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SubscribeRise and Fall of Anderson Localization by Lattice Vibrations: A Time-Dependent Machine Learning Approach
The intricate relationship between electrons and the crystal lattice is a linchpin in condensed matter, traditionally described by the Fr\"ohlich model encompassing the lowest-order lattice-electron coupling. Recently developed quantum acoustics, emphasizing the wave nature of lattice vibrations, has enabled the exploration of previously uncharted territories of electron-lattice interaction not accessible with conventional tools such as perturbation theory. In this context, our agenda here is two-fold. First, we showcase the application of machine learning methods to categorize various interaction regimes within the subtle interplay of electrons and the dynamical lattice landscape. Second, we shed light on a nebulous region of electron dynamics identified by the machine learning approach and then attribute it to transient localization, where strong lattice vibrations result in a momentary Anderson prison for electronic wavepackets, which are later released by the evolution of the lattice. Overall, our research illuminates the spectrum of dynamics within the Fr\"ohlich model, such as transient localization, which has been suggested as a pivotal factor contributing to the mysteries surrounding strange metals. Furthermore, this paves the way for utilizing time-dependent perspectives in machine learning techniques for designing materials with tailored electron-lattice properties.
Enhancing Quantum Variational Algorithms with Zero Noise Extrapolation via Neural Networks
In the emergent realm of quantum computing, the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) stands out as a promising algorithm for solving complex quantum problems, especially in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era. However, the ubiquitous presence of noise in quantum devices often limits the accuracy and reliability of VQE outcomes. This research introduces a novel approach to ameliorate this challenge by utilizing neural networks for zero noise extrapolation (ZNE) in VQE computations. By employing the Qiskit framework, we crafted parameterized quantum circuits using the RY-RZ ansatz and examined their behavior under varying levels of depolarizing noise. Our investigations spanned from determining the expectation values of a Hamiltonian, defined as a tensor product of Z operators, under different noise intensities to extracting the ground state energy. To bridge the observed outcomes under noise with the ideal noise-free scenario, we trained a Feed Forward Neural Network on the error probabilities and their associated expectation values. Remarkably, our model proficiently predicted the VQE outcome under hypothetical noise-free conditions. By juxtaposing the simulation results with real quantum device executions, we unveiled the discrepancies induced by noise and showcased the efficacy of our neural network-based ZNE technique in rectifying them. This integrative approach not only paves the way for enhanced accuracy in VQE computations on NISQ devices but also underlines the immense potential of hybrid quantum-classical paradigms in circumventing the challenges posed by quantum noise. Through this research, we envision a future where quantum algorithms can be reliably executed on noisy devices, bringing us one step closer to realizing the full potential of quantum computing.
Variational Quantum Harmonizer: Generating Chord Progressions and Other Sonification Methods with the VQE Algorithm
This work investigates a case study of using physical-based sonification of Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) problems, optimized by the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) algorithm. The VQE approximates the solution of the problem by using an iterative loop between the quantum computer and a classical optimization routine. This work explores the intermediary statevectors found in each VQE iteration as the means of sonifying the optimization process itself. The implementation was realised in the form of a musical interface prototype named Variational Quantum Harmonizer (VQH), providing potential design strategies for musical applications, focusing on chords, chord progressions, and arpeggios. The VQH can be used both to enhance data visualization or to create artistic pieces. The methodology is also relevant in terms of how an artist would gain intuition towards achieving a desired musical sound by carefully designing QUBO cost functions. Flexible mapping strategies could supply a broad portfolio of sounds for QUBO and quantum-inspired musical compositions, as demonstrated in a case study composition, "Dependent Origination" by Peter Thomas and Paulo Itaborai.
A Grand Unification of Quantum Algorithms
Quantum algorithms offer significant speedups over their classical counterparts for a variety of problems. The strongest arguments for this advantage are borne by algorithms for quantum search, quantum phase estimation, and Hamiltonian simulation, which appear as subroutines for large families of composite quantum algorithms. A number of these quantum algorithms were recently tied together by a novel technique known as the quantum singular value transformation (QSVT), which enables one to perform a polynomial transformation of the singular values of a linear operator embedded in a unitary matrix. In the seminal GSLW'19 paper on QSVT [Gily\'en, Su, Low, and Wiebe, ACM STOC 2019], many algorithms are encompassed, including amplitude amplification, methods for the quantum linear systems problem, and quantum simulation. Here, we provide a pedagogical tutorial through these developments, first illustrating how quantum signal processing may be generalized to the quantum eigenvalue transform, from which QSVT naturally emerges. Paralleling GSLW'19, we then employ QSVT to construct intuitive quantum algorithms for search, phase estimation, and Hamiltonian simulation, and also showcase algorithms for the eigenvalue threshold problem and matrix inversion. This overview illustrates how QSVT is a single framework comprising the three major quantum algorithms, thus suggesting a grand unification of quantum algorithms.
Quantum Diffusion Models
We propose a quantum version of a generative diffusion model. In this algorithm, artificial neural networks are replaced with parameterized quantum circuits, in order to directly generate quantum states. We present both a full quantum and a latent quantum version of the algorithm; we also present a conditioned version of these models. The models' performances have been evaluated using quantitative metrics complemented by qualitative assessments. An implementation of a simplified version of the algorithm has been executed on real NISQ quantum hardware.
Quantum Generative Diffusion Model
This paper introduces the Quantum Generative Diffusion Model (QGDM), a fully quantum-mechanical model for generating quantum state ensembles, inspired by Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models. QGDM features a diffusion process that introduces timestep-dependent noise into quantum states, paired with a denoising mechanism trained to reverse this contamination. This model efficiently evolves a completely mixed state into a target quantum state post-training. Our comparative analysis with Quantum Generative Adversarial Networks demonstrates QGDM's superiority, with fidelity metrics exceeding 0.99 in numerical simulations involving up to 4 qubits. Additionally, we present a Resource-Efficient version of QGDM (RE-QGDM), which minimizes the need for auxiliary qubits while maintaining impressive generative capabilities for tasks involving up to 8 qubits. These results showcase the proposed models' potential for tackling challenging quantum generation problems.
Foundations for Near-Term Quantum Natural Language Processing
We provide conceptual and mathematical foundations for near-term quantum natural language processing (QNLP), and do so in quantum computer scientist friendly terms. We opted for an expository presentation style, and provide references for supporting empirical evidence and formal statements concerning mathematical generality. We recall how the quantum model for natural language that we employ canonically combines linguistic meanings with rich linguistic structure, most notably grammar. In particular, the fact that it takes a quantum-like model to combine meaning and structure, establishes QNLP as quantum-native, on par with simulation of quantum systems. Moreover, the now leading Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) paradigm for encoding classical data on quantum hardware, variational quantum circuits, makes NISQ exceptionally QNLP-friendly: linguistic structure can be encoded as a free lunch, in contrast to the apparently exponentially expensive classical encoding of grammar. Quantum speed-up for QNLP tasks has already been established in previous work with Will Zeng. Here we provide a broader range of tasks which all enjoy the same advantage. Diagrammatic reasoning is at the heart of QNLP. Firstly, the quantum model interprets language as quantum processes via the diagrammatic formalism of categorical quantum mechanics. Secondly, these diagrams are via ZX-calculus translated into quantum circuits. Parameterisations of meanings then become the circuit variables to be learned. Our encoding of linguistic structure within quantum circuits also embodies a novel approach for establishing word-meanings that goes beyond the current standards in mainstream AI, by placing linguistic structure at the heart of Wittgenstein's meaning-is-context.
Curriculum reinforcement learning for quantum architecture search under hardware errors
The key challenge in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum era is finding useful circuits compatible with current device limitations. Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) offer a potential solution by fixing the circuit architecture and optimizing individual gate parameters in an external loop. However, parameter optimization can become intractable, and the overall performance of the algorithm depends heavily on the initially chosen circuit architecture. Several quantum architecture search (QAS) algorithms have been developed to design useful circuit architectures automatically. In the case of parameter optimization alone, noise effects have been observed to dramatically influence the performance of the optimizer and final outcomes, which is a key line of study. However, the effects of noise on the architecture search, which could be just as critical, are poorly understood. This work addresses this gap by introducing a curriculum-based reinforcement learning QAS (CRLQAS) algorithm designed to tackle challenges in realistic VQA deployment. The algorithm incorporates (i) a 3D architecture encoding and restrictions on environment dynamics to explore the search space of possible circuits efficiently, (ii) an episode halting scheme to steer the agent to find shorter circuits, and (iii) a novel variant of simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation as an optimizer for faster convergence. To facilitate studies, we developed an optimized simulator for our algorithm, significantly improving computational efficiency in simulating noisy quantum circuits by employing the Pauli-transfer matrix formalism in the Pauli-Liouville basis. Numerical experiments focusing on quantum chemistry tasks demonstrate that CRLQAS outperforms existing QAS algorithms across several metrics in both noiseless and noisy environments.
Single-shot Quantum Signal Processing Interferometry
Quantum systems of infinite dimension, such as bosonic oscillators, provide vast resources for quantum sensing. Yet, a general theory on how to manipulate such bosonic modes for sensing beyond parameter estimation is unknown. We present a general algorithmic framework, quantum signal processing interferometry (QSPI), for quantum sensing at the fundamental limits of quantum mechanics by generalizing Ramsey-type interferometry. Our QSPI sensing protocol relies on performing nonlinear polynomial transformations on the oscillator's quadrature operators by generalizing quantum signal processing (QSP) from qubits to hybrid qubit-oscillator systems. We use our QSPI sensing framework to make efficient binary decisions on a displacement channel in the single-shot limit. Theoretical analysis suggests the sensing accuracy, given a single-shot qubit measurement, scales inversely with the sensing time or circuit depth of the algorithm. We further concatenate a series of such binary decisions to perform parameter estimation in a bit-by-bit fashion. Numerical simulations are performed to support these statements. Our QSPI protocol offers a unified framework for quantum sensing using continuous-variable bosonic systems beyond parameter estimation and establishes a promising avenue toward efficient and scalable quantum control and quantum sensing schemes beyond the NISQ era.
Optimizing quantum noise-induced reservoir computing for nonlinear and chaotic time series prediction
Quantum reservoir computing is strongly emerging for sequential and time series data prediction in quantum machine learning. We make advancements to the quantum noise-induced reservoir, in which reservoir noise is used as a resource to generate expressive, nonlinear signals that are efficiently learned with a single linear output layer. We address the need for quantum reservoir tuning with a novel and generally applicable approach to quantum circuit parameterization, in which tunable noise models are programmed to the quantum reservoir circuit to be fully controlled for effective optimization. Our systematic approach also involves reductions in quantum reservoir circuits in the number of qubits and entanglement scheme complexity. We show that with only a single noise model and small memory capacities, excellent simulation results were obtained on nonlinear benchmarks that include the Mackey-Glass system for 100 steps ahead in the challenging chaotic regime.
The Virtual Quantum Optics Laboratory
We present a web-based software tool, the Virtual Quantum Optics Laboratory (VQOL), that may be used for designing and executing realistic simulations of quantum optics experiments. A graphical user interface allows one to rapidly build and configure a variety of different optical experiments, while the runtime environment provides unique capabilities for visualization and analysis. All standard linear optical components are available as well as sources of thermal, coherent, and entangled Gaussian states. A unique aspect of VQOL is the introduction of non-Gaussian measurements using detectors modeled as deterministic devices that "click" when the amplitude of the light falls above a given threshold. We describe the underlying theoretical models and provide several illustrative examples. We find that VQOL provides a a faithful representation of many experimental quantum optics phenomena and may serve as both a useful instructional tool for students as well as a valuable research tool for practitioners.
The probabilistic world
Physics is based on probabilities as fundamental entities of a mathematical description. Expectation values of observables are computed according to the classical statistical rule. The overall probability distribution for one world covers all times. The quantum formalism arises once one focuses on the evolution of the time-local probabilistic information. Wave functions or the density matrix allow the formulation of a general linear evolution law for classical statistics. The quantum formalism for classical statistics is a powerful tool which allows us to implement for generalized Ising models the momentum observable with the associated Fourier representation. The association of operators to observables permits the computation of expectation values in terms of the density matrix by the usual quantum rule. We show that probabilistic cellular automata are quantum systems in a formulation with discrete time steps and real wave functions. With a complex structure the evolution operator for automata can be expressed in terms of a Hamiltonian involving fermionic creation and annihilation operators. The time-local probabilistic information amounts to a subsystem of the overall probabilistic system which is correlated with its environment consisting of the past and future. Such subsystems typically involve probabilistic observables for which only a probability distribution for their possible measurement values is available. Incomplete statistics does not permit to compute classical correlation functions for arbitrary subsystem-observables. Bell's inequalities are not generally applicable.
Variational Quantum algorithm for Poisson equation
The Poisson equation has wide applications in many areas of science and engineering. Although there are some quantum algorithms that can efficiently solve the Poisson equation, they generally require a fault-tolerant quantum computer which is beyond the current technology. In this paper, we propose a Variational Quantum Algorithm (VQA) to solve the Poisson equation, which can be executed on Noise Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices. In detail, we first adopt the finite difference method to transform the Poisson equation into a linear system. Then, according to the special structure of the linear system, we find an explicit tensor product decomposition, with only 2log n+1 items, of its coefficient matrix under a specific set of simple operators, where n is the dimension of the coefficient matrix. This implies that the proposed VQA only needs O(log n) measurements, which dramatically reduce quantum resources. Additionally, we perform quantum Bell measurements to efficiently evaluate the expectation values of simple operators. Numerical experiments demonstrate that our algorithm can effectively solve the Poisson equation.
Classical Glasses, Black Holes, and Strange Quantum Liquids
From the dynamics of a broad class of classical mean-field glass models one may obtain a quantum model with finite zero-temperature entropy, a quantum transition at zero temperature, and a time-reparametrization (quasi-)invariance in the dynamical equations for correlations. The low eigenvalue spectrum of the resulting quantum model is directly related to the structure and exploration of metastable states in the landscape of the original classical glass model. This mapping reveals deep connections between classical glasses and the properties of SYK-like models.
Quantum Reservoir Computing for Corrosion Prediction in Aerospace: A Hybrid Approach for Enhanced Material Degradation Forecasting
The prediction of material degradation is an important problem to solve in many industries. Environmental conditions, such as humidity and temperature, are important drivers of degradation processes, with corrosion being one of the most prominent ones. Quantum machine learning is a promising research field but suffers from well known deficits such as barren plateaus and measurement overheads. To address this problem, recent research has examined quantum reservoir computing to address time-series prediction tasks. Although a promising idea, developing circuits that are expressive enough while respecting the limited depths available on current devices is challenging. In classical reservoir computing, the onion echo state network model (ESN) [https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72359-9_9] was introduced to increase the interpretability of the representation structure of the embeddings. This onion ESN model utilizes a concatenation of smaller reservoirs that describe different time scales by covering different regions of the eigenvalue spectrum. Here, we use the same idea in the realm of quantum reservoir computing by simultaneously evolving smaller quantum reservoirs to better capture all the relevant time-scales while keeping the circuit depth small. We do this by modifying the rotation angles which we show alters the eigenvalues of the quantum evolution, but also note that modifying the number of mid-circuit measurements accomplishes the same goals of changing the long-term or short-term memory. This onion QRC outperforms a simple model and a single classical reservoir for predicting the degradation of aluminum alloys in different environmental conditions. By combining the onion QRC with an additional classical reservoir layer, the prediction accuracy is further improved.
Quantum circuit synthesis with diffusion models
Quantum computing has recently emerged as a transformative technology. Yet, its promised advantages rely on efficiently translating quantum operations into viable physical realizations. In this work, we use generative machine learning models, specifically denoising diffusion models (DMs), to facilitate this transformation. Leveraging text-conditioning, we steer the model to produce desired quantum operations within gate-based quantum circuits. Notably, DMs allow to sidestep during training the exponential overhead inherent in the classical simulation of quantum dynamics -- a consistent bottleneck in preceding ML techniques. We demonstrate the model's capabilities across two tasks: entanglement generation and unitary compilation. The model excels at generating new circuits and supports typical DM extensions such as masking and editing to, for instance, align the circuit generation to the constraints of the targeted quantum device. Given their flexibility and generalization abilities, we envision DMs as pivotal in quantum circuit synthesis, enhancing both practical applications but also insights into theoretical quantum computation.
Model-agnostic search for the quasinormal modes of gravitational wave echoes
Post-merger gravitational wave echoes provide a unique opportunity to probe the near-horizon structure of astrophysical black holes, that may be modified due to non-perturbative quantum gravity phenomena. However, since the waveform is subject to large theoretical uncertainties, it is necessary to develop model-agnostic search methods for detecting echoes from observational data. A promising strategy is to identify the characteristic quasinormal modes (QNMs) associated with echoes, {\it in frequency space}, which complements existing searches of quasiperiodic pulses in time. In this study, we build upon our previous work targeting these modes by incorporating relative phase information to optimize the Bayesian search algorithm. Using a new phase-marginalized likelihood, the performance can be significantly improved for well-resolved QNMs. This enables an efficient model-agnostic search for QNMs of different shapes by using a simple search template. To demonstrate the robustness of the search algorithm, we construct four complementary benchmarks for the echo waveform that span a diverse range of different theoretical possibilities for the near-horizon structure. We then validate our Bayesian search algorithms by injecting the benchmark models into different realizations of Gaussian noise. Using two types of phase-marginalized likelihoods, we find that the search algorithm can efficiently detect the corresponding QNMs. Therefore, our search strategy provides a concrete Bayesian and model-agnostic approach to "quantum black hole seismology".
The power of quantum neural networks
Fault-tolerant quantum computers offer the promise of dramatically improving machine learning through speed-ups in computation or improved model scalability. In the near-term, however, the benefits of quantum machine learning are not so clear. Understanding expressibility and trainability of quantum models-and quantum neural networks in particular-requires further investigation. In this work, we use tools from information geometry to define a notion of expressibility for quantum and classical models. The effective dimension, which depends on the Fisher information, is used to prove a novel generalisation bound and establish a robust measure of expressibility. We show that quantum neural networks are able to achieve a significantly better effective dimension than comparable classical neural networks. To then assess the trainability of quantum models, we connect the Fisher information spectrum to barren plateaus, the problem of vanishing gradients. Importantly, certain quantum neural networks can show resilience to this phenomenon and train faster than classical models due to their favourable optimisation landscapes, captured by a more evenly spread Fisher information spectrum. Our work is the first to demonstrate that well-designed quantum neural networks offer an advantage over classical neural networks through a higher effective dimension and faster training ability, which we verify on real quantum hardware.
Ground State Preparation via Dynamical Cooling
Quantum algorithms for probing ground-state properties of quantum systems require good initial states. Projection-based methods such as eigenvalue filtering rely on inputs that have a significant overlap with the low-energy subspace, which can be challenging for large, strongly-correlated systems. This issue has motivated the study of physically-inspired dynamical approaches such as thermodynamic cooling. In this work, we introduce a ground-state preparation algorithm based on the simulation of quantum dynamics. Our main insight is to transform the Hamiltonian by a shifted sign function via quantum signal processing, effectively mapping eigenvalues into positive and negative subspaces separated by a large gap. This automatically ensures that all states within each subspace conserve energy with respect to the transformed Hamiltonian. Subsequent time-evolution with a perturbed Hamiltonian induces transitions to lower-energy states while preventing unwanted jumps to higher energy states. The approach does not rely on a priori knowledge of energy gaps and requires no additional qubits to model a bath. Furthermore, it makes mathcal{O}(d^{,3/2}/epsilon) queries to the time-evolution operator of the system and mathcal{O}(d^{,3/2}) queries to a block-encoding of the perturbation, for d cooling steps and an epsilon-accurate energy resolution. Our results provide a framework for combining quantum signal processing and Hamiltonian simulation to design heuristic quantum algorithms for ground-state preparation.
The effect of data encoding on the expressive power of variational quantum machine learning models
Quantum computers can be used for supervised learning by treating parametrised quantum circuits as models that map data inputs to predictions. While a lot of work has been done to investigate practical implications of this approach, many important theoretical properties of these models remain unknown. Here we investigate how the strategy with which data is encoded into the model influences the expressive power of parametrised quantum circuits as function approximators. We show that one can naturally write a quantum model as a partial Fourier series in the data, where the accessible frequencies are determined by the nature of the data encoding gates in the circuit. By repeating simple data encoding gates multiple times, quantum models can access increasingly rich frequency spectra. We show that there exist quantum models which can realise all possible sets of Fourier coefficients, and therefore, if the accessible frequency spectrum is asymptotically rich enough, such models are universal function approximators.
Predicting Many Properties of a Quantum System from Very Few Measurements
Predicting properties of complex, large-scale quantum systems is essential for developing quantum technologies. We present an efficient method for constructing an approximate classical description of a quantum state using very few measurements of the state. This description, called a classical shadow, can be used to predict many different properties: order log M measurements suffice to accurately predict M different functions of the state with high success probability. The number of measurements is independent of the system size, and saturates information-theoretic lower bounds. Moreover, target properties to predict can be selected after the measurements are completed. We support our theoretical findings with extensive numerical experiments. We apply classical shadows to predict quantum fidelities, entanglement entropies, two-point correlation functions, expectation values of local observables, and the energy variance of many-body local Hamiltonians. The numerical results highlight the advantages of classical shadows relative to previously known methods.
Autoregressive Transformer Neural Network for Simulating Open Quantum Systems via a Probabilistic Formulation
The theory of open quantum systems lays the foundations for a substantial part of modern research in quantum science and engineering. Rooted in the dimensionality of their extended Hilbert spaces, the high computational complexity of simulating open quantum systems calls for the development of strategies to approximate their dynamics. In this paper, we present an approach for tackling open quantum system dynamics. Using an exact probabilistic formulation of quantum physics based on positive operator-valued measure (POVM), we compactly represent quantum states with autoregressive transformer neural networks; such networks bring significant algorithmic flexibility due to efficient exact sampling and tractable density. We further introduce the concept of String States to partially restore the symmetry of the autoregressive transformer neural network and improve the description of local correlations. Efficient algorithms have been developed to simulate the dynamics of the Liouvillian superoperator using a forward-backward trapezoid method and find the steady state via a variational formulation. Our approach is benchmarked on prototypical one and two-dimensional systems, finding results which closely track the exact solution and achieve higher accuracy than alternative approaches based on using Markov chain Monte Carlo to sample restricted Boltzmann machines. Our work provides general methods for understanding quantum dynamics in various contexts, as well as techniques for solving high-dimensional probabilistic differential equations in classical setups.
Error Correction of Quantum Algorithms: Arbitrarily Accurate Recovery Of Noisy Quantum Signal Processing
The intrinsic probabilistic nature of quantum systems makes error correction or mitigation indispensable for quantum computation. While current error-correcting strategies focus on correcting errors in quantum states or quantum gates, these fine-grained error-correction methods can incur significant overhead for quantum algorithms of increasing complexity. We present a first step in achieving error correction at the level of quantum algorithms by combining a unified perspective on modern quantum algorithms via quantum signal processing (QSP). An error model of under- or over-rotation of the signal processing operator parameterized by epsilon < 1 is introduced. It is shown that while Pauli Z-errors are not recoverable without additional resources, Pauli X and Y errors can be arbitrarily suppressed by coherently appending a noisy `recovery QSP.' Furthermore, it is found that a recovery QSP of length O(2^k c^{k^2} d) is sufficient to correct any length-d QSP with c unique phases to k^{th}-order in error epsilon. Allowing an additional assumption, a lower bound of Omega(cd) is shown, which is tight for k = 1, on the length of the recovery sequence. Our algorithmic-level error correction method is applied to Grover's fixed-point search algorithm as a demonstration.
Optimal fidelity in implementing Grover's search algorithm on open quantum system
We investigate the fidelity of Grover's search algorithm by implementing it on an open quantum system. In particular, we study with what accuracy one can estimate that the algorithm would deliver the searched state. In reality, every system has some influence of its environment. We include the environmental effects on the system dynamics by using a recently reported fluctuation-regulated quantum master equation (FRQME). The FRQME indicates that in addition to the regular relaxation due to system-environment coupling, the applied drive also causes dissipation in the system dynamics. As a result, the fidelity is found to depend on both the drive-induced dissipative terms and the relaxation terms and we find that there exists a competition between them, leading to an optimum value of the drive amplitude for which the fidelity becomes maximum. For efficient implementation of the search algorithm, precise knowledge of this optimum drive amplitude is essential.
Blueprint for a Scalable Photonic Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computer
Photonics is the platform of choice to build a modular, easy-to-network quantum computer operating at room temperature. However, no concrete architecture has been presented so far that exploits both the advantages of qubits encoded into states of light and the modern tools for their generation. Here we propose such a design for a scalable and fault-tolerant photonic quantum computer informed by the latest developments in theory and technology. Central to our architecture is the generation and manipulation of three-dimensional hybrid resource states comprising both bosonic qubits and squeezed vacuum states. The proposal enables exploiting state-of-the-art procedures for the non-deterministic generation of bosonic qubits combined with the strengths of continuous-variable quantum computation, namely the implementation of Clifford gates using easy-to-generate squeezed states. Moreover, the architecture is based on two-dimensional integrated photonic chips used to produce a qubit cluster state in one temporal and two spatial dimensions. By reducing the experimental challenges as compared to existing architectures and by enabling room-temperature quantum computation, our design opens the door to scalable fabrication and operation, which may allow photonics to leap-frog other platforms on the path to a quantum computer with millions of qubits.
KANQAS: Kolmogorov-Arnold Network for Quantum Architecture Search
Quantum architecture Search (QAS) is a promising direction for optimization and automated design of quantum circuits towards quantum advantage. Recent techniques in QAS emphasize Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP)-based deep Q-networks. However, their interpretability remains challenging due to the large number of learnable parameters and the complexities involved in selecting appropriate activation functions. In this work, to overcome these challenges, we utilize the Kolmogorov-Arnold Network (KAN) in the QAS algorithm, analyzing their efficiency in the task of quantum state preparation and quantum chemistry. In quantum state preparation, our results show that in a noiseless scenario, the probability of success is 2 to 5 times higher than MLPs. In noisy environments, KAN outperforms MLPs in fidelity when approximating these states, showcasing its robustness against noise. In tackling quantum chemistry problems, we enhance the recently proposed QAS algorithm by integrating curriculum reinforcement learning with a KAN structure. This facilitates a more efficient design of parameterized quantum circuits by reducing the number of required 2-qubit gates and circuit depth. Further investigation reveals that KAN requires a significantly smaller number of learnable parameters compared to MLPs; however, the average time of executing each episode for KAN is higher.
Synergy Between Quantum Circuits and Tensor Networks: Short-cutting the Race to Practical Quantum Advantage
While recent breakthroughs have proven the ability of noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices to achieve quantum advantage in classically-intractable sampling tasks, the use of these devices for solving more practically relevant computational problems remains a challenge. Proposals for attaining practical quantum advantage typically involve parametrized quantum circuits (PQCs), whose parameters can be optimized to find solutions to diverse problems throughout quantum simulation and machine learning. However, training PQCs for real-world problems remains a significant practical challenge, largely due to the phenomenon of barren plateaus in the optimization landscapes of randomly-initialized quantum circuits. In this work, we introduce a scalable procedure for harnessing classical computing resources to provide pre-optimized initializations for PQCs, which we show significantly improves the trainability and performance of PQCs on a variety of problems. Given a specific optimization task, this method first utilizes tensor network (TN) simulations to identify a promising quantum state, which is then converted into gate parameters of a PQC by means of a high-performance decomposition procedure. We show that this learned initialization avoids barren plateaus, and effectively translates increases in classical resources to enhanced performance and speed in training quantum circuits. By demonstrating a means of boosting limited quantum resources using classical computers, our approach illustrates the promise of this synergy between quantum and quantum-inspired models in quantum computing, and opens up new avenues to harness the power of modern quantum hardware for realizing practical quantum advantage.
Explicit gate construction of block-encoding for Hamiltonians needed for simulating partial differential equations
Quantum computation is an emerging technology with important potential for solving certain problems pivotal in various scientific and engineering disciplines. This paper introduces an efficient quantum protocol for the explicit construction of the block-encoding for an important class of Hamiltonians. Using the Schrodingerisation technique -- which converts non-conservative PDEs into conservative ones -- this particular class of Hamiltonians is shown to be sufficient for simulating any linear partial differential equations that have coefficients which are polynomial functions. The class of Hamiltonians consist of discretisations of polynomial products and sums of position and momentum operators. This construction is explicit and leverages minimal one- and two-qubit operations. The explicit construction of this block-encoding forms a fundamental building block for constructing the unitary evolution operator for this Hamiltonian. The proposed algorithm exhibits polynomial scaling with respect to the spatial partitioning size, suggesting an exponential speedup over classical finite-difference methods. This work provides an important foundation for building explicit and efficient quantum circuits for solving partial differential equations.
Experimental Estimation of Quantum State Properties from Classical Shadows
Full quantum tomography of high-dimensional quantum systems is experimentally infeasible due to the exponential scaling of the number of required measurements on the number of qubits in the system. However, several ideas were proposed recently for predicting the limited number of features for these states, or estimating the expectation values of operators, without the need for full state reconstruction. These ideas go under the general name of shadow tomography. Here we provide an experimental demonstration of property estimation based on classical shadows proposed in [H.-Y. Huang, R. Kueng, J. Preskill. Nat. Phys. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0932-7 (2020)] and study its performance in the quantum optical experiment with high-dimensional spatial states of photons. We show on experimental data how this procedure outperforms conventional state reconstruction in fidelity estimation from a limited number of measurements.
Quantum-enhanced data classification with a variational entangled sensor network
Variational quantum circuits (VQCs) built upon noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) hardware, in conjunction with classical processing, constitute a promising architecture for quantum simulations, classical optimization, and machine learning. However, the required VQC depth to demonstrate a quantum advantage over classical schemes is beyond the reach of available NISQ devices. Supervised learning assisted by an entangled sensor network (SLAEN) is a distinct paradigm that harnesses VQCs trained by classical machine-learning algorithms to tailor multipartite entanglement shared by sensors for solving practically useful data-processing problems. Here, we report the first experimental demonstration of SLAEN and show an entanglement-enabled reduction in the error probability for classification of multidimensional radio-frequency signals. Our work paves a new route for quantum-enhanced data processing and its applications in the NISQ era.
Sound propagation in realistic interactive 3D scenes with parameterized sources using deep neural operators
We address the challenge of sound propagation simulations in 3D virtual rooms with moving sources, which have applications in virtual/augmented reality, game audio, and spatial computing. Solutions to the wave equation can describe wave phenomena such as diffraction and interference. However, simulating them using conventional numerical discretization methods with hundreds of source and receiver positions is intractable, making stimulating a sound field with moving sources impractical. To overcome this limitation, we propose using deep operator networks to approximate linear wave-equation operators. This enables the rapid prediction of sound propagation in realistic 3D acoustic scenes with moving sources, achieving millisecond-scale computations. By learning a compact surrogate model, we avoid the offline calculation and storage of impulse responses for all relevant source/listener pairs. Our experiments, including various complex scene geometries, show good agreement with reference solutions, with root mean squared errors ranging from 0.02 Pa to 0.10 Pa. Notably, our method signifies a paradigm shift as no prior machine learning approach has achieved precise predictions of complete wave fields within realistic domains. We anticipate that our findings will drive further exploration of deep neural operator methods, advancing research in immersive user experiences within virtual environments.
Hardware-efficient Variational Quantum Eigensolver for Small Molecules and Quantum Magnets
Quantum computers can be used to address molecular structure, materials science and condensed matter physics problems, which currently stretch the limits of existing high-performance computing resources. Finding exact numerical solutions to these interacting fermion problems has exponential cost, while Monte Carlo methods are plagued by the fermionic sign problem. These limitations of classical computational methods have made even few-atom molecular structures problems of practical interest for medium-sized quantum computers. Yet, thus far experimental implementations have been restricted to molecules involving only Period I elements. Here, we demonstrate the experimental optimization of up to six-qubit Hamiltonian problems with over a hundred Pauli terms, determining the ground state energy for molecules of increasing size, up to BeH2. This is enabled by a hardware-efficient variational quantum eigensolver with trial states specifically tailored to the available interactions in our quantum processor, combined with a compact encoding of fermionic Hamiltonians and a robust stochastic optimization routine. We further demonstrate the flexibility of our approach by applying the technique to a problem of quantum magnetism. Across all studied problems, we find agreement between experiment and numerical simulations with a noisy model of the device. These results help elucidate the requirements for scaling the method to larger systems, and aim at bridging the gap between problems at the forefront of high-performance computing and their implementation on quantum hardware.
Generic Two-Mode Gaussian States as Quantum Sensors
Gaussian quantum channels constitute a cornerstone of continuous-variable quantum information science, underpinning a wide array of protocols in quantum optics and quantum metrology. While the action of such channels on arbitrary states is well-characterized under full channel knowledge, we address the inverse problem, namely, the precise estimation of fundamental channel parameters, including the beam splitter transmissivity and the two-mode squeezing amplitude. Employing the quantum Fisher information (QFI) as a benchmark for metrological sensitivity, we demonstrate that the symmetry inherent in mode mixing critically governs the amplification of QFI, thereby enabling high-precision parameter estimation. In addition, we investigate quantum thermometry by estimating the average photon number of thermal states, revealing that the transmissivity parameter significantly modulates estimation precision. Our results underscore the metrological utility of two-mode Gaussian states and establish a robust framework for parameter inference in noisy and dynamically evolving quantum systems.
Comparing coherent and incoherent models for quantum homogenization
Here we investigate the role of quantum interference in the quantum homogenizer, whose convergence properties model a thermalization process. In the original quantum homogenizer protocol, a system qubit converges to the state of identical reservoir qubits through partial-swap interactions, that allow interference between reservoir qubits. We design an alternative, incoherent quantum homogenizer, where each system-reservoir interaction is moderated by a control qubit using a controlled-swap interaction. We show that our incoherent homogenizer satisfies the essential conditions for homogenization, being able to transform a qubit from any state to any other state to arbitrary accuracy, with negligible impact on the reservoir qubits' states. Our results show that the convergence properties of homogenization machines that are important for modelling thermalization are not dependent on coherence between qubits in the homogenization protocol. We then derive bounds on the resources required to re-use the homogenizers for performing state transformations. This demonstrates that both homogenizers are universal for any number of homogenizations, for an increased resource cost.
Less Quantum, More Advantage: An End-to-End Quantum Algorithm for the Jones Polynomial
We present an end-to-end reconfigurable algorithmic pipeline for solving a famous problem in knot theory using a noisy digital quantum computer, namely computing the value of the Jones polynomial at the fifth root of unity within additive error for any input link, i.e. a closed braid. This problem is DQC1-complete for Markov-closed braids and BQP-complete for Plat-closed braids, and we accommodate both versions of the problem. Even though it is widely believed that DQC1 is strictly contained in BQP, and so is 'less quantum', the resource requirements of classical algorithms for the DQC1 version are at least as high as for the BQP version, and so we potentially gain 'more advantage' by focusing on Markov-closed braids in our exposition. We demonstrate our quantum algorithm on Quantinuum's H2-2 quantum computer and show the effect of problem-tailored error-mitigation techniques. Further, leveraging that the Jones polynomial is a link invariant, we construct an efficiently verifiable benchmark to characterise the effect of noise present in a given quantum processor. In parallel, we implement and benchmark the state-of-the-art tensor-network-based classical algorithms for computing the Jones polynomial. The practical tools provided in this work allow for precise resource estimation to identify near-term quantum advantage for a meaningful quantum-native problem in knot theory.
Tunable WS_2 Micro-Dome Open Cavity Single Photon Source
Versatile, tunable, and potentially scalable single-photon sources are a key asset in emergent photonic quantum technologies. In this work, a single-photon source based on WS_2 micro-domes, created via hydrogen ion irradiation, is realized and integrated into an open, tunable optical microcavity. Single-photon emission from the coupled emitter-cavity system is verified via the second-order correlation measurement, revealing a g^{(2)}(τ=0) value of 0.3. A detailed analysis of the spectrally selective, cavity enhanced emission features shows the impact of a pronounced acoustic phonon emission sideband, which contributes specifically to the non-resonant emitter-cavity coupling in this system. The achieved level of cavity-emitter control highlights the potential of open-cavity systems to tailor the emission properties of atomically thin quantum emitters, advancing their suitability for real-world quantum technology applications.
Variational Quantum Algorithms
Applications such as simulating complicated quantum systems or solving large-scale linear algebra problems are very challenging for classical computers due to the extremely high computational cost. Quantum computers promise a solution, although fault-tolerant quantum computers will likely not be available in the near future. Current quantum devices have serious constraints, including limited numbers of qubits and noise processes that limit circuit depth. Variational Quantum Algorithms (VQAs), which use a classical optimizer to train a parametrized quantum circuit, have emerged as a leading strategy to address these constraints. VQAs have now been proposed for essentially all applications that researchers have envisioned for quantum computers, and they appear to the best hope for obtaining quantum advantage. Nevertheless, challenges remain including the trainability, accuracy, and efficiency of VQAs. Here we overview the field of VQAs, discuss strategies to overcome their challenges, and highlight the exciting prospects for using them to obtain quantum advantage.
A unified diagrammatic approach to quantum transport in few-level junctions for bosonic and fermionic reservoirs: Application to the quantum Rabi model
We apply the Nakajima-Zwanzig approach to open quantum systems to study steady-state transport across generic multi-level junctions coupled to bosonic or fermionic reservoirs. The method allows for a unified diagrammatic formulation in Liouville space, with diagrams being classified according to an expansion in the coupling strength between the reservoirs and the junction. Analytical, approximate expressions are provided up to fourth order for the steady-state boson transport that generalize to multi-level systems the known results for the low-temperature thermal conductance in the spin-boson model. The formalism is applied to the problem of heat transport in a qubit-resonator junction modeled by the quantum Rabi model. Nontrivial transport features emerge as a result of the interplay between the qubit-oscillator detuning and coupling strength. For quasi-degenerate spectra, nonvanishing steady-state coherences cause a suppression of the thermal conductance.
Experimental quantum adversarial learning with programmable superconducting qubits
Quantum computing promises to enhance machine learning and artificial intelligence. Different quantum algorithms have been proposed to improve a wide spectrum of machine learning tasks. Yet, recent theoretical works show that, similar to traditional classifiers based on deep classical neural networks, quantum classifiers would suffer from the vulnerability problem: adding tiny carefully-crafted perturbations to the legitimate original data samples would facilitate incorrect predictions at a notably high confidence level. This will pose serious problems for future quantum machine learning applications in safety and security-critical scenarios. Here, we report the first experimental demonstration of quantum adversarial learning with programmable superconducting qubits. We train quantum classifiers, which are built upon variational quantum circuits consisting of ten transmon qubits featuring average lifetimes of 150 mus, and average fidelities of simultaneous single- and two-qubit gates above 99.94% and 99.4% respectively, with both real-life images (e.g., medical magnetic resonance imaging scans) and quantum data. We demonstrate that these well-trained classifiers (with testing accuracy up to 99%) can be practically deceived by small adversarial perturbations, whereas an adversarial training process would significantly enhance their robustness to such perturbations. Our results reveal experimentally a crucial vulnerability aspect of quantum learning systems under adversarial scenarios and demonstrate an effective defense strategy against adversarial attacks, which provide a valuable guide for quantum artificial intelligence applications with both near-term and future quantum devices.
Multi-state quantum simulations via model-space quantum imaginary time evolution
We introduce the framework of model space into quantum imaginary time evolution (QITE) to enable stable estimation of ground and excited states using a quantum computer. Model-space QITE (MSQITE) propagates a model space to the exact one by retaining its orthogonality, and hence is able to describe multiple states simultaneously. The quantum Lanczos (QLanczos) algorithm is extended to MSQITE to accelerate the convergence. The present scheme is found to outperform both the standard QLanczos and the recently proposed folded-spectrum QITE in simulating excited states. Moreover, we demonstrate that spin contamination can be effectively removed by shifting the imaginary time propagator, and thus excited states with a particular spin quantum number are efficiently captured without falling into the different spin states that have lower energies. We also investigate how different levels of the unitary approximation employed in MSQITE can affect the results. The effectiveness of the algorithm over QITE is demonstrated by noise simulations for the H4 model system.
Improved FRQI on superconducting processors and its restrictions in the NISQ era
In image processing, the amount of data to be processed grows rapidly, in particular when imaging methods yield images of more than two dimensions or time series of images. Thus, efficient processing is a challenge, as data sizes may push even supercomputers to their limits. Quantum image processing promises to encode images with logarithmically less qubits than classical pixels in the image. In theory, this is a huge progress, but so far not many experiments have been conducted in practice, in particular on real backends. Often, the precise conversion of classical data to quantum states, the exact implementation, and the interpretation of the measurements in the classical context are challenging. We investigate these practical questions in this paper. In particular, we study the feasibility of the Flexible Representation of Quantum Images (FRQI). Furthermore, we check experimentally what is the limit in the current noisy intermediate-scale quantum era, i.e. up to which image size an image can be encoded, both on simulators and on real backends. Finally, we propose a method for simplifying the circuits needed for the FRQI. With our alteration, the number of gates needed, especially of the error-prone controlled-NOT gates, can be reduced. As a consequence, the size of manageable images increases.
A Quantum Algorithm for Solving Linear Differential Equations: Theory and Experiment
We present and experimentally realize a quantum algorithm for efficiently solving the following problem: given an Ntimes N matrix M, an N-dimensional vector emph{b}, and an initial vector emph{x}(0), obtain a target vector emph{x}(t) as a function of time t according to the constraint demph{x}(t)/dt=Memph{x}(t)+emph{b}. We show that our algorithm exhibits an exponential speedup over its classical counterpart in certain circumstances. In addition, we demonstrate our quantum algorithm for a 4times4 linear differential equation using a 4-qubit nuclear magnetic resonance quantum information processor. Our algorithm provides a key technique for solving many important problems which rely on the solutions to linear differential equations.
Evaluating the Performance of Some Local Optimizers for Variational Quantum Classifiers
In this paper, we have studied the performance and role of local optimizers in quantum variational circuits. We studied the performance of the two most popular optimizers and compared their results with some popular classical machine learning algorithms. The classical algorithms we used in our study are support vector machine (SVM), gradient boosting (GB), and random forest (RF). These were compared with a variational quantum classifier (VQC) using two sets of local optimizers viz AQGD and COBYLA. For experimenting with VQC, IBM Quantum Experience and IBM Qiskit was used while for classical machine learning models, sci-kit learn was used. The results show that machine learning on noisy immediate scale quantum machines can produce comparable results as on classical machines. For our experiments, we have used a popular restaurant sentiment analysis dataset. The extracted features from this dataset and then after applying PCA reduced the feature set into 5 features. Quantum ML models were trained using 100 epochs and 150 epochs on using EfficientSU2 variational circuit. Overall, four Quantum ML models were trained and three Classical ML models were trained. The performance of the trained models was evaluated using standard evaluation measures viz, Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F-Score. In all the cases AQGD optimizer-based model with 100 Epochs performed better than all other models. It produced an accuracy of 77% and an F-Score of 0.785 which were highest across all the trained models.
Quantum Denoising Diffusion Models
In recent years, machine learning models like DALL-E, Craiyon, and Stable Diffusion have gained significant attention for their ability to generate high-resolution images from concise descriptions. Concurrently, quantum computing is showing promising advances, especially with quantum machine learning which capitalizes on quantum mechanics to meet the increasing computational requirements of traditional machine learning algorithms. This paper explores the integration of quantum machine learning and variational quantum circuits to augment the efficacy of diffusion-based image generation models. Specifically, we address two challenges of classical diffusion models: their low sampling speed and the extensive parameter requirements. We introduce two quantum diffusion models and benchmark their capabilities against their classical counterparts using MNIST digits, Fashion MNIST, and CIFAR-10. Our models surpass the classical models with similar parameter counts in terms of performance metrics FID, SSIM, and PSNR. Moreover, we introduce a consistency model unitary single sampling architecture that combines the diffusion procedure into a single step, enabling a fast one-step image generation.
1d-qt-ideal-solver: 1D Idealized Quantum Tunneling Solver with Absorbing Boundaries
We present 1d-qt-ideal-solver, an open-source Python library for simulating one-dimensional quantum tunneling dynamics under idealized coherent conditions. The solver implements the split-operator method with second-order Trotter-Suzuki factorization, utilizing FFT-based spectral differentiation for the kinetic operator and complex absorbing potentials to eliminate boundary reflections. Numba just-in-time compilation achieves performance comparable to compiled languages while maintaining code accessibility. We validate the implementation through two canonical test cases: rectangular barriers modeling field emission through oxide layers and Gaussian barriers approximating scanning tunneling microscopy interactions. Both simulations achieve exceptional numerical fidelity with machine-precision energy conservation over femtosecond-scale propagation. Comparative analysis employing information-theoretic measures and nonparametric hypothesis tests reveals that rectangular barriers exhibit moderately higher transmission coefficients than Gaussian barriers in the over-barrier regime, though Jensen-Shannon divergence analysis indicates modest practical differences between geometries. Phase space analysis confirms complete decoherence when averaged over spatial-temporal domains. The library name reflects its scope: idealized signifies deliberate exclusion of dissipation, environmental coupling, and many-body interactions, limiting applicability to qualitative insights and pedagogical purposes rather than quantitative experimental predictions. Distributed under the MIT License, the library provides a deployable tool for teaching quantum mechanics and preliminary exploration of tunneling dynamics.
Simulation of integrated nonlinear quantum optics: from nonlinear interferometer to temporal walk-off compensator
Nonlinear quantum photonics serves as a cornerstone in photonic quantum technologies, such as universal quantum computing and quantum communications. The emergence of integrated photonics platform not only offers the advantage of large-scale manufacturing but also provides a variety of engineering methods. Given the complexity of integrated photonics engineering, a comprehensive simulation framework is essential to fully harness the potential of the platform. In this context, we introduce a nonlinear quantum photonics simulation framework which can accurately model a variety of features such as adiabatic waveguide, material anisotropy, linear optics components, photon losses, and detectors. Furthermore, utilizing the framework, we have developed a device scheme, chip-scale temporal walk-off compensation, that is useful for various quantum information processing tasks. Applying the simulation framework, we show that the proposed device scheme can enhance the squeezing parameter of photon-pair sources and the conversion efficiency of quantum frequency converters without relying on higher pump power.
Weak localization in radiative transfer of acoustic waves in a randomly-fluctuating slab
This paper concerns the derivation of radiative transfer equations for acoustic waves propagating in a randomly fluctuating slab (between two parallel planes) in the weak-scattering regime, and the study of boundary effects through an asymptotic analysis of the Wigner transform of the wave solution. These radiative transfer equations allow to model the transport of wave energy density, taking into account the scattering by random heterogeneities. The approach builds on the method of images, where the slab is extended to a full-space, with a periodic map of mechanical properties and a series of sources located along a periodic pattern. Two types of boundary effects, both on the (small) scale of the wavelength, are observed: one at the boundaries of the slab, and one inside the domain. The former impact the entire energy density (coherent as well as incoherent) and is also observed in half-spaces. The latter, more specific to slabs, corresponds to the constructive interference of waves that have reflected at least twice on the boundaries of the slab and only impacts the coherent part of the energy density.
Option Pricing using Quantum Computers
We present a methodology to price options and portfolios of options on a gate-based quantum computer using amplitude estimation, an algorithm which provides a quadratic speedup compared to classical Monte Carlo methods. The options that we cover include vanilla options, multi-asset options and path-dependent options such as barrier options. We put an emphasis on the implementation of the quantum circuits required to build the input states and operators needed by amplitude estimation to price the different option types. Additionally, we show simulation results to highlight how the circuits that we implement price the different option contracts. Finally, we examine the performance of option pricing circuits on quantum hardware using the IBM Q Tokyo quantum device. We employ a simple, yet effective, error mitigation scheme that allows us to significantly reduce the errors arising from noisy two-qubit gates.
Optimizing quantum phase estimation for the simulation of Hamiltonian eigenstates
We revisit quantum phase estimation algorithms for the purpose of obtaining the energy levels of many-body Hamiltonians and pay particular attention to the statistical analysis of their outputs. We introduce the mean phase direction of the parent distribution associated with eigenstate inputs as a new post-processing tool. By connecting it with the unknown phase, we find that if used as its direct estimator, it exceeds the accuracy of the standard majority rule using one less bit of resolution, making evident that it can also be inverted to provide unbiased estimation. Moreover, we show how to directly use this quantity to accurately find the energy levels when the initialized state is an eigenstate of the simulated propagator during the whole time evolution, which allows for shallower algorithms. We then use IBM Q hardware to carry out the digital quantum simulation of three toy models: a two-level system, a two-spin Ising model and a two-site Hubbard model at half-filling. Methodologies are provided to implement Trotterization and reduce the variability of results in noisy intermediate scale quantum computers.
Quantum Variational Activation Functions Empower Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks
Variational quantum circuits (VQCs) are central to quantum machine learning, while recent progress in Kolmogorov-Arnold networks (KANs) highlights the power of learnable activation functions. We unify these directions by introducing quantum variational activation functions (QVAFs), realized through single-qubit data re-uploading circuits called DatA Re-Uploading ActivatioNs (DARUANs). We show that DARUAN with trainable weights in data pre-processing possesses an exponentially growing frequency spectrum with data repetitions, enabling an exponential reduction in parameter size compared with Fourier-based activations without loss of expressivity. Embedding DARUAN into KANs yields quantum-inspired KANs (QKANs), which retain the interpretability of KANs while improving their parameter efficiency, expressivity, and generalization. We further introduce two novel techniques to enhance scalability, feasibility and computational efficiency, such as layer extension and hybrid QKANs (HQKANs) as drop-in replacements of multi-layer perceptrons (MLPs) for feed-forward networks in large-scale models. We provide theoretical analysis and extensive experiments on function regression, image classification, and autoregressive generative language modeling, demonstrating the efficiency and scalability of QKANs. DARUANs and QKANs offer a promising direction for advancing quantum machine learning on both noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) hardware and classical quantum simulators.
Topological data analysis on noisy quantum computers
Topological data analysis (TDA) is a powerful technique for extracting complex and valuable shape-related summaries of high-dimensional data. However, the computational demands of classical algorithms for computing TDA are exorbitant, and quickly become impractical for high-order characteristics. Quantum computers offer the potential of achieving significant speedup for certain computational problems. Indeed, TDA has been purported to be one such problem, yet, quantum computing algorithms proposed for the problem, such as the original Quantum TDA (QTDA) formulation by Lloyd, Garnerone and Zanardi, require fault-tolerance qualifications that are currently unavailable. In this study, we present NISQ-TDA, a fully implemented end-to-end quantum machine learning algorithm needing only a short circuit-depth, that is applicable to high-dimensional classical data, and with provable asymptotic speedup for certain classes of problems. The algorithm neither suffers from the data-loading problem nor does it need to store the input data on the quantum computer explicitly. The algorithm was successfully executed on quantum computing devices, as well as on noisy quantum simulators, applied to small datasets. Preliminary empirical results suggest that the algorithm is robust to noise.
Modeling stochastic eye tracking data: A comparison of quantum generative adversarial networks and Markov models
We explore the use of quantum generative adversarial networks QGANs for modeling eye movement velocity data. We assess whether the advanced computational capabilities of QGANs can enhance the modeling of complex stochastic distribution beyond the traditional mathematical models, particularly the Markov model. The findings indicate that while QGANs demonstrate potential in approximating complex distributions, the Markov model consistently outperforms in accurately replicating the real data distribution. This comparison underlines the challenges and avenues for refinement in time series data generation using quantum computing techniques. It emphasizes the need for further optimization of quantum models to better align with real-world data characteristics.
Curvature-Aware Optimization of Noisy Variational Quantum Circuits via Weighted Projective Line Geometry
We develop a differential-geometric framework for variational quantum circuits in which noisy single- and multi-qubit parameter spaces are modeled by weighted projective lines (WPLs). Starting from the pure-state Bloch sphere CP1, we show that realistic hardware noise induces anisotropic contractions of the Bloch ball that can be represented by a pair of physically interpretable parameters (lambda_perp, lambda_parallel). These parameters determine a unique WPL metric g_WPL(a_over_b, b) whose scalar curvature is R = 2 / b^2, yielding a compact and channel-resolved geometric surrogate for the intrinsic information structure of noisy quantum circuits. We develop a tomography-to-geometry pipeline that extracts (lambda_perp, lambda_parallel) from hardware data and maps them to the WPL parameters (a_over_b, b, R). Experiments on IBM Quantum backends show that the resulting WPL geometries accurately capture anisotropic curvature deformation across calibration periods. Finally, we demonstrate that WPL-informed quantum natural gradients (WPL-QNG) provide stable optimization dynamics for noisy variational quantum eigensolvers and enable curvature-aware mitigation of barren plateaus.
Let the Quantum Creep In: Designing Quantum Neural Network Models by Gradually Swapping Out Classical Components
Artificial Intelligence (AI), with its multiplier effect and wide applications in multiple areas, could potentially be an important application of quantum computing. Since modern AI systems are often built on neural networks, the design of quantum neural networks becomes a key challenge in integrating quantum computing into AI. To provide a more fine-grained characterisation of the impact of quantum components on the performance of neural networks, we propose a framework where classical neural network layers are gradually replaced by quantum layers that have the same type of input and output while keeping the flow of information between layers unchanged, different from most current research in quantum neural network, which favours an end-to-end quantum model. We start with a simple three-layer classical neural network without any normalisation layers or activation functions, and gradually change the classical layers to the corresponding quantum versions. We conduct numerical experiments on image classification datasets such as the MNIST, FashionMNIST and CIFAR-10 datasets to demonstrate the change of performance brought by the systematic introduction of quantum components. Through this framework, our research sheds new light on the design of future quantum neural network models where it could be more favourable to search for methods and frameworks that harness the advantages from both the classical and quantum worlds.
An Artificial Neuron Implemented on an Actual Quantum Processor
Artificial neural networks are the heart of machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence protocols. Historically, the simplest implementation of an artificial neuron traces back to the classical Rosenblatt's `perceptron', but its long term practical applications may be hindered by the fast scaling up of computational complexity, especially relevant for the training of multilayered perceptron networks. Here we introduce a quantum information-based algorithm implementing the quantum computer version of a perceptron, which shows exponential advantage in encoding resources over alternative realizations. We experimentally test a few qubits version of this model on an actual small-scale quantum processor, which gives remarkably good answers against the expected results. We show that this quantum model of a perceptron can be used as an elementary nonlinear classifier of simple patterns, as a first step towards practical training of artificial quantum neural networks to be efficiently implemented on near-term quantum processing hardware.
Q-Cluster: Quantum Error Mitigation Through Noise-Aware Unsupervised Learning
Quantum error mitigation (QEM) is critical in reducing the impact of noise in the pre-fault-tolerant era, and is expected to complement error correction in fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC). In this paper, we propose a novel QEM approach, Q-Cluster, that uses unsupervised learning (clustering) to reshape the measured bit-string distribution. Our approach starts with a simplified bit-flip noise model. It first performs clustering on noisy measurement results, i.e., bit-strings, based on the Hamming distance. The centroid of each cluster is calculated using a qubit-wise majority vote. Next, the noisy distribution is adjusted with the clustering outcomes and the bit-flip error rates using Bayesian inference. Our simulation results show that Q-Cluster can mitigate high noise rates (up to 40% per qubit) with the simple bit-flip noise model. However, real quantum computers do not fit such a simple noise model. To address the problem, we (a) apply Pauli twirling to tailor the complex noise channels to Pauli errors, and (b) employ a machine learning model, ExtraTrees regressor, to estimate an effective bit-flip error rate using a feature vector consisting of machine calibration data (gate & measurement error rates), circuit features (number of qubits, numbers of different types of gates, etc.) and the shape of the noisy distribution (entropy). Our experimental results show that our proposed Q-Cluster scheme improves the fidelity by a factor of 1.46x, on average, compared to the unmitigated output distribution, for a set of low-entropy benchmarks on five different IBM quantum machines. Our approach outperforms the state-of-art QEM approaches M3 [24], Hammer [35], and QBEEP [33] by 1.29x, 1.47x, and 2.65x, respectively.
ANTN: Bridging Autoregressive Neural Networks and Tensor Networks for Quantum Many-Body Simulation
Quantum many-body physics simulation has important impacts on understanding fundamental science and has applications to quantum materials design and quantum technology. However, due to the exponentially growing size of the Hilbert space with respect to the particle number, a direct simulation is intractable. While representing quantum states with tensor networks and neural networks are the two state-of-the-art methods for approximate simulations, each has its own limitations in terms of expressivity and inductive bias. To address these challenges, we develop a novel architecture, Autoregressive Neural TensorNet (ANTN), which bridges tensor networks and autoregressive neural networks. We show that Autoregressive Neural TensorNet parameterizes normalized wavefunctions, allows for exact sampling, generalizes the expressivity of tensor networks and autoregressive neural networks, and inherits a variety of symmetries from autoregressive neural networks. We demonstrate our approach on quantum state learning as well as finding the ground state of the challenging 2D J_1-J_2 Heisenberg model with different systems sizes and coupling parameters, outperforming both tensor networks and autoregressive neural networks. Our work opens up new opportunities for scientific simulations of quantum many-body physics and quantum technology.
Experimental demonstration of memory-enhanced quantum communication
The ability to communicate quantum information over long distances is of central importance in quantum science and engineering. For example, it enables secure quantum key distribution (QKD) relying on fundamental principles that prohibit the "cloning" of unknown quantum states. While QKD is being successfully deployed, its range is currently limited by photon losses and cannot be extended using straightforward measure-and-repeat strategies without compromising its unconditional security. Alternatively, quantum repeaters, which utilize intermediate quantum memory nodes and error correction techniques, can extend the range of quantum channels. However, their implementation remains an outstanding challenge, requiring a combination of efficient and high-fidelity quantum memories, gate operations, and measurements. Here we report the experimental realization of memory-enhanced quantum communication. We use a single solid-state spin memory integrated in a nanophotonic diamond resonator to implement asynchronous Bell-state measurements. This enables a four-fold increase in the secret key rate of measurement device independent (MDI)-QKD over the loss-equivalent direct-transmission method while operating megahertz clock rates. Our results represent a significant step towards practical quantum repeaters and large-scale quantum networks.
Differential Privacy of Quantum and Quantum-Inspired-Classical Recommendation Algorithms
We analyze the DP (differential privacy) properties of the quantum recommendation algorithm and the quantum-inspired-classical recommendation algorithm. We discover that the quantum recommendation algorithm is a privacy curating mechanism on its own, requiring no external noise, which is different from traditional differential privacy mechanisms. In our analysis, a novel perturbation method tailored for SVD (singular value decomposition) and low-rank matrix approximation problems is introduced. Using the perturbation method and random matrix theory, we are able to derive that both the quantum and quantum-inspired-classical algorithms are big(mathcal{O}big(frac 1nbig),,, mathcal{O}big(1{min{m,n}}big)big)-DP under some reasonable restrictions, where m and n are numbers of users and products in the input preference database respectively. Nevertheless, a comparison shows that the quantum algorithm has better privacy preserving potential than the classical one.
Schrödinger Bridge for Generative Speech Enhancement
This paper proposes a generative speech enhancement model based on Schr\"odinger bridge (SB). The proposed model is employing a tractable SB to formulate a data-to-data process between the clean speech distribution and the observed noisy speech distribution. The model is trained with a data prediction loss, aiming to recover the complex-valued clean speech coefficients, and an auxiliary time-domain loss is used to improve training of the model. The effectiveness of the proposed SB-based model is evaluated in two different speech enhancement tasks: speech denoising and speech dereverberation. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed SB-based outperforms diffusion-based models in terms of speech quality metrics and ASR performance, e.g., resulting in relative word error rate reduction of 20% for denoising and 6% for dereverberation compared to the best baseline model. The proposed model also demonstrates improved efficiency, achieving better quality than the baselines for the same number of sampling steps and with a reduced computational cost.
Physics-Informed Neural Networks for One-Dimensional Quantum Well Problems
We implement physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) to solve the time-independent Schr\"odinger equation for three canonical one-dimensional quantum potentials: an infinite square well, a finite square well, and a finite barrier. The PINN models incorporate trial wavefunctions that exactly satisfy boundary conditions (Dirichlet zeros at domain boundaries), and they optimize a loss functional combining the PDE residual with a normalization constraint. For the infinite well, the ground-state energy is known (E = pi^2 in dimensionless units) and held fixed in training, whereas for the finite well and barrier, the eigenenergy is treated as a trainable parameter. We use fully-connected neural networks with smooth activation functions to represent the wavefunction and demonstrate that PINNs can learn the ground-state eigenfunctions and eigenvalues for these quantum systems. The results show that the PINN-predicted wavefunctions closely match analytical solutions or expected behaviors, and the learned eigenenergies converge to known values. We present training logs and convergence of the energy parameter, as well as figures comparing the PINN solutions to exact results. The discussion addresses the performance of PINNs relative to traditional numerical methods, highlighting challenges such as convergence to the correct eigenvalue, sensitivity to initialization, and the difficulty of modeling discontinuous potentials. We also discuss the importance of the normalization term to resolve the scaling ambiguity of the wavefunction. Finally, we conclude that PINNs are a viable approach for quantum eigenvalue problems, and we outline future directions including extensions to higher-dimensional and time-dependent Schr\"odinger equations.
simple-idealized-1d-nlse: Pseudo-Spectral Solver for the 1D Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation
We present an open-source Python implementation of an idealized high-order pseudo-spectral solver for the one-dimensional nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation (NLSE). The solver combines Fourier spectral spatial discretization with an adaptive eighth-order Dormand-Prince time integration scheme to achieve machine-precision conservation of mass and near-perfect preservation of momentum and energy for smooth solutions. The implementation accurately reproduces fundamental NLSE phenomena including soliton collisions with analytically predicted phase shifts, Akhmediev breather dynamics, and the development of modulation instability from noisy initial conditions. Four canonical test cases validate the numerical scheme: single soliton propagation, two-soliton elastic collision, breather evolution, and noise-seeded modulation instability. The solver employs a 2/3 dealiasing rule with exponential filtering to prevent aliasing errors from the cubic nonlinearity. Statistical analysis using Shannon, R\'enyi, and Tsallis entropies quantifies the spatio-temporal complexity of solutions, while phase space representations reveal the underlying coherence structure. The implementation prioritizes code transparency and educational accessibility over computational performance, providing a valuable pedagogical tool for exploring nonlinear wave dynamics. Complete source code, documentation, and example configurations are freely available, enabling reproducible computational experiments across diverse physical contexts where the NLSE governs wave evolution, including nonlinear optics, Bose-Einstein condensates, and ocean surface waves.
An Introduction to Quantum Computing
Quantum Computing is a new and exciting field at the intersection of mathematics, computer science and physics. It concerns a utilization of quantum mechanics to improve the efficiency of computation. Here we present a gentle introduction to some of the ideas in quantum computing. The paper begins by motivating the central ideas of quantum mechanics and quantum computation with simple toy models. From there we move on to a formal presentation of the small fraction of (finite dimensional) quantum mechanics that we will need for basic quantum computation. Central notions of quantum architecture (qubits and quantum gates) are described. The paper ends with a presentation of one of the simplest quantum algorithms: Deutsch's algorithm. Our presentation demands neither advanced mathematics nor advanced physics.
Probing Off-diagonal Eigenstate Thermalization with Tensor Networks
Energy filter methods in combination with quantum simulation can efficiently access the properties of quantum many-body systems at finite energy densities [Lu et al. PRX Quantum 2, 020321 (2021)]. Classically simulating this algorithm with tensor networks can be used to investigate the microcanonical properties of large spin chains, as recently shown in [Yang et al. Phys. Rev. B 106, 024307 (2022)]. Here we extend this strategy to explore the properties of off-diagonal matrix elements of observables in the energy eigenbasis, fundamentally connected to the thermalization behavior and the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. We test the method on integrable and non-integrable spin chains of up to 60 sites, much larger than accessible with exact diagonalization. Our results allow us to explore the scaling of the off-diagonal functions with the size and energy difference, and to establish quantitative differences between integrable and non-integrable cases.
Quantum advantage in learning from experiments
Quantum technology has the potential to revolutionize how we acquire and process experimental data to learn about the physical world. An experimental setup that transduces data from a physical system to a stable quantum memory, and processes that data using a quantum computer, could have significant advantages over conventional experiments in which the physical system is measured and the outcomes are processed using a classical computer. We prove that, in various tasks, quantum machines can learn from exponentially fewer experiments than those required in conventional experiments. The exponential advantage holds in predicting properties of physical systems, performing quantum principal component analysis on noisy states, and learning approximate models of physical dynamics. In some tasks, the quantum processing needed to achieve the exponential advantage can be modest; for example, one can simultaneously learn about many noncommuting observables by processing only two copies of the system. Conducting experiments with up to 40 superconducting qubits and 1300 quantum gates, we demonstrate that a substantial quantum advantage can be realized using today's relatively noisy quantum processors. Our results highlight how quantum technology can enable powerful new strategies to learn about nature.
Machine Learning in the Quantum Age: Quantum vs. Classical Support Vector Machines
This work endeavors to juxtapose the efficacy of machine learning algorithms within classical and quantum computational paradigms. Particularly, by emphasizing on Support Vector Machines (SVM), we scrutinize the classification prowess of classical SVM and Quantum Support Vector Machines (QSVM) operational on quantum hardware over the Iris dataset. The methodology embraced encapsulates an extensive array of experiments orchestrated through the Qiskit library, alongside hyperparameter optimization. The findings unveil that in particular scenarios, QSVMs extend a level of accuracy that can vie with classical SVMs, albeit the execution times are presently protracted. Moreover, we underscore that augmenting quantum computational capacity and the magnitude of parallelism can markedly ameliorate the performance of quantum machine learning algorithms. This inquiry furnishes invaluable insights regarding the extant scenario and future potentiality of machine learning applications in the quantum epoch. Colab: https://t.ly/QKuz0
SeQUeNCe: A Customizable Discrete-Event Simulator of Quantum Networks
Recent advances in quantum information science enabled the development of quantum communication network prototypes and created an opportunity to study full-stack quantum network architectures. This work develops SeQUeNCe, a comprehensive, customizable quantum network simulator. Our simulator consists of five modules: Hardware models, Entanglement Management protocols, Resource Management, Network Management, and Application. This framework is suitable for simulation of quantum network prototypes that capture the breadth of current and future hardware technologies and protocols. We implement a comprehensive suite of network protocols and demonstrate the use of SeQUeNCe by simulating a photonic quantum network with nine routers equipped with quantum memories. The simulation capabilities are illustrated in three use cases. We show the dependence of quantum network throughput on several key hardware parameters and study the impact of classical control message latency. We also investigate quantum memory usage efficiency in routers and demonstrate that redistributing memory according to anticipated load increases network capacity by 69.1% and throughput by 6.8%. We design SeQUeNCe to enable comparisons of alternative quantum network technologies, experiment planning, and validation and to aid with new protocol design. We are releasing SeQUeNCe as an open source tool and aim to generate community interest in extending it.
Does provable absence of barren plateaus imply classical simulability? Or, why we need to rethink variational quantum computing
A large amount of effort has recently been put into understanding the barren plateau phenomenon. In this perspective article, we face the increasingly loud elephant in the room and ask a question that has been hinted at by many but not explicitly addressed: Can the structure that allows one to avoid barren plateaus also be leveraged to efficiently simulate the loss classically? We present strong evidence that commonly used models with provable absence of barren plateaus are also classically simulable, provided that one can collect some classical data from quantum devices during an initial data acquisition phase. This follows from the observation that barren plateaus result from a curse of dimensionality, and that current approaches for solving them end up encoding the problem into some small, classically simulable, subspaces. Thus, while stressing quantum computers can be essential for collecting data, our analysis sheds serious doubt on the non-classicality of the information processing capabilities of parametrized quantum circuits for barren plateau-free landscapes. We end by discussing caveats in our arguments, the role of smart initializations and the possibility of provably superpolynomial, or simply practical, advantages from running parametrized quantum circuits.
Quantum limit for two-dimensional resolution of two incoherent optical point sources
We obtain the multiple-parameter quantum Cram\'er-Rao bound for estimating the transverse Cartesian components of the centroid and separation of two incoherent optical point sources using an imaging system with finite spatial bandwidth. Under quite general and realistic assumptions on the point-spread function of the imaging system, and for weak source strengths, we show that the Cram\'er-Rao bounds for the x and y components of the separation are independent of the values of those components, which may be well below the conventional Rayleigh resolution limit. We also propose two linear optics-based measurement methods that approach the quantum bound for the estimation of the Cartesian components of the separation once the centroid has been located. One of the methods is an interferometric scheme that approaches the quantum bound for sub-Rayleigh separations. The other method using fiber coupling can in principle attain the bound regardless of the distance between the two sources.
Quantum Switch for the Quantum Internet: Noiseless Communications through Noisy Channels
Counter-intuitively, quantum mechanics enables quantum particles to propagate simultaneously among multiple space-time trajectories. Hence, a quantum information carrier can travel through different communication channels in a quantum superposition of different orders, so that the relative time-order of the communication channels becomes indefinite. This is realized by utilizing a quantum device known as quantum switch. In this paper, we investigate, from a communication-engineering perspective, the use of the quantum switch within the quantum teleportation process, one of the key functionalities of the Quantum Internet. Specifically, a theoretical analysis is conducted to quantify the performance gain that can be achieved by employing a quantum switch for the entanglement distribution process within the quantum teleportation with respect to the case of absence of quantum switch. This analysis reveals that, by utilizing the quantum switch, the quantum teleportation is heralded as a noiseless communication process with a probability that, remarkably and counter-intuitively, increases with the noise levels affecting the communication channels considered in the indefinite-order time combination.
Efficient Self-Consistent Quantum Comb Tomography on the Product Stiefel Manifold
Characterizing non-Markovian quantum dynamics is currently hindered by the self-inconsistency and high computational complexity of existing quantum comb tomography (QCT) methods. In this work, we propose a self-consistent framework that unifies the quantum comb, instrument set, and initial states into a single geometric entity, termed as the Comb-Instrument-State (CIS) set. We demonstrate that the CIS set naturally resides on a product Stiefel manifold, allowing the tomography problem to be solved via efficient unconstrained Riemannian optimization while automatically preserving physical constraints. Numerical simulations confirm that our approach is computationally scalable and robust against gate definition errors, significantly outperforming conventional isometry-based QCT methods. Our work indicates the potential to efficiently learn quantum comb with fewer computational resources.
Classification with Quantum Neural Networks on Near Term Processors
We introduce a quantum neural network, QNN, that can represent labeled data, classical or quantum, and be trained by supervised learning. The quantum circuit consists of a sequence of parameter dependent unitary transformations which acts on an input quantum state. For binary classification a single Pauli operator is measured on a designated readout qubit. The measured output is the quantum neural network's predictor of the binary label of the input state. First we look at classifying classical data sets which consist of n-bit strings with binary labels. The input quantum state is an n-bit computational basis state corresponding to a sample string. We show how to design a circuit made from two qubit unitaries that can correctly represent the label of any Boolean function of n bits. For certain label functions the circuit is exponentially long. We introduce parameter dependent unitaries that can be adapted by supervised learning of labeled data. We study an example of real world data consisting of downsampled images of handwritten digits each of which has been labeled as one of two distinct digits. We show through classical simulation that parameters can be found that allow the QNN to learn to correctly distinguish the two data sets. We then discuss presenting the data as quantum superpositions of computational basis states corresponding to different label values. Here we show through simulation that learning is possible. We consider using our QNN to learn the label of a general quantum state. By example we show that this can be done. Our work is exploratory and relies on the classical simulation of small quantum systems. The QNN proposed here was designed with near-term quantum processors in mind. Therefore it will be possible to run this QNN on a near term gate model quantum computer where its power can be explored beyond what can be explored with simulation.
The role of quantum information in thermodynamics --- a topical review
This topical review article gives an overview of the interplay between quantum information theory and thermodynamics of quantum systems. We focus on several trending topics including the foundations of statistical mechanics, resource theories, entanglement in thermodynamic settings, fluctuation theorems and thermal machines. This is not a comprehensive review of the diverse field of quantum thermodynamics; rather, it is a convenient entry point for the thermo-curious information theorist. Furthermore this review should facilitate the unification and understanding of different interdisciplinary approaches emerging in research groups around the world.
Analyzing Convergence in Quantum Neural Networks: Deviations from Neural Tangent Kernels
A quantum neural network (QNN) is a parameterized mapping efficiently implementable on near-term Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) computers. It can be used for supervised learning when combined with classical gradient-based optimizers. Despite the existing empirical and theoretical investigations, the convergence of QNN training is not fully understood. Inspired by the success of the neural tangent kernels (NTKs) in probing into the dynamics of classical neural networks, a recent line of works proposes to study over-parameterized QNNs by examining a quantum version of tangent kernels. In this work, we study the dynamics of QNNs and show that contrary to popular belief it is qualitatively different from that of any kernel regression: due to the unitarity of quantum operations, there is a non-negligible deviation from the tangent kernel regression derived at the random initialization. As a result of the deviation, we prove the at-most sublinear convergence for QNNs with Pauli measurements, which is beyond the explanatory power of any kernel regression dynamics. We then present the actual dynamics of QNNs in the limit of over-parameterization. The new dynamics capture the change of convergence rate during training and implies that the range of measurements is crucial to the fast QNN convergence.
Reservoir Computing via Quantum Recurrent Neural Networks
Recent developments in quantum computing and machine learning have propelled the interdisciplinary study of quantum machine learning. Sequential modeling is an important task with high scientific and commercial value. Existing VQC or QNN-based methods require significant computational resources to perform the gradient-based optimization of a larger number of quantum circuit parameters. The major drawback is that such quantum gradient calculation requires a large amount of circuit evaluation, posing challenges in current near-term quantum hardware and simulation software. In this work, we approach sequential modeling by applying a reservoir computing (RC) framework to quantum recurrent neural networks (QRNN-RC) that are based on classical RNN, LSTM and GRU. The main idea to this RC approach is that the QRNN with randomly initialized weights is treated as a dynamical system and only the final classical linear layer is trained. Our numerical simulations show that the QRNN-RC can reach results comparable to fully trained QRNN models for several function approximation and time series prediction tasks. Since the QRNN training complexity is significantly reduced, the proposed model trains notably faster. In this work we also compare to corresponding classical RNN-based RC implementations and show that the quantum version learns faster by requiring fewer training epochs in most cases. Our results demonstrate a new possibility to utilize quantum neural network for sequential modeling with greater quantum hardware efficiency, an important design consideration for noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers.
Zero Sound from Holography
Quantum liquids are characterized by the distinctive properties such as the low temperature behavior of heat capacity and the spectrum of low-energy quasiparticle excitations. In particular, at low temperature, Fermi liquids exhibit the zero sound, predicted by L. D. Landau in 1957 and subsequently observed in liquid He-3. In this paper, we ask a question whether such a characteristic behavior is present in theories with holographically dual description. We consider a class of gauge theories with fundamental matter fields whose holographic dual in the appropriate limit is given in terms of the Dirac-Born-Infeld action in AdS_{p+1} space. An example of such a system is the N=4 SU(N_c) supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with N_f massless N=2 hypermultiplets at strong coupling, finite baryon number density, and low temperature. We find that these systems exhibit a zero sound mode despite having a non-Fermi liquid type behavior of the specific heat. These properties suggest that holography identifies a new type of quantum liquids.
Federated learning with distributed fixed design quantum chips and quantum channels
The privacy in classical federated learning can be breached through the use of local gradient results along with engineered queries to the clients. However, quantum communication channels are considered more secure because a measurement on the channel causes a loss of information, which can be detected by the sender. Therefore, the quantum version of federated learning can be used to provide more privacy. Additionally, sending an N dimensional data vector through a quantum channel requires sending log N entangled qubits, which can potentially provide exponential efficiency if the data vector is utilized as quantum states. In this paper, we propose a quantum federated learning model where fixed design quantum chips are operated based on the quantum states sent by a centralized server. Based on the coming superposition states, the clients compute and then send their local gradients as quantum states to the server, where they are aggregated to update parameters. Since the server does not send model parameters, but instead sends the operator as a quantum state, the clients are not required to share the model. This allows for the creation of asynchronous learning models. In addition, the model as a quantum state is fed into client-side chips directly; therefore, it does not require measurements on the upcoming quantum state to obtain model parameters in order to compute gradients. This can provide efficiency over the models where the parameter vector is sent via classical or quantum channels and local gradients are obtained through the obtained values of these parameters.
Out of equilibrium Phase Diagram of the Quantum Random Energy Model
In this paper we study the out-of-equilibrium phase diagram of the quantum version of Derrida's Random Energy Model, which is the simplest model of mean-field spin glasses. We interpret its corresponding quantum dynamics in Fock space as a one-particle problem in very high dimension to which we apply different theoretical methods tailored for high-dimensional lattices: the Forward-Scattering Approximation, a mapping to the Rosenzweig-Porter model, and the cavity method. Our results indicate the existence of two transition lines and three distinct dynamical phases: a completely many-body localized phase at low energy, a fully ergodic phase at high energy, and a multifractal "bad metal" phase at intermediate energy. In the latter, eigenfunctions occupy a diverging volume, yet an exponentially vanishing fraction of the total Hilbert space. We discuss the limitations of our approximations and the relationship with previous studies.
Quantum machine learning for image classification
Image classification, a pivotal task in multiple industries, faces computational challenges due to the burgeoning volume of visual data. This research addresses these challenges by introducing two quantum machine learning models that leverage the principles of quantum mechanics for effective computations. Our first model, a hybrid quantum neural network with parallel quantum circuits, enables the execution of computations even in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum era, where circuits with a large number of qubits are currently infeasible. This model demonstrated a record-breaking classification accuracy of 99.21% on the full MNIST dataset, surpassing the performance of known quantum-classical models, while having eight times fewer parameters than its classical counterpart. Also, the results of testing this hybrid model on a Medical MNIST (classification accuracy over 99%), and on CIFAR-10 (classification accuracy over 82%), can serve as evidence of the generalizability of the model and highlights the efficiency of quantum layers in distinguishing common features of input data. Our second model introduces a hybrid quantum neural network with a Quanvolutional layer, reducing image resolution via a convolution process. The model matches the performance of its classical counterpart, having four times fewer trainable parameters, and outperforms a classical model with equal weight parameters. These models represent advancements in quantum machine learning research and illuminate the path towards more accurate image classification systems.
Superpositional Gradient Descent: Harnessing Quantum Principles for Model Training
Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly trained with classical optimization techniques like AdamW to improve convergence and generalization. However, the mechanisms by which quantum-inspired methods enhance classical training remain underexplored. We introduce Superpositional Gradient Descent (SGD), a novel optimizer linking gradient updates with quantum superposition by injecting quantum circuit perturbations. We present a mathematical framework and implement hybrid quantum-classical circuits in PyTorch and Qiskit. On synthetic sequence classification and large-scale LLM fine-tuning, SGD converges faster and yields lower final loss than AdamW. Despite promising results, scalability and hardware constraints limit adoption. Overall, this work provides new insights into the intersection of quantum computing and deep learning, suggesting practical pathways for leveraging quantum principles to control and enhance model behavior.
Quantum Convolutional Neural Network: A Hybrid Quantum-Classical Approach for Iris Dataset Classification
This paper presents a hybrid quantum-classical machine learning model for classification tasks, integrating a 4-qubit quantum circuit with a classical neural network. The quantum circuit is designed to encode the features of the Iris dataset using angle embedding and entangling gates, thereby capturing complex feature relationships that are difficult for classical models alone. The model, which we term a Quantum Convolutional Neural Network (QCNN), was trained over 20 epochs, achieving a perfect 100% accuracy on the Iris dataset test set on 16 epoch. Our results demonstrate the potential of quantum-enhanced models in supervised learning tasks, particularly in efficiently encoding and processing data using quantum resources. We detail the quantum circuit design, parameterized gate selection, and the integration of the quantum layer with classical neural network components. This work contributes to the growing body of research on hybrid quantum-classical models and their applicability to real-world datasets.
Quantum Multi-Model Fitting
Geometric model fitting is a challenging but fundamental computer vision problem. Recently, quantum optimization has been shown to enhance robust fitting for the case of a single model, while leaving the question of multi-model fitting open. In response to this challenge, this paper shows that the latter case can significantly benefit from quantum hardware and proposes the first quantum approach to multi-model fitting (MMF). We formulate MMF as a problem that can be efficiently sampled by modern adiabatic quantum computers without the relaxation of the objective function. We also propose an iterative and decomposed version of our method, which supports real-world-sized problems. The experimental evaluation demonstrates promising results on a variety of datasets. The source code is available at: https://github.com/FarinaMatteo/qmmf.
Investigating Training Objectives for Generative Speech Enhancement
Generative speech enhancement has recently shown promising advancements in improving speech quality in noisy environments. Multiple diffusion-based frameworks exist, each employing distinct training objectives and learning techniques. This paper aims at explaining the differences between these frameworks by focusing our investigation on score-based generative models and Schr\"odinger bridge. We conduct a series of comprehensive experiments to compare their performance and highlight differing training behaviors. Furthermore, we propose a novel perceptual loss function tailored for the Schr\"odinger bridge framework, demonstrating enhanced performance and improved perceptual quality of the enhanced speech signals. All experimental code and pre-trained models are publicly available to facilitate further research and development in this.
Quixer: A Quantum Transformer Model
Progress in the realisation of reliable large-scale quantum computers has motivated research into the design of quantum machine learning models. We present Quixer: a novel quantum transformer model which utilises the Linear Combination of Unitaries and Quantum Singular Value Transform primitives as building blocks. Quixer operates by preparing a superposition of tokens and applying a trainable non-linear transformation to this mix. We present the first results for a quantum transformer model applied to a practical language modelling task, obtaining results competitive with an equivalent classical baseline. In addition, we include resource estimates for evaluating the model on quantum hardware, and provide an open-source implementation for classical simulation. We conclude by highlighting the generality of Quixer, showing that its parameterised components can be substituted with fixed structures to yield new classes of quantum transformers.
Efficient Quantum Algorithms for Quantum Optimal Control
In this paper, we present efficient quantum algorithms that are exponentially faster than classical algorithms for solving the quantum optimal control problem. This problem involves finding the control variable that maximizes a physical quantity at time T, where the system is governed by a time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation. This type of control problem also has an intricate relation with machine learning. Our algorithms are based on a time-dependent Hamiltonian simulation method and a fast gradient-estimation algorithm. We also provide a comprehensive error analysis to quantify the total error from various steps, such as the finite-dimensional representation of the control function, the discretization of the Schr\"odinger equation, the numerical quadrature, and optimization. Our quantum algorithms require fault-tolerant quantum computers.
Microwave Quantum Memcapacitor Effect
Developing the field of neuromorphic quantum computing necessitates designing scalable quantum memory devices. Here, we propose a superconducting quantum memory device in the microwave regime, termed as a microwave quantum memcapacitor. It comprises two linked resonators, the primary one is coupled to a Superconducting Quantum Interference Device, which allows for the modulation of the resonator properties through external magnetic flux. The auxiliary resonator, operated through weak measurements, provides feedback to the primary resonator, ensuring stable memory behaviour. This device operates with a classical input in one cavity while reading the response in the other, serving as a fundamental building block toward arrays of microwave quantum memcapacitors. We observe that a bipartite setup can retain its memory behaviour and gains entanglement and quantum correlations. Our findings pave the way for the experimental implementation of memcapacitive superconducting quantum devices and memory device arrays for neuromorphic quantum computing.
Enhancing a Convolutional Autoencoder with a Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm for Image Noise Reduction
Image denoising is essential for removing noise in images caused by electric device malfunctions or other factors during image acquisition. It helps preserve image quality and interpretation. Many convolutional autoencoder algorithms have proven effective in image denoising. Owing to their promising efficiency, quantum computers have gained popularity. This study introduces a quantum convolutional autoencoder (QCAE) method for improved image denoising. This method was developed by substituting the representative latent space of the autoencoder with a quantum circuit. To enhance efficiency, we leveraged the advantages of the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA)-incorporated parameter-shift rule to identify an optimized cost function, facilitating effective learning from data and gradient computation on an actual quantum computer. The proposed QCAE method outperformed its classical counterpart as it exhibited lower training loss and a higher structural similarity index (SSIM) value. QCAE also outperformed its classical counterpart in denoising the MNIST dataset by up to 40% in terms of SSIM value, confirming its enhanced capabilities in real-world applications. Evaluation of QAOA performance across different circuit configurations and layer variations showed that our technique outperformed other circuit designs by 25% on average.
Minimal evolution times for fast, pulse-based state preparation in silicon spin qubits
Standing as one of the most significant barriers to reaching quantum advantage, state-preparation fidelities on noisy intermediate-scale quantum processors suffer from quantum-gate errors, which accumulate over time. A potential remedy is pulse-based state preparation. We numerically investigate the minimal evolution times (METs) attainable by optimizing (microwave and exchange) pulses on silicon hardware. We investigate two state preparation tasks. First, we consider the preparation of molecular ground states and find the METs for H_2, HeH^+, and LiH to be 2.4 ns, 4.4 ns, and 27.2 ns, respectively. Second, we consider transitions between arbitrary states and find the METs for transitions between arbitrary four-qubit states to be below 50 ns. For comparison, connecting arbitrary two-qubit states via one- and two-qubit gates on the same silicon processor requires approximately 200 ns. This comparison indicates that pulse-based state preparation is likely to utilize the coherence times of silicon hardware more efficiently than gate-based state preparation. Finally, we quantify the effect of silicon device parameters on the MET. We show that increasing the maximal exchange amplitude from 10 MHz to 1 GHz accelerates the METs, e.g., for H_2 from 84.3 ns to 2.4 ns. This demonstrates the importance of fast exchange. We also show that increasing the maximal amplitude of the microwave drive from 884 kHz to 56.6 MHz shortens state transitions, e.g., for two-qubit states from 1000 ns to 25 ns. Our results bound both the state-preparation times for general quantum algorithms and the execution times of variational quantum algorithms with silicon spin qubits.
Fine-Tuning Large Language Models on Quantum Optimization Problems for Circuit Generation
Large language models (LLM) have achieved remarkable outcomes in addressing complex problems, including math, coding, and analyzing large amounts of scientific reports. Yet few works have explored the potential of LLM in quantum computing. The most challenging problem is how to leverage LLMs to automatically generate quantum circuits at a large scale. In this paper, we address such a challenge by fine-tuning LLMs and injecting the domain-specific knowledge of quantum computing. In particular, we investigate the mechanisms to generate training data sets and construct the end-to-end pipeline to fine-tune pre-trained LLMs that produce parameterized quantum circuits for optimization problems. We have prepared 14,000 quantum circuits covering a substantial part of the quantum optimization landscape: 12 optimization problem instances and their optimized QAOA, VQE, and adaptive VQE circuits. The fine-tuned LLMs can construct syntactically correct parametrized quantum circuits in the most recent OpenQASM 3.0. We have evaluated the quality of the parameters by comparing them to the optimized expectation values and distributions. Our evaluation shows that the fine-tuned LLM outperforms state-of-the-art models and that the parameters are better than random. The LLM-generated parametrized circuits and initial parameters can be used as a starting point for further optimization, e.g., templates in quantum machine learning and the benchmark for compilers and hardware.
Understanding Quantum Technologies 2025
Understanding Quantum Technologies 2025 is the 8th update of a free open science ebook that provides a 360 degrees overview of quantum technologies from science and technology to geopolitical and societal issues. It covers quantum physics history, quantum physics 101, gate-based quantum computing, quantum computing engineering (including quantum error corrections, quantum computing energetics and a new subsection of the effects of the Lieb-Robinson limit), quantum computing hardware (all qubit types, including quantum annealing and quantum simulation paradigms, history, science, research, implementation and vendors scientific and engineering approaches and roadmaps), quantum enabling technologies (cryogenics, control electronics, photonics, components fabs and manufacturing process, raw materials), unconventional computing (potential alternatives to quantum and classical computing), quantum computing algorithms, software development tools, resource estimate and benchmark tools, use case and case studies analysis methodologies, application use cases per market, quantum communications and cryptography (including QKD, PQC and QPU interconnect technologies), quantum sensing, quantum technologies around the world, quantum technologies societal impact and even quantum fake sciences. The main audience are computer science engineers, developers and IT specialists as well as quantum scientists and students who want to acquire a global view of how quantum technologies work, and particularly quantum computing. This version is an update to the 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021 editions published respectively in October 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021. An update log is provided at the end of the book.
Mitiq: A software package for error mitigation on noisy quantum computers
We introduce Mitiq, a Python package for error mitigation on noisy quantum computers. Error mitigation techniques can reduce the impact of noise on near-term quantum computers with minimal overhead in quantum resources by relying on a mixture of quantum sampling and classical post-processing techniques. Mitiq is an extensible toolkit of different error mitigation methods, including zero-noise extrapolation, probabilistic error cancellation, and Clifford data regression. The library is designed to be compatible with generic backends and interfaces with different quantum software frameworks. We describe Mitiq using code snippets to demonstrate usage and discuss features and contribution guidelines. We present several examples demonstrating error mitigation on IBM and Rigetti superconducting quantum processors as well as on noisy simulators.
Covariant quantum kernels for data with group structure
The use of kernel functions is a common technique to extract important features from data sets. A quantum computer can be used to estimate kernel entries as transition amplitudes of unitary circuits. Quantum kernels exist that, subject to computational hardness assumptions, cannot be computed classically. It is an important challenge to find quantum kernels that provide an advantage in the classification of real-world data. We introduce a class of quantum kernels that can be used for data with a group structure. The kernel is defined in terms of a unitary representation of the group and a fiducial state that can be optimized using a technique called kernel alignment. We apply this method to a learning problem on a coset-space that embodies the structure of many essential learning problems on groups. We implement the learning algorithm with 27 qubits on a superconducting processor.
Towards Quantum Machine Learning with Tensor Networks
Machine learning is a promising application of quantum computing, but challenges remain as near-term devices will have a limited number of physical qubits and high error rates. Motivated by the usefulness of tensor networks for machine learning in the classical context, we propose quantum computing approaches to both discriminative and generative learning, with circuits based on tree and matrix product state tensor networks that could have benefits for near-term devices. The result is a unified framework where classical and quantum computing can benefit from the same theoretical and algorithmic developments, and the same model can be trained classically then transferred to the quantum setting for additional optimization. Tensor network circuits can also provide qubit-efficient schemes where, depending on the architecture, the number of physical qubits required scales only logarithmically with, or independently of the input or output data sizes. We demonstrate our proposals with numerical experiments, training a discriminative model to perform handwriting recognition using a optimization procedure that could be carried out on quantum hardware, and testing the noise resilience of the trained model.
Evaluating noises of boson sampling with statistical benchmark methods
The lack of self-correcting codes hiders the development of boson sampling to be large-scale and robust. Therefore, it is important to know the noise levels in order to cautiously demonstrate the quantum computational advantage or realize certain tasks. Based on those statistical benchmark methods such as the correlators and the clouds, which are initially proposed to discriminate boson sampling and other mockups, we quantificationally evaluate noises of photon partial distinguishability and photon loss compensated by dark counts. This is feasible owing to the fact that the output distribution unbalances are suppressed by noises, which are actually results of multi-photon interferences. This is why the evaluation performance is better when high order correlators or corresponding clouds are employed. Our results indicate that the statistical benchmark methods can also work in the task of evaluating noises of boson sampling.
Quantum-Enhanced Conformal Methods for Multi-Output Uncertainty: A Holistic Exploration and Experimental Analysis
In this paper, we propose a unified approach to harness quantum conformal methods for multi-output distributions, with a particular emphasis on two experimental paradigms: (i) a standard 2-qubit circuit scenario producing a four-dimensional outcome distribution, and (ii) a multi-basis measurement setting that concatenates measurement probabilities in different bases (Z, X, Y) into a twelve-dimensional output space. By combining a multioutput regression model (e.g., random forests) with distributional conformal prediction, we validate coverage and interval-set sizes on both simulated quantum data and multi-basis measurement data. Our results confirm that classical conformal prediction can effectively provide coverage guarantees even when the target probabilities derive from inherently quantum processes. Such synergy opens the door to next-generation quantum-classical hybrid frameworks, providing both improved interpretability and rigorous coverage for quantum machine learning tasks. All codes and full reproducible Colab notebooks are made available at https://github.com/detasar/QECMMOU.
Quantum Policy Iteration via Amplitude Estimation and Grover Search -- Towards Quantum Advantage for Reinforcement Learning
We present a full implementation and simulation of a novel quantum reinforcement learning method. Our work is a detailed and formal proof of concept for how quantum algorithms can be used to solve reinforcement learning problems and shows that, given access to error-free, efficient quantum realizations of the agent and environment, quantum methods can yield provable improvements over classical Monte-Carlo based methods in terms of sample complexity. Our approach shows in detail how to combine amplitude estimation and Grover search into a policy evaluation and improvement scheme. We first develop quantum policy evaluation (QPE) which is quadratically more efficient compared to an analogous classical Monte Carlo estimation and is based on a quantum mechanical realization of a finite Markov decision process (MDP). Building on QPE, we derive a quantum policy iteration that repeatedly improves an initial policy using Grover search until the optimum is reached. Finally, we present an implementation of our algorithm for a two-armed bandit MDP which we then simulate.
Adapting Quantum Machine Learning for Energy Dissociation of Bonds
Accurate prediction of bond dissociation energies (BDEs) underpins mechanistic insight and the rational design of molecules and materials. We present a systematic, reproducible benchmark comparing quantum and classical machine learning models for BDE prediction using a chemically curated feature set encompassing atomic properties (atomic numbers, hybridization), bond characteristics (bond order, type), and local environmental descriptors. Our quantum framework, implemented in Qiskit Aer on six qubits, employs ZZFeatureMap encodings with variational ansatz (RealAmplitudes) across multiple architectures Variational Quantum Regressors (VQR), Quantum Support Vector Regressors (QSVR), Quantum Neural Networks (QNN), Quantum Convolutional Neural Networks (QCNN), and Quantum Random Forests (QRF). These are rigorously benchmarked against strong classical baselines, including Support Vector Regression (SVR), Random Forests (RF), and Multi-Layer Perceptrons (MLP). Comprehensive evaluation spanning absolute and relative error metrics, threshold accuracies, and error distributions shows that top-performing quantum models (QCNN, QRF) match the predictive accuracy and robustness of classical ensembles and deep networks, particularly within the chemically prevalent mid-range BDE regime. These findings establish a transparent baseline for quantum-enhanced molecular property prediction and outline a practical foundation for advancing quantum computational chemistry toward near chemical accuracy.
All photonic quantum repeaters
Quantum communication holds promise for unconditionally secure transmission of secret messages and faithful transfer of unknown quantum states. Photons appear to be the medium of choice for quantum communication. Owing to photon losses, robust quantum communication over long lossy channels requires quantum repeaters. It is widely believed that a necessary and highly demanding requirement for quantum repeaters is the existence of matter quantum memories at the repeater nodes. Here we show that such a requirement is, in fact, unnecessary by introducing the concept of all photonic quantum repeaters based on flying qubits. As an example of the realization of this concept, we present a protocol based on photonic cluster state machine guns and a loss-tolerant measurement equipped with local high-speed active feedforwards. We show that, with such an all photonic quantum repeater, the communication efficiency still scales polynomially with the channel distance. Our result paves a new route toward quantum repeaters with efficient single-photon sources rather than matter quantum memories.
Neural auto-designer for enhanced quantum kernels
Quantum kernels hold great promise for offering computational advantages over classical learners, with the effectiveness of these kernels closely tied to the design of the quantum feature map. However, the challenge of designing effective quantum feature maps for real-world datasets, particularly in the absence of sufficient prior information, remains a significant obstacle. In this study, we present a data-driven approach that automates the design of problem-specific quantum feature maps. Our approach leverages feature-selection techniques to handle high-dimensional data on near-term quantum machines with limited qubits, and incorporates a deep neural predictor to efficiently evaluate the performance of various candidate quantum kernels. Through extensive numerical simulations on different datasets, we demonstrate the superiority of our proposal over prior methods, especially for the capability of eliminating the kernel concentration issue and identifying the feature map with prediction advantages. Our work not only unlocks the potential of quantum kernels for enhancing real-world tasks but also highlights the substantial role of deep learning in advancing quantum machine learning.
Introducing Quantum Computing into Statistical Physics: Random Walks and the Ising Model with Qiskit
Quantum computing offers a powerful new perspective on probabilistic and collective behaviors traditionally taught in statistical physics. This paper presents two classroom-ready modules that integrate quantum computing into the undergraduate curriculum using Qiskit: the quantum random walk and the Ising model. Both modules allow students to simulate and contrast classical and quantum systems, deepening their understanding of concepts such as superposition, interference, and statistical distributions. We outline the quantum circuits involved, provide sample code and student activities, and discuss how each example can be used to enhance student engagement with statistical physics. These modules are suitable for integration into courses in statistical mechanics, modern physics, or as part of an introductory unit on quantum computing.
Quantum circuit synthesis of Bell and GHZ states using projective simulation in the NISQ era
Quantum Computing has been evolving in the last years. Although nowadays quantum algorithms performance has shown superior to their classical counterparts, quantum decoherence and additional auxiliary qubits needed for error tolerance routines have been huge barriers for quantum algorithms efficient use. These restrictions lead us to search for ways to minimize algorithms costs, i.e the number of quantum logical gates and the depth of the circuit. For this, quantum circuit synthesis and quantum circuit optimization techniques are explored. We studied the viability of using Projective Simulation, a reinforcement learning technique, to tackle the problem of quantum circuit synthesis for noise quantum computers with limited number of qubits. The agent had the task of creating quantum circuits up to 5 qubits to generate GHZ states in the IBM Tenerife (IBM QX4) quantum processor. Our simulations demonstrated that the agent had a good performance but its capacity for learning new circuits decreased as the number of qubits increased.
Quantum computing with Qiskit
We describe Qiskit, a software development kit for quantum information science. We discuss the key design decisions that have shaped its development, and examine the software architecture and its core components. We demonstrate an end-to-end workflow for solving a problem in condensed matter physics on a quantum computer that serves to highlight some of Qiskit's capabilities, for example the representation and optimization of circuits at various abstraction levels, its scalability and retargetability to new gates, and the use of quantum-classical computations via dynamic circuits. Lastly, we discuss some of the ecosystem of tools and plugins that extend Qiskit for various tasks, and the future ahead.
Designing a Quantum Network Protocol
The second quantum revolution brings with it the promise of a quantum internet. As the first quantum network hardware prototypes near completion new challenges emerge. A functional network is more than just the physical hardware, yet work on scalable quantum network systems is in its infancy. In this paper we present a quantum network protocol designed to enable end-to-end quantum communication in the face of the new fundamental and technical challenges brought by quantum mechanics. We develop a quantum data plane protocol that enables end-to-end quantum communication and can serve as a building block for more complex services. One of the key challenges in near-term quantum technology is decoherence -- the gradual decay of quantum information -- which imposes extremely stringent limits on storage times. Our protocol is designed to be efficient in the face of short quantum memory lifetimes. We demonstrate this using a simulator for quantum networks and show that the protocol is able to deliver its service even in the face of significant losses due to decoherence. Finally, we conclude by showing that the protocol remains functional on the extremely resource limited hardware that is being developed today underlining the timeliness of this work.
PauliComposer: Compute Tensor Products of Pauli Matrices Efficiently
We introduce a simple algorithm that efficiently computes tensor products of Pauli matrices. This is done by tailoring the calculations to this specific case, which allows to avoid unnecessary calculations. The strength of this strategy is benchmarked against state-of-the-art techniques, showing a remarkable acceleration. As a side product, we provide an optimized method for one key calculus in quantum simulations: the Pauli basis decomposition of Hamiltonians.
QuXAI: Explainers for Hybrid Quantum Machine Learning Models
The emergence of hybrid quantum-classical machine learning (HQML) models opens new horizons of computational intelligence but their fundamental complexity frequently leads to black box behavior that undermines transparency and reliability in their application. Although XAI for quantum systems still in its infancy, a major research gap is evident in robust global and local explainability approaches that are designed for HQML architectures that employ quantized feature encoding followed by classical learning. The gap is the focus of this work, which introduces QuXAI, an framework based upon Q-MEDLEY, an explainer for explaining feature importance in these hybrid systems. Our model entails the creation of HQML models incorporating quantum feature maps, the use of Q-MEDLEY, which combines feature based inferences, preserving the quantum transformation stage and visualizing the resulting attributions. Our result shows that Q-MEDLEY delineates influential classical aspects in HQML models, as well as separates their noise, and competes well against established XAI techniques in classical validation settings. Ablation studies more significantly expose the virtues of the composite structure used in Q-MEDLEY. The implications of this work are critically important, as it provides a route to improve the interpretability and reliability of HQML models, thus promoting greater confidence and being able to engage in safer and more responsible use of quantum-enhanced AI technology.
Treble10: A high-quality dataset for far-field speech recognition, dereverberation, and enhancement
Accurate far-field speech datasets are critical for tasks such as automatic speech recognition (ASR), dereverberation, speech enhancement, and source separation. However, current datasets are limited by the trade-off between acoustic realism and scalability. Measured corpora provide faithful physics but are expensive, low-coverage, and rarely include paired clean and reverberant data. In contrast, most simulation-based datasets rely on simplified geometrical acoustics, thus failing to reproduce key physical phenomena like diffraction, scattering, and interference that govern sound propagation in complex environments. We introduce Treble10, a large-scale, physically accurate room-acoustic dataset. Treble10 contains over 3000 broadband room impulse responses (RIRs) simulated in 10 fully furnished real-world rooms, using a hybrid simulation paradigm implemented in the Treble SDK that combines a wave-based and geometrical acoustics solver. The dataset provides six complementary subsets, spanning mono, 8th-order Ambisonics, and 6-channel device RIRs, as well as pre-convolved reverberant speech scenes paired with LibriSpeech utterances. All signals are simulated at 32 kHz, accurately modelling low-frequency wave effects and high-frequency reflections. Treble10 bridges the realism gap between measurement and simulation, enabling reproducible, physically grounded evaluation and large-scale data augmentation for far-field speech tasks. The dataset is openly available via the Hugging Face Hub, and is intended as both a benchmark and a template for next-generation simulation-driven audio research.
Toward Automated Quantum Variational Machine Learning
In this work, we address the problem of automating quantum variational machine learning. We develop a multi-locality parallelizable search algorithm, called MUSE, to find the initial points and the sets of parameters that achieve the best performance for quantum variational circuit learning. Simulations with five real-world classification datasets indicate that on average, MUSE improves the detection accuracy of quantum variational classifiers 2.3 times with respect to the observed lowest scores. Moreover, when applied to two real-world regression datasets, MUSE improves the quality of the predictions from negative coefficients of determination to positive ones. Furthermore, the classification and regression scores of the quantum variational models trained with MUSE are on par with the classical counterparts.
Review of Distributed Quantum Computing. From single QPU to High Performance Quantum Computing
The emerging field of quantum computing has shown it might change how we process information by using the unique principles of quantum mechanics. As researchers continue to push the boundaries of quantum technologies to unprecedented levels, distributed quantum computing raises as an obvious path to explore with the aim of boosting the computational power of current quantum systems. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the current state of the art in the distributed quantum computing field, exploring its foundational principles, landscape of achievements, challenges, and promising directions for further research. From quantum communication protocols to entanglement-based distributed algorithms, each aspect contributes to the mosaic of distributed quantum computing, making it an attractive approach to address the limitations of classical computing. Our objective is to provide an exhaustive overview for experienced researchers and field newcomers.
Embedding-Aware Quantum-Classical SVMs for Scalable Quantum Machine Learning
Quantum Support Vector Machines face scalability challenges due to high-dimensional quantum states and hardware limitations. We propose an embedding-aware quantum-classical pipeline combining class-balanced k-means distillation with pretrained Vision Transformer embeddings. Our key finding: ViT embeddings uniquely enable quantum advantage, achieving up to 8.02% accuracy improvements over classical SVMs on Fashion-MNIST and 4.42% on MNIST, while CNN features show performance degradation. Using 16-qubit tensor network simulation via cuTensorNet, we provide the first systematic evidence that quantum kernel advantage depends critically on embedding choice, revealing fundamental synergy between transformer attention and quantum feature spaces. This provides a practical pathway for scalable quantum machine learning that leverages modern neural architectures.
Quantum Monte Carlo simulations in the restricted Hilbert space of Rydberg atom arrays
Rydberg atom arrays have emerged as a powerful platform to simulate a number of exotic quantum ground states and phase transitions. To verify these capabilities numerically, we develop a versatile quantum Monte Carlo sampling technique which operates in the reduced Hilbert space generated by enforcing the constraint of a Rydberg blockade. We use the framework of stochastic series expansion and show that in the restricted space, the configuration space of operator strings can be understood as a hard rod gas in d+1 dimensions. We use this mapping to develop cluster algorithms which can be visualized as various non-local movements of rods. We study the efficiency of each of our updates individually and collectively. To elucidate the utility of the algorithm, we show that it can efficiently generate the phase diagram of a Rydberg atom array, to temperatures much smaller than all energy scales involved, on a Kagom\'e link lattice. This is of broad interest as the presence of a Z_2 spin liquid has been hypothesized recently.
Symmetry-invariant quantum machine learning force fields
Machine learning techniques are essential tools to compute efficient, yet accurate, force fields for atomistic simulations. This approach has recently been extended to incorporate quantum computational methods, making use of variational quantum learning models to predict potential energy surfaces and atomic forces from ab initio training data. However, the trainability and scalability of such models are still limited, due to both theoretical and practical barriers. Inspired by recent developments in geometric classical and quantum machine learning, here we design quantum neural networks that explicitly incorporate, as a data-inspired prior, an extensive set of physically relevant symmetries. We find that our invariant quantum learning models outperform their more generic counterparts on individual molecules of growing complexity. Furthermore, we study a water dimer as a minimal example of a system with multiple components, showcasing the versatility of our proposed approach and opening the way towards larger simulations. Our results suggest that molecular force fields generation can significantly profit from leveraging the framework of geometric quantum machine learning, and that chemical systems represent, in fact, an interesting and rich playground for the development and application of advanced quantum machine learning tools.
Scalable quantum neural networks by few quantum resources
This paper focuses on the construction of a general parametric model that can be implemented executing multiple swap tests over few qubits and applying a suitable measurement protocol. The model turns out to be equivalent to a two-layer feedforward neural network which can be realized combining small quantum modules. The advantages and the perspectives of the proposed quantum method are discussed.
Synthesis of discrete-continuous quantum circuits with multimodal diffusion models
Efficiently compiling quantum operations remains a major bottleneck in scaling quantum computing. Today's state-of-the-art methods achieve low compilation error by combining search algorithms with gradient-based parameter optimization, but they incur long runtimes and require multiple calls to quantum hardware or expensive classical simulations, making their scaling prohibitive. Recently, machine-learning models have emerged as an alternative, though they are currently restricted to discrete gate sets. Here, we introduce a multimodal denoising diffusion model that simultaneously generates a circuit's structure and its continuous parameters for compiling a target unitary. It leverages two independent diffusion processes, one for discrete gate selection and one for parameter prediction. We benchmark the model over different experiments, analyzing the method's accuracy across varying qubit counts, circuit depths, and proportions of parameterized gates. Finally, by exploiting its rapid circuit generation, we create large datasets of circuits for particular operations and use these to extract valuable heuristics that can help us discover new insights into quantum circuit synthesis.
Supervised learning with quantum enhanced feature spaces
Machine learning and quantum computing are two technologies each with the potential for altering how computation is performed to address previously untenable problems. Kernel methods for machine learning are ubiquitous for pattern recognition, with support vector machines (SVMs) being the most well-known method for classification problems. However, there are limitations to the successful solution to such problems when the feature space becomes large, and the kernel functions become computationally expensive to estimate. A core element to computational speed-ups afforded by quantum algorithms is the exploitation of an exponentially large quantum state space through controllable entanglement and interference. Here, we propose and experimentally implement two novel methods on a superconducting processor. Both methods represent the feature space of a classification problem by a quantum state, taking advantage of the large dimensionality of quantum Hilbert space to obtain an enhanced solution. One method, the quantum variational classifier builds on [1,2] and operates through using a variational quantum circuit to classify a training set in direct analogy to conventional SVMs. In the second, a quantum kernel estimator, we estimate the kernel function and optimize the classifier directly. The two methods present a new class of tools for exploring the applications of noisy intermediate scale quantum computers [3] to machine learning.
Proposal for room-temperature quantum repeaters with nitrogen-vacancy centers and optomechanics
We propose a quantum repeater architecture that can operate under ambient conditions. Our proposal builds on recent progress towards non-cryogenic spin-photon interfaces based on nitrogen-vacancy centers, which have excellent spin coherence times even at room temperature, and optomechanics, which allows to avoid phonon-related decoherence and also allows the emitted photons to be in the telecom band. We apply the photon number decomposition method to quantify the fidelity and the efficiency of entanglement established between two remote electron spins. We describe how the entanglement can be stored in nuclear spins and extended to long distances via quasi-deterministic entanglement swapping operations involving the electron and nuclear spins. We furthermore propose schemes to achieve high-fidelity readout of the spin states at room temperature using the spin-optomechanics interface. Our work shows that long-distance quantum networks made of solid-state components that operate at room temperature are within reach of current technological capabilities.
KetGPT - Dataset Augmentation of Quantum Circuits using Transformers
Quantum algorithms, represented as quantum circuits, can be used as benchmarks for assessing the performance of quantum systems. Existing datasets, widely utilized in the field, suffer from limitations in size and versatility, leading researchers to employ randomly generated circuits. Random circuits are, however, not representative benchmarks as they lack the inherent properties of real quantum algorithms for which the quantum systems are manufactured. This shortage of `useful' quantum benchmarks poses a challenge to advancing the development and comparison of quantum compilers and hardware. This research aims to enhance the existing quantum circuit datasets by generating what we refer to as `realistic-looking' circuits by employing the Transformer machine learning architecture. For this purpose, we introduce KetGPT, a tool that generates synthetic circuits in OpenQASM language, whose structure is based on quantum circuits derived from existing quantum algorithms and follows the typical patterns of human-written algorithm-based code (e.g., order of gates and qubits). Our three-fold verification process, involving manual inspection and Qiskit framework execution, transformer-based classification, and structural analysis, demonstrates the efficacy of KetGPT in producing large amounts of additional circuits that closely align with algorithm-based structures. Beyond benchmarking, we envision KetGPT contributing substantially to AI-driven quantum compilers and systems.
Category Theory for Quantum Natural Language Processing
This thesis introduces quantum natural language processing (QNLP) models based on a simple yet powerful analogy between computational linguistics and quantum mechanics: grammar as entanglement. The grammatical structure of text and sentences connects the meaning of words in the same way that entanglement structure connects the states of quantum systems. Category theory allows to make this language-to-qubit analogy formal: it is a monoidal functor from grammar to vector spaces. We turn this abstract analogy into a concrete algorithm that translates the grammatical structure onto the architecture of parameterised quantum circuits. We then use a hybrid classical-quantum algorithm to train the model so that evaluating the circuits computes the meaning of sentences in data-driven tasks. The implementation of QNLP models motivated the development of DisCoPy (Distributional Compositional Python), the toolkit for applied category theory of which the first chapter gives a comprehensive overview. String diagrams are the core data structure of DisCoPy, they allow to reason about computation at a high level of abstraction. We show how they can encode both grammatical structures and quantum circuits, but also logical formulae, neural networks or arbitrary Python code. Monoidal functors allow to translate these abstract diagrams into concrete computation, interfacing with optimised task-specific libraries. The second chapter uses DisCopy to implement QNLP models as parameterised functors from grammar to quantum circuits. It gives a first proof-of-concept for the more general concept of functorial learning: generalising machine learning from functions to functors by learning from diagram-like data. In order to learn optimal functor parameters via gradient descent, we introduce the notion of diagrammatic differentiation: a graphical calculus for computing the gradients of parameterised diagrams.
Metrological detection of multipartite entanglement through dynamical symmetries
Multipartite entanglement, characterized by the quantum Fisher information (QFI), plays a central role in quantum-enhanced metrology and understanding quantum many-body physics. With a dynamical generalization of the Mazur-Suzuki relations, we provide a rigorous lower bound on the QFI for the thermal Gibbs states in terms of dynamical symmetries, i.e., operators with periodic time dependence. We demonstrate that this bound can be saturated when considering a complete set of dynamical symmetries. Moreover, this lower bound with dynamical symmetries can be generalized to the QFI matrix and to the QFI for the thermal pure states, predicted by the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. Our results reveal a new perspective to detect multipartite entanglement and other generalized variances in an equilibrium system, from its nonstationary dynamical properties, and is promising for studying emergent nonequilibrium many-body physics.
Old Quantum Mechanics by Bohr and Sommerfeld from a Modern Perspective
We review Bohr's atomic model and its extension by Sommerfeld from a mathematical perspective of wave mechanics. The derivation of quantization rules and energy levels is revisited using semiclassical methods. Sommerfeld-type integrals are evaluated by elementary techniques, and connections with the Schr\"{o}dinger and Dirac equations are established. Historical developments and key transitions from classical to quantum theory are discussed to clarify the structure and significance of the old quantum mechanics.
