Quantum-Classical Neural Networks for Solving Lindblad Master Equations
Abstract
Variational quantum algorithms have emerged as a promising approach for simulating open quantum systems, yet their expressive power and trainability remain poorly understood. We propose a variational framework for solving Lindblad master equations by minimizing a residual cost function using a compositional ansatz obtained by combining a classical neural network with a parameterized quantum circuit. The density matrix is represented through a purification on an enlarged Hilbert space, ensuring positivity, Hermiticity, and unit trace by construction, while all gradients are evaluated exactly via the parameter-shift rule. Beyond the algorithmic formulation, we derive an upper bound for the covering number of the proposed compositional model and compare it with that of purely quantum neural networks. Our analysis shows that the classical parametrization enlarges the effective hypothesis class while providing finer control over its complexity, thereby establishing a theoretical connection between expressivity, covering numbers, effective dimension, and the barren plateau phenomenon. Numerical experiments validate both the accuracy of the proposed method for representative Lindblad master equations and the theoretical predictions regarding gradient concentration. These results provide a unified variational and theoretical framework for the simulation of dissipative quantum dynamics using compositional quantum machine learning models.
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BibTeX
@misc{diaz2026quantumclassical,
title = {{Quantum-Classical Neural Networks for Solving Lindblad Master Equations}},
author = {Rafael Florencio Díaz and Julio Guerrero García and Elvira Romera Gutiérrez},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.22691},
eprint = {2610.22691},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.22691},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Quantum-Classical Neural Networks for Solving Lindblad Master Equations
AU - Rafael Florencio Díaz
AU - Julio Guerrero García
AU - Elvira Romera Gutiérrez
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.22691
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.22691
AB - Variational quantum algorithms have emerged as a promising approach for simulating open quantum systems, yet their expressive power and trainability remain poorly understood. We propose a variational framework for solving Lindblad master equations by minimizing a residual cost function using a compositional ansatz obtained by combining a classical neural network with a parameterized quantum circuit. The density matrix is represented through a purification on an enlarged Hilbert space, ensuring positivity, Hermiticity, and unit trace by construction, while all gradients are evaluated exactly via the parameter-shift rule. Beyond the algorithmic formulation, we derive an upper bound for the covering number of the proposed compositional model and compare it with that of purely quantum neural networks. Our analysis shows that the classical parametrization enlarges the effective hypothesis class while providing finer control over its complexity, thereby establishing a theoretical connection between expressivity, covering numbers, effective dimension, and the barren plateau phenomenon. Numerical experiments validate both the accuracy of the proposed method for representative Lindblad master equations and the theoretical predictions regarding gradient concentration. These results provide a unified variational and theoretical framework for the simulation of dissipative quantum dynamics using compositional quantum machine learning models.
ER -