Alleviating Barren Plateaus in Parameterized Quantum Machine Learning Circuits: Investigating Advanced Parameter Initialization Strategies

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kashif, Muhammad, Rashid, Muhammad, Al-Kuwari, Saif, Shafique, Muhammad
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Kashif, Muhammad
Rashid, Muhammad
Al-Kuwari, Saif
Shafique, Muhammad
author_facet Kashif, Muhammad
Rashid, Muhammad
Al-Kuwari, Saif
Shafique, Muhammad
contents Parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) have emerged as a foundational element in the development and applications of quantum algorithms. However, when initialized with random parameter values, PQCs often exhibit barren plateaus (BP). These plateaus, characterized by vanishing gradients with an increasing number of qubits, hinder optimization in quantum algorithms. In this paper, we analyze the impact of state-of-the-art parameter initialization strategies from classical machine learning in random PQCs from the aspect of BP phenomenon. Our investigation encompasses a spectrum of initialization techniques, including random, Xavier (both normal and uniform variants), He, LeCun, and Orthogonal methods. Empirical assessment reveals a pronounced reduction in variance decay of gradients across all these methodologies compared to the randomly initialized PQCs. Specifically, the Xavier initialization technique outperforms the rest, showing a 62\% improvement in variance decay compared to the random initialization. The He, Lecun, and orthogonal methods also display improvements, with respective enhancements of 32\%, 28\%, and 26\%. This compellingly suggests that the adoption of these existing initialization techniques holds the potential to significantly amplify the training efficacy of Quantum Neural Networks (QNNs), a subclass of PQCs. Demonstrating this effect, we employ the identified techniques to train QNNs for learning the identity function, effectively mitigating the adverse effects of BPs. The training performance, ranked from the best to the worst, aligns with the variance decay enhancement as outlined above. This paper underscores the role of tailored parameter initialization in mitigating the BP problem and eventually enhancing the training dynamics of QNNs.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2311_13218
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Alleviating Barren Plateaus in Parameterized Quantum Machine Learning Circuits: Investigating Advanced Parameter Initialization Strategies
Kashif, Muhammad
Rashid, Muhammad
Al-Kuwari, Saif
Shafique, Muhammad
Quantum Physics
Parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) have emerged as a foundational element in the development and applications of quantum algorithms. However, when initialized with random parameter values, PQCs often exhibit barren plateaus (BP). These plateaus, characterized by vanishing gradients with an increasing number of qubits, hinder optimization in quantum algorithms. In this paper, we analyze the impact of state-of-the-art parameter initialization strategies from classical machine learning in random PQCs from the aspect of BP phenomenon. Our investigation encompasses a spectrum of initialization techniques, including random, Xavier (both normal and uniform variants), He, LeCun, and Orthogonal methods. Empirical assessment reveals a pronounced reduction in variance decay of gradients across all these methodologies compared to the randomly initialized PQCs. Specifically, the Xavier initialization technique outperforms the rest, showing a 62\% improvement in variance decay compared to the random initialization. The He, Lecun, and orthogonal methods also display improvements, with respective enhancements of 32\%, 28\%, and 26\%. This compellingly suggests that the adoption of these existing initialization techniques holds the potential to significantly amplify the training efficacy of Quantum Neural Networks (QNNs), a subclass of PQCs. Demonstrating this effect, we employ the identified techniques to train QNNs for learning the identity function, effectively mitigating the adverse effects of BPs. The training performance, ranked from the best to the worst, aligns with the variance decay enhancement as outlined above. This paper underscores the role of tailored parameter initialization in mitigating the BP problem and eventually enhancing the training dynamics of QNNs.
title Alleviating Barren Plateaus in Parameterized Quantum Machine Learning Circuits: Investigating Advanced Parameter Initialization Strategies
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.13218