18,317 research outputs found
Classical Optimizers for Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum Devices
We present a collection of optimizers tuned for usage on Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices. Optimizers have a range of applications in quantum computing, including the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) and Quantum Approximate Optimization (QAOA) algorithms. They are also used for calibration tasks, hyperparameter tuning, in machine learning, etc. We analyze the efficiency and effectiveness of different optimizers in a VQE case study. VQE is a hybrid algorithm, with a classical minimizer step driving the next evaluation on the quantum processor. While most results to date concentrated on tuning the quantum VQE circuit, we show that, in the presence of quantum noise, the classical minimizer step needs to be carefully chosen to obtain correct results. We explore state-of-the-art gradient-free optimizers capable of handling noisy, black-box, cost functions and stress-test them using a quantum circuit simulation environment with noise injection capabilities on individual gates. Our results indicate that specifically tuned optimizers are crucial to obtaining valid science results on NISQ hardware, and will likely remain necessary even for future fault tolerant circuits
Unfolding Quantum Computer Readout Noise
In the current era of noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers,
noisy qubits can result in biased results for early quantum algorithm
applications. This is a significant challenge for interpreting results from
quantum computer simulations for quantum chemistry, nuclear physics, high
energy physics, and other emerging scientific applications. An important class
of qubit errors are readout errors. The most basic method to correct readout
errors is matrix inversion, using a response matrix built from simple
operations to probe the rate of transitions from known initial quantum states
to readout outcomes. One challenge with inverting matrices with large
off-diagonal components is that the results are sensitive to statistical
fluctuations. This challenge is familiar to high energy physics, where
prior-independent regularized matrix inversion techniques (`unfolding') have
been developed for years to correct for acceptance and detector effects when
performing differential cross section measurements. We study various unfolding
methods in the context of universal gate-based quantum computers with the goal
of connecting the fields of quantum information science and high energy physics
and providing a reference for future work. The method known as iterative
Bayesian unfolding is shown to avoid pathologies from commonly used matrix
inversion and least squares methods.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figures; v2 has a typo fixed in Eq. 3 and a series of
minor modification
Dark and Baryonic Matter in Bright Spiral Galaxies: I.Near-infrared and Optical Broadband Surface Photometry of 30 Galaxies
We present photometrically calibrated images and surface photometry in the B,
V, R, J, H, and K-bands of 25, and in the g, r, and K-bands of 5 nearby bright
(Bo_T<12.5 mag) spiral galaxies with inclinations between 30-65 degrees
spanning the Hubble Sequence from Sa to Scd. Data are from The Ohio State
University Bright Spiral Galaxy Survey, the Two Micron All Sky Survey, and the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey Second Data Release. Radial surface brightness
profiles are extracted, and integrated magnitudes are measured from the
profiles. Axis ratios, position angles, and scale lengths are measured from the
near-infrared images. A 1-dimensional bulge/disk decomposition is performed on
the near-infrared images of galaxies with a non-negligible bulge component, and
an exponential disk is fit to the radial surface brightness profiles of the
remaining galaxies.Comment: 28 page
A comprehensive Maximum Likelihood analysis of the structural properties of faint Milky Way satellites
We derive the structural parameters of the recently discovered very low
luminosity Milky Way satellites through a Maximum Likelihood algorithm applied
to SDSS data. For each satellite, even when only a few tens of stars are
available down to the SDSS flux limit, the algorithm yields robust estimates
and errors for the centroid, position angle, ellipticity, exponential
half-light radius and number of member stars. This latter parameter is then
used in conjunction with stellar population models of the satellites to derive
their absolute magnitudes and stellar masses, accounting for `CMD shot-noise'.
We find that faint systems are somewhat more elliptical than initially found
and ascribe that to the previous use of smoothed maps which can be dominated by
the smoothing kernel. As a result, the faintest half of the Milky Way dwarf
galaxies (M_V>-7.5) is significantly (4-sigma) flatter (e=0.47+/-0.03) than its
brightest half (M_V<-7.5, e=0.32+/-0.02). From our best models, we also
investigate whether the seemingly distorted shape of the satellites, often
taken to be a sign of tidal distortion, can be quantified. We find that, except
for tentative evidence of distortion in CVnI and UMaII, these can be completely
accounted for by Poisson scatter in the sparsely sampled systems. We consider
three scenarios that could explain the rather elongated shape of faint
satellites: rotation supported systems, stars following the shape of more
triaxial dark matter subhalos, or elongation due to tidal interaction with the
Milky Way. Although none of these is entirely satisfactory, the last one
appears the least problematic, but warrants much deeper observations to track
evidence of such tidal interaction.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, ApJ in press; some typos corrected, magnitude
of BooII corrected (thanks go to Shane Walsh for spotting the erroneous
original value
A split-cavity design for the incorporation of a DC bias in a 3D microwave cavity
We report on a technique for applying a DC bias in a 3D microwave cavity. We
achieve this by isolating the two halves of the cavity with a dielectric and
directly using them as DC electrodes. As a proof of concept, we embed a
variable capacitance diode in the cavity and tune the resonant frequency with a
DC voltage, demonstrating the incorporation of a DC bias into the 3D cavity
with no measurable change in its quality factor at room temperature. We also
characterize the architecture at millikelvin temperatures and show that the
split cavity design maintains a quality factor , making it promising for future quantum applications
Attentional avoidance of high-fat food in unsuccessful dieters
Using the exogenous cueing task, this study examined whether restrained and disinhibited eaters differ in their orientation of attention towards and their difficulty to disengage from high versus low-fat food pictures in a relatively short (500 ms) and a long presentation format (1500 ms). Overall, participants in the 500 ms condition showed a tendency to direct attention away from high-fat food pictures compared to neutral pictures. No differential pattern was evident for the 1500 ms condition. Correlational analysis revealed that reduced engagement with high-fat food was particularly pronounced for disinhibited eaters. Although in the short term this seems an adaptive strategy, it may eventually become counterproductive, as it could hinder habituation and learning to cope with seductive characteristics of high-fat food. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
The Role of Welfare in Locational Choices:Modelling IntraâEuropean Migration Decisions Across the LifeâCourse
In this study, we add to the literature by investigating the role of welfare states in intraâEuropean migration decisions between 25 countries (2003â2008). Distinguishing between three welfare programmes (unemployment, family and oldâage benefits) we tested whether social expenditure on each of these arrangements particularly influenced locational choices of individuals within the age groups covered by the respective welfare policy. Findings from a conditional logit model showed a positive impact of spending on family benefits on the locational choices of young adults moving together with children, and of spending on oldâage benefits on the locational choices of individuals close to or above retirement age. In contrast, a negative impact of unemployment spending was found on locational choices in general, and those of workingâage adults in particular. Our results highlight the importance of further disentangling the oftenâused general welfare spending measure when studying the link between welfare and migration
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