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IEEE Latin American Electron Devices Conference (LAEDC)

Study of Error Propagation and Generation in Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd (HHL) Quantum Algorithm

Anika Zaman, Hiu Yung Wong

Published Jul 4, 2022• 13 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this paper, we study the error propagation and generation in the Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd (HHL) quantum algorithm runs on IBM-Q hardware with the help of a MATLAB simulator. HHL is a quantum algorithm that can provide exponential speedup over the fastest classical algorithm (conjugate gradient method) in solving systems of linear equations (SLE). However, without error correction, it cannot give correct results even in a 2-variable system due to its complexity. In this study, an HHL quantum circuit for a 2-variable SLE is implemented in IBM-Q and the error is extracted after each stage of the circuit and compared to a MATLAB simulator. We identified three major sources of errors, namely single-qubit flipping, gate infidelity, and error propagation. We also found that at the ancillary bit rotation stage, the error becomes large but the encoded solution still has high fidelity. However, the solution is mostly lost after the inverse quantum phase estimation which is necessary to extract the solution efficiently. Therefore, it is suggested that error correction resources, if limited, should be added to the second half of the circuit.

DOI
10.1109/laedc54796.2022.9908231

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In this paper, we study the error propagation and generation in the Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd (HHL) quantum algorithm runs on IBM-Q hardware with the help of a MATLAB simulator. HHL is a quantum algorithm that can provide exponential speedup over the fastest classical algorithm (conjugate gradient method) in solving systems of linear equations (SLE). However, without error correction, it cannot give correct results even in a 2-variable system due to its complexity. In this study, an HHL quantum circuit for a 2-variable SLE is implemented in IBM-Q and the error is extracted after each stage of the circuit and compared to a MATLAB simulator. We identified three major sources of errors, namely single-qubit flipping, gate infidelity, and error propagation. We also found that at the ancillary bit rotation stage, the error becomes large but the encoded solution still has high fidelity. However, the solution is mostly lost after the inverse quantum phase estimation which is necessary to extract the solution efficiently. Therefore, it is suggested that error correction resources, if limited, should be added to the second half of the circuit.
In 2019, Yonghae Lee et al. combined the circuit implementation of the Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd (HHL) algorithm with a classical computer, and designed a hybrid HHL algorithm to reduce experimental errors caused by decoherence and so on. However, the improvement is achieved only in the auxiliary quantum coding phase, and no quantum resource reduction is done on the quantum phase estimation and inverse quantum phase estimation stages. At the same time, the circuit improvement illustration on a [Formula: see text] linear system just has the result and no specific process. In this paper, based on the idea of the hybrid HHL algorithm and a generic circuit of HHL algorithm, an improved circuit implementation of the HHL algorithm is proposed. The feasibility of the improved circuit implementation of the HHL algorithm is verified by IBM's qiskit. The improved circuit illustrations on a [Formula: see text] linear system show that the improved circuit implementation of the HHL algorithm can effectively reduce quantum resources without losing the fidelity of the results. Thus the improved circuit implementation of the HHL algorithm can further avoid some result errors than the existing implementation methods.
One of the most significant developments in quantum computing is the Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd (HHL) method, which can solve linear equation systems at exponential speedup. Because linear systems are essential to many scientific fields, including physics, engineering, and machine learning, this approach has great potential to revolutionize computational paradigms. The HHL algorithm is thoroughly examined in this work, with particular attention paid to its theoretical framework, real-world application utilizing IBM's Qiskit platform, and the difficulties in simulating quantum algorithms on noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices. Using parameters like fidelity, time complexity, and scalability, the research further evaluates the HHL algorithm's performance in comparison to traditional methods. According to the findings, quantum simulations work well for small-scale matrices like 2x2 and 4x4, but expanding the approach to bigger systems is still difficult because of hardware and software constraints. Finally, the research emphasizes the key directions for advancing quantum hardware and algorithms to overcome current scalability challenges, enabling broader applicability of the HHL algorithm in solving complex linear systems.
We propose a hybrid quantum algorithm based on the Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd (HHL) algorithm for solving a system of linear equations. In this paper, we show that our hybrid algorithm can reduce a circuit depth from the original HHL algorithm by means of a classical information feed-forward after the quantum phase estimation algorithm, and the results of the hybrid algorithm are identical to those of the HHL algorithm. In addition, it is experimentally examined with four qubits in the IBM Quantum Experience setups, and the experimental results of our algorithm show higher accurate performance on specific systems of linear equations than that of the HHL algorithm.
In this work, we present a Python framework designed to demonstrate various error types within quantum circuits through the utilization of probabilistic data obtained from quantum computers. The framework serves as a valuable tool for monitoring and mitigating errors across all stages of quantum circuits involving multiple qubits and gates. Leveraging the Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd (HHL) quantum circuit, we conduct an analysis of errors on an IBM quantum computer and subsequently optimize the circuit. The paper introduces an automated methodology for computing single bit-flip errors and propagation errors, and gate errors offering insights into opportunities for mitigating errors in the context of the HHL quantum circuit.
We present a classical enhancement to improve the accuracy of the Hybrid variant (Hybrid HHL) of the quantum algorithm for solving linear systems of equations proposed by Harrow, Hassidim, and Lloyd (HHL). We achieve this by using higher precision quantum estimates of the eigenvalues relevant to the linear system, and a new classical step to guide the eigenvalue inversion part of Hybrid HHL. We show that eigenvalue estimates with just two extra bits of precision result in tighter error bounds for our Enhanced Hybrid HHL compared to HHL. Our enhancement reduces the error of Hybrid HHL by an average of 57 percent on an ideal quantum processor for a representative sample of 2x2 systems. On IBM Torino and IonQ Aria-1 hardware, we see that the error of Enhanced Hybrid HHL is on average 13 percent and 20 percent (respectively) less than that of HHL for the same set of systems.
Systems of linear equations are ubiquitous across science, engineering, machine learning, and even finance. While classical methods can be prohibitively slow for large-scale problems, quantum linear systems algorithms offer the potential for exponential speedup in certain parameter regimes. However, a significant gap persists between this theoretical promise and practical implementation, as the advantages are often obscured by the substantial quantum resources and high sensitivity to noise inherent in current quantum hardware. One way to bridge this gap is through the use of Iterative Refinement, a classical post-processing scheme that can exponentially improve the accuracy to which a linear system of equations can be solved using low-precision arithmetic. In the context of quantum linear systems algorithms, such as the HHL algorithm proposed by Harrow, Hassidim, and Loyd, Iterative Refinement can greatly reduce the quantum resources required to calculate an accurate solution in terms of tomography cost, circuit volume, and fault-tolerant overhead. Here, we compute and benchmark highly precise solutions to linear systems of equations of up to eight variables by running HHL with Iterative Refinement on NISQ quantum computers. We also present our open-source implementation, emphasizing that our circuit is not tailored to specific problem instances, as most available implementations are.