Efficient quantum machine learning with inverse-probability algebraic corrections

TL;DR

This paper introduces an inverse-probability algebraic learning method for quantum neural networks that enables faster convergence, robustness to noise, and eliminates the need for hyperparameter tuning compared to traditional gradient-based approaches.

Contribution

It presents a novel algebraic update framework for QNN training that directly solves an inverse probability problem, improving efficiency and stability over gradient-based methods.

Findings

Faster convergence than gradient descent and Adam.

Achieves lower final errors in regression and classification.

Robust against hardware noise and sampling limitations.

Abstract

Quantum neural networks (QNNs) provide expressive probabilistic models by leveraging quantum superposition and entanglement, yet their practical training remains challenging due to highly oscillatory loss landscapes and noise inherent to near-term quantum devices. Existing training approaches largely rely on gradient-based procedural optimization, which often suffers from slow convergence, sensitivity to hyperparameters, and instability near sharp minima. In this work, we propose an alternative inverse-probability algebraic learning framework for QNNs. Instead of updating parameters through incremental gradient descent, our method treats learning as a local inverse problem in probability space, directly mapping discrepancies between predicted and target Born-rule probabilities to parameter corrections via a pseudo-inverse of the Jacobian. This algebraic update is covariant, does not require learning-rate tuning, and enables rapid movement toward the vicinity of a loss minimum in a single step. We systematically compare the proposed method with gradient descent and Adam optimization in both regression and classification tasks using a teacher-student QNN benchmark. Our results show that algebraic learning converges significantly faster, escapes loss plateaus, and achieves lower final errors. Under finite-shot sampling, the method exhibits near-optimal error scaling, while remaining robust against intrinsic hardware noise such as dephasing. These findings suggest that inverse-probability algebraic learning offers a principled and practical alternative to procedural optimization for QNN training, particularly in resource-constrained near-term quantum devices.