Initialization and training of matrix product state probabilistic models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Tang, Xun, Khoo, Yuehaw, Ying, Lexing
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Tang, Xun
Khoo, Yuehaw
Ying, Lexing
author_facet Tang, Xun
Khoo, Yuehaw
Ying, Lexing
contents Modeling probability distributions via the wave function of a quantum state is central to quantum-inspired generative modeling and quantum state tomography (QST). We investigate a common failure mode in training randomly initialized matrix product states (MPS) using gradient descent. The results show that the trained MPS models do not accurately predict the strong interactions between boundary sites in periodic spin chain models. In the case of the Born machine algorithm, we further identify a causality trap, where the trained MPS models resemble causal models that ignore the non-local correlations in the true distribution. We propose two complementary strategies to overcome the training failure -- one through optimization and one through initialization. First, we develop a natural gradient descent (NGD) method, which approximately simulates the gradient flow on tensor manifolds and significantly enhances training efficiency. Numerical experiments show that NGD avoids local minima in both Born machines and in general MPS tomography. Remarkably, we show that NGD with line search can converge to the global minimum in only a few iterations. Second, for the BM algorithm, we introduce a warm-start initialization based on the TTNS-Sketch algorithm. We show that gradient descent under a warm initialization does not encounter the causality trap and admits rapid convergence to the ground truth.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_06419
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Initialization and training of matrix product state probabilistic models
Tang, Xun
Khoo, Yuehaw
Ying, Lexing
Numerical Analysis
Quantum Physics
Modeling probability distributions via the wave function of a quantum state is central to quantum-inspired generative modeling and quantum state tomography (QST). We investigate a common failure mode in training randomly initialized matrix product states (MPS) using gradient descent. The results show that the trained MPS models do not accurately predict the strong interactions between boundary sites in periodic spin chain models. In the case of the Born machine algorithm, we further identify a causality trap, where the trained MPS models resemble causal models that ignore the non-local correlations in the true distribution. We propose two complementary strategies to overcome the training failure -- one through optimization and one through initialization. First, we develop a natural gradient descent (NGD) method, which approximately simulates the gradient flow on tensor manifolds and significantly enhances training efficiency. Numerical experiments show that NGD avoids local minima in both Born machines and in general MPS tomography. Remarkably, we show that NGD with line search can converge to the global minimum in only a few iterations. Second, for the BM algorithm, we introduce a warm-start initialization based on the TTNS-Sketch algorithm. We show that gradient descent under a warm initialization does not encounter the causality trap and admits rapid convergence to the ground truth.
title Initialization and training of matrix product state probabilistic models
topic Numerical Analysis
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.06419