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Quantum Statistical Testing of a Quantum Random Number Generator

The unobservable elements in a quantum technology, e.g., the quantum state, complicate system verification against promised behavior. Using model-based system engineering, we present methods for verifying the opera- tion of a prototypical quantum random number generator. We begin with the algorithmic design of the QRNG followed by the synthesis of its physical design requirements. We next discuss how quantum statistical testing can be used to verify device behavior as well as detect device bias. We conclude by highlighting how system design and verification methods must influence effort to certify future quantum technologies.

quantum communication↗

Dirac traces and the Tutte polynomial

Perturbative calculations involving fermion loops in quantum field theories require tracing over Dirac matrices. A simple way to regulate the divergences that generically appear in these calculations is dimensional regularisation, which has the consequence of replacing 4-dimensional Dirac matrices with d-dimensional counterparts for arbitrary complex values of d. In this work, a connection between traces of d-dimensional Dirac matrices and computations of the Tutte polynomial of associated graphs is proven. The time complexity of computing Dirac traces is analysed by this connection, and improvements to algorithms for computing Dirac traces are proposed.

Renormalization and Regularization↗

Controlling extrapolations of nuclear properties with feature selection

Predictions of nuclear properties far from measured data are inherently inaccurate because of uncertainties in our knowledge of nuclear forces and in our treatment of quantum many-body effects in strongly-interacting systems. While the model bias can be directly calculated when experimental data is available, only an estimate can be made in the absence of such measurements. Current approaches to compute the estimated bias quickly lose predictive power when their input variables are taken far from the training region, resulting in uncontrolled uncertainties in applications such as nucleosynthesis simulations. In this letter, we present a novel technique to identify the input variables of machine learning algorithms that can provide robust estimates of model bias. Our process is based on selecting input variables, or features, based on their probability distribution functions across the entire nuclear chart. We illustrate our approach on the problem of quantifying the model bias in nuclear binding energies calculated with Density Functional Theory (DFT). We prove that building model biases with only Z and N as features leads to highly unreliable extrapolations. Conversely, we show that proper feature selection can systematically improve theoretical predictions without increasing uncertainties.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Path integral molecular dynamics within the grand canonical-like adaptive resolution technique: Simulation of liquid water

Quantum effects due to the spatial delocalization of light atoms are treated in molecular simulation via the path integral technique. Among several methods, Path Integral (PI) Molecular Dynamics (MD) is nowadays a powerful tool to investigate properties induced by spatial delocalization of atoms; however, computationally this technique is very demanding. The above mentioned limitation implies the restriction of PIMD applications to relatively small systems and short time scales. One of the possible solutions to overcome size and time limitation is to introduce PIMD algorithms into the Adaptive Resolution Simulation Scheme (AdResS). AdResS requires a relatively small region treated at path integral level and embeds it into a large molecular reservoir consisting of generic spherical coarse grained molecules. It was previously shown that the realization of the idea above, at a simple level, produced reasonable results for toy systems or simple/test systems like liquid parahydrogen. Encouraged by previous results, in this paper, we show the simulation of liquid water at room conditions where AdResS, in its latest and more accurate Grand-Canonical-like version (GC-AdResS), is merged with two of the most relevant PIMD techniques available in the literature. The comparison of our results with those reported in the literature and/or with those obtained from full PIMD simulations shows a highly satisfactory agreement.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

NASA Tech Briefs, August 2012

Topics covered include: Mars Science Laboratory Drill; Ultra-Compact Motor Controller; A Reversible Thermally Driven Pump for Use in a Sub-Kelvin Magnetic Refrigerator; Shape Memory Composite Hybrid Hinge; Binding Causes of Printed Wiring Assemblies with Card-Loks; Coring Sample Acquisition Tool; Joining and Assembly of Bulk Metallic Glass Composites Through Capacitive Discharge; 670-GHz Schottky Diode-Based Subharmonic Mixer with CPW Circuits and 70-GHz IF; Self-Nulling Lock-in Detection Electronics for Capacitance Probe Electrometer; Discontinuous Mode Power Supply; Optimal Dynamic Sub-Threshold Technique for Extreme Low Power Consumption for VLSI; Hardware for Accelerating N-Modular Redundant Systems for High-Reliability Computing; Blocking Filters with Enhanced Throughput for X-Ray Microcalorimetry; High-Thermal-Conductivity Fabrics; Imidazolium-Based Polymeric Materials as Alkaline Anion-Exchange Fuel Cell Membranes; Electrospun Nanofiber Coating of Fiber Materials: A Composite Toughening Approach; Experimental Modeling of Sterilization Effects for Atmospheric Entry Heating on Microorganisms; Saliva Preservative for Diagnostic Purposes; Hands-Free Transcranial Color Doppler Probe; Aerosol and Surface Parameter Retrievals for a Multi-Angle, Multiband Spectrometer LogScope; TraceContract; AIRS Maps from Space Processing Software; POSTMAN: Point of Sail Tacking for Maritime Autonomous Navigation; Space Operations Learning Center; OVERSMART Reporting Tool for Flow Computations Over Large Grid Systems; Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of Particle-Laden Temporal Mixing Layers; Projection of Stabilized Aerial Imagery Onto Digital Elevation Maps for Geo-Rectified and Jitter-Free Viewing; Iterative Transform Phase Diversity: An Image-Based Object and Wavefront Recovery; 3D Drop Size Distribution Extrapolation Algorithm Using a Single Disdrometer; Social Networking Adapted for Distributed Scientific Collaboration; General Methodology for Designing Spacecraft Trajectories; Hemispherical Field-of-View Above-Water Surface Imager for Submarines; and Quantum-Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) Focal Plane Assembly.

Source record↗

3D model generation using an airborne swarm

Using an artificial kinematic field to provide co-ordination between multiple inspection UAVs, the authors herein demonstrate full 3D modelling capability based on a photogrammetric system. The operation of the system is demonstrated by generating a full 3D surface model of an intermediate level nuclear waste storage drum. Such drums require periodic inspection to ensure that drum distortion or corrosion is carefully monitored. Performing this inspection with multiple airborne platforms enables rapid inspection of structures that are inaccessible to on-surface remote vehicles and are in human-hazardous environments. A three-dimensional surface-meshed model of the target can then be constructed in post-processing through photogrammetry analysis of the visual inspection data. The inspection environment uses a tracking system to precisely monitor the position of each aerial vehicle within the enclosure. The vehicles used are commercially available Parrot AR. Drone quadcopters, controlled through a computer interface connected over an IEEE 802.11n (WiFi) network, implementing a distributed controller for each vehicle. This enables the autonomous and distributed elements of the control scheme to be retained, while alleviating the vehicles of the control algorithm’s computational load. The control scheme relies on a kinematic field defined with the target at its centre. This field defines the trajectory for all the drones in the volume relative to the central target, enabling the drones to circle the target at a set radius while avoiding drone collisions. This function enables complete coverage along the height of the object, which is assured by transitioning to another inspection band only after completing circumferential coverage. Using a swarm of vehicles, the time until complete coverage can be significantly reduced.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Materials genome innovation for computational software (magics) center

Functional layered material (LM) architectures will dominate nanomaterials science in this century. We have developed theory, modeling, simulation, and software and data tools that enhance understanding and AI guide synthesis, enable characterization of complex structures, and improve capabilities in the predictive design and growth of LMs. Research at the Center has focused on: Computational synthesis and characterization: AI guided synthesis and experimental synthesis of stacked LMs with tailored properties via optimized chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth and liquid-phase exfoliation; study defects, edges, grain boundaries, wrinkling of atomic layers and their effects on chemical, mechanical, electrical, and optical properties. Far-from-equilibrium processes: Joint experimental and simulation based probe of electronic processes with NAQMD and ultrafast X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) and ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) facilities at Stanford. Experimentally validate NAQMD by ultrafast electron diffraction and X-ray spectroscopy studies of structural and excited state dynamics, shape fluctuations, and phonon dynamics. Scalable software: Simulation engines for desktop-to-exascale platforms using low-overhead, linear-scaling QMD algorithms; divide-conquer-recombine NAQMD with electronic excitations; extended-Lagrangian reactive molecular dynamics (RMD), machine learning (ML) based neural-network quantum molecular dynamics (NNQMD), and super-state accelerated molecular dynamics (AMD) and kinetic Monte Carlo codes; thermal and electrical transport software; and design 3D architectures of LMs with desired functionality using scalable software. Distribution of software and data, and training: Software and simulation-experimental data generated within the Center are distributed to the materials science community via Berkeley Materials Project (MP) framework. We have also organized three workshops for software distribution and training at USC (Nov. 2017, Mar. 2018) and Gaithersburg, MD (Nov. 2018) to train researchers, with the last one in focused on underrepresented groups, in collaboration with Howard University which is one of the largest HBCUs. The Center supported a total of 46 personnel and 6 undergraduate students. These include 14 faculty, 11 postdoctoral research associates, 20 graduate research assistants, and mentored 6 undergraduate students. This resulted in the publications of 63 research papers that include 46 publications on Reactive and Quantum Dynamics Simulations, 13 publications on Machine Learning for Quantum Materials, and 4 publications on Quantum Computing.

2D Materials↗

The development of laser-plasma interaction program LAP3D on thousands of processors

Modeling laser-plasma interaction (LPI) processes in real-size experiments scale is recognized as a challenging task. For explorering the influence of various instabilities in LPI processes, a three-dimensional laser and plasma code (LAP3D) has been developed, which includes filamentation, stimulated Brillouin backscattering (SBS), stimulated Raman backscattering (SRS), non-local heat transport and plasmas flow computation modules. In this program, a second-order upwind scheme is applied to solve the plasma equations which are represented by an Euler fluid model. Operator splitting method is used for solving the equations of the light wave propagation, where the Fast Fourier translation (FFT) is applied to compute the diffraction operator and the coordinate translations is used to solve the acoustic wave equation. The coupled terms of the different physics processes are computed by the second-order interpolations algorithm. In order to simulate the LPI processes in massively parallel computers well, several parallel techniques are used, such as the coupled parallel algorithm of FFT and fluid numerical computation, the load balance algorithm, and the data transfer algorithm. Now the phenomena of filamentation, SBS and SRS have been studied in low-density plasma successfully with LAP3D. Scalability of the program is demonstrated with a parallel efficiency above 50% on about ten thousand of processors.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Charged particle tracking with quantum annealing optimization

Abstract At the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), traditional track reconstruction techniques that are critical for physics analysis will need to be upgraded to scale with track density. Quantum annealing has shown promise in its ability to solve combinatorial optimization problems amidst an ongoing effort to establish evidence of a quantum speedup. As a step towards exploiting such potential speedup, we investigate a track reconstruction approach by adapting the existing geometric Denby-Peterson (Hopfield) network method to the quantum annealing framework for HL-LHC conditions. We develop additional techniques to embed the problem onto existing and near-term quantum annealing hardware. Results using simulated annealing and quantum annealing with the D-Wave 2X system on the TrackML open dataset are presented, demonstrating the successful application of a quantum annealing algorithm to the track reconstruction challenge. We find that combinatorial optimization problems can effectively reconstruct tracks, suggesting possible applications for fast hardware-specific implementations at the HL-LHC while leaving open the possibility of a quantum speedup for tracking.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

An FEM-MLMC algorithm for a moving shutter diffraction in time stochastic model

We consider a moving shutter and non-deterministic generalization of the diffraction in time model introduced by Moshinsky several decades ago to study a class of quantum transients. We first develop a moving-mesh finite element method (FEM) to simulate the determisitic version of the model. We then apply the FEM and multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) algorithm to the stochastic moving-domain model for simulation of approximate statistical moments of the density profile of the stochastic transients.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Habituation based synaptic plasticity and organismic learning in a quantum perovskite

A central characteristic of living beings is the ability to learn from and respond to their environment leading to habit formation and decision making. This behavior, known as habituation, is universal among all forms of life with a central nervous system, and is also observed in single-cell organisms that do not possess a brain. Here, we report the discovery of habituation-based plasticity utilizing a perovskite quantum system by dynamical modulation of electron localization. Microscopic mechanisms and pathways that enable this organismic collective charge-lattice interaction are elucidated by first-principles theory, synchrotron investigations, ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, and in situ environmental breathing studies. In conclusion, we implement a learning algorithm inspired by the conductance relaxation behavior of perovskites that naturally incorporates habituation, and demonstrate learning to forget: a key feature of animal and human brains. Incorporating this elementary skill in learning boosts the capability of neural computing in a sequential, dynamic environment.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A Quantum Annealing Computer Team Addresses Climate Change Predictability

The near confluence of the successful launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory2 on July 2, 2014 and the acceptance on August 20, 2015 by Google, NASA Ames Research Center and USRA of a 1152 qubit D-Wave 2X Quantum Annealing Computer (QAC), offered an exceptional opportunity to explore the potential of this technology to address the scientific prediction of global annual carbon uptake by land surface processes. At UMBC,we have collected and processed 20 months of global Level 2 light CO2 data as well as fluorescence data. In addition we have collected ARM data at 2sites in the US and Ameriflux data at more than 20 stations. J. Dorband has developed and implemented a multi-hidden layer Boltzmann Machine (BM) algorithm on the QAC. Employing the BM, we are calculating CO2 fluxes by training collocated OCO-2 level 2 CO2 data with ARM ground station tower data to infer to infer measured CO2 flux data. We generate CO2 fluxes with a regression analysis using these BM derived weights on the level 2 CO2 data for three Ameriflux sites distinct from the ARM stations. P. Gentine has negotiated for the access of K34 Ameriflux data in the Amazon and is applying a neural net to infer the CO2 fluxes. N. Talik validated the accuracy of the BM performance on the QAC against a restricted BM implementation on the IBM Softlayer Cloud with the Nvidia co-processors utilizing the same data sets. G. Nearing and K. Harrison have extended the GSFC LIS model with the NCAR Noah photosynthetic parameterization and have run a 10 year global prediction of the net ecosystem exchange. C. Pellisier is preparing a BM implementation of the Kalman filter data assimilation of CO2 fluxes. At UMBC, R. Prouty is conducting OSSE experiments with the LISNoah model on the IBM iDataPlex to simulate the impact of CO2 fluxes to improve the prediction of global annual carbon uptake. J. LeMoigne and D. Simpson have developed a neural net image registration system that will be used for MODIS ENVI and will be converted to a BM algorithm implementation on the QAC. The first integer adder has been implemented on the D-Wave 2X by A. Shehab that will perform HAAR wavelets for image compression of MODIS scenes. Finally, based on the next generations of QACs, we are preparing a 5-year performance road map on the scalability of the current QAC algorithms.

Science Data Processing↗

An experimental comparison of various methods of nearfield acoustic holography

An experimental comparison of four different methods of nearfield acoustic holography (NAH) is presented in this study for planar acoustic sources. The four NAH methods considered in this study are based on: (1) spatial Fourier transform, (2) equivalent sources model, (3) boundary element methods and (4) statistically optimized NAH. Two dimensional measurements were obtained at different distances in front of a tonal sound source and the NAH methods were used to reconstruct the sound field at the source surface. Reconstructed particle velocity and acoustic pressure fields presented in this study showed that the equivalent sources model based algorithm along with Tikhonov regularization provided the best localization of the sources. Reconstruction errors were found to be smaller for the equivalent sources model based algorithm and the statistically optimized NAH algorithm. Effect of hologram distance on the performance of various algorithms is discussed in detail. The study also compares the computational time required by each algorithm to complete the comparison. Four different regularization parameter choice methods were compared. The L-curve method provided more accurate reconstructions than the generalized cross validation and the Morozov discrepancy principle. Finally, the performance of fixed parameter regularization was comparable to that of the L-curve method.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Two-phase accurate multiplexed structured image capture (2pAc-MUSIC)

Multiplexed Structural Image Capture (MUSIC) technique uses modulation of light from a scene prior to imaging to encode the temporal evolution of target into spatial frequency shifts, with each shift corresponding to a unique time and resulting in individual distinct snapshots. Computational-processing of the multiplexed single-shot image can recover the nanosecond-resolution scene evolution. One of the limitations is the loss of spatial resolution of the recovered image due to limitations of the low-pass spatial frequency filtering depth. Here we demonstrated that two images with complementary spatial phases can be used to enhance the spatial resolutions. For this application, 2 Phase Accurate (2pAc)-MUSIC is implemented that a scene is encoded with two complementary phases. The increased spatial information captured reduces the lower frequency noise in the Fourier domain found in single-phase MUSIC. A recovery algorithm combines the 180-degree spatial frequency shifted images into a single scene and applies a spatial filter in the Fourier domain that has a larger depth than previously possible to achieve a scene with increased spatial resolution. The 2pAc-MUSIC can effectively enhance the spatial resolution by removing the overlapping zero-order spatial frequencies.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

A Multilevel Approach For SolvingLarge-Scale QUBO Problems With Noisy Hybrid Quantum Approximate Optimization

Quantum approximate optimization is one ofthe promising candidates for useful quantum computation,particularly in the context of finding approximate solutionsto Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO)problems. However, the existing quantum processing units(QPUs) are of relatively small size, and canonical mappingsof QUBO via the Ising model require one qubit per vari-able, rendering direct large-scale optimization infeasible.In classical optimization, a general strategy for addressingmany large-scale problems is via multilevel/multigrid meth-ods, where the large target problem is iteratively coarsenedand the global solution is constructed from multiple small-scale optimization runs. In this work, we experimentallytest how existing QPUs perform when used as a sub-solverwithin such a multilevel strategy. To this aim, we com-bine and extend (via additional classical processing steps)the recently proposed Noise-Directed Adaptive Remapping(NDAR) and Quantum Relax&Round (QRR) algorithms.We first demonstrate the effectiveness of our heuristicextensions on Rigetti’s superconducting transmon deviceAnkaa-2. We find approximate solutions to10instances offully connected82-qubit Sherrington-Kirkpatrick graphswith random integer-valued coefficients obtaining normal-ized approximation ratios (ARs) in the range∼0.98−1.0,and the same class with real-valued coefficients (ARs∼0.94−1.0). Then, we implement the extended NDAR andQRR algorithms as subsolvers in the multilevel algorithmfor6large-scale graphs with at most∼27,000variables.In practice, the QPU (with classical post-processing steps)is used to find approximate solutions to dozens of at most82-qubit problems, which are iteratively used to constructthe global solution. We observe that quantum optimizationresults are competitive in terms of the quality of solutionswhen compared to classical heuristics used as subsolverswithin the multilevel approach.Reproducibility: source code and data are available at[TBA upon acceptance]

quantum computing↗

Landau discriminants

Scattering amplitudes in quantum field theories have intricate analytic properties as functions of the energies and momenta of the scattered particles. In perturbation theory, their singularities are governed by a set of nonlinear polynomial equations, known as Landau equations, for each individual Feynman diagram. The singularity locus of the associated Feynman integral is made precise with the notion of the Landau discriminant, which characterizes when the Landau equations admit a solution. In order to compute this discriminant, we present approaches from classical elimination theory, as well as a numerical algorithm based on homotopy continuation. These methods allow us to compute Landau discriminants of various Feynman diagrams up to 3 loops, which were previously out of reach. For instance, the Landau discriminant of the envelope diagram is a reducible surface of degree 45 in the three-dimensional space of kinematic invariants. We investigate geometric properties of the Landau discriminant, such as irreducibility, dimension and degree. In particular, we find simple examples in which the Landau discriminant has codimension greater than one. Furthermore, we describe a numerical procedure for determining which parts of the Landau discriminant lie in the physical regions. In order to study degenerate limits of Landau equations and bounds on the degree of the Landau discriminant, we introduce Landau polytopes and study their facet structure. Finally, we provide an efficient numerical algorithm for the computation of the number of master integrals based on the connection to algebraic statistics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A regression algorithm for accelerated lattice QCD that exploits sparse inference on the D-Wave quantum annealer

We propose a regression algorithm that utilizes a learned dictionary optimized for sparse inference on a D-Wave quantum annealer. In this regression algorithm, we concatenate the independent and dependent variables as a combined vector, and encode the high-order correlations between them into a dictionary optimized for sparse reconstruction. On a test dataset, the dependent variable is initialized to its average value and then a sparse reconstruction of the combined vector is obtained in which the dependent variable is typically shifted closer to its true value, as in a standard inpainting or denoising task. Here, a quantum annealer, which can presumably exploit a fully entangled initial state to better explore the complex energy landscape, is used to solve the highly non-convex sparse coding optimization problem. The regression algorithm is demonstrated for a lattice quantum chromodynamics simulation data using a D-Wave 2000Q quantum annealer and good prediction performance is achieved. The regression test is performed using six different values for the number of fully connected logical qubits, between 20 and 64. The scaling results indicate that a larger number of qubits gives better prediction accuracy.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Strong bound between trace distance and Hilbert-Schmidt distance for low-rank states

The trace distance between two quantum states, ρ and σ, is an operationally meaningful quantity in quantum information theory. However, in general it is difficult to compute, involving the diagonalization of ρ–σ. In contrast, the Hilbert-Schmidt distance can be computed without diagonalization, although it is less operationally significant. Here, we relate the trace distance and the Hilbert-Schmidt distance with a bound that is particularly strong when either ρ or σ is low rank. Our bound is stronger than the bound one could obtain via the norm equivalence of the Frobenius and trace norms. We also consider bounds that are useful not only for low-rank states but also for low-entropy states. Here, our results have relevance to quantum information theory, quantum algorithm design, and quantum complexity theory.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗