Approximate inference on optimized quantum Bayesian networks

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a significant upsurge in the interest surrounding Quantum machine learning, with researchers actively developing methods to leverage the power of quantum technology for solving highly complex problems across various domains. However, implementing gate-based quantum algorithms on noisy intermediate quantum devices (NISQ) presents notable challenges due to limited quantum resources and inherent noise. In this paper, we propose an innovative approach for representing Bayesian networks on quantum circuits, specifically designed to address these challenges and highlight the potential of combining optimized circuits with quantum hybrid algorithms for Bayesian network inference. Our aim is to minimize the required quantum resource needed to implement a Quantum Bayesian network (QBN) and implement quantum approximate inference algorithm on a quantum computer. Through simulations and experiments on IBM Quantum computers, we show that our circuit representation significantly reduces the resource requirements without decreasing the performance of the model. These findings underscore how our approach can better enable practical applications of QBN on currently available quantum hardware.