Formal Verification of Variational Quantum Circuits

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Assolini, Nicola, Marzari, Luca, Mastroeni, Isabella, di Pierro, Alessandra
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Assolini, Nicola
Marzari, Luca
Mastroeni, Isabella
di Pierro, Alessandra
author_facet Assolini, Nicola
Marzari, Luca
Mastroeni, Isabella
di Pierro, Alessandra
contents Variational quantum circuits (VQCs) are a central component of many quantum machine learning algorithms, offering a hybrid quantum-classical framework that, under certain aspects, can be considered similar to classical deep neural networks. A shared aspect is, for instance, their vulnerability to adversarial inputs, small perturbations that can lead to incorrect predictions. While formal verification techniques have been extensively developed for classical models, no comparable framework exists for certifying the robustness of VQCs. Here, we present the first in-depth theoretical and practical study of the formal verification problem for VQCs. Inspired by abstract interpretation methods used in deep learning, we analyze the applicability and limitations of interval-based reachability techniques in the quantum setting. We show that quantum-specific aspects, such as state normalization, introduce inter-variable dependencies that challenge existing approaches. We investigate these issues by introducing a novel semantic framework based on abstract interpretation, where the verification problem for VQCs can be formally defined, and its complexity analyzed. Finally, we demonstrate our approach on standard verification benchmarks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_10635
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Formal Verification of Variational Quantum Circuits
Assolini, Nicola
Marzari, Luca
Mastroeni, Isabella
di Pierro, Alessandra
Quantum Physics
Machine Learning
Programming Languages
Variational quantum circuits (VQCs) are a central component of many quantum machine learning algorithms, offering a hybrid quantum-classical framework that, under certain aspects, can be considered similar to classical deep neural networks. A shared aspect is, for instance, their vulnerability to adversarial inputs, small perturbations that can lead to incorrect predictions. While formal verification techniques have been extensively developed for classical models, no comparable framework exists for certifying the robustness of VQCs. Here, we present the first in-depth theoretical and practical study of the formal verification problem for VQCs. Inspired by abstract interpretation methods used in deep learning, we analyze the applicability and limitations of interval-based reachability techniques in the quantum setting. We show that quantum-specific aspects, such as state normalization, introduce inter-variable dependencies that challenge existing approaches. We investigate these issues by introducing a novel semantic framework based on abstract interpretation, where the verification problem for VQCs can be formally defined, and its complexity analyzed. Finally, we demonstrate our approach on standard verification benchmarks.
title Formal Verification of Variational Quantum Circuits
topic Quantum Physics
Machine Learning
Programming Languages
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.10635