Evaluating the Efficiency of Quantum Simulators using Practical Application Benchmarks

Quantum computing holds the potential to revolutionize various industries by solving problems that classical computers cannot solve efficiently. However, building quantum computers is still in its infancy, and simulators are currently the best available option to explore the potential of quantum computing. Therefore, developing comprehensive benchmarking suites for quantum computing simulators is essential to evaluate their performance and guide the development of future quantum algorithms and hardware. This study presents a systematic evaluation of quantum computing simulators’ performance using a benchmarking suite. The benchmarking suite is designed to meet the industry-standard performance benchmarks established by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and includes standardized test data and comparison metrics that encompass a wide range of applications, deep neural network models, and optimization techniques. The thesis is divided into two parts to cover basic quantum algorithms and variational quantum algorithms for practical machine-learning tasks. In the first part, the run time and memory performance of quantum computing simulators are analyzed using basic quantum algorithms. The performance is evaluated using standardized test data and comparison metrics that cover fundamental quantum algorithms, including Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT), Inverse Quantum Fourier Transform (IQFT), Quantum Adder, and Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE). The analysis provides valuable insights into the simulators’ strengths and weaknesses and highlights the need for further development to enhance their performance. In the second part, benchmarks are developed using variational quantum algorithms for practical machine learning tasks such as image classification, natural language processing, and recommendation. The benchmarks address several unique challenges posed by benchmarking quantum machine learning (QML), including the effect of optimizations on time-to-solution, the stochastic nature of training, the inclusion of hybrid quantum-classical layers, and the diversity of software and hardware systems. The findings offer valuable insights into the simulators’ ability to solve practical machine-learning tasks and pinpoint areas for future research and enhancement. In conclusion, this study provides a rigorous evaluation of quantum computing simulators’ performance using a benchmarking suite that meets industry-standard performance benchmarks.