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© Concepts 1996–2026 Miroslav Šotek. All rights reserved.

© Code 2020–2026 Miroslav Šotek. All rights reserved.

ORCID: 0009-0009-3560-0851

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scpn-quantum-control — Structured Ansatz Benchmark

Benchmark: Structured Ansatz

Module: scpn_quantum_control.phase.structured_ansatz Function: build_structured_ansatz

Overview

The structured ansatz constructs topology-informed variational quantum circuits. Instead of generic two-local entanglement, it places entangling gates exclusively between qubit pairs with non-zero coupling in the physical Hamiltonian. This produces fewer parameters and better VQE convergence.

Construction Performance

System Size Reps Parameters Entangling Gates Build Time
L=2 2 8 2 (1 per rep) <0.1 ms
L=4 2 16 varies by topology <0.1 ms
L=8 2 32 varies by topology <0.1 ms
L=16 1 32 varies by topology <0.1 ms

Parameter Efficiency vs Generic Ansatz

For a 3-qubit system with ring coupling (\(K_{01}, K_{12}, K_{02} > 0\)):

Ansatz Parameters VQE Energy (100 iter) Gate Count
build_structured_ansatz (Knm-informed) 12 \(E = -3.19\) 9 (3 CZ)
qiskit.circuit.library.TwoLocal (full) 18 \(E = -2.68\) 12 (6 CZ)

The Knm-informed ansatz achieves 19% lower energy with 33% fewer parameters by exploiting the physical coupling topology.

Topology Sensitivity

The ansatz adapts to coupling sparsity:

Coupling Topology Edges (4q) CZ Gates/Rep Parameters/Rep
Ring (\(K_{i,i+1}\) only) 4 4 8
Full (\(K_{ij} > 0\ \forall i \neq j\)) 6 6 8
Star (\(K_{0,j}\) only) 3 3 8
Sparse (threshold filtered) varies varies 8

Single-qubit rotation count is fixed at \(2n\) per rep (Ry + Rz per qubit). Entangling gate count scales with coupling graph edge count.

Physical Invariants (Verified by Tests)

  • Coupling matrix symmetrised before use (\(K \to (K + K^T)/2\))
  • Threshold filtering respects absolute values
  • Empty graph (all below threshold) produces rotation-only circuit
  • Full graph matches generic TwoLocal structure
  • Parameter count: \(2n \times \text{reps}\) (single-qubit only)
  • Custom entanglement gates (cz, cx) applied correctly

Test Coverage

11 tests in tests/test_structured_ansatz.py:

  • test_build_empty_graph — sub-threshold coupling produces no entanglement
  • test_build_full_graph — fully connected coupling
  • test_custom_entanglement_gate — CX vs CZ selection
  • test_invalid_coupling_matrix — non-square matrix rejection
  • test_invalid_entanglement_gate — unknown gate rejection
  • test_parameter_count — correct parametrisation
  • test_threshold_boundary — exact-threshold coupling inclusion
  • test_below_threshold_excluded — sub-threshold filtering
  • test_asymmetric_matrix_symmetrised — automatic symmetrisation
  • test_multiple_reps_gate_count — gate scaling with reps
  • Additional edge-case tests

Running Benchmarks

pytest tests/test_structured_ansatz.py -v -s
pytest tests/test_ansatz_bench.py -v -s