arXiv Machine Learning

Quantum Speedups for Sampling and Non-convex Optimization with Stochastic Oracles

arXiv:2504. 03626v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: We present quantum speedups for sampling from distributions of the form $\pi\propto e^{-f}$ on $\mathbb{R}^d$.

arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 9

Adaptive directional gradients for parameterised quantum circuits

arXiv:2606. 09734v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Training parameterised quantum circuits (PQCs) on quantum hardware is bottlenecked by the measurement cost of gradient estimation, which under the parameter-shift rule scales linearly in the number of trainable parameters and dominates the total shot budget of training at scale.

By Brian Coyle, Snehal Raj, Virag Umathe, El Amine Cherrat, Elham Kashefi
arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 26

Finding Stationary Points by Comparisons

arXiv:2606. 27082v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: We study the problem of finding stationary points of non-convex functions when access to the objective is provided only through a comparison oracle that, given two points, outputs which has the larger function value.

By Helin Wang, Chenyi Zhang, Xiwen Tao, Yexin Zhang, Tongyang Li
arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 17

Randomized Midpoint Method for Log-Concave Sampling under Constraints

arXiv:2405. 15379v3 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: In this paper, we study the problem of sampling from log-concave distributions supported on convex and compact sets, with a particular focus on the randomized midpoint discretization of both overdamped and kinetic Langevin diffusions in constrained domains.

By Yifeng Yu, Shijie Zhang, Lu Yu
arXiv AI
Aug 20

Entropy-Constrained Adaptive Stochastic Quantization

arXiv:2608. 18147v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Adaptive stochastic quantization (ASQ) is a recently introduced quantization approach that optimizes the Mean Squared Error (MSE) for a given input while preserving unbiasedness.

By Ran Ben Basat, Yaniv Ben-Itzhak, Michael Mitzenmacher, Shay Vargaftik
arXiv Machine Learning
2d ago

Towards Surrogate Based Dequantization of Quantum Reinforcement Learning

The paper investigates whether quantum reinforcement learning algorithms can be matched by efficient classical methods. It focuses on a simplified reinforcement learning setting with a uniform generative model, providing finite‑sample guarantees for classical kernelized Fitted Q‑Iteration that uses kernels aligned with parameterized quantum circuits. The authors identify sufficient conditions on data encoding, kernel choice, and problem structure under which this classical approach dequantizes quantum Q‑learning, and suggest using kernelized Fitted Q‑Iteration as a heuristic when those conditions cannot be verified.

By Pablo Rodriguez-Grasa, Sofiene Jerbi, Mikel Sanz, Ryan Sweke
arXiv Machine Learning
Jul 1

Quantum Bayesian Networks Can Speed up Reinforcement Learning in Partially Observable Environments

arXiv:2507. 18606v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Reinforcement learning (RL) provides a principled framework for decision-making in partially observable environments, which can be modeled as Markov decision processes and compactly represented through dynamic decision Bayesian networks.

By Gilberto Cunha, Alexandra Ram\^oa, Andr\'e Sequeira, Michael de Oliveira, Lu\'is Barbosa
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 27

Improved Analysis for Hessian-free High-resolution Monte Carlo Sampling

The paper introduces Hessian-free high-resolution (HFHR) dynamics, an extension of underdamped Langevin dynamics that incorporates reversible position diffusion for sampling in machine learning. It provides an explicit quantitative contraction rate under a position Poincaré inequality, weighted Hessian and Laplacian bounds, and a compact Sobolev embedding, even when the potential is non‑convex. For the HFHR Monte Carlo algorithm, a path‑space Girsanov argument yields a non‑asymptotic convergence bound and an explicit iteration complexity in total variation distance, improving on previous HFHR results and demonstrating benefits of a positive diffusion parameter through numerical experiments.

By Wujun Lv, Xiaoyu Wang, Yingli Wang, Lingjiong Zhu