Notable Variational Algorithms: VQE, QAOA, and VQLS

Oliver Knitter, JAMES M. STOKES, Shravan Veerapaneni

Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) utilize a hybrid quantum-classical architecture to recast problems of high-dimensional linear algebra as ones of stochastic optimization. Despite the promise of leveraging near- to intermediate-term quantum resources to accelerate this task, the computational advantage of VQAs over wholly classical algorithms has not been firmly established. For instance, while the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) has been developed to approximate low-lying eigenmodes of high-dimensional sparse linear operators, analogous classical optimization algorithms exist in the variational Monte Carlo (VMC) literature, utilizing neural networks in place of quantum circuits to represent quantum states. In this paper we ask if classical stochastic optimization algorithms can be constructed paralleling other VQAs, focusing on the example of the variational quantum linear solver (VQLS). We find that such a construction can be applied to the VQLS, yielding a paradigm that could theoretically extend to other VQAs of similar form.

Mikita Vostry

Osama M. Raisuddin, Suvranu De

Jaehoon Hahm, Hayeon Kim, Young June Park

Variational Quantum Algorithms (VQAs) are expected to be promising algorithms with quantum advantages that can be run at quantum computers in the close future. In this work, we review simple rules in basic quantum circuits, and propose a simplification method, Measurement Simplification, that simplifies the expression for the measurement of quantum circuit. By the Measurement Simplification, we simplified the specific result expression of VQAs and obtained large improvements in calculation time and required memory size. Here we applied Measurement Simplification to Variational Quantum Linear Solver (VQLS), Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) and other Quantum Machine Learning Algorithms to show an example of speedup in the calculation time and required memory size.

Michał Stęchły

This document is a pdf version of the series of blogposts about variational quantum algorithms (VQA) I originally posted on my blog Musty Thoughts. It provides an explanation of the basic variational algorithms, such as Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) and Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA), as well as a more general framework for VQAs. It also describes some more advanced techniques that can be used to make these algorithms more efficient, as well as the challenges associated with using them.

R. Shankar