Measurement-Efficient Variational Quantum Linear Solver for Carleman-Linearized Nonlinear Dynamics

Yunya Liu, Pai Wang

Xiang Rao, Kou Du

Yunya Liu, Pai Wang

We present hybrid quantum-classical pipelines for solving the Duffing equation that leverage Carleman linearization and the Variational Quantum Linear Solver (VQLS). First, we demonstrate that Carleman linearization accurately approximates the weakly nonlinear Duffing equation, with errors diminishing as the truncation order increases. Next, across IBM and Xanadu platforms, we deploy VQLS with symmetry-grouped Hadamard Test evaluations under both global and local cost formulations, compare distinct Hermitianization within a common cost framework, and benchmark hardware-efficient ansatz architectures under a fixed Hermitianization. Across block-banded test cases, each method achieves near-unity fidelity and vanishing relative residuals. These results show that topology-agnostic ansatz, optimized Hermitianization, and efficient cost formulation enable VQLS to recover quantum states proportional to classical solutions for Carleman-structured systems, providing a portable recipe for quantum-in-the-loop simulation of nonlinear dynamics.

Reuben Demirdjian, Yvan Quinn, Vincent P. Su +2 more

Efficiently solving nonlinear ordinary and partial differential equations using a quantum computer is a major challenge due its inherent linearity. To circumvent this challenge, the Carleman linearization method has been proposed to transform a nonlinear ordinary differential equation into a linear system of equations, the primary advantage being that existing quantum linear systems algorithms may then be applied to obtain a solution. However, this methodology also brings forth several major challenges that must be addressed to attain a quantum advantage. Herein, we address several of these challenges enabling us to solve the Carleman linearized one-dimensional Burgers' equation on real and simulated quantum hardware. All simulations were performed on BlueQubit's platform allowing for quantum circuits to be run on GPU or QPU's seamlessly. We first demonstrate that the Carleman linearized Burgers' equation can be efficiently loaded onto a quantum computer using the linear combination of non-unitaries method, an alternative to the linear combintaiton of unitaries approach. Once loaded, the linear system is then solved using the variational quantum linear solver. Since a naive implementation of this solver is hindered by the barren plateau phenomenon, we introduce a multigridding method to solve the problem in a series of stages with the solution of the previous stage acting as a warm start for the next stage. This approach is found to significantly improve the accuracy of the solution compared with a naive cold start. Finally, circuits with a combined number of spatial and temporal discretization points totaling up to $2^{80} \approx 10^{24}$ are transpiled onto real quantum hardware demonstrating that the proposed methodology could feasibly produce a quantum advantage on future hardware.

Yongchun Xu, Heng Hu

Reuben Demirdjian, Thomas Hogancamp, Abeynaya Gnanasekaran +2 more

Nonlinear ordinary and partial differential equations are ubiquitous in science and engineering, yet finding their solutions is often computationally intractable for classical hardware. To determine if quantum computers can offer a practical advantage, one critical challenge that must be solved is determining how to efficiently load exponentially sized matrices onto quantum hardware. In this article, we introduce an alternative linear combination of unitaries (LCU) strategy which relies on an intermediate linear combination of non-unitaries (LCNU) and a systematic embedding procedure. One advantage of this LCU strategy is that it maintains the exact number of terms as in the LCNU. Therefore, this approach offers a data loading framework for matrices that lack an efficient decomposition using the standard LCU alone. Using this approach, we construct a generalized LCNU framework for any Carleman linearized autonomous dynamical system having a polynomial nonlinearity. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, we construct an LCNU for the 3D Carleman linearized lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE). Here, we find that the number of terms in the decomposition scales like $N_s\sim\mathcal{O}(α^2Q^2)$, where $α$ is the Carleman truncation order and $Q$ is the number of discrete velocities. Importantly, $N_s$ is independent of the number of spatial and temporal discretization points. We then perform a resource estimation of our LCNU's T gate cost when combined with the (1) PREP and SELECT block encoding oracles, and (2) variational quantum linear solver. In the former, the T cost scales like $\mathcal{O}(α^3Q^2(\log_2n)^2)$, where $n$ is the total number of spatial grid points. The latter requires exactly $N_s^2(\log_2 (2n_tn^α)+1)$ circuits per iteration for $n_t$ time steps, with a worst case T gate cost of $\mathcal{O}(α(\log_2Qn)^2)$ among them.