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Article
Negational symmetry of quantum neural networks for binary pattern classification
Pattern Recognition
  • Nanqing Dong, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
  • Michael Kampffmeyer, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
  • Irina Voiculescu, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
  • Eric P. Xing, Carnegie Mellon University, United States & Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence
Document Type
Article
Abstract

Although quantum neural networks (QNNs) have shown promising results in solving simple machine learning tasks recently, the behavior of QNNs in binary pattern classification is still underexplored. In this work, we find that QNNs have an Achilles’ heel in binary pattern classification. To illustrate this point, we provide a theoretical insight into the properties of QNNs by presenting and analyzing a new form of symmetry embedded in a family of QNNs with full entanglement, which we term negational symmetry. Due to negational symmetry, QNNs can not differentiate between a quantum binary signal and its negational counterpart. We empirically evaluate the negational symmetry of QNNs in binary pattern classification tasks using Google's quantum computing framework. Both theoretical and experimental results suggest that negational symmetry is a fundamental property of QNNs, which is not shared by classical models. Our findings also imply that negational symmetry is a double-edged sword in practical quantum applications. © 2022 The Author(s)

DOI
10.1016/j.patcog.2022.108750
Publication Date
9-1-2022
Keywords
  • Quantum computers,
  • Achilles' heel,
  • Binary pattern classification,
  • Binary patterns,
  • Deep learning,
  • Patterns classification,
  • Quantum machine learning,
  • Quantum neural networks,
  • Representation learning,
  • Simple++,
  • Symmetry,
  • Deep learning
Comments

Open Access version with thanks to Elsevier;

License: CC BY 4.0 ;

Uploaded 20 May 2022

Citation Information
N. Dong, M. Kampffmeyer, I. Voiculescu, and E. Xing, "Negational symmetry of quantum neural networks for binary pattern classification", Pattern Recognition, no. 108750, Sept. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.patcog.2022.108750