qml.devices.default_qubit.DefaultQubit

class DefaultQubit(wires=None, shots=None, seed='global', max_workers=None)[source]

Bases: pennylane.devices.device_api.Device

A PennyLane device written in Python and capable of backpropagation derivatives.

Parameters
  • wires (int, Iterable[Number, str]) – Number of wires present on the device, or iterable that contains unique labels for the wires as numbers (i.e., [-1, 0, 2]) or strings (['ancilla', 'q1', 'q2']). Default None if not specified.

  • shots (int, Sequence[int], Sequence[Union[int, Sequence[int]]]) – The default number of shots to use in executions involving this device.

  • seed (Union[str, None, int, array_like[int], SeedSequence, BitGenerator, Generator, jax.random.PRNGKey]) – A seed-like parameter matching that of seed for numpy.random.default_rng, or a request to seed from numpy’s global random number generator. The default, seed="global" pulls a seed from NumPy’s global generator. seed=None will pull a seed from the OS entropy. If a jax.random.PRNGKey is passed as the seed, a JAX-specific sampling function using jax.random.choice and the PRNGKey will be used for sampling rather than numpy.random.default_rng.

  • max_workers (int) – A ProcessPoolExecutor executes tapes asynchronously using a pool of at most max_workers processes. If max_workers is None, only the current process executes tapes. If you experience any issue, say using JAX, TensorFlow, Torch, try setting max_workers to None.

Example:

n_layers = 5
n_wires = 10
num_qscripts = 5

shape = qml.StronglyEntanglingLayers.shape(n_layers=n_layers, n_wires=n_wires)
rng = qml.numpy.random.default_rng(seed=42)

qscripts = []
for i in range(num_qscripts):
    params = rng.random(shape)
    op = qml.StronglyEntanglingLayers(params, wires=range(n_wires))
    qs = qml.tape.QuantumScript([op], [qml.expval(qml.Z(0))])
    qscripts.append(qs)
>>> dev = DefaultQubit()
>>> program, execution_config = dev.preprocess()
>>> new_batch, post_processing_fn = program(qscripts)
>>> results = dev.execute(new_batch, execution_config=execution_config)
>>> post_processing_fn(results)
[-0.0006888975950537501,
0.025576307134457577,
-0.0038567269892757494,
0.1339705146860149,
-0.03780669772690448]

This device currently supports backpropagation derivatives:

>>> from pennylane.devices import ExecutionConfig
>>> dev.supports_derivatives(ExecutionConfig(gradient_method="backprop"))
True

For example, we can use jax to jit computing the derivative:

import jax

@jax.jit
def f(x):
    qs = qml.tape.QuantumScript([qml.RX(x, 0)], [qml.expval(qml.Z(0))])
    program, execution_config = dev.preprocess()
    new_batch, post_processing_fn = program([qs])
    results = dev.execute(new_batch, execution_config=execution_config)
    return post_processing_fn(results)
>>> f(jax.numpy.array(1.2))
DeviceArray(0.36235774, dtype=float32)
>>> jax.grad(f)(jax.numpy.array(1.2))
DeviceArray(-0.93203914, dtype=float32, weak_type=True)

DefaultQubit tracks:

Suppose one has a processor with 5 cores or more, these scripts can be executed in parallel as follows

>>> dev = DefaultQubit(max_workers=5)
>>> program, execution_config = dev.preprocess()
>>> new_batch, post_processing_fn = program(qscripts)
>>> results = dev.execute(new_batch, execution_config=execution_config)
>>> post_processing_fn(results)

If you monitor your CPU usage, you should see 5 new Python processes pop up to crunch through those QuantumScript’s. Beware not oversubscribing your machine. This may happen if a single device already uses many cores, if NumPy uses a multi- threaded BLAS library like MKL or OpenBLAS for example. The number of threads per process times the number of processes should not exceed the number of cores on your machine. You can control the number of threads per process with the environment variables:

  • OMP_NUM_THREADS

  • MKL_NUM_THREADS

  • OPENBLAS_NUM_THREADS

where the last two are specific to the MKL and OpenBLAS libraries specifically.

Warning

Multiprocessing may fail depending on your platform and environment (Python shell, script with a protected entry point, Jupyter notebook, etc.) This may be solved changing the so-called start method. The supported start methods are the following:

  • Windows (win32): spawn (default).

  • macOS (darwin): spawn (default), fork, forkserver.

  • Linux (unix): spawn, fork (default), forkserver.

which can be changed with multiprocessing.set_start_method(). For example, if multiprocessing fails on macOS in your Jupyter notebook environment, try restarting the session and adding the following at the beginning of the file:

import multiprocessing
multiprocessing.set_start_method("fork")

Additional information can be found in the multiprocessing doc.

name

The name of the device.

shots

Default shots for execution workflows containing this device.

tracker

A Tracker that can store information about device executions, shots, batches, intermediate results, or any additional device dependent information.

wires

The device wires.

name

The name of the device.

shots

Default shots for execution workflows containing this device.

Note that the device itself should always pull shots from the provided QuantumTape and its shots, not from this property. This property is used to provide a default at the start of a workflow.

tracker: Tracker = <pennylane.tracker.Tracker object>

A Tracker that can store information about device executions, shots, batches, intermediate results, or any additional device dependent information.

A plugin developer can store information in the tracker by:

# querying if the tracker is active
if self.tracker.active:

    # store any keyword: value pairs of information
    self.tracker.update(executions=1, shots=self._shots, results=results)

    # Calling a user-provided callback function
    self.tracker.record()
wires

The device wires.

Note that wires are optional, and the default value of None means any wires can be used. If a device has wires defined, they will only be used for certain features. This includes:

  • Validation of tapes being executed on the device

  • Defining the wires used when evaluating a state() measurement

compute_derivatives(circuits[, execution_config])

Calculate the jacobian of either a single or a batch of circuits on the device.

compute_jvp(circuits, tangents[, …])

The jacobian vector product used in forward mode calculation of derivatives.

compute_vjp(circuits, cotangents[, …])

The vector jacobian product used in reverse-mode differentiation.

execute(circuits[, execution_config])

Execute a circuit or a batch of circuits and turn it into results.

execute_and_compute_derivatives(circuits[, …])

Compute the results and jacobians of circuits at the same time.

execute_and_compute_jvp(circuits, tangents)

Execute a batch of circuits and compute their jacobian vector products.

execute_and_compute_vjp(circuits, cotangents)

Calculate both the results and the vector jacobian product used in reverse-mode differentiation.

preprocess([execution_config])

This function defines the device transform program to be applied and an updated device configuration.

supports_derivatives([execution_config, circuit])

Check whether or not derivatives are available for a given configuration and circuit.

supports_jvp([execution_config, circuit])

Whether or not this device defines a custom jacobian vector product.

supports_vjp([execution_config, circuit])

Whether or not this device defines a custom vector jacobian product.

compute_derivatives(circuits, execution_config=ExecutionConfig(grad_on_execution=None, use_device_gradient=None, use_device_jacobian_product=None, gradient_method=None, gradient_keyword_arguments={}, device_options={}, interface=None, derivative_order=1))[source]

Calculate the jacobian of either a single or a batch of circuits on the device.

Parameters
  • circuits (Union[QuantumTape, Sequence[QuantumTape]]) – the circuits to calculate derivatives for

  • execution_config (ExecutionConfig) – a datastructure with all additional information required for execution

Returns

The jacobian for each trainable parameter

Return type

Tuple

Execution Config:

The execution config has gradient_method and order property that describes the order of differentiation requested. If the requested method or order of gradient is not provided, the device should raise a NotImplementedError. The supports_derivatives() method can pre-validate supported orders and gradient methods.

Return Shape:

If a batch of quantum scripts is provided, this method should return a tuple with each entry being the gradient of each individual quantum script. If the batch is of length 1, then the return tuple should still be of length 1, not squeezed.

compute_jvp(circuits, tangents, execution_config=ExecutionConfig(grad_on_execution=None, use_device_gradient=None, use_device_jacobian_product=None, gradient_method=None, gradient_keyword_arguments={}, device_options={}, interface=None, derivative_order=1))[source]

The jacobian vector product used in forward mode calculation of derivatives.

Parameters
  • circuits (Union[QuantumTape, Sequence[QuantumTape]]) – the circuit or batch of circuits

  • tangents (tensor-like) – Gradient vector for input parameters.

  • execution_config (ExecutionConfig) – a datastructure with all additional information required for execution

Returns

A numeric result of computing the jacobian vector product

Return type

Tuple

Definition of jvp:

If we have a function with jacobian:

\[\vec{y} = f(\vec{x}) \qquad J_{i,j} = \frac{\partial y_i}{\partial x_j}\]

The Jacobian vector product is the inner product with the derivatives of \(x\), yielding only the derivatives of the output \(y\):

\[\text{d}y_i = \Sigma_{j} J_{i,j} \text{d}x_j\]

Shape of tangents:

The tangents tuple should be the same length as circuit.get_parameters() and have a single number per parameter. If a number is zero, then the gradient with respect to that parameter does not need to be computed.

compute_vjp(circuits, cotangents, execution_config=ExecutionConfig(grad_on_execution=None, use_device_gradient=None, use_device_jacobian_product=None, gradient_method=None, gradient_keyword_arguments={}, device_options={}, interface=None, derivative_order=1))[source]

The vector jacobian product used in reverse-mode differentiation. DefaultQubit uses the adjoint differentiation method to compute the VJP.

Parameters
  • circuits (Union[QuantumTape, Sequence[QuantumTape]]) – the circuit or batch of circuits

  • cotangents (Tuple[Number, Tuple[Number]]) – Gradient-output vector. Must have shape matching the output shape of the corresponding circuit. If the circuit has a single output, cotangents may be a single number, not an iterable of numbers.

  • execution_config (ExecutionConfig) – a datastructure with all additional information required for execution

Returns

A numeric result of computing the vector jacobian product

Return type

tensor-like

Definition of vjp:

If we have a function with jacobian:

\[\vec{y} = f(\vec{x}) \qquad J_{i,j} = \frac{\partial y_i}{\partial x_j}\]

The vector jacobian product is the inner product of the derivatives of the output y with the Jacobian matrix. The derivatives of the output vector are sometimes called the cotangents.

\[\text{d}x_i = \Sigma_{i} \text{d}y_i J_{i,j}\]

Shape of cotangents:

The value provided to cotangents should match the output of execute(). For computing the full Jacobian, the cotangents can be batched to vectorize the computation. In this case, the cotangents can have the following shapes. batch_size below refers to the number of entries in the Jacobian:

  • For a state measurement, the cotangents must have shape (batch_size, 2 ** n_wires)

  • For n expectation values, the cotangents must have shape (n, batch_size). If n = 1, then the shape must be (batch_size,).

execute(circuits, execution_config=ExecutionConfig(grad_on_execution=None, use_device_gradient=None, use_device_jacobian_product=None, gradient_method=None, gradient_keyword_arguments={}, device_options={}, interface=None, derivative_order=1))[source]

Execute a circuit or a batch of circuits and turn it into results.

Parameters
  • circuits (Union[QuantumTape, Sequence[QuantumTape]]) – the quantum circuits to be executed

  • execution_config (ExecutionConfig) – a datastructure with additional information required for execution

Returns

A numeric result of the computation.

Return type

TensorLike, tuple[TensorLike], tuple[tuple[TensorLike]]

Interface parameters:

The provided circuits may contain interface specific data-types like torch.Tensor or jax.Array when gradient_method of "backprop" is requested. If the gradient method is not backpropagation, then only vanilla numpy parameters or builtins will be present in the circuits.

The result for each QuantumTape must match the shape specified by shape.

The level of priority for dimensions from outer dimension to inner dimension is:

  1. Quantum Script in batch

  2. Shot choice in a shot vector

  3. Measurement in the quantum script

  4. Parameter broadcasting

  5. Measurement shape for array-valued measurements like probabilities

For a batch of quantum scripts with multiple measurements, a shot vector, and parameter broadcasting:

  • result[0]: the results for the first script

  • result[0][0]: the first shot number in the shot vector

  • result[0][0][0]: the first measurement in the quantum script

  • result[0][0][0][0]: the first parameter broadcasting choice

  • result[0][0][0][0][0]: the first value for an array-valued measurement

With the exception of quantum script batches, dimensions with only a single component should be eliminated.

For example:

With a single script and a single measurement process, execute should return just the measurement value in a numpy array. shape currently accepts a device, as historically devices stored shot information. In the future, this method will accept an ExecutionConfig instead.

>>> tape = qml.tape.QuantumTape(measurements=qml.expval(qml.Z(0))])
>>> tape.shape(dev)
()
>>> dev.execute(tape)
array(1.0)

If execute recieves a batch of scripts, then it should return a tuple of results:

>>> dev.execute([tape, tape])
(array(1.0), array(1.0))
>>> dev.execute([tape])
(array(1.0),)

If the script has multiple measurments, then the device should return a tuple of measurements.

>>> tape = qml.tape.QuantumTape(measurements=[qml.expval(qml.Z(0)), qml.probs(wires=(0,1))])
>>> tape.shape(dev)
((), (4,))
>>> dev.execute(tape)
(array(1.0), array([1., 0., 0., 0.]))
execute_and_compute_derivatives(circuits, execution_config=ExecutionConfig(grad_on_execution=None, use_device_gradient=None, use_device_jacobian_product=None, gradient_method=None, gradient_keyword_arguments={}, device_options={}, interface=None, derivative_order=1))[source]

Compute the results and jacobians of circuits at the same time.

Parameters
  • circuits (Union[QuantumTape, Sequence[QuantumTape]]) – the circuits or batch of circuits

  • execution_config (ExecutionConfig) – a datastructure with all additional information required for execution

Returns

A numeric result of the computation and the gradient.

Return type

tuple

See execute() and compute_derivatives() for more information about return shapes and behaviour. If compute_derivatives() is defined, this method should be as well.

This method can be used when the result and execution need to be computed at the same time, such as during a forward mode calculation of gradients. For certain gradient methods, such as adjoint diff gradients, calculating the result and gradient at the same can save computational work.

execute_and_compute_jvp(circuits, tangents, execution_config=ExecutionConfig(grad_on_execution=None, use_device_gradient=None, use_device_jacobian_product=None, gradient_method=None, gradient_keyword_arguments={}, device_options={}, interface=None, derivative_order=1))[source]

Execute a batch of circuits and compute their jacobian vector products.

Parameters
  • circuits (Union[QuantumTape, Sequence[QuantumTape]]) – circuit or batch of circuits

  • tangents (tensor-like) – Gradient vector for input parameters.

  • execution_config (ExecutionConfig) – a datastructure with all additional information required for execution

Returns

A numeric result of execution and of computing the jacobian vector product

Return type

Tuple, Tuple

See also

execute() and compute_jvp()

execute_and_compute_vjp(circuits, cotangents, execution_config=ExecutionConfig(grad_on_execution=None, use_device_gradient=None, use_device_jacobian_product=None, gradient_method=None, gradient_keyword_arguments={}, device_options={}, interface=None, derivative_order=1))[source]

Calculate both the results and the vector jacobian product used in reverse-mode differentiation.

Parameters
  • circuits (Union[QuantumTape, Sequence[QuantumTape]]) – the circuit or batch of circuits to be executed

  • cotangents (Tuple[Number, Tuple[Number]]) – Gradient-output vector. Must have shape matching the output shape of the corresponding circuit. If the circuit has a single output, cotangents may be a single number, not an iterable of numbers.

  • execution_config (ExecutionConfig) – a datastructure with all additional information required for execution

Returns

the result of executing the scripts and the numeric result of computing the vector jacobian product

Return type

Tuple, Tuple

See also

execute() and compute_vjp()

preprocess(execution_config=ExecutionConfig(grad_on_execution=None, use_device_gradient=None, use_device_jacobian_product=None, gradient_method=None, gradient_keyword_arguments={}, device_options={}, interface=None, derivative_order=1))[source]

This function defines the device transform program to be applied and an updated device configuration.

Parameters

execution_config (Union[ExecutionConfig, Sequence[ExecutionConfig]]) – A data structure describing the parameters needed to fully describe the execution.

Returns

A transform program that when called returns QuantumTapes that the device can natively execute as well as a postprocessing function to be called after execution, and a configuration with unset specifications filled in.

Return type

TransformProgram, ExecutionConfig

This device:

  • Supports any qubit operations that provide a matrix

  • Currently does not support finite shots

  • Currently does not intrinsically support parameter broadcasting

supports_derivatives(execution_config=None, circuit=None)[source]

Check whether or not derivatives are available for a given configuration and circuit.

DefaultQubit supports backpropagation derivatives with analytic results, as well as adjoint differentiation.

Parameters
  • execution_config (ExecutionConfig) – The configuration of the desired derivative calculation

  • circuit (QuantumTape) – An optional circuit to check derivatives support for.

Returns

Whether or not a derivative can be calculated provided the given information

Return type

Bool

supports_jvp(execution_config=None, circuit=None)[source]

Whether or not this device defines a custom jacobian vector product.

DefaultQubit supports backpropagation derivatives with analytic results, as well as adjoint differentiation.

Parameters
  • execution_config (ExecutionConfig) – The configuration of the desired derivative calculation

  • circuit (QuantumTape) – An optional circuit to check derivatives support for.

Returns

Whether or not a derivative can be calculated provided the given information

Return type

bool

supports_vjp(execution_config=None, circuit=None)[source]

Whether or not this device defines a custom vector jacobian product.

DefaultQubit supports backpropagation derivatives with analytic results, as well as adjoint differentiation.

Parameters
  • execution_config (ExecutionConfig) – A description of the hyperparameters for the desired computation.

  • circuit (None, QuantumTape) – A specific circuit to check differentation for.

Returns

Whether or not a derivative can be calculated provided the given information

Return type

bool

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