing limited scalability and flexibilities. In this work, we train two-dimensional hierarchical TNs to solve image recognition problems, using a training algorithm derived from the multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz. This approach introduces mathematical connections among quantum many-body physics, quantum information theory, and machine learning. While keeping the TN unitary in the training phase, TN states are defined, which encode classes of images into quantum many-body states. We study the quantum features of the TN states, including quantum entanglement and fidelity. We find these quantities could be properties that characterize the image classes, as well as the machine learning tasks.
Machine learning (ML) has recently facilitated many advances in solving problems related to many-body physical systems. Given the intrinsic quantum nature of these problems, it is natural to speculate that quantum-enhanced machine learning will enable us to unveil even greater details than we currently have. With this motivation, this paper examines a quantum machine learning approach based on shallow variational ansatz inspired by tensor networks for supervised learning tasks. In particular, we first look at the standard image classification tasks using the Fashion-MNIST dataset and study the effect of repeating tensor network layers on ansatz's expressibility and performance. Finally, we use this strategy to tackle the problem of quantum phase recognition for the transverse-field Ising and Heisenberg spin models in one and two dimensions, where we were able to reach ≥98%\geq 98\%≥98% test-set accuracies with both multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA) and tree tensor network (TTN) inspired parametrized quantum circuits.
It is a critical challenge to simultaneously achieve high interpretability and high efficiency with the current schemes of deep machine learning (ML). The tensor network (TN), a well-established mathematical tool originating from quantum mechanics, has shown its unique advantages in developing efficient “white-box” ML schemes. Here, we provide a brief review of the inspiring progress in TN-based ML. On the one hand, the interpretability of TN ML can be accommodated by a solid theoretical foundation based on quantum information and many-body physics. On the other hand, high efficiency can be obtained from powerful TN representations and the advanced computational techniques developed in quantum many-body physics. Keeping pace with the rapid development of quantum computers, TNs are expected to produce novel schemes runnable on quantum hardware in the direction of “quantum artificial intelligence” in the near future.
Once developed for quantum theory, tensor networks (TNs) have been established as a successful machine learning (ML) paradigm. Now, they have been ported back to the quantum realm in the emerging field of quantum ML to assess problems that classical computers are unable to solve efficiently. Their nature at the interface between physics and ML makes TNs easily deployable on quantum computers. In this review article, we shed light on one of the major architectures considered to be predestined for variational quantum ML. In particular, we discuss how layouts like matrix product state, projected entangled pair states, tree tensor networks and multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz can be mapped to a quantum computer, how they can be used for ML and data encoding and which implementation techniques improve their performance.
Tensor networks have found a wide use in a variety of applications in physics and computer science, recently leading to both theoretical insights as well as practical algorithms in machine learning. In this work we explore the connection between tensor networks and probabilistic graphical models, and show that it motivates the definition of generalized tensor networks where information from a tensor can be copied and reused in other parts of the network. We discuss the relationship between generalized tensor network architectures used in quantum physics, such as String-Bond States and Entangled Plaquette States, and architectures commonly used in machine learning. We provide an algorithm to train these networks in a supervised learning context and show that they overcome the limitations of regular tensor networks in higher dimensions, while keeping the computation efficient. A method to combine neural networks and tensor networks as part of a common deep learning architecture is also introduced. We benchmark our algorithm for several generalized tensor network architectures on the task of classifying images and sounds, and show that they outperform previously introduced tensor network algorithms. Some of the models we consider can be realized on a quantum computer and may guide the development of near-term quantum machine learning architectures.
Tensor network states are ubiquitous in the investigation of quantum many-body (QMB) physics. Their advantage over other state representations is evident from their reduction in the computational complexity required to obtain various quantities of interest, namely observables. Additionally, they provide a natural platform for investigating entanglement properties within a system. In this dissertation, we develop various novel algorithms and optimizations to tensor networks for the investigation of QMB systems, including classical and quantum circuits. Specifically, we study optimizations for the two-dimensional Ising model in a transverse field, we create an algorithm for the kkk-SAT problem, and we study the entanglement properties of random unitary circuits. In addition to these applications, we reinterpret renormalization group principles from QMB physics in the context of machine learning to develop a novel algorithm for the tasks of classification and regression, and then utilize machine learning architectures for the time evolution of operators in QMB systems.