We study quantum neural networks made by parametric one-qubit gates and fixed two-qubit gates in the limit of infinite width, where the generated function is the expectation value of the sum of single-qubit observables over all the qubits. First, we prove that the probability distribution of the function generated by the untrained network with randomly initialized parameters converges in distribution to a Gaussian process whenever each measured qubit is correlated only with few other measured qubits. Then, we analytically characterize the training of the network via gradient descent with square loss on supervised learning problems. We prove that, as long as the network is not affected by barren plateaus, the trained network can perfectly fit the training set and that the probability distribution of the function generated after training still converges in distribution to a Gaussian process. Finally, we consider the statistical noise of the measurement at the output of the network and prove that a polynomial number of measurements is sufficient for all the previous results to hold and that the network can always be trained in polynomial time.

Trained Quantum Neural Networks are Gaussian Processes

Girardi, Filippo
;
De Palma, Giacomo
2025

Abstract

We study quantum neural networks made by parametric one-qubit gates and fixed two-qubit gates in the limit of infinite width, where the generated function is the expectation value of the sum of single-qubit observables over all the qubits. First, we prove that the probability distribution of the function generated by the untrained network with randomly initialized parameters converges in distribution to a Gaussian process whenever each measured qubit is correlated only with few other measured qubits. Then, we analytically characterize the training of the network via gradient descent with square loss on supervised learning problems. We prove that, as long as the network is not affected by barren plateaus, the trained network can perfectly fit the training set and that the probability distribution of the function generated after training still converges in distribution to a Gaussian process. Finally, we consider the statistical noise of the measurement at the output of the network and prove that a polynomial number of measurements is sufficient for all the previous results to hold and that the network can always be trained in polynomial time.
2025
Settore MAT/07 - Fisica Matematica
Settore MATH-04/A - Fisica matematica
Settore PHYS-04/A - Fisica teorica della materia, modelli, metodi matematici e applicazioni
   Centro Nazionale ICSC – National Centre for HPC, Big Data and Quantum Computing
   MUR
   PNRR
   CN00000013 - CUP J33C22001170001

   Future Artificial Intelligence Research
   FAIR
   MUR
   PNRR
   PE00000013 - CUP J33C22002830006

   understanding the LEarning process of QUantum Neural networks
   LeQun
   MUR
   PRIN2022
   2022WHZ5XH – CUP J53D23003890006
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11384/175370
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