arXiv subjects

Edwin Barnes

Publications and source records attributed to Edwin Barnes.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

How Much Entanglement Do Quantum Optimization Algorithms Require?

Many classical optimization problems can be mapped to finding the ground states of diagonal Ising Hamiltonians, for which variational quantum algorithms such as the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) provide heuristic methods. Because the solutions of such classical optimization problems are necessarily product states, it is unclear how entanglement affects their performance. An Adaptive Derivative-Assembled Problem-Tailored (ADAPT) variation of QAOA improves the convergence rate by allowing entangling operations in the mixer layers whereas it requires fewer CNOT gates in the entire circuit. In this work, we study the entanglement generated during the execution of ADAPT-QAOA. Through simulations of the weighted Max-Cut problem, we show that ADAPT-QAOA exhibits substantial flexibility in entangling and disentangling qubits. By incrementally restricting this flexibility, we find that a larger amount of entanglement entropy at earlier stages coincides with faster convergence at later stages. In contrast, while the standard QAOA quickly generates entanglement within a few layers, it cannot remove excess entanglement efficiently. Our results demonstrate that the role of entanglement in quantum optimization is subtle and provide guidance for building favorable features into quantum optimization algorithms.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Avoiding symmetry roadblocks and minimizing the measurement overhead of adaptive variational quantum eigensolvers

Quantum simulation of strongly correlated systems is potentially the most feasible useful application of near-term quantum computers. Minimizing quantum computational resources is crucial to achieving this goal. A promising class of algorithms for this purpose consists of variational quantum eigensolvers (VQEs). Among these, problem-tailored versions such as ADAPT-VQE that build variational ansätze step by step from a predefined operator pool perform particularly well in terms of circuit depths and variational parameter counts. However, this improved performance comes at the expense of an additional measurement overhead compared to standard VQEs. Here, we show that this overhead can be reduced to an amount that grows only linearly with the number $n$ of qubits, instead of quartically as in the original ADAPT-VQE. We do this by proving that operator pools of size $2n-2$ can represent any state in Hilbert space if chosen appropriately. We prove that this is the minimal size of such "complete" pools, discuss their algebraic properties, and present necessary and sufficient conditions for their completeness that allow us to find such pools efficiently. We further show that, if the simulated problem possesses symmetries, then complete pools can fail to yield convergent results, unless the pool is chosen to obey certain symmetry rules. We demonstrate the performance of such symmetry-adapted complete pools by using them in classical simulations of ADAPT-VQE for several strongly correlated molecules. Our findings are relevant for any VQE that uses an ansatz based on Pauli strings.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Linear optical logical Bell state measurements with optimal loss-tolerance threshold

Quantum threshold theorems impose hard limits on the hardware capabilities to process quantum information. We derive tight and fundamental upper bounds to loss-tolerance thresholds in different linear-optical quantum information processing settings through an adversarial framework, taking into account the intrinsically probabilistic nature of linear optical Bell measurements. For logical Bell state measurements - ubiquitous operations in photonic quantum information - we demonstrate analytically that linear optics can achieve the fundamental loss threshold imposed by the no-cloning theorem even though, following the work of Lee et al., (Phys. Rev. A 100, 052303 (2019)), the constraint was widely assumed to be stricter. We spotlight the assumptions of the latter publication and find their bound holds for a logical Bell measurement built from adaptive physical linear-optical Bell measurements. We also give an explicit even stricter bound for non-adaptive Bell measurements.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Quantum self-consistent equation-of-motion method for computing molecular excitation energies, ionization potentials, and electron affinities on a quantum computer

Near-term quantum computers are expected to facilitate material and chemical research through accurate molecular simulations. Several developments have already shown that accurate ground-state energies for small molecules can be evaluated on present-day quantum devices. Although electronically excited states play a vital role in chemical processes and applications, the search for a reliable and practical approach for routine excited-state calculations on near-term quantum devices is ongoing. Inspired by excited-state methods developed for the unitary coupled-cluster theory in quantum chemistry, we present an equation-of-motion-based method to compute excitation energies following the variational quantum eigensolver algorithm for ground-state calculations on a quantum computer. We perform numerical simulations on H$_2$, H$_4$, H$_2$O, and LiH molecules to test our quantum self-consistent equation-of-motion (q-sc-EOM) method and compare it to other current state-of-the-art methods. q-sc-EOM makes use of self-consistent operators to satisfy the vacuum annihilation condition, a critical property for accurate calculations. It provides real and size-intensive energy differences corresponding to vertical excitation energies, ionization potentials and electron affinities. We also find that q-sc-EOM is more suitable for implementation on NISQ devices as it is expected to be more resilient to noise compared with the currently available methods.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Performance analysis of quantum repeaters enabled by deterministically generated photonic graph states

By encoding logical qubits into specific types of photonic graph states, one can realize quantum repeaters that enable fast entanglement distribution rates approaching classical communication. However, the generation of these photonic graph states requires a formidable resource overhead using traditional approaches based on linear optics. Overcoming this challenge, a number of new schemes have been proposed that employ quantum emitters to deterministically generate photonic graph states. Although these schemes have the potential to significantly reduce the resource cost, a systematic comparison of the repeater performance among different encodings and different generation schemes is lacking. Here, we quantitatively analyze the performance of quantum repeaters based on two different graph states, i.e. the tree graph states and the repeater graph states. For both states, we compare the performance between two generation schemes, one based on a single quantum emitter coupled to ancillary matter qubits, and one based on a single quantum emitter coupled to a delayed feedback. We identify the numerically optimal scheme at different system parameters. Our analysis provides a clear guideline on the selection of the generation scheme for graph-state-based quantum repeaters, and lays out the parameter requirements for future experimental realizations of different schemes.

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arXiv2022

Extracting perfect GHZ states from imperfect weighted graph states via entanglement concentration

Photonic GHZ states serve as the central resource for a number of important applications in quantum information science, including secret sharing, sensing, and fusion-based quantum computing. The use of photon-emitter entangling gates is a promising approach to creating these states that sidesteps many of the difficulties associated with intrinsically probabilistic methods based on linear optics. However, the efficient creation of high-fidelity GHZ states of many photons remains an outstanding challenge due to both coherent and incoherent errors during the generation process. Here, we propose an entanglement concentration protocol that is capable of generating perfect GHZ states using only local gates and measurements on imperfect weighted graph states. We show that our protocol is both efficient and robust to incoherent noise errors.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Designing dynamically corrected gates robust to multiple noise sources using geometric space curves

Noise-induced gate errors remain one of the main obstacles to realizing a broad range of quantum information technologies. Dynamical error suppression using carefully designed control schemes is critical for overcoming this challenge. Such schemes must be able to correct against multiple noise sources simultaneously afflicting a qubit in order to reach error correction thresholds. Here, we present a general framework for designing control fields that simultaneous suppress both noise in the fields themselves as well as transverse dephasing noise. Using the recently developed Space Curve Quantum Control formalism, in which robust quantum evolution is mapped to closed geometric curves in a multidimensional Euclidean space, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions that guarantee the cancellation of both types of noise to leading order. We present several techniques for solving these conditions and provide explicit examples of error-resistant control fields. Our work also sheds light on the relation between holonomic evolution and the suppression of control field errors.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

General stabilizer approach for constructing highly entangled graph states

Highly entangled multipartite states such as k-uniform (k-UNI) and absolutely maximally entangled (AME) states serve as critical resources in quantum networking and other quantum information applications. However, there does not yet exist a complete classification of such states, and much remains unknown about their entanglement structure. Here, we substantially broaden the class of known k-UNI and AME states by introducing a method for explicitly constructing such states that combines classical error correcting codes and qudit graph states. This method in fact constitutes a general recipe for obtaining multipartitite entangled states from classical codes. Furthermore, we show that at least for a large subset of this new class of k-UNI states, the states are inequivalent under stochastic local operations and classical communication. This subset is defined by an iterative procedure for constructing a hierarchy of k-UNI graph states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Hello Quantum World! A rigorous but accessible first-year university course in quantum information science

Addressing workforce shortages within the Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) community requires attracting and retaining students from diverse backgrounds early on in their undergraduate education. Here, we describe a course we developed called Hello Quantum World! that introduces a broad range of fundamental quantum information and computation concepts in a rigorous way but without requiring any knowledge of mathematics beyond high-school algebra nor any prior knowledge of quantum mechanics. Some of the topics covered include superposition, entanglement, quantum gates, teleportation, quantum algorithms, and quantum error correction. The course is designed for first-year undergraduate students, both those pursuing a degree in QISE and those who are seeking to be `quantum-aware'.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2022

Fast high-fidelity single-qubit gates for flip-flop qubits in silicon

The flip-flop qubit, encoded in the states with antiparallel donor-bound electron and donor nuclear spins in silicon, showcases long coherence times, good controllability, and, in contrast to other donor-spin-based schemes, long-distance coupling. Electron spin control near the interface, however, is likely to shorten the relaxation time by many orders of magnitude, reducing the overall qubit quality factor. Here, we theoretically study the multilevel system that is formed by the interacting electron and nuclear spins and derive analytical effective two-level Hamiltonians with and without periodic driving. We then propose an optimal control scheme that produces fast and robust single-qubit gates in the presence of low-frequency noise without relying on parametrically restrictive sweet spots. This scheme increases considerably both the relaxation time and the qubit quality factor.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

TETRIS-ADAPT-VQE: An adaptive algorithm that yields shallower, denser circuit ansätze

Adaptive quantum variational algorithms are particularly promising for simulating strongly correlated systems on near-term quantum hardware, but they are not yet viable due, in large part, to the severe coherence time limitations on current devices. In this work, we introduce an algorithm called TETRIS-ADAPT-VQE, which iteratively builds up variational ansätze a few operators at a time in a way dictated by the problem being simulated. This algorithm is a modified version of the ADAPT-VQE algorithm in which the one-operator-at-a-time rule is lifted to allow for the addition of multiple operators with disjoint supports in each iteration. TETRIS-ADAPT-VQE results in denser but significantly shallower circuits, without increasing the number of CNOT gates or variational parameters. Its advantage over the original algorithm in terms of circuit depths increases with the system size. Moreover, the expensive step of measuring the energy gradient with respect to each candidate unitary at each iteration is performed only a fraction of the time compared to ADAPT-VQE. These improvements bring us closer to the goal of demonstrating a practical quantum advantage on quantum hardware.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Photonic resource state generation from a minimal number of quantum emitters

Multi-photon entangled graph states are a fundamental resource in quantum communication networks, distributed quantum computing, and sensing. These states can in principle be created deterministically from quantum emitters such as optically active quantum dots or defects, atomic systems, or superconducting qubits. However, finding efficient schemes to produce such states has been a long-standing challenge. Here, we present an algorithm that, given a desired multi-photon graph state, determines the minimum number of quantum emitters and precise operation sequences that can produce it. The algorithm itself and the resulting operation sequence both scale polynomially in the size of the photonic graph state, allowing one to obtain efficient schemes to generate graph states containing hundreds or thousands of photons.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

An adaptive quantum approximate optimization algorithm for solving combinatorial problems on a quantum computer

The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) is a hybrid variational quantum-classical algorithm that solves combinatorial optimization problems. While there is evidence suggesting that the fixed form of the standard QAOA ansatz is not optimal, there is no systematic approach for finding better ansätze. We address this problem by developing an iterative version of QAOA that is problem-tailored, and which can also be adapted to specific hardware constraints. We simulate the algorithm on a class of Max-Cut graph problems and show that it converges much faster than the standard QAOA, while simultaneously reducing the required number of CNOT gates and optimization parameters. We provide evidence that this speedup is connected to the concept of shortcuts to adiabaticity.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Symmetry breaking slows convergence of the ADAPT Variational Quantum Eigensolver

Because quantum simulation of molecular systems is expected to provide the strongest advantage over classical computing methods for systems exhibiting strong electron correlation, it is critical that the performance of VQEs be assessed for strongly correlated systems. For classical simulation, strong correlation often results in symmetry-breaking of the Hartree-Fock reference, leading to Löwdin's well-known ``symmetry dilemma'' whereby accuracy in the energy can be increased by breaking spin or spatial symmetries. Here, we explore the impact of symmetry breaking on the performance of ADAPT-VQE using two strongly correlated systems: (i) the ``fermionized" anisotropic Heisenberg model, where the anisotropy parameter controls the correlation in the system, and (ii) symmetrically-stretched linear \ce{H4}, where correlation increases with increasing H-H separation. In both of these cases, increasing the level of correlation of the system leads to spontaneous symmetry breaking (parity and $\hat{S}^{2}$, respectively) of the mean-field solutions. We analyze the role that symmetry breaking in the reference states and orbital mappings of the fermionic Hamiltonians have on the compactness and performance of ADAPT-VQE. We observe that improving the energy of the reference states by breaking symmetry has a deleterious effect on ADAPT-VQE by increasing the length of the ansatz necessary for energy convergence and exacerbating the problem of ``gradient troughs".

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Precise control of entanglement in multinuclear spin registers coupled to defects

Quantum networks play an indispensable role in quantum information tasks such as secure communications, enhanced quantum sensing, and distributed computing. Among the most mature and promising platforms for quantum networking are nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond and other color centers in solids. One of the challenges in using these systems for networking applications is to controllably manipulate entanglement between the electron and the nuclear spin register despite the always-on nature of the hyperfine interactions, which makes this an inherently many-body quantum system. Here, we develop a general formalism to quantify and control the generation of entanglement in an arbitrarily large nuclear spin register coupled to a color center electronic spin. We provide a reliable measure of nuclear spin selectivity, by exactly incorporating into our treatment the dynamics with unwanted nuclei. We also show how to realize direct multipartite gates through the use of dynamical decoupling sequences, drastically reducing the total gate time compared to protocols based on sequential entanglement with individual nuclear spins. We quantify the performance of such gate operations in the presence of unwanted residual entanglement links, capturing the dynamics of the entire nuclear spin register. Finally, using experimental parameters of a well-characterized 27 nuclear spin register device, we show how to prepare with high fidelity entangled states for quantum error correction.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

ADAPT-VQE is insensitive to rough parameter landscapes and barren plateaus

Variational quantum eigensolvers (VQEs) represent a powerful class of hybrid quantum-classical algorithms for computing molecular energies. Various numerical issues exist for these methods, however, including barren plateaus and large numbers of local minima. In this work, we consider Adaptive, Problem-Tailored (ADAPT)-VQE ansätze, and examine how they are impacted by these local minima. We find that while ADAPT-VQE does not remove local minima, the gradient-informed, one-operator-at-a-time circuit construction seems to accomplish two things: First, it provides an initialization strategy that is dramatically better than random initialization, and which is applicable in situations where chemical intuition cannot help with initialization, i.e., when Hartree-Fock is a poor approximation to the ground state. Second, even if an ADAPT-VQE iteration converges to a local trap at one step, it can still "burrow" toward the exact solution by adding more operators, which preferentially deepens the occupied trap. This same mechanism helps highlight a surprising feature of ADAPT-VQE: It should not suffer optimization problems due to "barren plateaus". Even if barren plateaus appear in the parameter landscape, our analysis and simulations reveal that ADAPT-VQE avoids such regions by design.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Designing globally optimal entangling gates using geometric space curves

High-fidelity entangling gates are essential for quantum computation. Currently, most approaches to designing such gates are based either on simple, analytical pulse waveforms or on ones obtained from numerical optimization techniques. In both cases, it is typically not possible to obtain a global understanding of the space of waveforms that generate a target gate operation, making it challenging to design globally optimal gates. Here, we show that in the case of weakly coupled qubits, it is possible to find all pulses that implement a target entangling gate. We do this by mapping quantum evolution onto geometric space curves. We derive the minimal conditions these curves must satisfy in order to guarantee a gate with a desired entangling power is implemented. Pulse waveforms are extracted from the curvatures of these curves. We illustrate our method by designing fast, CNOT-equivalent entangling gates for silicon quantum dot spin qubits with fidelities exceeding 99%. We show that fidelities can be further improved while maintaining low bandwidth requirements by using geometrically derived pulses as initial guesses in numerical optimization routines.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Adaptive variational algorithms for quantum Gibbs state preparation

The preparation of Gibbs thermal states is an important task in quantum computation with applications in quantum simulation, quantum optimization, and quantum machine learning. However, many algorithms for preparing Gibbs states rely on quantum subroutines which are difficult to implement on near-term hardware. Here, we address this by (i) introducing an objective function that, unlike the free energy, is easily measured, and (ii) using dynamically generated, problem-tailored ansätze. This allows for arbitrarily accurate Gibbs state preparation using low-depth circuits. To verify the effectiveness of our approach, we numerically demonstrate that our algorithm can prepare high-fidelity Gibbs states across a broad range of temperatures and for a variety of Hamiltonians.

quant-ph↗