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Learning to Predict Arbitrary Quantum Processes

Hsin-Yuan Huang, Sitan Chen, John P. Preskill

Published Dec 6, 2023• 71 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present an efficient machine-learning (ML) algorithm for predicting any unknown quantum process E over n qubits.For a wide range of distributions D on arbitrary n-qubit states, we show that this ML algorithm can learn to predict any local property of the output from the unknown process E, with a small average error over input states drawn from D. The ML algorithm is computationally efficient even when the unknown process is a quantum circuit with exponentially many gates.Our algorithm combines efficient procedures for learning properties of an unknown state and for learning a low-degree approximation to an unknown observable.The analysis hinges on proving new norm inequalities, including a quantum analogue of the classical Bohnenblust-Hille inequality, which we derive by giving an improved algorithm for optimizing local Hamiltonians.Numerical experiments on predicting quantum dynamics with evolution time up to 10 6 and system size up to 50 qubits corroborate our proof.Overall, our results highlight the potential for ML models to predict the output of complex quantum dynamics much faster than the time needed to run the process itself.

DOI
10.1103/prxquantum.4.040337

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We present an efficient machine-learning (ML) algorithm for predicting any unknown quantum process E over n qubits.For a wide range of distributions D on arbitrary n-qubit states, we show that this ML algorithm can learn to predict any local property of the output from the unknown process E, with a small average error over input states drawn from D. The ML algorithm is computationally efficient even when the unknown process is a quantum circuit with exponentially many gates.Our algorithm combines efficient procedures for learning properties of an unknown state and for learning a low-degree approximation to an unknown observable.The analysis hinges on proving new norm inequalities, including a quantum analogue of the classical Bohnenblust-Hille inequality, which we derive by giving an improved algorithm for optimizing local Hamiltonians.Numerical experiments on predicting quantum dynamics with evolution time up to 10 6 and system size up to 50 qubits corroborate our proof.Overall, our results highlight the potential for ML models to predict the output of complex quantum dynamics much faster than the time needed to run the process itself.
We present an efficient machine learning (ML) algorithm for predicting any unknown quantum process E\mathcal{E}E over nnn qubits. For a wide range of distributions D\mathcal{D}D on arbitrary nnn-qubit states, we show that this ML algorithm can learn to predict any local property of the output from the unknown process~E\mathcal{E}E, with a small average error over input states drawn from D\mathcal{D}D. The ML algorithm is computationally efficient even when the unknown process is a quantum circuit with exponentially many gates. Our algorithm combines efficient procedures for learning properties of an unknown state and for learning a low-degree approximation to an unknown observable. The analysis hinges on proving new norm inequalities, including a quantum analogue of the classical Bohnenblust-Hille inequality, which we derive by giving an improved algorithm for optimizing local Hamiltonians. Numerical experiments on predicting quantum dynamics with evolution time up to 10610^6106 and system size up to 505050 qubits corroborate our proof. Overall, our results highlight the potential for ML models to predict the output of complex quantum dynamics much faster than the time needed to run the process itself.
Learning about physical systems from quantum-enhanced experiments can outperform learning from experiments in which only classical memory and processing are available. Whereas quantum advantages have been established for state learning, quantum process learning is less understood. We establish an exponential quantum advantage for learning an unknown n -qubit quantum process N\mathcal {N}N . We show that a quantum memory allows to efficiently solve the following tasks: (a) learning the Pauli transfer matrix (PTM) of an arbitrary N\mathcal {N}N , (b) predicting expectation values of Pauli-sparse observables measured on the output of an arbitrary N\mathcal {N}N upon input of a Pauli-sparse state, and (c) predicting expectation values of arbitrary observables measured on the output of an unknown N\mathcal {N}N with sparse PTM upon input of an arbitrary state. With quantum memory, these tasks can be solved using linearly-in- n many copies of the Choi state of N\mathcal {N}N . In contrast, any learner without quantum memory requires exponentially-in- n many queries, even when using adaptively designed experiments. In proving this separation, we extend existing shadow tomography bounds from states to channels. Moreover, we combine PTM learning with polynomial interpolation to learn arbitrary Hamiltonians from short-time dynamics. Our results highlight the power of quantum-enhanced experiments for learning highly complex quantum dynamics.
Classical machine learning (ML) provides a potentially powerful approach to solving challenging quantum many-body problems in physics and chemistry. However, the advantages of ML over traditional methods have not been firmly established. In this work, we prove that classical ML algorithms can efficiently predict ground-state properties of gapped Hamiltonians after learning from other Hamiltonians in the same quantum phase of matter. By contrast, under a widely accepted conjecture, classical algorithms that do not learn from data cannot achieve the same guarantee. We also prove that classical ML algorithms can efficiently classify a wide range of quantum phases. Extensive numerical experiments corroborate our theoretical results in a variety of scenarios, including Rydberg atom systems, two-dimensional random Heisenberg models, symmetry-protected topological phases, and topologically ordered phases.
The vast and complicated many-qubit state space forbids us to comprehensively capture the dynamics of modern quantum computers via classical simulations or quantum tomography. Recent progress in quantum learning theory prompts a crucial question: can linear properties of a many-qubit circuit with d tunable RZ gates and G − d Clifford gates be efficiently learned from measurement data generated by varying classical inputs? In this work, we prove that the sample complexity scaling linearly in d is required to achieve a small prediction error, while the corresponding computational complexity may scale exponentially in d. To address this challenge, we propose a kernel-based method leveraging classical shadows and truncated trigonometric expansions, enabling a controllable trade-off between prediction accuracy and computational overhead. Our results advance two crucial realms in quantum computation: the exploration of quantum algorithms with practical utilities and learning-based quantum system certification. We conduct numerical simulations to validate our proposals across diverse scenarios, encompassing quantum information processing protocols, Hamiltonian simulation, and variational quantum algorithms up to 60 qubits. It is currently unclear whether machine learning model could efficiently learn the dynamics of many-qubit bounded-gate quantum circuits. This work reveals the learnability of predicting linear properties of large- scale quantum circuits and proposes a learning algorithm that enables resource-efficient solutions for many practical quantum applications.
We study the performance of classical and quantum machine learning (ML) models in predicting outcomes of physical experiments. The experiments depend on an input parameter x and involve execution of a (possibly unknown) quantum process E. Our figure of merit is the number of runs of E required to achieve a desired prediction performance. We consider classical ML models that perform a measurement and record the classical outcome after each run of E, and quantum ML models that can access E coherently to acquire quantum data; the classical or quantum data are then used to predict the outcomes of future experiments. We prove that for any input distribution D(x), a classical ML model can provide accurate predictions on average by accessing E a number of times comparable to the optimal quantum ML model. In contrast, for achieving an accurate prediction on all inputs, we prove that the exponential quantum advantage is possible. For example, to predict the expectations of all Pauli observables in an n-qubit system ρ, classical ML models require 2^{Ω(n)} copies of ρ, but we present a quantum ML model using only O(n) copies. Our results clarify where the quantum advantage is possible and highlight the potential for classical ML models to address challenging quantum problems in physics and chemistry.
We investigate the problem of predicting the output behavior of unknown quantum channels. Given query access to an nnn-qubit channel EEE and an observable OOO, we aim to learn the mapping \begin{equation*} ρ\mapsto \mathrm{Tr}(O E[ρ]) \end{equation*} to within a small error for most ρρρ sampled from a distribution DDD. Previously, Huang, Chen, and Preskill proved a surprising result that even if EEE is arbitrary, this task can be solved in time roughly nO(log⁡(1/ε))n^{O(\log(1/ε))}nO(log(1/ε)), where εεε is the target prediction error. However, their guarantee applied only to input distributions DDD invariant under all single-qubit Clifford gates, and their algorithm fails for important cases such as general product distributions over product states ρρρ. In this work, we propose a new approach that achieves accurate prediction over essentially any product distribution DDD, provided it is not "classical" in which case there is a trivial exponential lower bound. Our method employs a "biased Pauli analysis," analogous to classical biased Fourier analysis. Implementing this approach requires overcoming several challenges unique to the quantum setting, including the lack of a basis with appropriate orthogonality properties. The techniques we develop to address these issues may have broader applications in quantum information.