Large-scale quantum hybrid solution for linear systems of equations

Abstract

State-of-the-art noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices (NISQ), although imperfect, enable computational tasks that are manifestly beyond the capabilities of modern classical supercomputers. However, present quantum computations are restricted to exploring specific simplified protocols, whereas the implementation of full-scale quantum algorithms aimed at solving concrete large scale problems arising in data analysis and numerical modelling remains a challenge. Here we introduce and implement a hybrid quantum algorithm for solving linear systems of equations with exponential speedup, utilizing quantum phase estimation, one of the exemplary core protocols for quantum computing. We introduce theoretically classes of linear systems that are suitable for current generation quantum machines and solve experimentally a $2^{17}$-dimensional problem on superconducting IBMQ devices, a record for linear system solution on quantum computers. The considered large-scale algorithm shows superiority over conventional solutions, demonstrates advantages of quantum data processing via phase estimation and holds high promise for meeting practically relevant challenges.