Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical
Hybrid quantum–classical learning of nonlinear entanglement witnesses via continuous-variable quantum neural networks
Mohammad Rezaei Shokouh, Hossein Davoodi Yeganeh
Abstract
Abstract Characterizing entanglement in high-dimensional continuous-variable (CV) systems remains a formidable challenge, particularly when full quantum state tomography is prohibitively resource-intensive. In this work, a hybrid quantum–classical framework is introduced that learns nonlinear entanglement witnesses directly from sparse measurement data via CV quantum neural networks (CV-QNNs). The architecture combines variational interferometers, squeezing operations, and non-Gaussian Kerr nonlinearities with a classical neural head to output a scalar witness value. To rigorously isolate the information-theoretic sample-complexity advantage, a Coherence Trap benchmark is devised in which genuinely entangled and separable states are engineered to exhibit identical photon-number statistics, thereby rendering them indistinguishable to classical classifiers operating on intensity histograms. Numerical simulations show that while classical models fail to classify these states without full tomography, the CV-QNN achieves 100 % accuracy by extracting phase-dependent quantum correlations prior to measurement. To address scalability and optimization under realistic finite-shot measurement noise, a variance-reduced simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation algorithm is employed, demonstrating sustained convergence and consistent performance across the primary tested cutoffs up to a Fock space cutoff of d = 5 for the 3 -mode CV system, alongside a proof-of-concept indication of algorithmic trainability at d = 7 . Moreover, the generalization of this framework to the detection of bound entangled states with zero negativity is demonstrated, establishing a fundamental advantage in sample complexity over standard linear witnesses. Robustness to photon loss and statistical noise is further quantified under realistic finite-shot measurement conditions, confirming the model’s stability in noisy environments. Collectively, these findings provide a rigorous proof-of-principle for the necessity of non-Gaussian operations and demonstrate a clear information-theoretic advantage in data-driven quantum state characterization.