Trained quantum neural networks are Gaussian processes
Not on the map. Why?
Abstract (arXiv)
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.
Key facts. Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 13 Oct 2026). Builds on 11 of its 28 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 13 Feb 2024.
Builds on
11 of 28 references.
References · 11
- 2014Deep Learning in Neural Networks: An Overviewcited by 767
- 2019Wide Neural Networks of Any Depth Evolve as Linear Models Under Gradient Descentcited by 737
- 2020Variational Quantum Algorithmscited by 689
- 2018Supervised learning with quantum enhanced feature spacescited by 660
- 2018Barren plateaus in quantum neural network training landscapescited by 627
- 2020The effect of data encoding on the expressive power of variational quantum machine learning modelscited by 330
- 2020A rigorous and robust quantum speed-up in supervised machine learningcited by 270
- 2021Theory of overparametrization in quantum neural networkscited by 100
- 2023Six Lectures on Linearized Neural Networkscited by 19
- 2021Learning quantum data with the quantum Earth Mover's distancecited by 13
- 2022Quantum Lazy Trainingcited by 4
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2024: 1; 2025: 1; 2026: 3.
5 papers.
- 2024Architectures and random properties of symplectic quantum circuitscited by 1
- 2026Quantum-Enhanced Neural Contextual Bandit Algorithmscited by 1
- 2025Mean-field limit from general mixtures of experts to quantum neural networkscited by 0
- 2026Spectral Anatomy of Quantum Gaussian Process Kernelscited by 0
- 2026Quantitative Gaussian-Process limits of Tensor Programscited by 0
- 2026Quantitative Gaussian-Process limits of Tensor Programs7 Jul 2026
- 2026Spectral Anatomy of Quantum Gaussian Process Kernels29 May 2026
- 2026Quantum-Enhanced Neural Contextual Bandit Algorithms6 Jan 2026
- 2025Mean-field limit from general mixtures of experts to quantum neural networks24 Jan 2025
- 2024Architectures and random properties of symplectic quantum circuits16 May 2024