Barren Plateaus in Variational Quantum Computing Article Swipe

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Martín Larocca , Supanut Thanasilp , Samson Wang , Kunal Sharma , Jacob Biamonte , Patrick J. Coles , Łukasz Cincio , Jarrod R. McClean , Zoë Holmes , M. Cerezo ·

YOU? · · 2024 · Open Access · · DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2405.00781

Variational quantum computing offers a flexible computational paradigm with applications in diverse areas. However, a key obstacle to realizing their potential is the Barren Plateau (BP) phenomenon. When a model exhibits a BP, its parameter optimization landscape becomes exponentially flat and featureless as the problem size increases. Importantly, all the moving pieces of an algorithm -- choices of ansatz, initial state, observable, loss function and hardware noise -- can lead to BPs when ill-suited. Due to the significant impact of BPs on trainability, researchers have dedicated considerable effort to develop theoretical and heuristic methods to understand and mitigate their effects. As a result, the study of BPs has become a thriving area of research, influencing and cross-fertilizing other fields such as quantum optimal control, tensor networks, and learning theory. This article provides a comprehensive review of the current understanding of the BP phenomenon.

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Quantum Statistical physics Quantum computer Theoretical physics Physics Computer science Quantum mechanics

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Type: review
Language: en
Landing Page: http://arxiv.org/abs/2405.00781
PDF: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2405.00781
OA Status: green
Cited By: 27
Related Works: 10
OpenAlex ID: https://openalex.org/W4396653516

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2405.00781

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Title: Barren Plateaus in Variational Quantum Computing

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Type: review

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Language: en

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Publication year: 2024

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Publication date: 2024-05-01

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Authors: Martín Larocca, Supanut Thanasilp, Samson Wang, Kunal Sharma, Jacob Biamonte, Patrick J. Coles, Łukasz Cincio, Jarrod R. McClean, Zoë Holmes, M. Cerezo

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Landing page: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.00781

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Concepts: Quantum, Statistical physics, Quantum computer, Theoretical physics, Physics, Computer science, Quantum mechanics

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Cited by: 27

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Citations by year (recent): 2025: 18, 2024: 8, 2023: 1

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