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Mar 12

Teleportation of entanglement over 143 km

As a direct consequence of the no-cloning theorem, the deterministic amplification as in classical communication is impossible for quantum states. This calls for more advanced techniques in a future global quantum network, e.g. for cloud quantum computing. A unique solution is the teleportation of an entangled state, i.e. entanglement swapping, representing the central resource to relay entanglement between distant nodes. Together with entanglement purification and a quantum memory it constitutes a so-called quantum repeater. Since the aforementioned building blocks have been individually demonstrated in laboratory setups only, the applicability of the required technology in real-world scenarios remained to be proven. Here we present a free-space entanglement-swapping experiment between the Canary Islands of La Palma and Tenerife, verifying the presence of quantum entanglement between two previously independent photons separated by 143 km. We obtained an expectation value for the entanglement-witness operator, more than 6 standard deviations beyond the classical limit. By consecutive generation of the two required photon pairs and space-like separation of the relevant measurement events, we also showed the feasibility of the swapping protocol in a long-distance scenario, where the independence of the nodes is highly demanded. Since our results already allow for efficient implementation of entanglement purification, we anticipate our assay to lay the ground for a fully-fledged quantum repeater over a realistic high-loss and even turbulent quantum channel.

Weight-Entanglement Meets Gradient-Based Neural Architecture Search

Weight sharing is a fundamental concept in neural architecture search (NAS), enabling gradient-based methods to explore cell-based architecture spaces significantly faster than traditional blackbox approaches. In parallel, weight entanglement has emerged as a technique for intricate parameter sharing among architectures within macro-level search spaces. %However, the macro structure of such spaces poses compatibility challenges for gradient-based NAS methods. %As a result, blackbox optimization methods have been commonly employed, particularly in conjunction with supernet training, to maintain search efficiency. %Due to the inherent differences in the structure of these search spaces, these Since weight-entanglement poses compatibility challenges for gradient-based NAS methods, these two paradigms have largely developed independently in parallel sub-communities. This paper aims to bridge the gap between these sub-communities by proposing a novel scheme to adapt gradient-based methods for weight-entangled spaces. This enables us to conduct an in-depth comparative assessment and analysis of the performance of gradient-based NAS in weight-entangled search spaces. Our findings reveal that this integration of weight-entanglement and gradient-based NAS brings forth the various benefits of gradient-based methods (enhanced performance, improved supernet training properties and superior any-time performance), while preserving the memory efficiency of weight-entangled spaces. The code for our work is openly accessible https://anonymous.4open.science/r/TangleNAS-527C{here}

Breaking the Entanglement of Homophily and Heterophily in Semi-supervised Node Classification

Recently, graph neural networks (GNNs) have shown prominent performance in semi-supervised node classification by leveraging knowledge from the graph database. However, most existing GNNs follow the homophily assumption, where connected nodes are more likely to exhibit similar feature distributions and the same labels, and such an assumption has proven to be vulnerable in a growing number of practical applications. As a supplement, heterophily reflects dissimilarity in connected nodes, which has gained significant attention in graph learning. To this end, data engineers aim to develop a powerful GNN model that can ensure performance under both homophily and heterophily. Despite numerous attempts, most existing GNNs struggle to achieve optimal node representations due to the constraints of undirected graphs. The neglect of directed edges results in sub-optimal graph representations, thereby hindering the capacity of GNNs. To address this issue, we introduce AMUD, which quantifies the relationship between node profiles and topology from a statistical perspective, offering valuable insights for Adaptively Modeling the natural directed graphs as the Undirected or Directed graph to maximize the benefits from subsequent graph learning. Furthermore, we propose Adaptive Directed Pattern Aggregation (ADPA) as a new directed graph learning paradigm for AMUD. Empirical studies have demonstrated that AMUD guides efficient graph learning. Meanwhile, extensive experiments on 14 benchmark datasets substantiate the impressive performance of ADPA, outperforming baselines by significant margins of 3.96\%.

A Common Pitfall of Margin-based Language Model Alignment: Gradient Entanglement

Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) has become the predominant approach for language model (LM) alignment. At its core, RLHF uses a margin-based loss for preference optimization, specifying ideal LM behavior only by the difference between preferred and dispreferred responses. In this paper, we identify a common pitfall of margin-based methods -- the under-specification of ideal LM behavior on preferred and dispreferred responses individually, which leads to two unintended consequences as the margin increases: (1) The probability of dispreferred (e.g., unsafe) responses may increase, resulting in potential safety alignment failures. (2) The probability of preferred responses may decrease, even when those responses are ideal. We demystify the reasons behind these problematic behaviors: margin-based losses couple the change in the preferred probability to the gradient of the dispreferred one, and vice versa, often preventing the preferred probability from increasing while the dispreferred one decreases, and thus causing a synchronized increase or decrease in both probabilities. We term this effect, inherent in margin-based objectives, gradient entanglement. Formally, we derive conditions for general margin-based alignment objectives under which gradient entanglement becomes concerning: the inner product of the gradients of preferred and dispreferred log-probabilities is large relative to the individual gradient norms. We theoretically investigate why such inner products can be large when aligning language models and empirically validate our findings. Empirical implications of our framework extend to explaining important differences in the training dynamics of various preference optimization algorithms, and suggesting potential algorithm designs to mitigate the under-specification issue of margin-based methods and thereby improving language model alignment.

Conditional Cross Attention Network for Multi-Space Embedding without Entanglement in Only a SINGLE Network

Many studies in vision tasks have aimed to create effective embedding spaces for single-label object prediction within an image. However, in reality, most objects possess multiple specific attributes, such as shape, color, and length, with each attribute composed of various classes. To apply models in real-world scenarios, it is essential to be able to distinguish between the granular components of an object. Conventional approaches to embedding multiple specific attributes into a single network often result in entanglement, where fine-grained features of each attribute cannot be identified separately. To address this problem, we propose a Conditional Cross-Attention Network that induces disentangled multi-space embeddings for various specific attributes with only a single backbone. Firstly, we employ a cross-attention mechanism to fuse and switch the information of conditions (specific attributes), and we demonstrate its effectiveness through a diverse visualization example. Secondly, we leverage the vision transformer for the first time to a fine-grained image retrieval task and present a simple yet effective framework compared to existing methods. Unlike previous studies where performance varied depending on the benchmark dataset, our proposed method achieved consistent state-of-the-art performance on the FashionAI, DARN, DeepFashion, and Zappos50K benchmark datasets.

An Architecture for Meeting Quality-of-Service Requirements in Multi-User Quantum Networks

Quantum communication can enhance internet technology by enabling novel applications that are provably impossible classically. The successful execution of such applications relies on the generation of quantum entanglement between different users of the network which meets stringent performance requirements. Alongside traditional metrics such as throughput and jitter, one must ensure the generated entanglement is of sufficiently high quality. Meeting such performance requirements demands a careful orchestration of many devices in the network, giving rise to a fundamentally new scheduling problem. Furthermore, technological limitations of near-term quantum devices impose significant constraints on scheduling methods hoping to meet performance requirements. In this work, we propose the first end-to-end design of a centralized quantum network with multiple users that orchestrates the delivery of entanglement which meets quality-of-service (QoS) requirements of applications. We achieve this by using a centrally constructed schedule that manages usage of devices and ensures the coordinated execution of different quantum operations throughout the network. We use periodic task scheduling and resource-constrained project scheduling techniques, including a novel heuristic, to construct the schedules. Our simulations of four small networks using hardware-validated network parameters, and of a real-world fiber topology using futuristic parameters, illustrate trade-offs between traditional and quantum performance metrics.

Supervised learning with quantum enhanced feature spaces

Machine learning and quantum computing are two technologies each with the potential for altering how computation is performed to address previously untenable problems. Kernel methods for machine learning are ubiquitous for pattern recognition, with support vector machines (SVMs) being the most well-known method for classification problems. However, there are limitations to the successful solution to such problems when the feature space becomes large, and the kernel functions become computationally expensive to estimate. A core element to computational speed-ups afforded by quantum algorithms is the exploitation of an exponentially large quantum state space through controllable entanglement and interference. Here, we propose and experimentally implement two novel methods on a superconducting processor. Both methods represent the feature space of a classification problem by a quantum state, taking advantage of the large dimensionality of quantum Hilbert space to obtain an enhanced solution. One method, the quantum variational classifier builds on [1,2] and operates through using a variational quantum circuit to classify a training set in direct analogy to conventional SVMs. In the second, a quantum kernel estimator, we estimate the kernel function and optimize the classifier directly. The two methods present a new class of tools for exploring the applications of noisy intermediate scale quantum computers [3] to machine learning.

Multiplexed quantum repeaters based on dual-species trapped-ion systems

Trapped ions form an advanced technology platform for quantum information processing with long qubit coherence times, high-fidelity quantum logic gates, optically active qubits, and a potential to scale up in size while preserving a high level of connectivity between qubits. These traits make them attractive not only for quantum computing but also for quantum networking. Dedicated, special-purpose trapped-ion processors in conjunction with suitable interconnecting hardware can be used to form quantum repeaters that enable high-rate quantum communications between distant trapped-ion quantum computers in a network. In this regard, hybrid traps with two distinct species of ions, where one ion species can generate ion-photon entanglement that is useful for optically interfacing with the network and the other has long memory lifetimes, useful for qubit storage, have been proposed for entanglement distribution. We consider an architecture for a repeater based on such dual-species trapped-ion systems. We propose and analyze a protocol based on spatial and temporal mode multiplexing for entanglement distribution across a line network of such repeaters. Our protocol offers enhanced rates compared to rates previously reported for such repeaters. We determine the ion resources required at the repeaters to attain the enhanced rates, and the best rates attainable when constraints are placed on the number of repeaters and the number of ions per repeater. Our results bolster the case for near-term trapped-ion systems as quantum repeaters for long-distance quantum communications.

The probabilistic world

Physics is based on probabilities as fundamental entities of a mathematical description. Expectation values of observables are computed according to the classical statistical rule. The overall probability distribution for one world covers all times. The quantum formalism arises once one focuses on the evolution of the time-local probabilistic information. Wave functions or the density matrix allow the formulation of a general linear evolution law for classical statistics. The quantum formalism for classical statistics is a powerful tool which allows us to implement for generalized Ising models the momentum observable with the associated Fourier representation. The association of operators to observables permits the computation of expectation values in terms of the density matrix by the usual quantum rule. We show that probabilistic cellular automata are quantum systems in a formulation with discrete time steps and real wave functions. With a complex structure the evolution operator for automata can be expressed in terms of a Hamiltonian involving fermionic creation and annihilation operators. The time-local probabilistic information amounts to a subsystem of the overall probabilistic system which is correlated with its environment consisting of the past and future. Such subsystems typically involve probabilistic observables for which only a probability distribution for their possible measurement values is available. Incomplete statistics does not permit to compute classical correlation functions for arbitrary subsystem-observables. Bell's inequalities are not generally applicable.

Incomplete RG: Hawking-Page transition, C-theorem and relevant scalar deformations of global AdS

We discuss relevant scalar deformations of a holographic theory with a compact boundary. An example of such a theory would be the global AdS_4 with its spatially compact boundary S^2. To introduce a relevant deformation, we choose to turn on a time-independent and spatially homogeneous non-normalizable scalar operator with m^2 = -2. The finite size of a compact boundary cuts down the RG flow at a finite length scale leading to an incomplete RG flow to IR. We discuss a version of {\it incomplete} C-theorem and an {\it incomplete} attractor like mechanism. We discuss the implication of our results for entanglement entropy and geometric quantities like scalar curvature, volume and mass scale of fundamental excitation of the how these quantities increase or decrease (often monotonically) with the strength of the deformation. Thermal physics of a holographic theory defined on a compact boundary is more interesting than its non-compact counterpart. It is well known that with a compact boundary, there is a possibility of a first order Hawking-Page transition dual to a de-confinement phase transition. From a gravity perspective, a relevant deformation dumps negative energy inside the bulk, increasing the effective cosmological constant (Lambda) of the AdS. Dumping more negative energy in the bulk would make the HP transition harder and the corresponding HP transition temperature would increase. However, we have found the size of the BH at the transition temperature decreases.

Quantum Transfer Learning for MNIST Classification Using a Hybrid Quantum-Classical Approach

In this research, we explore the integration of quantum computing with classical machine learning for image classification tasks, specifically focusing on the MNIST dataset. We propose a hybrid quantum-classical approach that leverages the strengths of both paradigms. The process begins with preprocessing the MNIST dataset, normalizing the pixel values, and reshaping the images into vectors. An autoencoder compresses these 784-dimensional vectors into a 64-dimensional latent space, effectively reducing the data's dimensionality while preserving essential features. These compressed features are then processed using a quantum circuit implemented on a 5-qubit system. The quantum circuit applies rotation gates based on the feature values, followed by Hadamard and CNOT gates to entangle the qubits, and measurements are taken to generate quantum outcomes. These outcomes serve as input for a classical neural network designed to classify the MNIST digits. The classical neural network comprises multiple dense layers with batch normalization and dropout to enhance generalization and performance. We evaluate the performance of this hybrid model and compare it with a purely classical approach. The experimental results indicate that while the hybrid model demonstrates the feasibility of integrating quantum computing with classical techniques, the accuracy of the final model, trained on quantum outcomes, is currently lower than the classical model trained on compressed features. This research highlights the potential of quantum computing in machine learning, though further optimization and advanced quantum algorithms are necessary to achieve superior performance.

Federated learning with distributed fixed design quantum chips and quantum channels

The privacy in classical federated learning can be breached through the use of local gradient results along with engineered queries to the clients. However, quantum communication channels are considered more secure because a measurement on the channel causes a loss of information, which can be detected by the sender. Therefore, the quantum version of federated learning can be used to provide more privacy. Additionally, sending an N dimensional data vector through a quantum channel requires sending log N entangled qubits, which can potentially provide exponential efficiency if the data vector is utilized as quantum states. In this paper, we propose a quantum federated learning model where fixed design quantum chips are operated based on the quantum states sent by a centralized server. Based on the coming superposition states, the clients compute and then send their local gradients as quantum states to the server, where they are aggregated to update parameters. Since the server does not send model parameters, but instead sends the operator as a quantum state, the clients are not required to share the model. This allows for the creation of asynchronous learning models. In addition, the model as a quantum state is fed into client-side chips directly; therefore, it does not require measurements on the upcoming quantum state to obtain model parameters in order to compute gradients. This can provide efficiency over the models where the parameter vector is sent via classical or quantum channels and local gradients are obtained through the obtained values of these parameters.

Experimental quantum adversarial learning with programmable superconducting qubits

Quantum computing promises to enhance machine learning and artificial intelligence. Different quantum algorithms have been proposed to improve a wide spectrum of machine learning tasks. Yet, recent theoretical works show that, similar to traditional classifiers based on deep classical neural networks, quantum classifiers would suffer from the vulnerability problem: adding tiny carefully-crafted perturbations to the legitimate original data samples would facilitate incorrect predictions at a notably high confidence level. This will pose serious problems for future quantum machine learning applications in safety and security-critical scenarios. Here, we report the first experimental demonstration of quantum adversarial learning with programmable superconducting qubits. We train quantum classifiers, which are built upon variational quantum circuits consisting of ten transmon qubits featuring average lifetimes of 150 mus, and average fidelities of simultaneous single- and two-qubit gates above 99.94% and 99.4% respectively, with both real-life images (e.g., medical magnetic resonance imaging scans) and quantum data. We demonstrate that these well-trained classifiers (with testing accuracy up to 99%) can be practically deceived by small adversarial perturbations, whereas an adversarial training process would significantly enhance their robustness to such perturbations. Our results reveal experimentally a crucial vulnerability aspect of quantum learning systems under adversarial scenarios and demonstrate an effective defense strategy against adversarial attacks, which provide a valuable guide for quantum artificial intelligence applications with both near-term and future quantum devices.

Let the Quantum Creep In: Designing Quantum Neural Network Models by Gradually Swapping Out Classical Components

Artificial Intelligence (AI), with its multiplier effect and wide applications in multiple areas, could potentially be an important application of quantum computing. Since modern AI systems are often built on neural networks, the design of quantum neural networks becomes a key challenge in integrating quantum computing into AI. To provide a more fine-grained characterisation of the impact of quantum components on the performance of neural networks, we propose a framework where classical neural network layers are gradually replaced by quantum layers that have the same type of input and output while keeping the flow of information between layers unchanged, different from most current research in quantum neural network, which favours an end-to-end quantum model. We start with a simple three-layer classical neural network without any normalisation layers or activation functions, and gradually change the classical layers to the corresponding quantum versions. We conduct numerical experiments on image classification datasets such as the MNIST, FashionMNIST and CIFAR-10 datasets to demonstrate the change of performance brought by the systematic introduction of quantum components. Through this framework, our research sheds new light on the design of future quantum neural network models where it could be more favourable to search for methods and frameworks that harness the advantages from both the classical and quantum worlds.

Autoregressive Transformer Neural Network for Simulating Open Quantum Systems via a Probabilistic Formulation

The theory of open quantum systems lays the foundations for a substantial part of modern research in quantum science and engineering. Rooted in the dimensionality of their extended Hilbert spaces, the high computational complexity of simulating open quantum systems calls for the development of strategies to approximate their dynamics. In this paper, we present an approach for tackling open quantum system dynamics. Using an exact probabilistic formulation of quantum physics based on positive operator-valued measure (POVM), we compactly represent quantum states with autoregressive transformer neural networks; such networks bring significant algorithmic flexibility due to efficient exact sampling and tractable density. We further introduce the concept of String States to partially restore the symmetry of the autoregressive transformer neural network and improve the description of local correlations. Efficient algorithms have been developed to simulate the dynamics of the Liouvillian superoperator using a forward-backward trapezoid method and find the steady state via a variational formulation. Our approach is benchmarked on prototypical one and two-dimensional systems, finding results which closely track the exact solution and achieve higher accuracy than alternative approaches based on using Markov chain Monte Carlo to sample restricted Boltzmann machines. Our work provides general methods for understanding quantum dynamics in various contexts, as well as techniques for solving high-dimensional probabilistic differential equations in classical setups.

Foundations for Near-Term Quantum Natural Language Processing

We provide conceptual and mathematical foundations for near-term quantum natural language processing (QNLP), and do so in quantum computer scientist friendly terms. We opted for an expository presentation style, and provide references for supporting empirical evidence and formal statements concerning mathematical generality. We recall how the quantum model for natural language that we employ canonically combines linguistic meanings with rich linguistic structure, most notably grammar. In particular, the fact that it takes a quantum-like model to combine meaning and structure, establishes QNLP as quantum-native, on par with simulation of quantum systems. Moreover, the now leading Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) paradigm for encoding classical data on quantum hardware, variational quantum circuits, makes NISQ exceptionally QNLP-friendly: linguistic structure can be encoded as a free lunch, in contrast to the apparently exponentially expensive classical encoding of grammar. Quantum speed-up for QNLP tasks has already been established in previous work with Will Zeng. Here we provide a broader range of tasks which all enjoy the same advantage. Diagrammatic reasoning is at the heart of QNLP. Firstly, the quantum model interprets language as quantum processes via the diagrammatic formalism of categorical quantum mechanics. Secondly, these diagrams are via ZX-calculus translated into quantum circuits. Parameterisations of meanings then become the circuit variables to be learned. Our encoding of linguistic structure within quantum circuits also embodies a novel approach for establishing word-meanings that goes beyond the current standards in mainstream AI, by placing linguistic structure at the heart of Wittgenstein's meaning-is-context.

SeQUeNCe: A Customizable Discrete-Event Simulator of Quantum Networks

Recent advances in quantum information science enabled the development of quantum communication network prototypes and created an opportunity to study full-stack quantum network architectures. This work develops SeQUeNCe, a comprehensive, customizable quantum network simulator. Our simulator consists of five modules: Hardware models, Entanglement Management protocols, Resource Management, Network Management, and Application. This framework is suitable for simulation of quantum network prototypes that capture the breadth of current and future hardware technologies and protocols. We implement a comprehensive suite of network protocols and demonstrate the use of SeQUeNCe by simulating a photonic quantum network with nine routers equipped with quantum memories. The simulation capabilities are illustrated in three use cases. We show the dependence of quantum network throughput on several key hardware parameters and study the impact of classical control message latency. We also investigate quantum memory usage efficiency in routers and demonstrate that redistributing memory according to anticipated load increases network capacity by 69.1% and throughput by 6.8%. We design SeQUeNCe to enable comparisons of alternative quantum network technologies, experiment planning, and validation and to aid with new protocol design. We are releasing SeQUeNCe as an open source tool and aim to generate community interest in extending it.

Quantum machine learning for image classification

Image classification, a pivotal task in multiple industries, faces computational challenges due to the burgeoning volume of visual data. This research addresses these challenges by introducing two quantum machine learning models that leverage the principles of quantum mechanics for effective computations. Our first model, a hybrid quantum neural network with parallel quantum circuits, enables the execution of computations even in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum era, where circuits with a large number of qubits are currently infeasible. This model demonstrated a record-breaking classification accuracy of 99.21% on the full MNIST dataset, surpassing the performance of known quantum-classical models, while having eight times fewer parameters than its classical counterpart. Also, the results of testing this hybrid model on a Medical MNIST (classification accuracy over 99%), and on CIFAR-10 (classification accuracy over 82%), can serve as evidence of the generalizability of the model and highlights the efficiency of quantum layers in distinguishing common features of input data. Our second model introduces a hybrid quantum neural network with a Quanvolutional layer, reducing image resolution via a convolution process. The model matches the performance of its classical counterpart, having four times fewer trainable parameters, and outperforms a classical model with equal weight parameters. These models represent advancements in quantum machine learning research and illuminate the path towards more accurate image classification systems.

Programmable Heisenberg interactions between Floquet qubits

The fundamental trade-off between robustness and tunability is a central challenge in the pursuit of quantum simulation and fault-tolerant quantum computation. In particular, many emerging quantum architectures are designed to achieve high coherence at the expense of having fixed spectra and consequently limited types of controllable interactions. Here, by adiabatically transforming fixed-frequency superconducting circuits into modifiable Floquet qubits, we demonstrate an XXZ Heisenberg interaction with fully adjustable anisotropy. This interaction model is on one hand the basis for many-body quantum simulation of spin systems, and on the other hand the primitive for an expressive quantum gate set. To illustrate the robustness and versatility of our Floquet protocol, we tailor the Heisenberg Hamiltonian and implement two-qubit iSWAP, CZ, and SWAP gates with estimated fidelities of 99.32(3)%, 99.72(2)%, and 98.93(5)%, respectively. In addition, we implement a Heisenberg interaction between higher energy levels and employ it to construct a three-qubit CCZ gate with a fidelity of 96.18(5)%. Importantly, the protocol is applicable to various fixed-frequency high-coherence platforms, thereby unlocking a suite of essential interactions for high-performance quantum information processing. From a broader perspective, our work provides compelling avenues for future exploration of quantum electrodynamics and optimal control using the Floquet framework.

Addendum to Research MMMCV; A Man/Microbio/Megabio/Computer Vision

In October 2007, a Research Proposal for the University of Sydney, Australia, the author suggested that biovie-physical phenomenon as `electrodynamic dependant biological vision', is governed by relativistic quantum laws and biovision. The phenomenon on the basis of `biovielectroluminescence', satisfies man/microbio/megabio/computer vision (MMMCV), as a robust candidate for physical and visual sciences. The general aim of this addendum is to present a refined text of Sections 1-3 of that proposal and highlighting the contents of its Appendix in form of a `Mechanisms' Section. We then briefly remind in an article aimed for December 2007, by appending two more equations into Section 3, a theoretical II-time scenario as a time model well-proposed for the phenomenon. The time model within the core of the proposal, plays a significant role in emphasizing the principle points on Objectives no. 1-8, Sub-hypothesis 3.1.2, mentioned in Article [arXiv:0710.0410]. It also expresses the time concept in terms of causing quantized energy f(|E|) of time |t|, emit in regard to shortening the probability of particle loci as predictable patterns of particle's un-occurred motion, a solution to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle (HUP) into a simplistic manner. We conclude that, practical frames via a time algorithm to this model, fixates such predictable patterns of motion of scenery bodies onto recordable observation points of a MMMCV system. It even suppresses/predicts superposition phenomena coming from a human subject and/or other bio-subjects for any decision making event, e.g., brainwave quantum patterns based on vision. Maintaining the existential probability of Riemann surfaces of II-time scenarios in the context of biovielectroluminescence, makes motion-prediction a possibility.