QVaR: a Quantum Variational Regularization method for Linear Inverse Problems

Abstract

We present a tailored framework for solving regularized linear inverse problems using quantum optimization methods. By discretizing the solution space and encoding data fidelity and regularization terms into quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) models, we formulate both Tikhonov- and sparsity-promoting regularized inverse problems within a unified quantum optimization framework. We further introduce a notion of quantum sensitivity that characterizes the effect of perturbations arising from approximate quantum evolution and discretization. We derive bounds relating these perturbations to stability properties of the underlying inverse problem, thereby establishing a theoretical connection between quantum solution variability and classical notions of ill-posedness. The framework is extended to variational inverse problems through wavelet-based representations and complemented by reduced-order modeling strategies in both parameter and Hamiltonian spaces to mitigate current hardware limitations. Numerical experiments on simulated and physical quantum hardware indicate that the resulting low-energy solution distributions retain information about the underlying inverse problem, while also revealing the limitations imposed by finite-time evolution, discretization, and hardware noise.