The role of reference states in pulse-level VQEs

ORAL

Abstract

Pulse-level control in a variational quantum eigensolver is the ultimate hardware-efficient ansatz, enabling ground state preparation in the least time physically possible on the quantum device. However, optimizing such time-optimal pulses is a challenge. In this talk, we will explore the role of the reference state in enabling efficient optimization of pulse-level VQEs. In particular, we show why the standard Jordan-Wigner mapping for the Hartree-Fock state is apparently incompatible with pulse-level gradient descent on transmon devices. We offer several solutions to this problem, and we compare their efficacy with both numerical simulation and hardware experiments.

*This work was supported by the Department of Energy Office of Science, National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA), contract number DE-SC0012704.

Presenters

  • Kyle Sherbert

    • Virginia Tech

Authors

  • Kyle Sherbert

    • Virginia Tech
  • Hisham Amer

    • Virginia Tech
  • Christopher Kieran Long

    • Univ of Cambridge
  • Sophia E Economou

    • Virginia Tech
  • Edwin Barnes

    • Virginia Tech
  • Nicholas J Mayhall

    • Virginia Tech