Impact of quantum noise on the training of quantum Generative Adversarial Networks
K. Borras, Su Yeon Chang, Lena Funcke, Michele Grossi, Tobias Hartung, Karl Jansen, D. Kruecker, Stefan Kühn, Florian Rehm, Cenk Tüysüz, Sofia Vallecorsa
Abstract Current noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices suffer from various sources of intrinsic quantum noise. Overcoming the effects of noise is a major challenge, for which different error mitigation and error correction techniques have been proposed. In this paper, we conduct a first study of the performance of quantum Generative Adversarial Networks (qGANs) in the presence of different types of quantum noise, focusing on a simplified use case in high-energy physics. In particular, we explore the effects of readout and two-qubit gate errors on the qGAN training process. Simulating a noisy quantum device classically with IBM’s Qiskit framework, we examine the threshold of error rates up to which a reliable training is possible. In addition, we investigate the importance of various hyperparameters for the training process in the presence of different error rates, and we explore the impact of readout error mitigation on the results.
Abstract Current noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices suffer from various sources of intrinsic quantum noise. Overcoming the effects of noise is a major challenge, for which different error mitigation and error correction techniques have been proposed. In this paper, we conduct a first study of the performance of quantum Generative Adversarial Networks (qGANs) in the presence of different types of quantum noise, focusing on a simplified use case in high-energy physics. In particular, we explore the effects of readout and two-qubit gate errors on the qGAN training process. Simulating a noisy quantum device classically with IBM’s Qiskit framework, we examine the threshold of error rates up to which a reliable training is possible. In addition, we investigate the importance of various hyperparameters for the training process in the presence of different error rates, and we explore the impact of readout error mitigation on the results.
Current noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices suffer from various sources of intrinsic quantum noise. Overcoming the effects of noise is a major challenge, for which different error mitigation and error correction techniques have been proposed. In this paper, we conduct a first study of the performance of quantum Generative Adversarial Networks (qGANs) in the presence of different types of quantum noise, focusing on a simplified use case in high-energy physics. In particular, we explore the effects of readout and two-qubit gate errors on the qGAN training process. Simulating a noisy quantum device classically with IBM's Qiskit framework, we examine the threshold of error rates up to which a reliable training is possible. In addition, we investigate the importance of various hyperparameters for the training process in the presence of different error rates, and we explore the impact of readout error mitigation on the results.
The potential advantage of machine learning in quantum computers is a topic of intense discussion in the literature. Theoretical, numerical and experimental explorations will most likely be required to understand its power. There has been different algorithms proposed to exploit the probabilistic nature of variational quantum circuits for generative modelling. In this paper, we employ a hybrid architecture for quantum generative adversarial networks (QGANs) and study their robustness in the presence of noise. We devise a simple way of adding different types of noise to the quantum generator circuit, and numerically simulate the noisy hybrid QGANs to learn continuous probability distributions, and show that the performance of HQGANs remain unaffected. We also investigate the effect of different parameters on the training time to reduce the computational scaling of the algorithm and simplify its deployment on a quantum computer. We then perform the training on Rigetti's Aspen-4-2Q-A quantum processing unit, and present the results from the training. Our results pave the way for experimental exploration of different quantum machine learning algorithms on noisy intermediate scale quantum devices.
Abstract The potential advantage of machine learning in quantum computers is a topic of intense discussion in the literature. Theoretical, numerical, and experimental explorations will most likely be required to understand its power. There have been different algorithms proposed to exploit the probabilistic nature of variational quantum circuits for generative modeling. In this paper, a hybrid architecture for quantum generative adversarial networks (QGANs) is employed and their robustness in the presence of noise is studied. A simple way of adding different types of noise to the quantum generator circuit is devised, and the noisy hybrid QGANs (HQGANs) are simulated numerically to learn continuous probability distributions, and to show that the performance of HQGANs remains unaffected. The effect of different parameters on the training time is also investigated to reduce the computational scaling of the algorithm and simplify its deployment on a quantum computer. The training on Rigetti's Aspen‐4‐2Q‐A quantum processing unit is then performed, and the results from the training are presented. The authors' results pave the way for experimental exploration of different quantum machine learning algorithms on noisy intermediate‐scale quantum devices.
Abstract Quantum machine learning offers powerful advantages in processing high-dimensional data, but loading classical probability distributions into quantum states remains a major challenge. This work extends quantum generative adversarial networks (qGANs) to overcome two critical limitations of early approaches: poor robustness to noise on near-term devices and limited capacity to model complex, multi-modal distributions. We introduce hybrid qGAN architectures that combine Wasserstein GAN with gradient penalty (WGAN-GP) and maximum mean discrepancy (MMD) losses with expressive quantum circuits, including quantum convolutional neural networks (QCNNs) and EfficientSU2 ansätze. Training is performed using seamless PyTorch–Qiskit integration, enabling stable optimization on both simulators and real quantum hardware.Experiments on 2D Gaussian and log-normal distributions—directly relevant to financial modeling—show faster convergence and higher fidelity than prior qGAN designs, with up to 80% lower Wasserstein distance under 5% depolarizing noise. The framework is further validated through European call option pricing via quantum amplitude estimation (QAE), achieving pricing errors below 1% on IBM’s 20-qubit superconducting systems. Theoretical analysis confirms gradient stability under noise, while empirical results include comprehensive noise sweeps, t-SNE latent space visualizations, and rigorous statistical tests (KL divergence, KS tests). This work establishes a practical path toward quantum advantage in generative modeling, with fully open-source code for reproducibility.
Quantum Generative Adversarial Networks (QGANs) represent a useful development in quantum machine learning, using the particular properties of quantum mechanics to solve the challenges of data analysis and modeling. This paper brings up a general analysis of five QGAN architectures, focusing on their evolution, strengths, weaknesses, and limitations in noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices. Primary methods like Entangling Quantum GAN (EQ-GAN) and Quantum state fidelity (QuGAN) concentrate on stability, convergence, and robust performance on small-scale datasets such as 2 × 2 grayscale images. Intermediate models such as Image Quantum GAN (IQGAN) and Experimental Quantum GAN (EXQGAN) provide new ideas like trainable encoders and patch-based sub-generators that are scalable to 8 × 8 datasets with increasing noise resilience. The most advanced method is Parameterized Quantum Wasserstein GAN (PQWGAN), which uses a hybrid quantum-classical structure to obtain high-resolution image processing for 28 × 28 grayscale datasets while trying to maintain parameter efficiency. This study explores, analyzes, and summarizes critical problems of QGANs, including accuracy, convergence, parameter efficiency, image quality, performance metrics, and training stability under noisy conditions. In addition, developing QGANs can generate and train parameters in quantum approximation optimization algorithms. One of the useful applications of QGAN is generating medical datasets that can generate medical images from limited datasets to train specific medical models for the recognition of diseases.
Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) are vital for securing modern networks, but traditional machine learning-based anomaly detection methods often struggle with high-dimensional and imbalanced data. Although classical GANs help improve data generation, they are computationally intensive and limited in scalability. Quantum GANs (QGANs) present a promising alternative, but existing approaches are tested only in simulations. Instead, using real devices presents challenges not only because of the impact of quantum noise but, more significantly, due to usage restrictions imposed by their high cost. To cope with this, we propose a lightweight but effective hybrid QGAN for network intrusion detection, adopting a hybrid training approach by switching between an IBM real quantum device and its noisy simulator version, balancing computational feasibility and relevance in the real world. The results show that our model performs consistently, with minimal performance loss on real hardware.