A Novel Noise-Aware Classical Optimizer for Variational Quantum Algorithms

Jeffrey Larson (), Matt Menickelly () and Jiahao Shi ()
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Jeffrey Larson: Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439
Matt Menickelly: Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439
Jiahao Shi: Industrial and Operations Engineering Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

INFORMS Journal on Computing, 2025, vol. 37, issue 1, 63-85

Abstract: A key component of variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) is the choice of classical optimizer employed to update the parameterization of an ansatz. It is well recognized that quantum algorithms will, for the foreseeable future, necessarily be run on noisy devices with limited fidelities. Thus, the evaluation of an objective function (e.g., the guiding function in the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) or the expectation of the electronic Hamiltonian in variational quantum eigensolver (VQE)) required by a classical optimizer is subject not only to stochastic error from estimating an expected value but also to error resulting from intermittent hardware noise. Model-based derivative-free optimization methods have emerged as popular choices of a classical optimizer in the noisy VQA setting, based on empirical studies. However, these optimization methods were not explicitly designed with the consideration of noise. In this work we adapt recent developments from the “noise-aware numerical optimization” literature to these commonly used derivative-free model-based methods. We introduce the key defining characteristics of these novel noise-aware derivative-free model-based methods that separate them from standard model-based methods. We study an implementation of such noise-aware derivative-free model-based methods and compare its performance on demonstrative VQA simulations to classical solvers packaged in scikit-quant .

Keywords: variational quantum algorithms; classical optimizers; optimization methods; derivative-free optimization; noisy optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orijoc:v:37:y:2025:i:1:p:63-85

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