Variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) is a promising algorithm suitable for near-term quantum computers. VQE aims to approximate solutions to exponentially-sized optimization problems by executing a polynomial number of quantum subproblems. However, the number of subproblems scales as N4for typical problems of interest-a daunting growth rate that poses a serious limitation for emerging applications such as quantum computational chemistry. We mitigate this issue by exploiting the simultaneous measurability of subproblems corresponding to commuting terms. Our technique transpiles VQE instances into a format optimized for simultaneous measurement, ultimately yielding 8-30x lower cost. Our work also encompasses a synthesis tool for compiling simultaneous measurement circuits with minimal overhead. We demonstrate experimental validation of our techniques by estimating the ground state energy of deuteron with a quantum computer. We also investigate the underlying statistics of simultaneous measurement and devise an adaptive strategy for mitigating harmful covariance terms.
Variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) is a promising algorithm suitable for near-term quantum computers. VQE aims to approximate solutions to exponentially-sized optimization problems by executing a polynomial number of quantum subproblems. However, the number of subproblems scales as N4for typical problems of interest-a daunting growth rate that poses a serious limitation for emerging applications such as quantum computational chemistry. We mitigate this issue by exploiting the simultaneous measurability of subproblems corresponding to commuting terms. Our technique transpiles VQE instances into a format optimized for simultaneous measurement, ultimately yielding 8-30x lower cost. Our work also encompasses a synthesis tool for compiling simultaneous measurement circuits with minimal overhead. We demonstrate experimental validation of our techniques by estimating the ground state energy of deuteron with a quantum computer. We also investigate the underlying statistics of simultaneous measurement and devise an adaptive strategy for mitigating harmful covariance terms.
Variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) is a promising algorithm suitable for near-term quantum machines. VQE aims to approximate the lowest eigenvalue of an exponentially sized matrix in polynomial time. It minimizes quantum resource requirements both by co-processing with a classical processor and by structuring computation into many subproblems. Each quantum subproblem involves a separate state preparation terminated by the measurement of one Pauli string. However, the number of such Pauli strings scales as N4 for typical problems of interest--a daunting growth rate that poses a serious limitation for emerging applications such as quantum computational chemistry. We introduce a systematic technique for minimizing requisite state preparations by exploiting the simultaneous measurability of partitions of commuting Pauli strings. Our work encompasses algorithms for efficiently approximating a MIN-COMMUTING-PARTITION, as well as a synthesis tool for compiling simultaneous measurement circuits. For representative problems, we achieve 8-30x reductions in state preparations, with minimal overhead in measurement circuit cost. We demonstrate experimental validation of our techniques by estimating the ground state energy of deuteron on an IBM Q 20-qubit machine. We also investigate the underlying statistics of simultaneous measurement and devise an adaptive strategy for mitigating harmful covariance terms.
O(N3) Measurement Cost for Variational Quantum Eigensolver on Molecular Hamiltonians
Variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) is a promising algorithm for near-term quantum machines. It can be used to estimate the ground state energy of a molecule by performing separate measurements of O(N4) terms. This quartic scaling appears to be a significant obstacle to practical applications. However, we note that it empirically reduces to O(N3) when we partition the terms into linear-sized commuting families that can be measured simultaneously. We confirm these empirical observations by studying the MIN-COMMUTING-PARTITION problem at the level of the fermionic Hamiltonian and its encoding into qubits. Moreover, we provide a fast, precomputable procedure for creating linearly sized commuting partitions by solving a round-robin scheduling problem via flow networks. In addition, we demonstrate how to construct the quantum circuits necessary for simultaneous measurement, and we discuss the statistical implication of simultaneous measurement. Our results are experimentally validated by a ground state estimation of deuteron with low shot budget on a 20-qubit IBM machine.
The variational quantum eigensolver (or VQE), first developed by Peruzzo et al. (2014), has received significant attention from the research community in recent years. It uses the variational principle to compute the ground state energy of a Hamiltonian, a problem that is central to quantum chemistry and condensed matter physics. Conventional computing methods are constrained in their accuracy due to the computational limits facing exact modeling of the exponentially growing electronic wavefunction for these many-electron systems. The VQE may be used to model these complex wavefunctions in polynomial time, making it one of the most promising near-term applications for quantum computing. One important advantage is that variational algorithms have been shown to present some degree of resilience to the noise in the quantum hardware. Finding a path to navigate the relevant literature has rapidly become an overwhelming task, with many methods promising to improve different parts of the algorithm, but without clear descriptions of how the diverse parts fit together. The potential practical advantages of the algorithm are also widely discussed in the literature, but with varying conclusions. Despite strong theoretical underpinnings suggesting excellent scaling of individual VQE components, studies have pointed out that their various pre-factors could be too large to reach a quantum computing advantage over conventional methods. This review aims at disentangling the relevant literature to provide a comprehensive overview of the progress that has been made on the different parts of the algorithm, and to discuss future areas of research that are fundamental for the VQE to deliver on its promises. All the different components of the algorithm are reviewed in detail. These include the representation of Hamiltonians and wavefunctions on a quantum computer, the optimization process to find ground state energies, the post processing mitigation of quantum errors, and suggested best practices. We identify four main areas of future research: (1) optimal measurement schemes for reduction of circuit repetitions required; (2) large scale parallelization across many quantum computers; (3) ways to overcome the potential appearance of vanishing gradients in the optimization process for large systems, and how the number of iterations required for the optimization scales with system size; (4) the extent to which VQE suffers for quantum noise, and whether this noise can be mitigated in a tractable manner. The answers to these open research questions will determine the routes for the VQE to achieve quantum advantage as the quantum computing hardware scales up and as the noise levels are reduced.
The variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) stands as a prominent quantum-classical hybrid algorithm for near-term quantum computers to obtain the ground states of molecular Hamiltonians in quantum chemistry. However, due to the noncommutativity of the Pauli operators in the Hamiltonian, the number of measurements required on quantum computers increases significantly as the system size grows, which may hinder practical applications of VQE. In this work, we present a protocol termed (JBM-VQE) to reduce the number of measurements and speed up the VQE algorithm. Our method employs joint Bell measurements, enabling the simultaneous measurement of the absolute values of all expectation values of Pauli operators present in the Hamiltonian. In the course of the optimization, JBM-VQE estimates the absolute values of the expectation values of the Pauli operators for each iteration by the joint Bell measurement, while the signs of them are measured less frequently by the conventional method to measure the expectation values. Our approach is based on the empirical observation that the signs do not often change during optimization. We illustrate the speed-up of JBM-VQE compared to conventional VQE by numerical simulations for finding the ground states of molecular Hamiltonians of small molecules, and the speed-up of JBM-VQE at the early stage of the optimization becomes increasingly pronounced in larger systems. Our approach based on the joint Bell measurement is not limited to VQE and can be utilized in various quantum algorithms whose cost functions are expectation values of many Pauli operators. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) has emerged as a prominent hybrid quantum-classical algorithm for near-term quantum computing, particularly in applications like quantum machine learning. However, the performance of VQE is significantly constrained by the limitations of classical optimization methods employed to minimize the expectation value of the Hamiltonian. Traditional VQE approaches often suffer from slow convergence and sensitivity to initial conditions, particularly when dealing with complex, high-dimensional problems encountered in machine learning scenarios. This work introduces a novel adaptive quantum computing framework for VQE optimization, designed to dynamically adjust the quantum circuit parameters during the optimization process. By continuously monitoring the optimization progress and intelligently modifying the parameters, we aim to accelerate convergence and improve the robustness of VQE algorithms for machine learning tasks. The core idea is to shift from a static, fixed-parameter VQE to a dynamic, adaptive one. We explore various adaptive control strategies and demonstrate their potential to significantly reduce the number of iterations required to reach a solution, leading to improved computational efficiency and enabling VQE to tackle more complex machine learning problems within the constraints of current quantum hardware. The research focuses on the theoretical underpinnings and the design principles of this adaptive approach, laying the foundation for future implementations and experimental validation.
Variational quantum eigensolvers (VQEs) show promise for tackling complex quantum chemistry challenges and realizing quantum advantages. However, in VQE, the measurement step encounters difficulties due to errors in objective function evaluation, e.g., the energy of a quantum state. While increasing the number of measurement shots can mitigate measurement errors, this approach leads to higher costs. Strategies for shot assignment have been investigated, allowing for the allocation of varying shot numbers to different Hamiltonian terms and reducing measurement variance through term-specific insights. In this paper, we introduce a dynamic approach, the Variance-Preserved Shot Reduction (VPSR) method. This technique strives to minimize the total number of measurement shots while preserving the variance of measurements throughout the VQE process. Our numerical experiments on H 2 and LiH molecular ground states demonstrate the effectiveness of VPSR in achieving VQE convergence with a notably lower shot count.