Accelerating linear algebra and machine learning with quantum computers
AG Rattew
Abstract
In this thesis, I develop the theory required to use quantum computers to accelerate linear algebra and machine learning, in a manner akin to how GPUs are used today. I begin by analysing quantum random access memory (QRAM), the mechanism by which quantum algorithms can access classical (non-quantum) data. When used for linear algebra applications, I show that QRAM has substantial challenges making it harder to construct than an error-corrected quantum computer. Should QRAM prove to be unrealistic, I ask what types of classical data can be efficiently loaded into quantum computers, and prove that discretized continuous functions are one such option. Next, I introduce a framework for manipulating vectors with quantum computers. The primary result of this framework is a technique allowing for the non-linear transformations of vectors to be enacted efficiently for a broad class of functions, despite the underlying unitary (and thus linear) nature of quantum algorithms. In the final chapter, utilizing the preceding results and further developing the vector encoding framework, I demonstrate that quantum computers can accelerate inference for multilayer neural networks under a range of scenarios of QRAM feasibility. This chapter also notes a plausible path towards constructing a practically useful QRAM.