Expressibility and Entangling Capability of Parameterized Quantum Circuits for Hybrid Quantum‐Classical Algorithms

Abstract

Parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) play an essential role in the performance of many variational quantum algorithms. One challenge in implementing such algorithms is choosing an effective circuit that well represents the solution space while maintaining a low circuit depth and parameter count. To characterize and identify expressible, yet compact, circuits, several descriptors are proposed, including expressibility and entangling capability, that are statistically estimated from classical simulations. These descriptors are computed for different circuit structures, varying the qubit connectivity and selection of gates. From these simulations, circuit fragments that perform well with respect to the descriptors are identified. In particular, a substantial improvement in performance of two‐qubit gates in a ring or all‐to‐all connected arrangement, compared to that of those on a line, is observed. Furthermore, improvement in both descriptors is achieved by sequences of controlled X‐rotation gates compared to sequences of controlled Z‐rotation gates. In addition, it is investigated how expressibility “saturates” with increased circuit depth, finding that the rate and saturated value appear to be distinguishing features of a PQC. While the correlation between each descriptor and algorithm performance remains to be investigated, methods and results from this study can be useful for algorithm development and design of experiments.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Oct 14, 2019
Source ID
10.1002/qute.201900070

Entities

People

  • Alán Aspuru-Guzik
  • P. D. Johnson
  • Sukin Sim

Organizations

  • Army Research Office
  • Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
  • Harvard University
  • University of Toronto
  • Vector Institute
  • Zapata Computing, Inc.

Tags

Readers

  • Computational Linguistics
  • Neural Network Machine Learning.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Quantum Computing
  • Space