Implementação e Avaliação de Inferência Bayesiana Clássica e Quântica
Lopes, Gabriel Barros
Abstract
This thesis explores the intersection of Bayesian inference and quantum computing, with a particular focus on developing and analyzing quantum approaches to probabilistic modeling. The motivation arises from the limitations of classical inference methods, which often become intractable when applied to high-dimensional distributions and complex Bayesian networks. By leveraging quantum algorithms, the work investigates how probabilistic reasoning can benefit from computational speedups, scalability, and more efficient handling of uncertainty.The implementation targets canonical benchmark problems—the Sprinkler Network and the Asia Network—where both classical and quantum Bayesian inference techniques are applied and compared. Using Qiskit, the thesis demonstrates how quantum circuits can encode probabilistic models through parameterized rotations and controlled operations, and how posterior distributions can be computed by sampling and amplitude amplification. Comparative experiments systematically evaluate the accuracy, variance, and scalability of quantum Bayesian inference against classical baselines, highlighting trade-offs between precision and shot counts while exploring the potential for quadratic speedups.The results show that although present-day hardware constraints, such as limited qubit counts and noise, restrict large-scale deployment, quantum implementations already display strong promise for complex probabilistic reasoning tasks. Importantly, the conclusions underscore the role of quantum Bayesian networks as a pathway toward practical quantum-enhanced machine learning.