From barren plateaus through fertile valleys: Conic extensions of parameterised quantum circuits

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Binkowski, Lennart, Koßmann, Gereon, Osborne, Tobias J., Schwonnek, René, Ziegler, Timo
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Binkowski, Lennart
Koßmann, Gereon
Osborne, Tobias J.
Schwonnek, René
Ziegler, Timo
author_facet Binkowski, Lennart
Koßmann, Gereon
Osborne, Tobias J.
Schwonnek, René
Ziegler, Timo
contents Optimisation via parameterised quantum circuits is the prevalent technique of near-term quantum algorithms. However, the omnipresent phenomenon of barren plateaus - parameter regions with vanishing gradients - sets a persistent hurdle that drastically diminishes its success in practice. In this work, we introduce an approach - based on non-unitary operations - that favours jumps out of a barren plateau into a fertile valley. These operations are constructed from conic extensions of parameterised unitary quantum circuits, relying on mid-circuit measurements and a small ancilla system. We further reduce the problem of finding optimal jump directions to a low-dimensional generalised eigenvalue problem. As a proof of concept we incorporate jumps within state-of-the-art implementations of the Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithm (QAOA). We demonstrate the extensions' effectiveness on QAOA through extensive simulations, showcasing robustness against barren plateaus and highly improved sampling probabilities of optimal solutions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2310_04255
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle From barren plateaus through fertile valleys: Conic extensions of parameterised quantum circuits
Binkowski, Lennart
Koßmann, Gereon
Osborne, Tobias J.
Schwonnek, René
Ziegler, Timo
Quantum Physics
Optimisation via parameterised quantum circuits is the prevalent technique of near-term quantum algorithms. However, the omnipresent phenomenon of barren plateaus - parameter regions with vanishing gradients - sets a persistent hurdle that drastically diminishes its success in practice. In this work, we introduce an approach - based on non-unitary operations - that favours jumps out of a barren plateau into a fertile valley. These operations are constructed from conic extensions of parameterised unitary quantum circuits, relying on mid-circuit measurements and a small ancilla system. We further reduce the problem of finding optimal jump directions to a low-dimensional generalised eigenvalue problem. As a proof of concept we incorporate jumps within state-of-the-art implementations of the Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithm (QAOA). We demonstrate the extensions' effectiveness on QAOA through extensive simulations, showcasing robustness against barren plateaus and highly improved sampling probabilities of optimal solutions.
title From barren plateaus through fertile valleys: Conic extensions of parameterised quantum circuits
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.04255