Faster variational quantum algorithms with quantum kernel-based surrogate models

We present a new optimization method for small-to-intermediate scale variational algorithms on noisy near-term quantum processors which uses a Gaussian process surrogate model equipped with a classically-evaluated quantum kernel. Variational algorithms are typically optimized using gradient-based approaches however these are difficult to implement on current noisy devices, requiring large numbers of objective function evaluations. Our scheme shifts this computational burden onto the classical optimizer component of these hybrid algorithms, greatly reducing the number of queries to the quantum processor. We focus on the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm and demonstrate numerically that such surrogate models are particularly well suited to the algorithm's objective function. Next, we apply these models to both noiseless and noisy VQE simulations and show that they exhibit better performance than widely-used classical kernels in terms of final accuracy and convergence speed. Compared to the typically-used stochastic gradient-descent approach for VQAs, our quantum kernel-based approach is found to consistently achieve significantly higher accuracy while requiring less than an order of magnitude fewer quantum circuit evaluations. We analyse the performance of the quantum kernel-based models in terms of the kernels' induced feature spaces and explicitly construct their feature maps. Finally, we describe a scheme for approximating the best-performing quantum kernel using a classically-efficient tensor network representation of its input state and so provide a pathway for scaling these methods to larger systems.

Efficient Approximate Quantum State Tomography with Basis Dependent Neural-Networks

We use a meta-learning neural-network approach to predict measurement outcomes of a quantum state in arbitrary local bases and thus carry out an approximate quantum state tomography. Each stage of this procedure can be performed efficiently, allowing it to be used effectively on large systems. We demonstrate this approach on the most recent noisy intermediate-scale IBM Quantum devices, achieving an accurate generative model for a 6-qubit state's measurement outcomes with only 100 random measurement settings as opposed to the 729 settings required for full tomography. This reduction in the required number of measurements scales favourably, with around 200 measurement settings yielding good results for a 10 qubit state that would require 59,049 settings for full quantum state tomography. This reduction in the number of measurement settings coupled with the efficiency of the procedure could allow for estimations of expectation values and state fidelities in practicable times on current quantum devices. For suitable states, this could then help in increasing the speed of other optimization schemes when attempting to produce states on noisy quantum devices at a scale where traditional maximum likelihood based approaches are impractical.