Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Miao, Qiang

Publications and source records attributed to Miao, Qiang.

Absence of Barren Plateaus and Scaling of Gradients in the Energy Optimization of Isometric Tensor Network States

Abstract Vanishing gradients can pose substantial obstacles for high-dimensional optimization problems. Here we consider energy minimization problems for quantum many-body systems with extensive Hamiltonians and finite-range interactions, which can be studied on classical computers or in the form of variational quantum eigensolvers on quantum computers. Barren plateaus correspond to scenarios where the average amplitude of the energy gradient decreases exponentially with increasing system size. This occurs, for example, for quantum neural networks and for brickwall quantum circuits when the depth increases polynomially in the system size. Here we prove that the variational optimization problems for matrix product states, tree tensor networks, and the multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz are free of barren plateaus. The derived scaling properties for the gradient variance provide an analytical guarantee for the trainability of randomly initialized tensor network states (TNS) and motivate certain initialization schemes. In a suitable representation, unitary tensors that parametrize the TNS are sampled according to the uniform Haar measure. We employ a Riemannian formulation of the gradient based optimizations which simplifies the analytical evaluation.

Barthel, Thomas↗

Eigenstate entanglement scaling for critical interacting spin chains

With increasing subsystem size and energy, bipartite entanglement entropies of energy eigenstates cross over from the groundstate scaling to a volume law. In previous work, we pointed out that, when strong or weak eigenstate thermalization (ETH) applies, the entanglement entropies of all or, respectively, almost all eigenstates follow a single crossover function. The crossover functions are determined by the subsystem entropy of thermal states and assume universal scaling forms in quantum-critical regimes. This was demonstrated by field-theoretical arguments and the analysis of large systems of non-interacting fermions and bosons. Here, we substantiate such scaling properties for integrable and non-integrable interacting spin-1/2 chains at criticality using exact diagonalization. In particular, we analyze XXZ and transverse-field Ising models with and without next-nearest-neighbor interactions. Indeed, the crossover of thermal subsystem entropies can be described by a universal scaling function following from conformal field theory. Furthermore, we analyze the validity of ETH for entanglement in these models. Even for the relatively small system sizes that can be simulated, the distributions of eigenstate entanglement entropies are sharply peaked around the subsystem entropies of the corresponding thermal ensembles.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Scaling functions for eigenstate entanglement crossovers in harmonic lattices

For quantum matter, eigenstate entanglement entropies obey an area law or log-area law at low energies and small subsystem sizes and cross over to volume laws for high energies and large subsystems. This transition is captured by crossover functions, which assume a universal scaling form in quantum critical regimes. We demonstrate this for the harmonic lattice model, which describes quantized lattice vibrations and is a regularization for free scalar field theories, modeling, e.g., spin-0 bosonic particles. In one dimension, the ground-state entanglement obeys a log-area law. For dimensions d ≥ 2, it displays area laws, even at criticality. The distribution of excited-state entanglement entropies is found to be sharply peaked around subsystem entropies of corresponding thermodynamic ensembles in accordance with the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. Numerically, we determine crossover scaling functions for the quantum critical regime of the model and do a large-deviation analysis. We show how infrared singularities of the system can be handled and how to access the thermodynamic limit using a perturbative trick for the covariance matrix. Eigenstates for quasi-free bosonic systems are not Gaussian. Here, we resolve this problem by considering appropriate squeezed states instead. For these, entanglement entropies can be evaluated efficiently.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Eigenstate Entanglement: Crossover from the Ground State to Volume Laws

For the typical quantum many-body systems that obey the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH), we argue that the entanglement entropy of (almost) all energy eigenstates is described by a single crossover function. The ETH implies that the crossover functions can be deduced from subsystem entropies of thermal ensembles and have universal properties. These functions capture the full crossover from the ground-state entanglement regime at low energies and small subsystem size (area or log-area law) to the extensive volume-law regime at high energies or large subsystem size. For critical one-dimensional systems, a universal scaling function follows from conformal field theory and can be adapted for nonlinear dispersions. We use it to also deduce the crossover scaling function for Fermi liquids in d > 1 dimensions. Here, the analytical results are complemented by numerics for large noninteracting systems of fermions in d ≤ 3 dimensions and have also been confirmed for bosonic systems and nonintegrable spin chains.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗