Quantum Measurement Statistics as Bayesian Uncertainty Estimators for Physics-Constrained Learning

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Hewage, Prasad Nimantha Madusanka Ukwatta, Chakkravarthy, Midhun, Abeysekara, Ruvan Kumara
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Hewage, Prasad Nimantha Madusanka Ukwatta
Chakkravarthy, Midhun
Abeysekara, Ruvan Kumara
author_facet Hewage, Prasad Nimantha Madusanka Ukwatta
Chakkravarthy, Midhun
Abeysekara, Ruvan Kumara
contents Uncertainty quantification (UQ) is essential for deploying machine learning models in safety-critical physical systems, yet classical Bayesian approaches incur substantial computational overhead. We establish a formal connection between Born-rule measurement statistics from variational quantum circuits (VQCs) and Bayesian posterior uncertainty, proving that repeated quantum measurements naturally produce calibrated prediction intervals without requiring explicit Bayesian neural network (BNN) machinery. We demonstrate this framework on physics-constrained VQCs trained on PDE residuals. Systematic experiments comparing quantum shot-based UQ against MC Dropout and Deep Ensemble baselines show that quantum UQ achieves coverage probabilities within 1-3% of target confidence levels at N >= 5000 shots, while MC Dropout systematically over-covers by 4-5%. Physics-constrained circuits reduce the expected calibration error (ECE) by 34-40% compared to unconstrained counterparts, with interval widths 14-30% narrower at equivalent coverage. Information-theoretic analysis reveals that quantum circuits extract ~15% more bits of UQ information per evaluation than MC Dropout and ~42% more than Deep Ensembles (M = 10), owing to the exponential Hilbert space accessible through Born-rule sampling. These results establish quantum measurement statistics as a principled, computationally efficient framework for uncertainty quantification in physics-informed learning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_10896
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Quantum Measurement Statistics as Bayesian Uncertainty Estimators for Physics-Constrained Learning
Hewage, Prasad Nimantha Madusanka Ukwatta
Chakkravarthy, Midhun
Abeysekara, Ruvan Kumara
Quantum Physics
81P50, 62F15, 81P68
Uncertainty quantification (UQ) is essential for deploying machine learning models in safety-critical physical systems, yet classical Bayesian approaches incur substantial computational overhead. We establish a formal connection between Born-rule measurement statistics from variational quantum circuits (VQCs) and Bayesian posterior uncertainty, proving that repeated quantum measurements naturally produce calibrated prediction intervals without requiring explicit Bayesian neural network (BNN) machinery. We demonstrate this framework on physics-constrained VQCs trained on PDE residuals. Systematic experiments comparing quantum shot-based UQ against MC Dropout and Deep Ensemble baselines show that quantum UQ achieves coverage probabilities within 1-3% of target confidence levels at N >= 5000 shots, while MC Dropout systematically over-covers by 4-5%. Physics-constrained circuits reduce the expected calibration error (ECE) by 34-40% compared to unconstrained counterparts, with interval widths 14-30% narrower at equivalent coverage. Information-theoretic analysis reveals that quantum circuits extract ~15% more bits of UQ information per evaluation than MC Dropout and ~42% more than Deep Ensembles (M = 10), owing to the exponential Hilbert space accessible through Born-rule sampling. These results establish quantum measurement statistics as a principled, computationally efficient framework for uncertainty quantification in physics-informed learning.
title Quantum Measurement Statistics as Bayesian Uncertainty Estimators for Physics-Constrained Learning
topic Quantum Physics
81P50, 62F15, 81P68
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.10896