Variational quantum algorithms are one of the promising methods to obtain quantum advantage in the noisy intermediate scale quantum computers era. They rely on a classical optimization procedure, a cost function and a parameterized quantum circuit to build the solution of a particular problem. Most of the work regarding the quantum circuits part is based on heuristic propositions for the circuit structure and reside only within the borders of VQA applications. In this context, the main objective of our work was the characterization of entanglement generation and distribution of generated states for different PQCs structures. Applying the mean entanglement considering the Scott entanglement measures and the expressibility quantifier, we studied the behavior of 5 possible connectivities between qubits that appear in the contemporary quantum computers: No connections, linear, ring, star and all-to-all, for different number of qubits and circuit concatenations (layers). For two circuit architectures with different local parameterizations, we discussed how entanglement and expressibility are connected, showing that the entanglement generation for only 1 layer is influential for the expressibility evolution as a function of the number of layers. Circuits generating mean and standard deviation for entanglement closer to the uniformly distributed states at 1 layer will have a steeper evolution of expressibility. This result is affected by the local parameterization and number of qubits. We then compared the circuits generated entanglement with the entanglement of paradigmatic states EPRn, GHZn and Wn to understand the entanglement characteristics of the different connections. The results showed how the different connectivities will influence parameterized quantum circuits for applications in VQAs and also that these can present the behavior of pseudorandom quantum circuits.
Variational quantum algorithms are one of the promising methods to obtain quantum advantage in the noisy intermediate scale quantum computers era. They rely on a classical optimization procedure, a cost function and a parameterized quantum circuit to build the solution of a particular problem. Most of the work regarding the quantum circuits part is based on heuristic propositions for the circuit structure and reside only within the borders of VQA applications. In this context, the main objective of our work was the characterization of entanglement generation and distribution of generated states for different PQCs structures. Applying the mean entanglement considering the Scott entanglement measures and the expressibility quantifier, we studied the behavior of 5 possible connectivities between qubits that appear in the contemporary quantum computers: No connections, linear, ring, star and all-to-all, for different number of qubits and circuit concatenations (layers). For two circuit architectures with different local parameterizations, we discussed how entanglement and expressibility are connected, showing that the entanglement generation for only 1 layer is influential for the expressibility evolution as a function of the number of layers. Circuits generating mean and standard deviation for entanglement closer to the uniformly distributed states at 1 layer will have a steeper evolution of expressibility. This result is affected by the local parameterization and number of qubits. We then compared the circuits generated entanglement with the entanglement of paradigmatic states EPRn, GHZn and Wn to understand the entanglement characteristics of the different connections. The results showed how the different connectivities will influence parameterized quantum circuits for applications in VQAs and also that these can present the behavior of pseudorandom quantum circuits.
Variational quantum algorithms are one of the promising methods to obtain quantum advantage in the noisy intermediate scale quantum computers era.They rely on a classical optimization procedure, a cost function and a parameterized quantum circuit to build the solution of a particular problem.Most of the work regarding the quantum circuits part is based on heuristic propositions for the circuit structure and reside only within the borders of VQA applications.In this context, the main objective of our work was the characterization of entanglement generation and distribution of generated states for different PQCs structures.Applying the mean entanglement considering the Scott entanglement measures and the expressibility quantifier, we studied the behavior of 5 possible connectivities between qubits that appear in the contemporary quantum computers: No connections, linear, ring, star and all-to-all, for different number of qubits and circuit concatenations (layers).For two circuit architectures with different local parameterizations, we discussed how entanglement and expressibility are connected, showing that the entanglement generation for only 1 layer is influential for the expressibility evolution as a function of the number of layers.Circuits generating mean and standard deviation for entanglement closer to the uniformly distributed states at 1 layer will have a steeper evolution of expressibility.This result is affected by the local parameterization and number of qubits.We then compared the circuits generated entanglement with the entanglement of paradigmatic states EP R n , GHZ n and W n to understand the entanglement characteristics of the different connections.The results showed how the different connectivities will influence parameterized quantum circuits for applications in VQAs and also that these can present the behavior of pseudorandom quantum circuits.
Abstract While scalable error correction schemes and fault tolerant quantum computing seem not to be universally accessible in the near sight, the efforts of many researchers have been directed to the exploration of the contemporary available quantum hardware. Due to these limitations, the depth and dimension of the possible quantum circuits are restricted. This motivates the study of circuits with parameterized operations that can be classically optimized in hybrid methods as variational quantum algorithms, enabling the reduction of circuit depth and size. The characteristics of these Parameterized Quantum Circuits (PQCs) are still not fully understood outside the scope of their principal application, motivating the study of their intrinsic properties. In this work, we analyse the generation of random states in PQCs under restrictions on the qubits connectivities, justified by different quantum computer architectures. We apply the expressibility quantifier and the average entanglement as diagnostics for the characteristics of the generated states and classify the circuits depending on the topology of the quantum computer where they can be implemented. As a function of the number of layers and qubits, circuits following a Ring topology will have the highest entanglement and expressibility values, followed by Linear/All-to-all almost together and the Star topology. In addition to the characterization of the differences between the entanglement and expressibility of these circuits, we also place a connection between how steep is the increase on the uniformity of the distribution of the generated states and the generation of entanglement. Circuits generating average and standard deviation for entanglement closer to values obtained with the truly uniformly random ensemble of unitaries present a steeper evolution when compared to others.
Parameterized quantum circuits are central to the development of variational quantum algorithms in the NISQ era. A key feature of these circuits is their ability to generate an expressive set of quantum states, enabling the approximation of solutions to diverse problems. The expressibility of such circuits can be assessed by analyzing the ensemble of states produced when their parameters are randomly sampled, a property closely tied to quantum complexity. In this work, we compare different classes of parameterized quantum circuits with a prototypical family of universal random circuits to investigate how rapidly they approach the asymptotic complexity defined by the Haar measure. We find that parameterized circuits exhibit faster convergence in terms of the number of gates required, as quantified through expressibility and majorization-based complexity measures. Moreover, the topology of qubit connections proves crucial, significantly affecting entanglement generation and, consequently, complexity growth. The majorization criterion emerges as a valuable complementary tool, offering distinct insights into the behavior of random state generation in the considered circuit families.
Expressibility is a crucial factor of a Parameterized Quantum Circuit (PQC). In the context of Variational Quantum Algorithms (VQA) based Quantum Machine Learning (QML), a QML model composed of highly expressible PQC and sufficient number of qubits is theoretically capable of approximating any arbitrary continuous function. While much research has explored the relationship between expressibility and learning performance, as well as the number of layers in PQCs, the connection between expressibility and PQC structure has received comparatively less attention. In this paper, we analyze the connection between expressibility and the types of quantum gates within PQCs using a Gradient Boosting Tree model and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) values. Our analysis is performed on 1,615 instances of PQC derived from 19 PQC topologies, each with 2-18 qubits and 1-5 layers. The findings of our analysis provide guidance for designing highly expressible PQCs, suggesting the integration of more RX or RY gates while maintaining a careful balance with the number of CNOT gates. Furthermore, our evaluation offers an additional evidence of expressibility saturation, as observed by previous studies.
Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) rely on parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs), whose performance is governed by expressibility and trainability. Existing studies typically evaluate these properties at the logical circuit level, implicitly assuming that designed PQCs remain unchanged during hardware execution. In practice, however, hardware-aware transpilation modifies circuit structure through qubit mapping, routing, and basis decomposition, potentially altering PQC behavior. In this paper, we perform a systematic hardware-aware analysis of expressibility and trainability by comparing logical and transpiled PQCs across multiple ansatz families, qubit counts, and circuit depths. Expressibility is measured using fidelity-based KL divergence, while trainability is quantified through gradient variance. Our results show that transpilation acts as an implicit architectural perturbation, producing strongly ansatz-dependent effects. Expressibility deviations exceed upto 125% in some cases, while trainability variations reach up to 25%. Structured ansatzes are generally more robust, whereas highly entangled architectures are more sensitive to transpilation-induced transformations. We further show that transpilation can alter the commonly assumed expressibility-trainability trade-off, demonstrating that logical-level analyses may not reliably predict hardware-level behavior. These findings highlight the importance of hardware-aware evaluation for accurate characterization of VQAs.
Abstract Parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) play an essential role in the performance of many variational quantum algorithms. One challenge in implementing such algorithms is choosing an effective circuit that well represents the solution space while maintaining a low circuit depth and parameter count. To characterize and identify expressible, yet compact, circuits, several descriptors are proposed, including expressibility and entangling capability, that are statistically estimated from classical simulations. These descriptors are computed for different circuit structures, varying the qubit connectivity and selection of gates. From these simulations, circuit fragments that perform well with respect to the descriptors are identified. In particular, a substantial improvement in performance of two‐qubit gates in a ring or all‐to‐all connected arrangement, compared to that of those on a line, is observed. Furthermore, improvement in both descriptors is achieved by sequences of controlled X‐rotation gates compared to sequences of controlled Z‐rotation gates. In addition, it is investigated how expressibility “saturates” with increased circuit depth, finding that the rate and saturated value appear to be distinguishing features of a PQC. While the correlation between each descriptor and algorithm performance remains to be investigated, methods and results from this study can be useful for algorithm development and design of experiments.